The "other" VX2025 or: There is a glossy screen alternative...

S

ScYcS

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Messages
3,960
Just wanted to post something about a seemingly "forgotten" or unknown screen:

The Acer AL2051W. The AL2051W uses the exact same panel as the Viewsonic VX2025 LCD (AUO M201EW01 V0) . This means that the image quality, viewing angles, response rate etc. are identical.

I was looking into buying a Widescreen LCD and saw the hype over the VX2025 and thought to myself: I'll have a look before i buy. Ordered one for work (we needed one anyways) and judged it myself (connected via DVI to a nVidia 6600GT PCI-E). While I think the VX2025 is a nice monitor, i personally could not stand the sparkly coating.

Here came my rescue. The Acer AL2051W uses the same Panel but with a glossy screen (pretty much the same as the NEC when it comes to the "coating"). I ordered the screen (again through work; got a nice price with free shipping from PCConnection; $349) and low and behold, it is the screen i wanted. The quality of the Viewsonic panel but with the glossy coating instead of the sparkly anti-glare coating. On top, the Acer is a little more stylish....not that this matters to me much though.

Looking through this forum, it seems there is basically no talk at all about the Acer Screen. I wonder why. The price is comparable to the VX2025, the Panel is the exact same, same specs, everything. Good dead pixel policy as well from Acer (4 dead and can be returned; thank god i had none).

Anyways, just wanted to put this unit in a little spotlight since i bet there are people out there that are just as much annoyed by the coating on the VS as I am and would rather have the NEC equivalent.

Oh yeah, did I mention that it is the exact same panel as the Viewsonic?? ;)

PS: While our Viewsonic has the "x" shaped backlight bleeding, the Acer has no such thing....
 
Wow, nice. I'm the opposite (can't stand glossy screens), but I'm glad to see there's an alternative in this pricepoint. Great find. :)
 
I thought I would hate glossy until I was at the electronics store and saw about 20 LCD monitors. One stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was a 19" glossy NEC. I don't remember the model.

The glossy screen on the NEC just allowed this monitor to show such contrast, sharpness and gorgeous color. If it looks like thisI don't blame you, and I hope more go glossy.
 
Yup, that's the same. NEC calls is Opticlear, Acer calls it Crystalbrite, but they're essentially the same.
 
Acer (and a few other laptop makers) have been putting crystalbrite technology on their lcds for quite some time now. It really makes the world of a difference. But then again, its one of those things you can do without, but once you have it you don't want to go back.
 
This 'glossy coating'...is it reflective? The room my computer is in has a lot of windows and when I had a CRT I couldn't even use the thing during the daytime due to the reflections. Now my LCD screen is a matte one and I have no probs during the daytime.
 
silentsammy said:
This 'glossy coating'...is it reflective? The room my computer is in has a lot of windows and when I had a CRT I couldn't even use the thing during the daytime due to the reflections. Now my LCD screen is a matte one and I have no probs during the daytime.
Click to expand...


Yes it is. I knew that from the very beginning though. I have no problems during any time of the day due to the location of my rig. Previously, before we moved into our new home, i had a L90D+ (same coating as VX2025 basically) and i couldn't see jack during daytime because my computer was in an unfortunate location. This time i chose a better screen and adjusted the location of the rig accordingly. Makes me much happier.
 
Is this Acer AL2051W a better monitor than Acer AL2032WA? both have the same size and resolution.
 
Hard to tell what you get for panels these days. Especially for Acer,Benq,Dell (all the same manufacturer):

http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.php. If this was accurate, I would say the 2032 was better, but it sounds like it may be opposite. Who knows. These manfuactures seem to swap panel almost randomely.

Acer AL2032wa (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms (g2g) P-MVA eller et 16 ms S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

Acer AL2051Ws (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms TN panel.
 
Well, the AL2051W is not a TN panel, it's P-MVA. The website you quoted there is simply wrong.....there was a mixup on Acers website when they released this monitor at first. It was stated to be a 2015 and not 2051. That might have lead to these confusions over the panels.
 
*Cough* *cough* I seem to recall telling you (ScYcS) this a while ago ;) .

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1055208

Here was what I said at the time:

"The most important thing I can say is that the info on the Acer homepage is wrong to the best of my knowledge. It says the monitor is TN, however, there is no TN panel that meets the specs that I can find, the panel has been identified by reviewers as a P-MVA AUO panel (which checks out as the only panel from LG, Samsung or AUO that meets the specs) and the viewing angles are very good, even from below the monitor which is very un-TN-y.

The panel it uses according to lesnumeriques/behardware is the same as the panel used by the Viewsonic VX2025. The main difference is that the Viewsonic has a frosty antiglare coating, while the Acer has CrystalBrite, aka a glossy coating.

In DVI mode the monitor is great. I got one dead pixel near the edge, took me a couple days to see it. There is no banding or ghosting that I can see and backlight bleeding isn't a problem. The blacks are very black(the most striking thing moving from a TN monitor) and the colours are nice. Everything is very clear and crisp. It comes with all the cables needed and has a built-in speaker that I'll never use.

