Acer AL2216W: a worthwhile compromise?
by Jarred Walton on March 10, 2007 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Closing Thoughts
We've said on numerous occasions that price is likely to be a major factor for most people looking at purchasing a new LCD. While the Acer AL2216W certainly isn't perfect, the relatively low price of around $300 goes a long way towards overcoming the flaws. Users interested in getting a relatively large LCD first with features and performance being secondary considerations should be quite pleased with the AL2216Wbd. You can find Acer displays carried at a large variety of resellers, including Wal-Mart, and the three-year standard warranty should give you some peace of mind.
Is the AL2216W the best display in its category? That all depends on what you feel is important. It is no secret that there are only a few companies that actually manufacture the LCD panels, so there are quite a few other 22" LCDs on the market that use the same TN panel as this Acer model. Outside of minor differences in features and different backlights, we would expect most of those displays to perform nearly the same as the AL2216W. In fact, we are unable to locate any 22" LCDs that don't use a TN panel at this time, which is likely part of the reason that many 22" displays don't cost much more than some of the better 20" displays.
The primary issue we have with TN panels is that their viewing angles are more limited than most other offerings, particularly in the vertical plane. Since most people sit directly in front of their LCD, that really isn't a major problem. You don't get any extras with the AL2216W, and overall performance and color reproduction is acceptable if not exceptional. Image professionals would probably prefer a higher end display, but that's not the target market of this particular model. If you go into the purchase realizing that a $300 22" LCD isn't going to be in the same category as a $500 20" LCD or a $700+ 24" LCD, then you won't be disappointed with what the AL2216W offers.
We have been pleased if not absolutely wowed by what Acer is offering in this 22" display. We still definitely prefer our 24" or 30" LCDs, and if you have used something like that on a regular basis it will definitely be a noticeable step back dropping to the AL2216W. If on the other hand you are used to running an aging CRT or a smaller/older LCD, most people will feel this is a worthy upgrade. CRT holdouts still aren't going to get the high refresh rates and extremely fast response times that they're used to, but it is getting nearly impossible to find any quality CRTs these days - all of the best CRTs were made several years ago, and eventually even those are going to wear out.
The 22" widescreen LCDs are definitely a welcome addition to the display market, providing a slightly higher resolution than 19" LCDs as well as a noticeably larger display size. The dot pitch of typical 19" LCDs (non-widescreen models) is nearly the same as these 22" LCDs, so if you've ever felt that the text on the 20" widescreen displays is too small by default then the resolution/size compromise should be exactly what you're looking for. We would recommend that anyone looking for a good midrange display take a closer look at the 22" LCDs, as they may be exactly what you need. Hopefully in the future we will also see 22" LCDs that use something other than a TN panel.
We've said on numerous occasions that price is likely to be a major factor for most people looking at purchasing a new LCD. While the Acer AL2216W certainly isn't perfect, the relatively low price of around $300 goes a long way towards overcoming the flaws. Users interested in getting a relatively large LCD first with features and performance being secondary considerations should be quite pleased with the AL2216Wbd. You can find Acer displays carried at a large variety of resellers, including Wal-Mart, and the three-year standard warranty should give you some peace of mind.
Is the AL2216W the best display in its category? That all depends on what you feel is important. It is no secret that there are only a few companies that actually manufacture the LCD panels, so there are quite a few other 22" LCDs on the market that use the same TN panel as this Acer model. Outside of minor differences in features and different backlights, we would expect most of those displays to perform nearly the same as the AL2216W. In fact, we are unable to locate any 22" LCDs that don't use a TN panel at this time, which is likely part of the reason that many 22" displays don't cost much more than some of the better 20" displays.
The primary issue we have with TN panels is that their viewing angles are more limited than most other offerings, particularly in the vertical plane. Since most people sit directly in front of their LCD, that really isn't a major problem. You don't get any extras with the AL2216W, and overall performance and color reproduction is acceptable if not exceptional. Image professionals would probably prefer a higher end display, but that's not the target market of this particular model. If you go into the purchase realizing that a $300 22" LCD isn't going to be in the same category as a $500 20" LCD or a $700+ 24" LCD, then you won't be disappointed with what the AL2216W offers.
We have been pleased if not absolutely wowed by what Acer is offering in this 22" display. We still definitely prefer our 24" or 30" LCDs, and if you have used something like that on a regular basis it will definitely be a noticeable step back dropping to the AL2216W. If on the other hand you are used to running an aging CRT or a smaller/older LCD, most people will feel this is a worthy upgrade. CRT holdouts still aren't going to get the high refresh rates and extremely fast response times that they're used to, but it is getting nearly impossible to find any quality CRTs these days - all of the best CRTs were made several years ago, and eventually even those are going to wear out.
