When it comes to styling, some might argue that Porsche has the best design team out there. Taking a classic look and constantly tweaking it to make it look totally different while yet looking so familiar. Porsche cars are a perfect mix of style and performance and when they partnered with AOC to create the Porsche design monitors it is only logical to expect a gaming monitor that combines the style and performance you would expect from a Porsche car, and blend it perfectly with the superb quality and performance of AOC. When you are looking for mid to high-end monitors, most brands tend to change up their designs as the price increases. The way they do this is generally with the aesthetical appeal so in the case of monitors they will use some fancy stand or add in RGB which might have you sitting with something that comes from an expressive art class.
Porsche Design and AOC had a very clear idea in mind when they designed the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 monitor. Porsche design is driven by a passion for purist design and an understanding of the symbiosis between form and function. It needs to capture attention and focus people’s gaze. This was evident in the design of the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27. Let’s take a closer look at the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 that not only has an extremely attractive design but has just as impressive a list of features…
Shall we go for a ride?
Specifications
Panel Type / Backlight | VA / W-LED, edge array |
Screen Size, Aspect Ratio & Curve | 27 inches / 16:9 |
Curve radius: 1000mm | |
Max Resolution & Refresh | 2560×1440 @ 240 Hz |
AMD FreeSync Premium Pro: 48-240 Hz | |
Native Color Depth & Gamut | 8-bit / DCI-P3 |
HDR10, DisplayHDR 400 | |
Response Time (MPRT) | 0.5 ms |
Brightness (mfr) | 550 nits |
Contrast (mfr) | 2,500:1 |
Speakers | 2x 5w, DTS-tuned |
Video Inputs | 2x DisplayPort 1.4 |
2x HDMI 2.0 | |
Audio | 3.5mm headphone output |
USB 3.2 | 1x up, 4x down |
Power Consumption | 34.6w, brightness @ 200 nits |
Design
With any item that is co-created and designed by a brand as renowned as Porsche Design, the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 instantly has your attention drawn to the very unique stand. Made from metal, and carrying quite a hefty weight, Porsche Design and AOC wanted the stand to remind us of a roll cage that is fitted to racing cars. While the stand, which is permanently fixed to the monitor, which means no mounting the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 to a VESA mount, is wonderful and a joy to look at, it does take up substantial space on a desk with a deep footprint of over 30cms.
The rest of the monitor has a brushed finish and is proudly adorned with the Porsche Design logo on the front. The bezels of the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 are a mere 8mm. On the rear at the right, there is a single joystick that is the single control for all the features and settings that can be found on the monitor.
Not only does the chrome-plated stand provide much of the eye-candy factor of the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27, but it also allows gives it a strong base to stand on. The stand allows for great ergonomics. The monitor is able to move up and down within a range of 15 cm. The monitor is also able to tilt 23degrees while swiveling 150 degrees. What makes these movements more impressive is exact, and the perfect amount of resistance these movements offer. I have yet to find a monitor that is as perfectly weighted as the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27.
To many gamers’ delight, the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 even features some RGB. Around the pivot of the monitor, there is RGB lighting as well as a Porsche Design logo that is projected down between the feet of the stand. Naturally, the RGB can all be customized via the onboard settings.
Performance and Features
Much like the Porsche cars, the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 has some serious tech under the “hood”. It boasts a 1440p VA Panel that is good for 240Hz, is capable of a 3000:1 contrast ratio, Adaptive-Sync, and HDR. If that mouthful doesn’t impress you then maybe the very aggressive 1000R curve and a 0.5ms response time, will. The Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 comes with two Display Port 1.4 and two HDMI 2.0 ports. The HDMI’s will only give you up to 144Hz as is standard for HDMI 2.0 and if you want to take the full function of the 240Hz goodness you will need to connect via DP1.4. The HDR10 and blur reduction are also only supported over the DP1.4 ports and will be good for up to 240Hz. The Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 also features a 3.5mm audio jack as well as five USB 3.2 ports, one for upstream and the other 4 for down. As if all of that is not enough there are also two, rather powerful, 5W DTS-tuned speakers built into the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 monitor. Although I am sure these will hardly ever be used.
With VA panels you are guaranteed to get great colors and brightness but often at the expense of overly bright blacks, with the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27, this is not the case. During our time spent, we played quite a bit of fast-paced games such as Rocket League, Warzone, and Biomutant, as well as other, more gritty and dark titles like Escape From Tarkov and Days Gone.
Compared to many of the other monitors we have reviewed in the past, the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 is the only one that comes to mind, where when turning on the HDR, that we did not want to, or have to change any settings. Normally we would need to play around with some of the settings to get it to the way we like, but the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 has its settings perfectly dialed in, to our liking at least.
Colorful games such as Biomutant and the vibrant and fast-paced Rocket League look splendid with the rich contrast really making games look stunning. The strong curve of the 1000R panel does wonders for immersion. This is boosted more by the fairly capable 5W speakers and an extremely robust equalizer accessible via the OSD. Thanks to the DTS tuning the speakers are able to create a fuller sound and thanks to some phase effects, even surround sound approximation sounded decent with plenty of bass while keeping voices crystal clear.
AOC implemented a feature called backlight strobing which should help with smearing especially when it comes to fast-paced titles and running them at 240Hz. We had to research this whole idea a bit before we attempted it and what we found was that at lower refresh rates, basically everything below 200Hz the MBR feature did a great job of keeping things crisp and clear but moving toward the 240Hz there was noticeable smearing happening.
Verdict
The Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 can easily be labeled as a case of “style over substance” but you would be so wrong. Yes, it carries a hefty price tag, and you could get a very capable 32-inch monitor for the same sort of money. But what the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 is is an extremely well-styled monitor, that is more of a feature in a gaming setup than just a monitor. Yes, we could get a 32 inch for the price, would it look as impressive as the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27? It most certainly would not.
The Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 has been winning in our books on looks alone, and to MANY people, 27-inch monitors are a perfect size, so if you take the perfect sized monitor, with jaw-dropping aesthetics, and squeeze a spectacularly curvy VA panel into it. Give it buttery-smooth 240Hz capabilities all at 1440p with HDR, there is very little I can say to deter you from this monitor!
In summary, the Porsche Design AOC Agon PD27 is arguably one of the best premium gaming monitors around with nearly no downside to speak of. If a stylish monitor, that is capable of looking good while performing wonderfully, then this is the monitor you need to showcase on your desk.
special thanks to AOC South Africa for the review content