AOC G2460PQU Review
- Overall
Price: ~ $270
Size: 24.”
Max Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Display Type: LED – lit
Panel Type: TN
Refresh Rate: 144 Hz
In the past few years, the best gaming displays have become much more accessible to the average user, especially those who don’t want to (or can’t) spend four figures on a professional monitor. This I where the AOC G2460PQU comes in, as a mid-sized monitor under $240, can it compete with comparable monitors in its price range?
Let’s, start off with clarity and quality, which are surprisingly good for this price point. Greyscale performance is relatively good for a TN panel, with only a few of the lightest shades of gray washing out. Color accuracy and gamut is also really good, as they are well saturated, and there’re no issues with tinting.
The AOC G2460PQU comes with several settings to adjust for your viewing preferences. The OSD, while a little different, shouldn’t be too hard to navigate. Firstly you have your contrast and brightness controls along with three different gamma presets. Then you have your picture mode, with six presets, although only Standard gives you full calibration control, the rest are: Text, Internet, Game, Move, and Sports.
Following that, there’s DCR, which is Dynamic Contrast Ratio, which you’ll want to be switched off, as decimates detail in shadow and highlighted areas. You also have the Overdrive option, which isn’t needed when you’re running high refresh rates, as motion blur is already almost non-existent. Interestingly, there’s no blur reduction feature, although the monitor tends to handle that well, so it’s not sorely missed.
Another little interesting tidbit is the ‘i-Care’ option which uses a sensor mounted on the frame to adjust brightness according to the brightness of the room. Of course, if you’re using the DPS, or Dynamic Power Saving Mode, you won’t want that switched on, as the cuts to energy use, which can go up to 50%, also decreases the light output. Either way, you should be able to find a light level to fit you.
Coming into the Color, the monitor also has presets, although much like the picture mode, only the User preset allows you full calibration control. Past that, you have DCB, which is Dynamic Color Boost, which enhances certain colors in the pallet, but doesn’t make the colors more accurate, just different. Picture Boost allows you to highlight a certain portion of the screen and alter the contrast and brightness separately from what isn’t highlighted; it’s a cool little feature.
Finally, you have a set of pretty standard controls. Input select works great on auto and Auto Config does the same. You can set the Image ratio to several different screen sizes and resolutions, all the way down to 17” 4:3. There’s also some information displayed on the horizontal and vertical refresh rates.
Of course, all this adjustability is great, because you will need to calibrate this monitor to get the best out of it. All the Dynamic settings are better set off, as they change the characteristics of the screen based on content, and that might be discerning or annoying to most experienced users.
The downside here is that the input time is slightly bad, with an average of 20ms, which is a bit high for a gaming monitor, although acceptable. It does live up to its 1ms response time, though, so lag isn’t that noticeable. Movie quality is good, with the monitor providing good skin-tones and natural colors.
Moving from the internals to the external, the AOC G2460PQU comes in a brushed finished bezel, with a nice red strip at the bottom for the style. It has a 15mm side width, so you can get multiple-monitors set up quite close without much disruption to the image. The display is also light, so the small base is sturdy enough to hold it.
Ergonomic adjustment is good, with nearly 300 degrees of swivel, the tilt of 5 degrees forward and 20 degrees back, and a height adjustment of 5 inches. You can also rotate it into portrait mode quite easily, although the base is quite wide so that a multiple monitor set-up won’t be as ideal in portrait mode. Finally, the stand comes with a clip-on cable management system that can move up and down the stand, so setting up all your cables should be a sinch.
Speaking of which, the AOC G2460PQU comes with a multitude of ports: VGA, DVI, HDMI and Display ports. Additionally, there’s a USB upstream port and two downstream ports on the back, while on the side there are two USB ports, with one of them being powered, meaning you can charge your peripherals. The monitor comes with two speakers, although the quality is left wanting, there’re an audio input and a headphone output should you need them.
So what’s the final verdict? This is a great mid-sized gaming monitor for its price range. The 144hz refresh rate offers a very smooth experience with little to no blurring and flickering, with accurate colors and a whole bucket load of features and adjustability. The input lag is a little high, so if you prefer it to be lower, you might want to go with the BenQ RL2460HT. Otherwise, this is a solid monitor, both for gaming, and non-gaming applications.