The 22" widescreen LCDs are definitely a welcome addition to the display market, providing a slightly higher resolution than 19" LCDs as well as a noticeably larger display size. The dot pitch of typical 19" LCDs (non-widescreen models) is nearly the same as these 22" LCDs, so if you've ever felt that the text on the 20" widescreen displays is too small by default then the resolution/size compromise should be exactly what you're looking for. We would recommend that anyone looking for a good midrange display take a closer look at the 22" LCDs, as they may be exactly what you need. Hopefully in the future we will also see 22" LCDs that use something other than a TN panel.
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anandtech02148 - Sunday, March 11, 2007 - link
That viewing angle thing makes me proud of my 2yr old investment on the dell 2405fpw.Jarred when are they gonna give you a Dell 27inc 2707wfp to play?
27inc seems to be the right viewing angle for my future upgrade when price drop to 700usd or so.
BigDDesign - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
Great LCD reviews. Could you test some of the monitors that cater to graphic pros or photo pros like the Lacie 321 or NEC monitors. I currently am using a Lacie Electron Blue 22" and a Viewsonic 2050 LCDTV 20" for my workstation area. Every day I pray that my CRT will last forever. I know that someday that I'm going to have to replace my CRT with a LCD. Perfect color is top priority for some of us, over response times. With digital photography so mainstream, good color is very important to many. Perfect color is what I need.kmmatney - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
NewEgg has a new interesting monitor for sale, which I believe is an IPS panel, for $350. The link is here. Would be nice to review a monitor in the same price range which ay perform a lot better (with a slightly smaller screen and 4:3 aspect ratio).http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
Bana - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
I'm glad to see that you tested the input lag (buffering) of the monitors this time around. I am unfortunate enough to be able to see and feel the difference on my mom's 2405fwp (hence why I haven't bought an LCD for myself). It would have been nice to see the monitors compared to a better baseline ie: a CRT monitor to get a more repeatable measurement. It'd also be nice to see get an actual response lag range like http://www.behardware.com/articles/647-4/which-22-...">BeHardware does.Thanks again Anandtech. :)
Chadder007 - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
On the color gradients....I don't understand how its supposed to look. It is supposed to look smooth throughout the colors going from dark to lighter? Or is it supposed to have a blocked look to the colors in sections?...or is that what is called banding?JarredWalton - Sunday, March 11, 2007 - link
It should be smooth, so the blocks are indeed banding. Without calibration, the banding tends to be a lot worse on some of the displays (particularly the Gateway FPD2485W).Den - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
What is interesting to me is that if you are not willing to spend an extra $200 on a color calibration device, the cheap Acer has FAR better colors than any of the more expensive panels that have been reviewed here so far. Indeed, since 99% plus of people don't have a calibration device, I think this should be weighed far more heavily than the calibrated values. (Obviously, professionals who do have a device will reverse this weighting, but for the rest of us...) Also, could AnandTech make their calibrated color profiles available for the rest of us to download? I realize there is some panel to panel variation so it would not be perfect for every owner of the same display, but for most I think it would be far better than the factory default.JarredWalton - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
I agree that the uncalibrated results are important, but at the same time I think most people will be okay with even Delta E of 6.0 if they don't know any better. Your eyes and brain are generally happy with what they see, whether or not it's 100% accurate. I've used a Dell 2405FPW for a long time without proper calibration and it never bothered me; now that I have a colorimeter, I suppose I'm seeing more "true" colors, but if I were to just walk up to a display and try to judge it it would be hard to say how it performs. For image professionals, a colorimeter should be standard equipment; for everyone else... unless the display is *really* bad, other aspects probably carry at least as much weight. The viewing angles, for example, normally don't bother us much, but the Acer panel clearly has a much narrower viewing arc.And since you asked, here's a link to the <a href="http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/monitor/2007/a...">http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/mon...ndtechCo... profiles</a> for all of the monitors, including both the print and standard profiles. The settings used for calibration are listed in the file names. Obviously, these are targeted at the panels we have, but as a baseline others may find them somewhat helpful. Cheers.
JarredWalton - Saturday, March 10, 2007 - link
Let me try that link again. :)http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/monitor/2007/a...">Downloadable Color Profiles
anandtech02148 - Wednesday, April 4, 2007 - link
This is very helpful Jarred, these files save us some time if we plan to invest in these monitors, it's already obnoxious to spend 600buxs on a monitor and another 1-2hr calibrating, such little details is mind boggling, and manufacture reset is not that great. Maybe they should hire a professional calibrator like yourself.