Unfortunately the DVI connection is loose, I only just got the monitor a few days ago so I've been unable to determine whether it's the cable or the DVI port. I've been running in VGA mode which is still very sharp but I've noticed a sort of strobe effect while playing videos( or working on similiarly dark backgrounds) in VGA mode that I never seen in DVI.

All in all, the image is very good, the best I've seen but then I haven't seen the new IPS monitors. The glossy coating gives a nice sleek look but shows up marks, have some screen cleaner on stand by. The price was good (the BenQ was the only 20" cheaper in Ireland), however I'm not that happy with the build quality. The neck pivot was too tight, the VGA mounting screws not tight enough and the DVI cable/DVI port has a loose connection. The first two are minor, time will tell with the third."
 
And indeed that's why i bought the monitor...If you (Martel) would've not posted all the info, i would have never even known about this unit.
 
ScYcS said:
And indeed that's why i bought the monitor...If you (Martel) would've not posted all the info, i would have never even known about this unit.
Click to expand...

I'm glad your happy with it, I'd hate to give something a positive review only for that review to lead somebody to make a mistake.

The big question is, why do Acer advertise the monitor as being of an inferior panel type. I e-mailed them before getting the monitor and they said it was TN, I then e-mailed them afterwards saying I was 99% sure it wasn't. Can they not be bothered checking, are the web site guys slow on the uptake or is it a purposeful thing to keep the 2051 distanced from the 2032 quality wise.
 
I'm not sure about this either. My guess is that the website guys are simply slow. No drivers for this panel yet either (not that they're needed really).

It's however not a TN for sure. I can view the picture from angles impossible for TN panels. Also the color / black reproduction is FAR superior to my TN panel.

Overall i would rate this monitor 8.5/10 so far. I take 1.5 points off for scaling/speakers. Other than that, this panel is almost perfect in every regard, coming close to the NEC in image quality (but only close....the NEC is still a class of it's own i guess). Better than the VX2025 for sure as far as i can tell from here.

What color/contrast/brightness settings do you use?
 
Can't remember the colour settings, but the brightness was at full when I got it and was too bright IMO, lowered it to 85 I think.
 
deb0 said:
Good info. I'm back and forth between the Viewsonic vp2030b, Acer Al2051ws and NEC 20WMGX2.

Of course the NEC leaves nothing to think about other than the price. I'm still on the fence with these more affordable models, scared about fps gaming performance.

Great info. Here is a sale on the Acer model: 300/w rebate:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1962526&Sku=A179-2002
Click to expand...

I would jump on that deal, but on the site it says it has anti-glare coating. I may go out to the outlet store and check it out.
 
I think they treat the glossy coat with some anti-glare stuff but it's not visible at all. The surface is smooth as a baby's butt.
 
I think I'm going to order this one - any reason to buy the Acer F-20 over the AL2051? For picture quality and speed I mean?

I just can't justify another $280 for the NEC. To my Finance Minister I mean - I don't need to justify it to myself. :)
 
so there is a VX2025 and a VX2025VM ?

cause my vx2025vm doesnt have the glossy coating.....
 
MrGuvernment said:
so there is a VX2025 and a VX2025VM ?

cause my vx2025vm doesnt have the glossy coating.....
Click to expand...

No, there's only one Viewsonic, and it has the anti-glare coating which I don't like.

I was talking about Acers.
 
This monitor sounds great for $350. Hell, you could buy two of these for the price of the 2407.
 
Varmint said:
No, there's only one Viewsonic, and it has the anti-glare coating which I don't like.

I was talking about Acers.
Click to expand...


mine doesnt....... weird.
 
I'm not sure why this board is so anti acer. At least when it comes to LCD's. I just picked one of these up, after having the other acer 20 incher. This LCD is incredible!! The glossy screen makes all the difference. The colors are much better, it reminds me of the good ol CRT days. I'm having trouble though, I'm not able to run it at native rez its makes the desktop too big and it runs off the screen. I have a crappy old ATI card in my laptop, but it worked fine with the other Acer I had at the same rez. here are a couple pics
mon3.jpg

mon2.jpg

mon1-1.jpg
 
This board's not anti-Acer, it's just that not many have experience with them. Those who have them seem to love em by as high a rate as the NEC.

At Compusa, I think even the 19" VGA Acer wide looks pretty good. And their glossy laptop screens look great. I just wish I could see one of the newer Acers in person (F-20 or AL2051).
 
Acer said:
They still seem to like the viewsonic better.
Click to expand...

BeHardware hates glossy screens. I like them, so their reviews aren't very helpful.
 
MrGuvernment said:
Varmint said:
No, there's only one Viewsonic, and it has the anti-glare coating which I don't like.

I was talking about Acers.
Click to expand...

mine doesnt....... weird.
Click to expand...

