From the massive AOC gamer to the futuristic Philips office monitor, I could see the near future.
Prologue
Those who have known me for a long time know that my career did not start with Chinese gadgets. Much earlier, back in 2001, when HOC started, we were a real digital tech/tuning magazine. We dealt with hardware, software, and games, but strictly in the PC world.
When the site reached its heyday, we worked in our own office, several colleagues wrote the tests, news, and articles. At that time, I mostly dealt with displays, they were close to my heart.
Of course, times change, as do HOC topics, but the topic of monitors is still close to my heart. At the same time, I have to admit that in recent years I have missed the biggest innovations. Of course, I know what OLED, Quantum Dot and their peers do, but I was still strongly convinced that VA or IPS is better for gaming, and how to achieve the lowest response time with IPS displays.
Well, the industry is no longer here, OLED panels are now cracking.
I was delighted when the invitation to the AOC/Philips event arrived. Not only because I could breathe air with the Hungarian "star tech YouTubers", but because AOC was the manufacturer that helped me pull HOC.hu out of its dead state at the very end of 2016, and after 4 long years I started tests again to write (thanks again Dorka! 😉 )
Synapse
Now the part about what monitors I saw should follow, but there won't be such a part. Not only because I have seen quite a few of them, I try to include as many pictures as possible in the article.
I'd rather start with the fact that the event was held at Hotel Vision. The building is located on the Belgrade quay near the Pest bridgehead of the Erzsébet bridge, i.e. in a rather nice place. Opposite is Gellért Hill, on the top of which the Citadel was just blown up (I have an opinion about it, but I won't write it down).
However, that's not why this building was exciting for me, but because it was the headquarters of the Independent Small Farmers, Land Workers and Citizens Party (FKgP), it was where Uncle Józsi Torgyán always came out, where he shared his wits with journalists and where he cooked his meals. lame jokes. So it was a very interesting feeling to enter the building, even though it has nothing to do with the atmosphere of the former party office.
The monitors were already waiting for us in the press room, and what the hell, starting from Zalaegerszeg, I got there the earliest, so I had time to walk through the lineup, and I photographed everything before the performances even started.
There were also some snacks and drinks, fruits, cheeses, salads, but I'm so shy that somehow I don't have the guts to stuff my head at such an event. So that left the apple juice.
As the title revealed, the table that didn't have food was lined with products from AOC and Philips, from the cheaper category to top-design, top-quality, top-size curved wonders.
As I wrote above, I've been out of the monitor production a bit. When I last visited the AOC and Philips line, I had the feeling that AOC carries the gamer line, Philips carries its offices. Well, it turns out that's not nearly the case. It looks more like AOC carries the younger, more committed gamer line, but also has very serious graphics monitors, while Philips carries the office line, but also has über super gamer solutions.
However, these gamer solutions are completely different from AOC. Maybe because of my age and my somewhat conservative taste, Philips' gamer products with clean lines and elegant design are much closer to me, I would prefer to use them.
Yes, I think that is the big difference between the two brands. AOC is for a gamer's room, Philips is even for a company manager, who secretly stalks opponents in a game under the nickname Night Hunter. So you understand, Philips is the line for the more mature, AOC is for the more playful.
But, as I wrote, this is also extremely deceptive, because under the AOC name I have seen displays such as the Q3U27CV from the U3 series, which dazzle us with an OLED panel and brutal color fidelity (hardware-calibrated color fidelity (Delta E<2), Calman Ready calibration, etc.). Well, I said I wouldn't mention types, but I had to anyway.
Well, if I've already done it once, I'll do it a second and third time (but not a fourth time), because I also put my face down from Philips' merciless-sized office monitor (49B2U6900CH). People, this is a really brutal experience! With 32:9 aspect ratio, 48,8-inch image diagonal, 5120 x 1440 resolution, built-in webcam, true "only" VA panel.
Well, I could imagine this monitor on my desk, even though I'm not particularly fond of curved displays!
It's true, I wouldn't push the 49-inch Philips Evnia 49M2C8900L gamer monitor far from me either, with its white (silver?) frame and base, it's also an extremely elegant piece. Everything that excites the eyes and mouth is here! QD OLED panel, 49-inch (124 cm) image diagonal, 5120 x 1440 resolution, 0,03 ms response time, HDR400, 144 Hz refresh rate, icing on the cake is the 90-watt UCB-C connection.
Oh, and let me not forget, there are also Abilight lights on the back, it's called Ambiglow here.
You know, this technology works in such a way that the monitor's built-in sensors constantly monitor the content of the screen and adjust the color and intensity of the emitted light accordingly. This can be especially useful when watching movies, playing games or even working, as the ambient lights increase the depth and contrast of the screen.
What surprised me anyway (again, just my lag in technology) is that today the question is not whether it should be a VA panel or IPS, nor whether IPS should be fast enough. We are at the point where OLED panels have response times below 1 ms or even 0,1 ms. Adding this to the richness of color of these displays, the HDR capabilities, the roughly deep blacks, it's really a completely different world than the one I was socialized into.
Of course, there were other programs besides the monitors, there were lectures, but, I know it's very bad, I haven't been tied down by them for a long time. They told us that they wanted to increase their market share, how good their years were during Covid, when sales jumped due to the home office, how bad it was afterwards, and we also learned that the market hasn't actually recovered since then.
We could also hear a short report about the new monitor families, the office line with built-in KVM switches and webcams (these are really good things anyway), so basically we ran through the entire product line in 10 minutes. I took some photos from the PPT, I'll insert them here too, take a look if it's interesting to you.
The essence of the matter was that with the AOC and Philips brands, the manufacturer MMD will take up the gloves and fight the Korean push. Looking at the portfolio, this will not be an impossible task, at the moment I feel more like the lack of customers as a problem, but they will not be able to help with this, since the monitors would be needed, all you need is money for the purchase.
The market has collapsed a bit and not only private buyers, but also companies have disappeared from the customer side, so in our country the task is not only to catch up with the big competitors, but also to find customers. And for this, in the price-sensitive domestic market, cheaper displays need to be pushed harder, and according to what was said in the presentation, there will be no shortage of this.
Epilogue
So the thing is, it was good. Unfortunately, although I try to force myself, I'm not really the sociable type, I find it difficult to socialize, especially at such professional events. I looked at the cool faces on YouTube, I looked at other members of the press, and I had to realize that the world had passed me by, or rather, ahead of me. It's a strange feeling that the older generation has almost completely disappeared from such events, although of course it may be that those who remain in the industry are all working as managers, and that's why they don't even attend press events.
At the same time, it was good to get out a little, it was good to smell the air of journalism (my God, this is such an outdated term) and especially it was good to see these amazingly beautiful and amazing monitors up close. Development clearly hasn't stopped in this area either, although I really don't know where else to improve from here. Even higher resolution? Even better scene coverage? Even better response times?
AOC and Philips (and of course Dorka), for my part, thank you very much for the invitation, it was an experience, I hope to see you again!
And for you, my gentle readers, the pictures remain, of which I tried to include as many as possible in the article so that you can experience, at least in part, what I was able to experience!
