Acer AL1916WAs > Reviews > Good flatscreen monitor for a reasonable price

Author's product rating:   

Picture quality	Good
Colour sensitivity	Good
Design	Satisfactory
Ease of use	Satisfactory
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	The price, the resolution, the durability
Disadvantages:	Lack of gloss screen for videos and no 'swivel' function

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This screen was purchased in order to create more desk space in the new office and is used with a time computer running XP and used mainly for internet, word processing and most importantly for this screen it is used for watching movies and anime episodes.

Good Points

- As it is acer you get a lot of spec for a reasonable price
- The size is excellent and the resultion is easily adjustable.
- It is fully compatible with multi-screen applications and would be very useful for a multi os or a linux machine.
- It works with all types of computers, not just acer.
- It's max resolution is a large 1440 x 900 although is adjustable to make the texts larger (for the long sighted parental units who brought it in the first place.
- It has two connections, one for power and one to the computer which the computer picks up easily, in effect it is plug and play
- It is easily connectable to your pc and has a fairly small stand or a wall mount
- Unlike other, older screens, the fittings hold firm and having to "wiggle the lead" isn't necessary.
- The buttons actually on the screen itself also make the picture easier to adjust rather than having to go throguh the computer keyboard and fiddle through menus.
- The colours are good and provide a nice picture
- It has fast speed and responds well to swapping in an out of windows and taskbars - I tend to whizz through things on the computer and it was the memory of the computer that slowed it, not the screen.

Bad Points

- Unlike my acer laptop which has a TFT screen with a glass-like gloss cover, this screen has the traditional matt finish. This means that some of the clarity from a dvd or high-res movie or if you were going to watch television on it. However the matt finish makes word processing a little easier and doesn't show up fingerprints quite so much.
- The screen itself is quite heavy and I'm not convinced the wall mount would hold it up that well and that it would either break the mount or the weight would pull it away from the wall.
- It is a little stiff to adjust and I feel a little fearful tilting and adjusting it.
- The resolution is a little perculiar and if you like your non-microsoft issue wallpaper backgrounds you will need exceedingly large resolutions for them to look good.

The acer is a reasonably priced flatscreen which does what it is designed for in that it provides a large high resolution picture and supports multi-screen access. It would be good for a family computer rather than a home-cinema system.

I have also had it nearly a year and moved the computer twice and it is still functioning well with a non-acer computer. However, if you want a fully swiveling screen or a wall-mounted screen this is not it.