AOC e2752Vq review

From the outside the AOC e2752Vq doesn't look particularly special. Its rather basic black plastic surround and simple stand make this display look like any other budget 27in monitor. While it may not illicit excitement, it's actually a well-priced, high-quality display with plenty of inputs.

We're not used to seeing monitors at this price with a DisplayPort input, so it's a nice surprise to find one. Given that DisplayPort is getting more and more prevalent on graphics cards and it's the graphics output of choice for Apple products (via the compatible Thunderbolt output) this input is becoming more important. Not that older connections are left out, as HDMI and DVI inputs cover all bases.

It's also good to see that there's a four-port USB hub, with two ports on the rear and two on the side. It's always useful to have extra ports within easy reach, such as for your keyboard, mouse and USB flash drives. The only minor disappointment is that the hub doesn't support the faster USB3 variant.

Even though this is a budget 27in model, AOC has fitted the e2752Vq with a high-quality TN panel. Running the monitor at its default settings, we measured the screen using our colour calibrator. This showed us that the e2752Vq was displaying an excellent 97.2 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut. Running full calibration on the monitor and installing a custom colour profile, we increased this to 98.1 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut. That's pretty impressive, regardless of the price.

After calibration the monitor could produce an impressive 98.1 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut

In real terms, in translates into a display with excellent contrast and bright, vivid colours. We ran through our tough set of test photos and found that detail was clear in both the light and dark parts of our high-contrast images. This is certainly a display that you can use for fine photo editing.

There's plenty of control over the picture, including individual RGB controls, as well as brightness and contrast. There's a dynamic contrast mode and a dynamic colour mode; both are designed to enhance the image, but they disable the other controls, so we recommend disabling them and fine-tuning the picture the way you want it.