Sometimes, less is more, but not always. The AOC e2243FW ($149 list) is easily one of the thinnest monitors to make its way into the labs, but its feature set is even leaner. At just under $150 it's certainly affordable, but considering its relatively small 21.5-inch screen, AOC should have equipped it with an HDMI port, at the very least. It does a good job of displaying small text and delivers smooth video, but its grayscale performance could be better.

The first thing you'll notice about the e2243FW is its extremely thin profile. At 0.50 inches thick it is the slimmest monitor to pass though our labs and is a hair thinner than the Asus ML248H ($209.99 list, 3.5 stars) (0.60 inches). The 21.5-inch TN+ panel has a maximum resolution of 1,920-by-1,080 and is housed in a glossy black cabinet. It sits atop a matching round base containing a very stiff tilt hinge, but lacks height, swivel, and pivot adjustability. However, the base can be folded back (90-degrees) should you choose to mount the monitor on a wall.

You won't find any ports or buttons on the cabinet. Instead, the two video inputs (DVI and VGA) are built into the base. This model lacks an HDMI port, unfortunately, and it doesn't have any speakers or USB ports either. To make matters worse, AOC does not include a DVI cable in the box (but you do get a VGA cable). At the top of the base are four touch-sensitive function buttons and a power switch. The function buttons provide easy navigation through the various on-screen menu items, which use large, colorful icons and a text label to identify each function. In the Luminance menu you can set contrast, brightness, gamma, and dynamic contrast levels. There's also an Eco mode with six settings (Standard, Movie, Game, Sports, Text, and Internet). The Color Temp. menu offers five temperature settings including Warm, Cool, sRGB, Normal, and User (which allows you to create your own color temperature profile).

As with the AOC 2218Ph ($349.99 list, 3.5 stars), this model offers Picture Boost and Color Boost controls. Picture Boost is an interesting feature that allows you to isolate a portion of the screen image in a frame and manipulate brightness and contrast properties within the frame only, without affecting the rest of the picture. Color Boost lets you enhance skin tones and boost green and blue color saturation.

Performance was a mixed bag. The e2243FW had no trouble displaying each step of the DisplayMate Color Scales test pattern, and color uniformity was generally good. Additionally, small text on the Scaled Fonts test was clean and easy to read. The e2243FW stumbled on the demanding 64-step Grayscale test, however. It was unable to display the three lightest shades of gray, resulting in a significant loss of highlight detail on my test photos. Dark grayscale performance was only slightly better. The weak grayscale performance won't be all that noticeable while performing everyday tasks like viewing web pages, creating documents, and burning CD/DVD projects, but if you plan to do some photo editing or other graphical work that requires a measure of grayscale accuracy, this monitor is not for you.

The lack of an HDMI port will probably have most gamers looking elsewhere for a monitor, but the e2243FW's 5-millisecond pixel response handled my gaming motion tests with relative ease. The PC version of Far Cry 2 played smoothly without any evidence of blurring or ghosting, and HD video from my desktop's Blu-ray player was crisp. High-definition image detail was good overall, although some of the darker scenes from the movie "The Boondock Saints" were a bit muddy, which I attribute to the panel's weak grayscale performance.

The e2243FW doesn't require much power but there are more energy efficient monitors out there, such as the Gateway FHX2402L, a 24-inch monitor that used only 16 watts. The e2243FW averaged 22-watts during my testing while operating in Standard mode. Switching over to Text mode lowered the wattage to 15 but the picture was too dark; Internet mode used 17 watts, and Game mode used 19 watts, but both modes were dim and not ideal for everyday use. Sports mode used 23 watts but the picture was oversaturated. Your best bet is to stay with Standard or Movie mode for the best overall picture as the energy savings does not justify the difference in picture quality.

Not everybody has the room or the money for a big screen monitor, which is why smaller models like the AOC e2243FW are still in demand. You don't get much in the way of features for your $150, and performance is not its strong suit either. That said, the e2243FW is a good fit for users with desktop space constraints and meager spending budgets, as long as you can live with subpar grayscale accuracy and narrow viewing angles. If you're willing to part with another 60 bucks or so, the Asus ML248H offers a bigger (24-inch) screen and comes with an HDMI port, and its grayscale performance is slightly better.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the AOC e2243FW with several other monitors side by side.

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