AOC 22" IPS Panel Monitor (Refurbished)
- Model: I2269VW-B
- IPS panel display for sharp picture and vivid colors from all 178° of the recommended viewing angles
- Ultra-narrow, almost-borderless 2mm bezel so you can feel all cool and stuff
All that doesn't glitter isn't not gold.
OK, look, under normal circumstances, we subscribe hard to the “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is” approach to life - and, especially, electronics. “Upscaling to HD” is not really HD. “Simulated surround sound” is not surround sound. There’s never “one weird trick” that will save you thousands of dollars on everything. Sorry, but there is no Great Pumpkin.
So we get the skepticism about kick-ass IPS panels in cheap displays. When such a fancy display comes in a monitor with such a tiny price, something else has to give. In return for the IPS panel’s much wider viewing angle and vastly superior color reproduction, you’re going to have to give something else up. If that something else is not “more money”, it’s probably build quality, brightness, or other features. That’s just simple retail physics.
Our reply is: who gives a shit? At this price, the IPS panel could come in a cardboard frame with an HDMI port that shocks you when you touch it - and it would still be a great deal. As it is, the quality of the AOC housing, the 250 cd/m2 brightness, and 5ms response time are probably the same as whatever monitor you’re viewing right now. And everything else about it - the viewing angle, the color reproduction, just the way it looks - is way better.
If you’re going to have one fantastic feature in a monitor, it should be the part you stare at all day long. Average monitor plus awesome panel equals awesome monitor. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, true. But we’ve eaten a lot of cheap lunches, and some of them were delicious.
