AOC e2440Va review

AOC’s e2440Va looks pretty classy for a budget 24in monitor, complete with curvy lines and translucent plastic. But, unfortunately, AOC hasn’t left enough in the budget for a fancy IPS panel: instead, the e2440Va comes with a standard LED-backlit TN panel and a Full-HD resolution.

It’s basic elsewhere too, with a solitary DVI and D-SUB input and a 3.5mm audio jack on the rear. The integrated speakers are thin and tinny sounding, and while the external power supply helps the AOC to achieve its fine figure, the extra clutter is a bit of a disappointment.

With a measured brightness of 229cd/m[sup]2[/sup] and a contrast ratio of 818:1, the e2440Va is a touch shy of its claimed specifications. The LED backlighting was a little uneven, but we didn’t notice any backlight bleed. And, thanks to those LEDs, frugal power consumption is the AOC’s strongest suit: the e2440Va drew only 16W from the wall at a measured brightness of 120cd/m[sup]2[/sup].

Image quality is no match for the IPS-panelled competition, such as Viewsonic’s VP2365wb, but it’s also behind the best budget monitors on the market, such as Hanns.G’s HL231. Colours looked a touch unnatural, and the rich palette of blues and greens in our Avatar Blu-ray were left looking washed out and lacking in vibrancy.

Our X-Rite colorimeter cemented the AOC’s fate. With an average Delta E of 4.2, and a Maximum of 9.7, it’s no wonder the monitor’s colour reproduction looks a bit off to the naked eye. We managed to improve quality a little by changing the gamma setting to Mode 3, which lowered average Delta E to 3.7, and improved greyscale performance, but it still lagged behind the competition.

And that mediocre image quality is what does for the AOC e2440Va in the end. It just isn’t good enough to keep up with the competition, and the price isn’t low enough to compensate. We’d advise you to look elsewhere.