It does. I presume you just don't know what we're talking about yet. It's not a glossy layer, it's a matte layer. However, there's a "screendoor" effect when viewing bright colours, especially up close, and you can see a "sparkly" colour distortion akin to seeing something through a screendoor. Some people notice it instantly, others don't. Then again, some wear glasses and some don't - some have better eyes etc. Not to say that everyone who doesn't notice it have poor eyes, but for the record, its very noticable to me and I don't wear glasses and tend to have a pretty good eye for detail. YMMV.
 
Varmint said:
BeHardware hates glossy screens. I like them, so their reviews aren't very helpful.
Click to expand...

Although they say it like 5 times throughout the review that they don't recommend it due too its poor color-reproduction.

They also say that the glossy screen makes the colors look more vivid but not correct.
Sure it's a matter of prefrerence but we all have to compare to the real world somwhere right?

Although I'm not as sure of it myself. The test didn't show that the acer had bad color reproduction. And I'm stuck between this one and the VX2025WM.

Althoug theres quite a big price-differencet between them here (about $180 more for the acer).

And behardware applaud the design of the Acer.. I really think that VX2025WM is far better looking but I might change my mind when I see them IRL. The VX2025WM didn't look that exciting before I saw it IRL either (not that it looks stunning IRL but better than on pictures atleast, in my opinion).


I'm afraid that imput-lag might drive me crazy so thats a big issue for me. Unfortnuately I haven't seen any measurements on either the AL2051W or VX2025WM.
 
The Acer is ass ugly. Not that the viewsonic is exactly aesthetically pleasing either, but the stand on the Acer is quite unpleasant looking. The way the controls are positioned is annoying as well.

The Acer also seems to lack the color reproduction and overall image quality that the VX2025WM has, probably due to subpar electronics that drive the panel. I've said it before and I'll probably have to say it again; It doesn't make a damn bit of difference if it's the same panel if the electronics driving that panel are different.

The good thing about the Acer is as has been said many times before the glossy exterior fascia on the panel and the lack of the weird AG coating that the Viewsonic has. I find that the Acer shows the "X-Pattern" backlight leak a lot less than the Viewsonic and this is probably due to the fact that the AG coating used on the Viewsonic tends to scatter the backlight in an awkward manner.
 
I'd post my review of the Acer 2051W I ordered, but since the a-hole UPS driver refuses to leave the package, and refuses to leave a notice on where I can pick it up or reschedule, I still haven't gotten it, 10 days after ordering mine. UPS blows.
 
Varmint said:
I'd post my review of the Acer 2051W I ordered, but since the a-hole UPS driver refuses to leave the package, and refuses to leave a notice on where I can pick it up or reschedule, I still haven't gotten it, 10 days after ordering mine. UPS blows.
Click to expand...
Definitely looking forward to your review.

If possible, please include some screenshots of games and let us know what you think of the text in windows (is it crisp and clear, easy to read, etc)
 
jook said:
It does. I presume you just don't know what we're talking about yet. It's not a glossy layer, it's a matte layer. However, there's a "screendoor" effect when viewing bright colours, especially up close, and you can see a "sparkly" colour distortion akin to seeing something through a screendoor. Some people notice it instantly, others don't. Then again, some wear glasses and some don't - some have better eyes etc. Not to say that everyone who doesn't notice it have poor eyes, but for the record, its very noticable to me and I don't wear glasses and tend to have a pretty good eye for detail. YMMV.
Click to expand...


i know of glossy screens, but i was thinking like the above Acer has, a clear glossy coating that reflects light if in a well lit room a "shiny" coating, which mine does not have, i was not aware there was another type of "glossy" coating.
 
MrGuvernment said:
i know of glossy screens, but i was thinking like the above Acer has, a clear glossy coating that reflects light if in a well lit room a "shiny" coating, which mine does not have, i was not aware there was another type of "glossy" coating.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the glossy coating enhances glare, while the anti-glare coating reduces it.

The anti-glare coating, at least on the Viewsonic, gives the screen a dirty look, like it's got dust on it.

UPS screwed me again last night - so now today I hope to get my Acer finally.
 
MrGuvernment said:
Thanks for the clarification :)

now go shoot up the UPS offices!
Click to expand...

I'm loading my spare magazines as we speak. :)

Not that I'll need em, there's just one overworked old guy in the office with hair like the Doc from Back to the Future.
 
Finally got the 2051W from the UPS idiots!

First comment - zero dead pixels! Pixel buddy found a couple but they were just dirt, or maybe rubbing the screen with the towel activated them?

So far it looks great! Will post pics tomorrow. :)
 
Well, I haven't figured out what settings to use to get good screen shots, guess I need a tripod cause the shutter speed is in the single digits.

Anyway, for what it's worth. The colors are off on the 2nd shot.

The screen's not super glossy like the Sonys, and I've never seen a 2007WFP in person, but I like it better than the 2407 Dell I've seen, there's a bit less of the screen door effect. Backlighting is minimal, the black screen is just black. Will try games later.



 
Oh, and for viewing photos, this monitor is fantastic. Colors look natural to me - I know cause I took a bunch of pictures in the mountains this weekend, and viewing them on the Acer they look photorealistic. They don't look oversatured at all. Every bit as good as my Sony CRT.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top