AOC CU34V5CW

At first glance, it can be hard to find an interesting angle to AOC's CU34V5CW monitor, as even the name makes you want to let out a deep yawn. The truth may be that there isn't really a single feature here that directly impresses, that catches the eye, but that's not always what makes a given monitor a hot seller.

It costs around £360, and for that you get a slightly curvier 34" VA panel in 1440p (QHD) and a 21:9 ratio. That's actually not bad at all, and if you're short on screen space and want to expand your home office, you're actually getting quite a lot for your money.

More specifically, we're talking about a 1440p VA panel with FreeSync, 1500R rounding, 100Hz refresh rate and a brightness of well over 400-500 NITS on average. As a gaming monitor, it's neither fast enough nor bright enough to create memorable HDR, so the whole idea here is that the CU34V5CW is designed for office use, and here AOC has some cool extras here and there that make it stand out.

First of all, there's a built-in webcam at the top that supports Windows Hello if you're working on a PC. No, it's not as good as what you'll find in a MacBook Pro, for example, but the fact that you don't have to add one yourself is a benefit. There are also in-built 10W stereo speakers that are also not going to win any awards, but will work for a Zoom call or to play something work-related quickly.

There's Anti-Glare 3H that makes the display quite matte to look at, there's USB-C PD up to 65W, as well as four more USB ports, HDMI and DisplayPort, DC dimming and quite versatile height adjustment. No, not one of these features will put the CU34V5CW on the cover of The Verge, but all in all, it's a surprisingly useful office monitor that gives you what you need and then some.

It's undoubtedly the image quality that's compromised here. Now that I work on a Mac in the office, I haven't personally noticed it, as 100Hz, 1440p and slightly low brightness don't really affect me, and I appreciate the screen ratio, width and inbuilt webcam, but you can easily see that for the same price tag you can get more elsewhere.

But perhaps the point is that the CU34V5CW was designed as a mainstream, functional and versatile monitor for the office or home office, and there the sacrifices seem to make far more sense.