AOC Q2781PQ 1440p monitor review
AOC Q2781PQ
Pros
- Looks great
- Natural colours
- Ready right out of the box
- Connectivity options
- Room saving stand
Cons
- Settings buttons awkward
- Only tilt adjustment
I have been eyeing up AOC’s AEGIS gaming monitors but they also have some lovely kit designed for work too. The Q2781PQ is almost pretty enough to be desk furniture thanks to its bezel-less frame.
The AOC Q2781PQ is a 27-inch 1440p resolution monitor that, you have to admit, looks pretty amazing.
It’s all well and good having a swanky monitor but how does it perform. Is it all show and no go?
AOC Q2781PQ design
At the risk of repeating myself, the Q2781PQ has remarkably skinny bezels that measure just 8mm across. 
This means that your PC desktop takes up 93% of the entire front of the monitor. The aesthetic is almost that of a floating display.
Having a slim monitor (measuring just 615 x 452 x 197 mm including the stand!) also helps keep more desk space for your keyboard and other bits.
The screen is edged with a slim, silver trim which is embellished with a rather unobtrusive logo.
Even the stand adds a touch of class. The sculpted lines and machined finish not only adds form but function. The asymmetrical design is also easy on the desk real estate.
There’s room within the stand’s U-shaped foot for your phone, notebook, or game controllers.
The screen is also just 15mm thick in most areas, and it’s not until you get down to where the stand attaches to the monitor that it starts bulking out slightly.
It’s here where the ports sit, too, and you’ll find two HDMI inputs, DisplayPort and VGA, and a headphone output for sound transmitted over HDMI or DP.
There’s no USB hub, but that’s a reasonable omission considering the price of the screen.
There aren’t any speakers either, but that’s no great loss. It has been a while since I’ve heard any decent sounds coming from a screen.
There’s also no VESA mount, so you won’t be able to use a custom stand or mount it to a wall.
The back is extremely shiny! I have seen glossy black backs before but I actually just gave in trying to photograph this one without getting reflections.
I would have liked to have seen some adjustment beyond a simple screen tilt though. The Q2781PQ allows for tilting between -2 (forwards) and 16 degrees (back).
AOC Q2781PQ performance
Set up
The monitor’s interface pops up from the bottom of the screen, and is divided into clear categories such as Color Setup and Luminance.
I will have to pull AOC up on this small matter though. Unless you know where the buttons are, it can be a bit hit and miss. If only they had the courtesy to backlight the icons or have the buttons glow or something. As it is, under normal lighting conditions, it’s a bit like having a teenage fumble on the back row of the cinema. Whatever that means.
Image quality
Saying that though, I doubt if many, if any, will see the need to tweak the out of the box settings.
The image quality is pretty darned good as is. Colours are nicely saturated and vibrant without any graininess.
As white space is still a lovely thing in web design, the lack of that bitty texturing some monitors can give to colour blocks, makes browsing a joy. Also writing in Word, and such like, for that matter.
I am a huge fan of the Q2781PQ’s 2560 x 1440 resolution 27-inch display. I could certainly get used to all this space. OK, text would be sharper on a 4K screen but I think this suits me for what I need it for.
Colours also appear to be very accurate too, great for photo and video editing.
The chief problem I found with the screen was an area of backlight leakage at the top-left of the panel, a couple of inches in from the left-hand bezel. When I filled the screen with a black test image, this manifested itself as a semicircle of whitish-grey. I found it hard to notice in static test images, but in games the backlight bleed added an unintentional lens flare effect in darker scenes.
The Q2781PQ spec sheet gives a GtG (Grey to Grey) time of 4ms but a quick blast on Test UFO shows noticeable blurring even at 240 pixels per second 60 frames per second.
Yes, there is ghosting and there is some haloing but, this doesn’t mean that games are unplayable. I managed an hour-or-so’s enjoyable gaming on Project Cars and CS:GO without blaming any mistakes on the monitor. This is from AOC’s style range and not its gaming range, remember.
AOC Q2781PQ review conclusion
The Q2781PQ (why can’t monitor makers come up with catchier names?) is a real looker. You may have also noticed that I like it quite a bit.
The size and resolution has made my last couple of weeks work a little bit more enjoyable. Even when it isn’t switched on it is a nice thing to look at. Yes, it only tilts, but I will allow it that.
It’s not the fastest monitor out there, but I will forgive it that too. I am sure that you will also fall under its almost frameless shell. It’s skinny dimensions and attractive stand.
The AOC Q2781PQ is a great, stylish, business monitor which also copes will with video and photo viewing and editing.
The ViewSonic 24-inch monitor that I had recently was good, but the AOC is better but more expensive.
AOC Q2781PQ monitor price and availability
You can grab one of these great looking monitors now from Amazon for £300.
