AOC 21:9 widescreen monitor revealed

AOC has joined in the new trend of monitor manufacturers releasing 21:9 aspect ratio monitors with the IPS Q2963PM.

SA distributor of AOC products, Platinum Micro, has told MyGaming that the Q2963PM will only be in the country within the next 2-3 months, and local pricing points haven’t been established.

The Q2963PM is currently selling in the US and Europe at the device’s RRP of $499 (±R4,567).

AOC Q2963PM Ultrawide 800

Most desktop monitors are designed to support a resolution of either 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080. These are 16:9 aspect ratios which work well for HD content and games because that’s the resolution the industry has targeted.

Some monitors bump that up to 16:10 and that applies to resolutions like 1920 x 1200 and 2560 x 1600, which are normally only seen in premium offerings that are much more expensive.

AOC’s Q2963PM joins in the fray of new 21:9 monitors from the likes of Dell and LG, supporting a resolution of 2560 x 1080. Its 29 inches long measured diagonally and has an IPS panel for better colour accuracy and viewing angles, lit up by LEDs on the back and sides. The monitor boasts a contrast ratio of 50,000,000:1 and response times of 5ms grey-to-grey.

AOC Q2963PM Ultrawide 800

The monitor sports connectors for HDMI, DVI-D and D-sub ports, as well as two Displayports for daisy-chaining monitors. In chained mode, the first monitor controls the others and allows you to uniformly set settings like colour, brightness and volume.

The Q2963PM also supports MHL (Mobile High-definition Link) connectors, which means you can hook up a smartphone or tablet (like the Samsung Galaxy S3) and stream movies, music and show off pictures on the screen. Manufacturers such as Dell and LG are touting the gaming capabilities of the new monitors, which you can see for yourself in a demo by WSGF (Wide-screen Gaming Forum).

Like other 21:9 monitors released recently, AOC’s offering comes with Screen+ software, which allows you to connect up two video sources and have them displayed on the screen, with half the available resolution given to each device. With a single PC, the monitor also allows you to open up two browsers side-by-side and not have to mess with zoom settings to have web pages displayed correctly. It also has a set of 3W speakers, helping to reduce clutter on the desktop.