Founded in 1967 AOC from the first day of its existence has been focused on imaging technology. The multinational Taiwanese company offers professional computer displays with high resolution, color fidelity and an impressive set of advanced features.
AOC launched a 27-inch monitor in early 2023 AOC AGON AG273QZ, who only recently got tested by the editor GameMAG.ru… The price for this device in the Russian official AOC store is 54690 rubles…
PACKAGING, APPEARANCE AND CONNECTORS
The device comes in a colorful, bright box made of thick cardboard. It contains information about the main features of the product. Monitor parts and accessories are packed in foam by default. Inside you will find a display, a two-piece monitor leg and an accessory box.
The leg is assembled very easily and without the use of any tools. The lower part is painted in matte gray metallic, the upper is made in the same color, but has matte black plastic inserts. There is a lift mechanism on the leg for lifting and lowering vertically. The monitor screen is easily clipped to the leg and gently moves both to the right and left, and also tilts up and down. The foot also allows you to change the position of the screen from horizontal to vertical by rotating it 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. In this case, you can also change the angle of the display.
The package, in addition to the monitor itself, includes:
- User manual with software disc
- Power cable
- HDMI cable
- Display Port cable
- USB 3.0 Type-B to USB Type-A cable
- Remote control unit for monitor settings
- Two plastic cable ties
- Screws for VESA mount x 4
Regarding the appearance of AGON AG273QZ, I would like to note that the monitor looks very original. The screen is framed in a thin frame, and only the bottom side is wider than the rest, since the manufacturer has placed the name of the line to which this display belongs to. The AGON inscription is made in the same style as in the entire series – strictly and soundly.
The LED backlight located on the back of the monitor gives a special feeling when you first turn it on. But if you are not a fan of illuminations, you can turn it off at any time.
A bright logo flaunts above the LED backlight, and there are perforations on both sides of it to output sound from two monitor speakers with a power of 2.5 W each. The sound system supports DTS Audio technology. All monitor connectors are also shown on the back panel downward.
On the left side there are:
- Mini-USB connector (for connecting an external control unit for monitor settings).
- 3.5 mm jack for microphone connection;
- Two DisplayPort version 1.4;
- Two HDMI version 2.0;
On the right:
- Connector for mains power supply;
- 3.5mm jacks for microphone and headphones
- Four USB outputs (one is yellow and is responsible for fast charging);
- One USB 3.0 Type B port for connecting the built-in USB hub to a PC.
A joystick is installed at the bottom in the middle of the screen housing, which allows convenient navigation through the menu and has four quick access positions. Tilting it to the right will take you to the settings for the Light FX backlight modes, tilting it to the left will quickly enable or change the game mode. Rejecting the stick away from you, you will immediately get into the quick menu for switching signal sources (two DP and two HDMI). You can turn on and off the screen sight by pulling the joystick towards you. In addition, it is highlighted in four different colors depending on the selected mode.
Of the pleasant little things, it is also worth noting the retractable headphone holders installed on both sides of the screen.
DIMENSIONS
The dimensions of the monitor without a stand are 623 x 365.5 x 81.6 mm, and with a stand – 623 x 433 x 218 mm with the minimum set screen height.
Weight with stand 8.14 kg, without stand 5.8 kg.
The advantage of this model, as well as of the entire AGON line, is that it does not have an external power supply unit. It is simply hidden inside the screen and connects to the outlet with a complete power cable.
TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS, SETTINGS AND MODES
The monitor has a diagonal of 27 inches and, unlike the AG273QCG model, runs without bending. It uses an 8-bit TN-matrix with a refresh rate of 240 Hz and a resolution of QHD (2560 by 1440 pixels) with an aspect ratio of 16: 9. Also, of the main chips of this display, it is worth noting the declared motion image response time (MPRT), which is 0.5 ms, and support for FreeSync Premium Pro, as well as the DisplayHDR 400 standard.
The monitor uses a WLED backlight with a brightness of 400 cd / m2. Static contrast is 1000: 1 and dynamic contrast is 80,000,000: 1. The sRGB color gamut is about 126.4%, and Adobe RGB is about 93.7%. The active screen area is 596 mm horizontally with a 170 degree viewing angle and 335 mm vertically with a 160 degree viewing angle.
