AOC showcases new gaming monitors in London

Ahead of a busy year for AOC, with numerous new monitors on the way, KitGuru was invited to an event in Central London to check out the latest screens from the manufacturer. We saw a range of new models, but one in particular caught our eye – a 35in monitor boasting a 1440p resolution, 200Hz refresh rate and DisplayHDR 1000 certification.

Starting with that 35 beast of a monitor – dubbed the AG353UCG – this really does tick a lot of boxes if you are an ultrawide monitor gamer. Obviously there is the huge 35in size, but I was impressed with how slim and sleek this screen looks, despite the rather large dimensions – it uses AOC's ‘frameless' design, with only one ‘proper' bezel on the bottom edge.

Using the now familiar 21:9 WQHD resolution – 3440x1440p – the panel also boasts an impressive 200Hz refresh rate, alongside G-Sync anti-tear technology. On top of this, AOC claims the panel has just a ‘2 ms MPRT (Moving Picture Response Time)' to significantly reduce any motion blur. On the topic of the panel, it uses VA technology – increasingly common these days – and AOC claims an impressive 100% DCI-P3 gamut coverage. Add in the DisplayHDR 1000 certification for a peak 1000 nit brightness and this is a serious bit of kit.

Additionally, the model I saw also came with an external controller, loosely reminiscent of a basic gamepad. I'm not 100% sure if this is included with the AG353UCG but the idea is, connect this small control pad to the monitor and you have an easy way to navigate through the OSD if you don't want to fiddle with the integrated joystick.

I was seriously impressed with the overall clarity and ‘contrasty' look of the screen, and it has some serious specs to back that up. Unfortunately that does mean the AG353UCG doesn't come cheap, as we are told the MSRP is £2159 with availability expected this month – though this may be affected by the current situation in China.

We also got to look at a pair of new panels – the Q27G2U and the CQ27G2U. These are essentially the same model, only the Q27G2U is a flat screen and the CQ27G2U is curved (hence the ‘C' at the beginning of the model name.)

Q27G2U (left) and CQ27G2U (right)

To me, these didn't really present anything new or ground-breaking – however, it seems you get a heck of a lot of screen for the money, as these screens are set to retail for just £279 or £289 depending on whether you opt for the flat or curved option.

For that price, both screens offer a 27in 1440p experience, which is my personal size-to-resolution sweet spot for gaming. On top of that, both panels offer 144Hz refresh rates and VA panels which AOC claim to have significantly improved over previous VA models – these screens offer a rated 90% Adobe RGB/120% sRGB coverage, alongside 3000:1 contrast which is certainly impressive on paper.

Additionally, AOC is also claiming just 1m MPRT (Moving Picture Response Time) and the screens also support AMD Freesync – currently they're not listed on Nvidia's official ‘G-Sync Compatible' list, but Nvidia GPU owners should be able to use adaptive sync with this monitor.

We will of course have to validate AOC's claims and test both models ourselves, but these new 27G2U panels – whether you get the curved one or not – look like great offerings in the sub-£300 market.

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KitGuru says: It was great to check out these new monitors from AOC – stay tuned for future reviews of these models.

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