AOC E2237Fwh – Lacks ergonomic options

Pros:

• Low price (and excellent performance considering the low price)
• OSD array gives you plenty to configure
• Built in speakers

Cons:

• Lacks ergonomic options
• Panel is always tilted and hence you don’t get 90 degrees viewing angle.

Bottom Line:

Low price and decent performance are the two factors for which we recommend this monitor to you.

Manufacturer’s specifications:

AOC E2237Fwh is 21.3 inches wide, 5.2 inches deep, 15.5 inches high and weighs around 7.1 lbs. The display size (diagonal) is 22 inches and you get a full HD resolution of 1,920×1,080 pixels. On the front panel, there are on/off controls. Connection options include VGA, HDCP, HDMI and DVI. Picture options include Contrast, Brightness, Ambient Light Sensor. Color controls options are RGB controls, Color Temperature – Cool, sRGB and Warm. The pixel response rate is 5ms. Aspect ratio is 16:9. There are also built in speakers and the panel supports VESA mounting.

Design:

AOC E2237Fwh has a black bezel and it contrasts quite well with the back which is all white. At the bezel’s center bottom, there is a glowing blue power button which is also the OSD (On Screen Display) menu button. Underneath the bezel, there is a blue ‘desk light’ LED which stretches horizontally across the center of the monitor and illuminates your desktop space. The monitor is covered in plastic case and this case stretches to end of the monitor at the bottom of the desk.

Inside Dope:

AOC E2237Fwh costs $229 and is a decent performer. The looks are too unique as compared to other monitors. This unit comes with built in speakers, good OSD array, and for connectivity you get both DVI and HDMI jacks. There are some drawbacks too though. For instance, this panel doesn’t stand a 90 degrees angle and hence you always get a non-optimal viewing angle. This will affect the performance adversely. We will recommend you this panel if you are looking for a decent performing, low priced computer monitor.

The footstand of the AOC E2237Fwh is quite unique and it tilts constanty back at 15 or 5 degrees. Because of this, you never get the perfect angle of 90 degrees. The stand of the monitor is quite good and it will withstand occasional knocks but it toppled over when we jerked it heavily from the sides. On the sides, the bezel is about 1.2 inches wide. At the thickest point, the depth of the monitor is 1.75 inches and at the shallowest, it is 0.7 inches. There are no options to swivel, pivot or adjust the height.

Connection options on the AOC E2237Fwh include DVI, HDMI and VGA. All these ports are located on the display’s back and they are not that easy to access due because of their position. There is a headphone jack next to the VGA port.

The OSD menu button has power button that can be used as OSD menu button too. There are four touch areas surrounding it and each is denoted by a tiny blue LED dot. Each of these dots are shortcuts for the different functions of OSD. They include Source, Speaker volume, Presets, and aspect ratio switch. For bringing up the OSD menu, just press the power button. For navigation, there are the four touch sensitive dots which act as direction buttons.

The OSD gives you control over gamma, brightness, and contrast. There is also an Eco Mode which brings down the brightness level. There are seven main persets including color temperature preset options like SRGB, Warm, Normal, User Mode and Cool. There is also an ambient light sensor which automatically increases or decreases the monitor brightness according to the ambience light.

For lab tests, we connected the AOC E2237Fwh to a Windows Vista desktop through the DVI port. For game tests, we played World of Warcraft for some time. We used the game preset mode and found that almost all colors were accurate but they didn’t pop as well as that on PX2370. The colors were really eye popping on the PX2370 and they didn’t over saturate the image either.

For photo tests, we checked out some stills in the Photo preset. The environments and faces had a green tint. The sRGB color preset along with standard/default overall preset had the best photo quality with regards to the color accuracy. PX2370 was better than this as the colors were more accurate and the clarity too was better.

Optimal viewing angle for any monitor is from the front because at this angle you are viewing the colors as intended by the manufacturer. This monitor is based on a TN panel and when we viewed it from the sides, the screen darkened about six inches from the center. As compared to this, the PX2370 had a similar story to tell but there are features in it which improve the viewing angles.

We would recommend you to use the standard/default preset for general use like playing games or watching movies. For photo editing, sRGB is the best. But this monitor is not recommended if you want the colors to be really accurate; it is good for just general use. If you are very particular about the quality, we would recommend you to take a look at PVA or IPS panels. For instance, Dell UltraSharp U2711 is quite good.

Finally, we tested the AOC E2237Fwh for power consumption and it drew about 19.9 watts in its Default/On mode. The PX2370 consumed 25.01 watts. In the standby mode, the PX2370 consumed 0.27 watts whereas the AOC e2237wh needed 0.43 watts. Our calculattions say that the AOC E2237Fwh will cost you $5.71 a year and PX2370 will put you back by $7.65 a year.

AOC E2237Fwh has a three year warranty which covers labor and parts. But the backlight is covered for just one year. This is a bit low as compared to other manufacturer who offer three year backlight warranty. You can also call the tech reps to chat with them and there is e-mail support too.