Super-thin WLED screens from AOC

AOC is definitely a name to watch in the monitor industry.  Although still relatively unknown in Europe, the manufacturer is one of the biggest in Asia, and its parent company, TPV, has just bought out the monitor arm of Philips.

A few weeks ago we looked at the difference between OLED (or WLED) screens, which promise a lot for the future, and newer, thinner monitors that still relied on traditional LCD technology.

The first of these super-thin OLED models to come from AOC has just been announced, and it measures 19 inches from corner to corner:


More striking though, is how thin it is, measuring just 1.8 cm from front to back.

Here are the technical details announced so far:

• Technology - WLED - while LEDS as a new system for backlighting

• Contrast - 100 000:1 in dynamic contrast mode, but we don't know what the real values are going to be like.  Nevertheless, dynamic contrast scores have thus far between in the order of 1000 to 5000:1, so if AOC's claims are true, this monitor represents a real improvement

• Availability - October 2008

• Price - TBC

This monitor seems like it's aimed at a professional market, with a built-in webcam and microphone allowing easy videoconferencing.

In terms of details, one nice feature is the addition of a scroll wheel to adjust the settings, something which we have mostly seen on printers and digital cameras.  Given how infuriating it can be to configure some monitors, this strikes us a very good idea.

And as for the looks …

We'll have to wait until we can actually clap our eyes on it, obviously, but based on the images of it that we've already seen, we're struck by the fact that this seems to be a bit of mish-mash of good ideas from other manufacturers' monitors witout too much originality. 

Still, it remains attractive and well-finished, with very modern styling that once again seems to blur the boundaries between monitors and televisions.

Looking closely, though, it's easy to spot AOC's inspiration.  A very Samsung red frame, a transparent base that looks like It come from a Philips and at thick black border around the image in the style of LG ...

Perhaps all of these good ideas just happened to coalesce in AOC's monitor, but even so, the manufacturer would be well-advised to try and hone its own visual identity to set it apart from the crowd.

The technical innovation seems to be in place - it just needs a nicer package ...