Acer AL2021MS
If other screens moved from the professional to the general public category simply because of a price reduction, this isn’t necessarily the case for the AL2021M. Its shape, colors, and LED are closer to standard monitors available from supermarkets. But are the capabilities up to expectations? Is gaming possible with this screen?
Ergonomics
The AL2021M is a classic screen. The grey and black body correspond to the current trend (we’re even bored seeing so many in gray and black), the plastic finishing touches are just enough and the stand is non-adjustable.
There are two good points, however: the choice between DVI and analogical input and cables are channelled behind the screen to avoid desk clutter.
The stand is 20 cm wide.
Color qualityThe OSD is sober and easy to understand, but not necessarily easy to use. This isn’t due to the OS itself but rather to the control button. Controls are invisible to the user, because they are located under the monitor and therefore all adjustments are made blindfolded. Initially you may take some time in finding the control knobs, but this is quickly worked out.
Our impressions concerning the monitor’s design is the same for colors. It’s destined for the general public. Instead of the usual pre-established color temperatures, there are only three options; “cold”, “hot” and “user”. These terms corresponds to ‘red predominant” “blue predominant” and “user”. We would have preferred the usual 9300K, 6500K and 5000K, which are more accurate than just “hot” or “cold”.
Calibration at 6500K with a gamma of 2.2 further tells us that graphic artists aren’t the targeted buyers of this product. Intermediate color quality is perfect and black is good enough for the eye, but not for an image professional as it lacks depth. Black is at 0.57 cd/m². To give you an idea the Sony SDM-S204H’s black attains 0.20 cd/m².
How to interpret the graph?The X axis is 0 to 100, 0 is black and 100 is white.
When Delta E > 3 the desired colors is noticeably different from the one on the screen.
When 1 < Delta E < 2 colors are accurate. When Delta E < 1, the result is perfect.
The color scale graph shows how many colors the monitor is able to display, and not if they are necessarily accurate.
This graph’s only purpose is to see if the monitor is able to go as far as a standard CRT. It does as the reference Mitsubishi CRT’s results and the ACER LCD are superimposed in several areas. This doesn’t mean that color quality is equivalent. The CRT Mitsubishi works at 80 cd/m² and the Acer AL2021MS at 227 cd/m². The latter is clearly brighter and advantageous if you are working in a lighted room.
Viewing anglesLike many VA monitors, viewing angles are very wide. Even former CRT owners will be pleased to see that this monitor deals easily with reflections. The panel filters are efficient and direct and indirect light sources aren’t reflected on the screen.
Looking at the screen from the side (more than 90°) reduces the red level and looking from the top or bottom the screen lightens colors slightly.
Our conclusion is that it’s perfect in this area!
InterpolationHere it doesn’t do as well as the previous section. In fact, it’s simply worse than usual. There is a noticeable blurring if a game or an application isn’t in the standard 1600 x 1200 resolution.
Games
This screen provided excellent results in tests with World of Warcraft amongst others. With management and strategy games, reactivity doesn’t matter.
It was however impossible to play UT2004. Perhaps we are too demanding, but after a few minutes we didn’t like so many blurred images, light trails and picture breaks. This definitely isn’t a hardcore gamer’s monitor (or one for occasional FPS players).
Video
The good colors revealed with our colorimeter were visible in the video test and the picture was quite pleasant. Our fear was that the slow response time would be obvious in action movies, but it isn’t. This panel is faster than many other VAs and it’s reactive enough for characters. Afterglow isn’t particularly disturbing. However, the screen scintillates stronger than many other VA panels. This effect quickly becomes unnoticeable, but it is surprising for a standard 8 bit monitor. It is however not as strong as the LaCie screen.
Verdict
Take a look at this manufacture’s dead pixel policy by clicking here! 
