Test 1 Ease of use
Setup and adjustments
Physical ease of use may seem a strange
test for a device that just sits on your desk,
but if you need to tilt, turn or raise your
screen, or perhaps even use a VESA mount
to put it on a wall or support arm, this is
important. For basic requirements these
monitors are all quite acceptable, but not
all have the full range of adjustments.
Assembly was easy, although the AOC stand can disconnect
if not “clicked in” firmly. The AOC, Dell and Samsung displays all
offer tilt, height and swivel adjustments. The Acer and Philips
only offer tilt; swivel can be achieved by sliding the display and
stand together, but you’ll need a box to change their height.
If you want to rotate to portrait orientation both the Dell and
the Samsung allow this. VESA mount compatibility is another
niche requirement, but all apart from the Acer include it.
Test 3 Display quality
Screen type and performance
Color rendering precision is a critical
concern for designers and video editors, but
everyone wants their display to make
at least a good stab at showing things
accurately. When checking this out, the first
thing to note is the kind of LCD panel used.
VA LCDs as used in the bigger Philips display
are cheaper, but they suffer from contrast and hue shifts when
viewed from an angle. The Philips display is curved to counteract
this, but you should still sit centrally for the best performance.
The Acer, AOC and Dell use the higher–end and more expensive
IPS form of LCD, while this Samsung monitor uses a PLS LCD
— very similar to IPS but with some minor advantages.
Color performance on the monitors was measured with
a Datacolor Spyder5Elite colorimeter. All of these displays
did reasonably well considering the price range, but AOC and
Philips pipped the rest of the competition at 78% and 80% of
Adobe RGB, respectively.
Test 2 OSD controls
Adjusting the settings
Monitor “on–screen display” controls, or
OSD for short, can be awkward to use, both
in terms of hitting the right buttons to
navigate through the options and finding
the settings you actually need. None of
these displays use touch–sensitive sections
of the bezel for this, which is a relief. We
much prefer physical buttons for this.
The Samsung and Philips displays use a single rear–mounted
joystick to access and navigate through the OSD options. Using
these proved easy after a bit of familiarization. The Dell, AOC
and Acer displays use an array of buttons. Both AOC and Acer
use one of these for power, making it easy to turn the screen
off by mistake. The AOC’s are shown on the front which helps
avoid this, but we triggered Acer’s power switch a few times by
mistake during testing, which was a little frustrating.
Test 4 Port types
Connection options and limitations
This isn’t so much a performance test, but it
is a very important part of how a particular
display will satisfy your specific needs. First
of all, if your Mac is equipped with USB–C
then the Dell and Samsung displays stand
out from the rest of the field as the only
ones featuring this input option; the
others will require adaptors. However, if this isn’t a concern
for you, then the AOC, Dell and Samsung units all offer
a good selection of ports: DisplayPort in and out, HDMI, and
in AOC’s case DVI as well. These also have USB passthrough
and power, from a USB–B port in AOC’s case and USB–C in the
Dell and Samsung.
The Acer and Philips displays have no USB ports, so they
don’t act as port hubs for data or device charging. Like the
AOC these offer an old–fashioned VGA port for analogue video
connections, but their modern HDMI port (and in Acer’s case
DVI as well) should be used in preference.ACER R241Y AOC 24E1QDELL
P2219HCPHILIPS
278E9QJABSAMSUNG
S24H85ACER R241Y AOC 24E1QDELL
P2219HCPHILIPS
278E9QJABSAMSUNG
S24H85ACER R241Y AOC 24E1QDELL
P2219HCPHILIPS
278E9QJABSAMSUNG
S24H85ACER R241Y AOC 24E1QDELL
P2219HCPHILIPS
278E9QJABSAMSUNG
S24H85Image rights from top–left: AOC, Samsung, Dell, Samsung.
Reviews
54 DEC 2019 maclife.com