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AOC 7F+ 17" CRT Monitor Review

Many manufacturers are stopping production of CRT monitors. SONY, the producer of the fabulous Trinitron FD tube now produces only 21" and 24" CRT monitors. This is indeed a shame as I believe that TFT technology has presently failed to deliver what I require for my computer use. As I am doing some graphics I need accurate colour reproduction and also for DVD viewing I require fast refresh. Both of which the TFT industry has failed to deliver presently.

AOC is a manufacturer that is continuing to produce CRT screens and their offerings are quite low cost indeed. The 17" AOC F+ monitor is currently offered at Plaisio and due to it's low cost it is ideal for a server or second computer.

This monitor actually has the TCO 03 accreditation which is quite current and suprising for a cheap monitor. However the latest TCO standards are mainly to do with environmental issues so this is not so relevant for the user.

Captive Video Cable

The first thing which I noticed was that the display cable from the monitor to the computer is captive meaning that if the cable is damaged, you will have to take the monitor for service. Actually manufacturers use captive cables because there is only possible degredation of the signal at the computer end and not also at the monitor ends.

Shadow at Top of Screen from Casing

The second thing which I noticed was that the casing around the screen at the top and bottom is quite deep. This means that due to the lighting in my room and when a dark image is played on the screen, the casing causes a 1cm shadow along the top of the screen. This does not occur when a lighter image is displayed on the screen. Therefore it does not bother me in general use.

Only one input

There is only one input on this monitor therefore you will have to buy a video switcher or KVM module if you want to connect two servers to this monitor. I used to use a Sony G200 monitor with two inputs for that purpose. At that time I had not been exposed to KVM units. Now I cannot live without them.

The picture

The picture is quite uniform all over the screen and sharp. This is in contrast to some other current products I have seen where at some points around the screen the picture is not as sharp as others. I don't think that the tube is actually totally flat as it does not have the horizontal stabilising wires that the Sony has but the flatness is convincing. The colour reproduction is excellent for photographs.

However there were strange issues that on some web pages the white background became slightly gray in comparison to other browser windows that were open. There are also minor images when switching windows on occasion, especially when switching from light to dark, the image is zoomed out say 1mm. This is the sign of a cheap monitor I guess. It is not noticable if you are concentrated on your work.

Resolution / Refresh Rate

This monitor appears to support 1024x768 at 85hz and nothing higher at that refresh rate. Good enough for most people's use but not for demanding users.

Ergonomics

In the beginning I did not like this monitor because it was tiring to look at for long periods. I am not sure whether it needed time to break in or I got used to it. I have been using this monitor as my main home monitor for some time now. It is not as good as my old Sony who stopped making 17" CRT monitors so it is not fair to compare with Sony.

Additionally the monitor is very bright and I had turned the brightness to zero and then did some tweaking with the Nvidia driver to get a more comfortable picture.

DVD Movies

The colour reproduction of DVD Movies is excellent but the monitor fails by having lighter areas around the edges of the screen. This is again a sign of a cheap monitor. If that kind of thing bothers you then this is not the monitor for you.

Conclusion

It is a cheap monitor but I think it offers far beyond what you should expect for that price. For general use and corporate use I cannot fault this monitor. The picture is uniformly good all over the screen, there is no fuzziness of text in certain areas. This is in contrast to reviews I have read on other monitors.

The complaints I have apart from the DVD movie issue are minor and not noticable in general use. I would recommend that you spend more money for your main monitor though. For a cheap monitor however, AOC does well. When I get a new monitor this one will be used in the office for my servers.

AOC 17" 7F+

High quality for low cost..

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