AOC 2216VW

When we ripped the Aoc out of its box we didn’t think much of it - aesthetics certainly aren’t its forte. The flimsy stand didn’t win any points either, however when we plugged it in, our opinion radically shifted.

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For the cheapest monitor in the bunch, it was the one of just two to have the colour pretty close to right without fiddling. The gradient ramp looked fine with almost all of the individual levels visible. Each level of grey was both visible and distinct, and for once the greys were actually grey.

Unfortunately, any adjustment (except brightness) you might want to make is met with horrendous results and the menu requires an advanced understanding of cryptography so it’s best left alone. Since the defaults aren’t bad, for the average internet user/gamer on a budget it’s a strong candidate.

There’s not much else to say on this one. There is some backlight leakage but this isn’t noticeable most of the time and its other salient features are identical to every other monitor in the roundup, but it is cheap -- so very cheap.