A record was broken! The Acer AL2216WD becomes the least expensive 22 inch with numeric input (DVI) – at this time. Acer had the prowess to go below the price of the Miraï, and even that of the Belinea, which is only equipped with an analog jack. Finally, the AL2216WD is quite simply the most economical 22 inch of the first half of 2007 all interfaces included. The intended buyers are those who want a very big and readable screen that is inexpensive and they are willing to accept a very classic design with a few small problems.  With a response time of 5 ms, we suspect (and with good reason) that there are much more reactive screens (see the Samsung SyncMaster 226BW on this subject). 

The additional DVI input: the same as before but better?

Now if we compare the former screen with the current one, we can see right off that in principle only the DVI input sets them apart. What does this change? In normal use – internet, games, DVDs, office -- nothing. The monitor’s reactivity and viewing angles are the same, and the flickering is still as noticeable in movies. However, it’s in this last area that the DVI jack is appreciable. Acer had the good idea of making their numeric input HDCP protection compatible.  You can now play HD videos (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) in numeric on this screen, in order to take advantage of optimal definition and perfect sharpness. 

However, we did find one downside. The previous AL2216W was very well adjusted by default and color fidelity was particularly good. The new WD is largely inferior in this area. Obviously, the panel manufacturer only pre-calibrated the base components; pure red, pure green and pure blue. And the rest ? Given the visual result and what our probe told us, this must not have been a priority. For this reason, color rendering tends to be a bit random as our gray color card shows.

Compare its performance with the competition’s in the Product Face-off section

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