In this AOC 27B1H review, we will have a look at one of the latest thin bezel monitors from one of the leading brands. AOC 27B1H is a budget 27 inch monitor with decent specs an affordable price tag. In this review we will have a look at its features as well as how it compares to 27 inch monitors from other brands.
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Size: 27 Inch
Resolution: 1920×1080
Refresh Rate: 75 Hz
Panel Type: IPS
Connections: VGA, HDMI
Response Time: 7 ms
SPEAKERS: NO
VESA: NO
Adaptive Sync: NO
AOC is one of the recommended brands for monitor by consumerreports.org. Although it is not as famous as Dell, HP or ASUS, their monitors receive very high score by experts as well as customers. Most of their monitors are within the budget category. However, some displays, especially gaming, can be quite expensive.
It should also be noted that AOC is one of the pioneers in manufacturing of the thin bezel monitors. Their monitors like AOC i2777fqa and AOC I2481FXH were some of the first monitors to go edge-to-edge before all the major brands followed in suit.
Similarly, AOC 27B1H is the latest iteration of a budget slim bezel monitor. Let us have a deeper look into its features.
AOC 27B1H Review in Detail
There is one thing clear about this display. This isn’t going to blow your mind with over the top features. This is a basic 27 inch monitor for those who are on a tight budget.
Design
The most outstanding feature of AOC 27B1H is the design. We know from past AOC products that they never compromise on the design aspect of their devices. Most, if not all, of their monitors are almost frameless. In fact, they were frameless even before this design trend picked up pace with the major brands.
AOC 27B1H has a gorgeous infinity display with a very narrow bezel. Couple that with a beautiful stand and you get a display that is very pleasing to the eye. The slim bezels allow you to place multiple monitors side by side and the price tag allows you to do so easily.
Display
AOC 27B1H uses a decent IPS panel. IPS panels stands for In Plane Switching. It is not a new technology but those who haven’t bought a monitor in the past few years will be delighted to see the difference it has to offer.
The older TN panels had a fast response time but did not offer rich colors. There are many qualities of IPS panels that a monitor can harbor. AOC 27B1H harbors the lower end version like most screen of this price category. While professional IPS panels offer widest color coverage, they also cost a lot more.
Furthermore, AOC 27B1H offers an average 7 ms grey to grey response time. There is nothing fancy about this. High end IPS panels tend to offer 5 ms response time, however, none can offer 1 ms like the TN panels do.
Response time is generally something that the gamers are picky about. However, if you are not a competitive gamer, then you will almost never feel the difference.
The refresh rate is the normal 60 Hz. Although some budget monitor brands like Viotek, Sceptre tend to offer 75 Hz refresh rate, the difference is minimal. Also in order to utilize the entire 75 Hz refresh rate while gaming, you will need the hardware to support 75 frame rate.
Like all IPS panels, the IPS panel in AOC 27B1H also offers the widest viewing angles 178/178. Therefore, despite being a lower end version of IPS, it does not compromise on the viewing angles.
All in all, the features suggest that this monitor is suitable for casual work like writing text, surfing the web as well as casual gaming. One drawback is that it lacks adaptive sync feature like AMD FreeSync.
Ports/Other Features
AOC 27B1H does not offer a plethora of connectivity options. Being an affordable monitor, it only offers the most needed ports i.e HDMI and VGA.
Although it does not offer any speakers, there is an Audi-out port which can only be utilized if the display is connected via HDMI. Sound does not travel via the VGA port.
Other than that, there is nothing fancy about AOC 27B1H. It neither offers the AMD FreeSync Technology nor does it offer 99% of sRGB coverage.
What it does offer are a set of most functional features and no gimmicks. This brings the cost to bear minimum so you only have to spend your money on features that you will ever need.
Value for Money
This is what it all boils down to. How does AOC 27B1H fare against the competition?
To say that there are not cheaper 27 inch monitors in the market would be incorrect. However, within the latest generation of Displays from the major brands, nothing beats AOC 27B1H in the price tag.
If you are okay with older models you can look into Viewsonic VA2759-SMH which offers almost the same features as AOC 27B1H at a slightly cheaper price tag. However, the design is nowhere close to being aesthetically appealing.
You can also look into a much older monitor by BenQ. This does not offer IPS panel and instead features TN. Again, this is an older model utilizing older technology and thus costs much less.
Since AOC 27B1H is one of the latest monitor to hit the market, it would be only fair to compare it with the latest monitors of other major brands. In this case, you can look into HP 27er, HP Pavilion 27 inch, Dell S2715H etc but they are all much more expensive than AOC 27B1H.
If you are willing to be a bit adventurous and look into some lesser known brands you can check out Sceptre. In particular, you can have a look at Sceptre C278W-1920R. Despite being much cheaper, it offers so much more including a curved display, DisplayPort, and 75 Hz refresh rate.
AOC 27B1H Review Conclusion
AOC is one of the most respectable monitor brands that has been making affordable and great looking screens for a long time. This screen is one of the latest addition to their fleet of thin bezel monitors.
What sets this apart is that from all the major brands, this is the cheapest in this size category and yet it does not compromise on its looks.
If you are tight on budget or if you are looking for an affordable solution to multiple monitor setup then you will find AOC 27B1H quite appealing.