Value Oriented LCD
Written: Oct 06 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Price, basic looking, easy controls
Cons: Low contrast ratio
The Bottom Line: It's a great 15 inch LCD for basic and budgeted business use.
|
|
|
| jumperless's Full Review: AOC LM500 15" |
AOC has been known for value oriented monitors, kind of like KDS. But I've have not had a lot of experience with AOC products until now. I always see them at online vendors for great prices and wondered how good they are. I recently got to work with the AOC LM500 15 inch LCD monitor and liked it.
Picture Quality
The LM500 has a contrast ratio of 250:1, which puts it in the lower end area of LCD. This is okay for basic uses, such as word processing or emailing, but I would not recommend it for high end uses such as gaming or graphics. For those uses, you'll probably want to look for a model with at least a contrast ratio of 350:1.
It will support about 16.7 million colors. The colors seemed bright and clear, the white tones were crisp, not yellowish or gray.
The recommended resolution is 1024 x 768 at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is okay, but I felt like the bottom portion of the screen seemed brighter from certain angles.
The horizontal viewing angle is 120 degrees, not bad for this price range. Basically meaning it can be seen from more angles, instead of having to look directly at it. The best viewing angle I have seen so far is 160 degrees.
Size, Weight and Looks
The LM500 has a 15 inch screen and is 15.6 inches high, 15.7 inches wide and about 7.5 inches deep, depending on the angle. It weights about 9.9 lbs.
The case is plain looking, white with the blue AOC logo in the left, bottom corner and the controls in the center of the bottom. It would be good for professional uses, such as call centers, and it would match most computers. But the looks may bore some looking for an exciting system, such as silver or clear.
Controls
The controls on the LM500 consist of brightness, contrast, focus, clock, horizontal and vertical position, and power. Most of the controls are accessed through an on-screen display accessed through a circular button on the front. The control menus are easy to read and navigate.
Connections
The LM500 does not come with a built in USB hub, to be expected for the low price. It does have the 15-pin VGA and power. It has a max power consumption of 25 watts.
Warranty
The LM500 comes with a 3 year parts and labor warranty and there seems to be an easy RMA procedure called EASE RMA program on the AOC website at:
http://www.aocmonitor.com/home.html
Overall
This monitor did not come with a detailed manual, thankfully it is plug and play and very easy to set up. I would have liked to seen more trouble shooting tips and information. But, for a price of about $345, it is a great 15 inch LCD for basic and budgeted business use. It gets a 4 star rating.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 345
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jumperless
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Location: Northern California
Reviews written: 125
Trusted by: 122 members
About Me:
Go with it.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.