Above, we have already mentioned the functional joystick on the lower edge of the monitor, which allows you to control the screen settings. In addition to it, the kit includes an additional round-shaped control unit that repeats the functionality of a joystick, and also has four additional buttons along the edges. Three of them are responsible for switching between the three custom screen settings, and the lower right has the function of returning to or exiting the previous menu.
The control washer around the buttons is illuminated in red, which, unlike the surface of the joystick, does not change color when the Light FX is turned on.
Let’s move on to monitor settings. In the main menu, you will find several sections:
- Game Settings – Customize game and user modes, including Adaptive Sync, Overclocking, Low Input Lag and Frame Counter.
- Brightness – adjust the brightness, contrast and gamma, as well as enable economy mode and dynamic contrast.
- Image Adjustment – Adjust HDR modes.
- Color Adjust — Adjust the reduced gamut level, image color temperature, and color saturation. Menu is not available when HDR is enabled.
- Audio – Adjusts the volume, DTS modes and TruVolume HD volume equalization.
- Light FX – RGB lighting setting on the back side and in the area of the joystick under the screen.
- Advanced settings – input selection, sleep timer and reset.
- Menu settings – settings for language, position, display time and transparency of the menu, as well as enabling the function to remind you of breaks during long work.
TESTS AND GAMES
As we already mentioned, according to the manufacturer, this display supports the DisplayHDR 400 standard and has a brightness of 400 cd / m2, and a contrast ratio of 1000: 1. In the DisplayHDR Test program, we were able to see the maximum effective value at 669 (407.875854 nits) and the minimum at 52 (0.064262 nits). This is sufficient for the basic HDR standard set for 8-bit LED-backlit matrices. HDR was tested not only on PC, but also on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. Contrast and brightness improvements were noticed everywhere.
In terms of performance, the monitor is capable of a 240Hz refresh rate when connected via Display Port 1.4. For HDMI 2.0, the maximum available frequency is 144 Hz. The input lag for this model is 3 milliseconds.
This display was tested on PC, Xbox One X and PS4 Pro in projects such as Forza Horizon 4 (PC), Gears 5 (PC), Ghost of Tsushima (PS4), The Last of US Part II (PS4), Doom Eternal (XONE), Forza Motorsport 7 (XONE), Hitman (XONE). Despite the QHD resolution (2560 by 1440), the PS4 Pro connected to the monitor allowed setting the resolution to 4K, which made games a little sharper and added additional anti-aliasing.
On the Xbox One X, the monitor resolution can be set to 4K @ 60Hz, which also results in a sharper picture. Also available on the console from Microsoft is native QHD resolution at 120Hz, as well as AMD FreeSync 2 technology to prevent screen tearing.
On a PC, this monitor felt the best and was able to show very smooth images, both in racing and in shooters.
But now let’s talk about the shortcomings: the viewing angles of this model leave much to be desired and begin to deteriorate on the sides and especially below. The image at this angle begins to give off yellow tints. This is the problem of TN matrices even in 2023. Also, this model has a strange red glow that spreads to the entire lower half of the screen. To the naked eye, the glow effect is not very strong, so it is not even very noticeable in dark scenes in games and screensavers in 21: 9 format.
Well, in our test sample, one broken pixel was noticed in the area of the lower left corner, which is clearly visible in dark colors, but not a single matrix is immune from this. Perhaps he is just lazy and can be removed after a graphical run.
RESULTS
AOC AGON AG273QZ is the ultimate gaming monitor with good performance and functionality. In this device you will find all the current display interfaces and can play on the latest platforms with maximum frame rate and HDR. Unfortunately, even a very fresh TN-matrix could not improve the performance in the corners. This leads to the fact that you again have to use it alone and abandon the local co-op on the same screen, for example, in fighting games or platformers. To put up with this fact or not, it’s up to you or your girlfriend / boyfriend / cat to decide.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs)
A photo: Alexey Olkin
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