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AOC has come up with a rather impressive little monitor in the new Verafino 22-inch TV, crafting a device that looks snazzy, performs admirably in a number of different tasks and is relatively cheap.

The Verafino makes a good first impression, and at press time can boast of being the world’s slimmest monitor in its class at only 1.9cm deep. Certainly there’s little to dislike about the piano-black finish and the clean lines. The monitor includes an oval bezel, and is capable of being easily mounted on a wall. On the downside, there’s no way to adjust the monitor up or down to suit.

But it’s image quality that will be the real drawcard for the AOC Verafino. It’s full HD with a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is a good start, and in a monitor that costs just $399, that will be its primary selling point.

The picture itself is crisp and bright, with the claimed dynamic contrast ratio of 60,000:1 ensuring that whites are relatively intense while blacks are sharp and clean.

With 16.7 million colours, colour representation is rich and complex without tending towards oversaturation. There’s little distortion around the edges of the screen, although you might notice some very slight vignetting.

With its response time of 5ms, blurring, ghosting and flickering aren’t issues either, even in fast-moving scenes, which would make this screen a fine option for gamers.

Indeed, one of the V22t’s great selling points is its versatility, meaning that it works equally well as a gaming screen, a computer monitor or, with its built-in tuner, a television.

It’s pretty impressive in terms of energy efficiency, too, using only 30 watts while running.

There are a few things missing, however. While the Verfino is generally well sorted for connections (RF inputs, analogue RGB, YPbPr connectors, S-Video, SVGA) there’s just a single HDMI input, which is unusual these days. It’s also unfortunate that a digital tuner hasn’t been included, meaning you’ll have simple old-fashioned fuzzy TV unless you spill for the set-top box

While the two-watt speakers included with this V22t are a functional addition to the monitor, they’re a bit tinny for a great audio-visual experience.

But these are mere quibbles. The AOC Verfino V22t is an affordable, versatile, well-designed and sturdy HD screen that delivers on the essentials.