AOC’s Graphic Pro U3 monitors want to show you what you’re missing

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. Those words were originally spoken by someone more concerned with slinging bullets than pixels and Pantones, but when it comes to producing world-class content, it doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting in a professional studio or your bedroom: a colour-accurate monitor can give you a winning advantage. Enter the AOC Graphics Pro U3 Series.

As the name suggests, the Graphics Pro U3 family is designed to provide the perfect canvas for photographers, artists, designers and content creators of all types. That means guaranteed colour accuracy; 98% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, DisplayHDR 400 support and Calman Ready certification for professional-class hardware calibration.

Housed in a stylish frameless design with a unique stand that’s earned a Red Dot Design Award, the Graphics Pro U3 monitors also integrate all the connectivity you might expect – including a USB-C hub – as well as a fully adjustable stand.

Currently, there are three models in the range: a 27in QHD model equipped with a Quantum Dot IPS panel, and a pair of 4K models (27in and 31.5in) with the latest Nano IPS panels. Read on and we’ll explain a little more about all the key features.

AOC Graphics Pro U3: At a glance

• Q27U3CV – 27in | QHD 75Hz | Quantum Dot IPS panel | ~£300
• U27U3CV – 27in | 4K 75Hz | Nano IPS panel | ~£400
• U32U3CV – 31.5in | 4K 75Hz | Nano IPS panel | ~£548

Browse the Graphics Pro U3 range at AOC

1. Colour-accurate and Calman Ready

Having a monitor that’s colour accurate means you can trust what you see on screen – if you’ve picked the perfect shade of orange and the perfect pink, then that’s what you want your audience, clients and customers to see. AOC’s Graphics Pro U3 monitors deliver exactly that. They provide guaranteed colour accuracy – every monitor is tested at the factory to ensure a Delta E of less than 2 – and they reproduce over 98% of the DCI-P3 gamut.

The Graphics Pro U3 Series goes one step further with Calman Ready certification. This means they can be calibrated to display perfectly natural colours, from the darkest to the brightest tones, with Calman software and a supported third-party colorimeter or spectrophotometer. This allows everyone from keen amateurs to exacting professionals to calibrate the panels to the highest level of colour accuracy.

Naturally, this precision needs to go hand in hand with versatility, and here the Graphic Pro U3 range provides preset picture modes for the sRGB, Display P3, DCI-P3, DCI-P3 (D50), Adobe RGB, Adobe RGB (D50), Rec. 2020 and Rec. 709 colour spaces. This kind of flexibility is key: content creators need to be able to both trust their monitor and define the correct palette of colours for any given project.

For instance, designers creating for the web may want to work in the sRGB colour space; photographers or art directors optimising for print will want to work with a wider Adobe RGB gamut, and video producers will want to be able to pick between Rec. 709, DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 depending on the project.

2. A superior type of calibration

While many monitors claim to be colour accurate, the awkward truth is that this doesn’t last – as LCD panels and backlights age, their colour response slowly shifts, becoming less and less accurate over time. This is where colour calibration becomes essential – if you want to be able to trust that the colours and shades you see on screen are tone perfect, then you need to regularly calibrate your monitor to ensure the highest levels of accuracy.

All monitors can be calibrated if you have a colorimeter and suitable software to hand – something known as software calibration – but while this can improve accuracy, it doesn’t get the absolute best out of the panel. In fact, it actually reduces the range of colours and shades that a monitor can reproduce.

Hardware calibration, on the other hand, precisely adjusts the monitor’s colour response on a hardware level. This allows it to produce specific, highly precise shades of colour – and without losing any of the panel’s performance in the process. This is known as 1D/3D-LUT profiling and it ensures that you can harness every possible shade of colour from your monitor.

The benefit of hardware calibration is two fold: you can check and recalibrate regularly to ensure the perfect colour reproduction as the panel ages; and the calibration is stored on the monitor itself. Once the monitor is calibrated, it’s colour accurate for every user, every operating system and every connected device.

Browse the Graphics Pro U3 range at AOC

3. Connectivity that makes work simpler

When time is of the essence, the right connectivity can make all the difference. Suffice to say, we’re huge fans of USB-C monitors here at Expert Reviews, as the single-cable simplicity makes life so much easier. Sensibly, the Graphics Pro U3 Series combines USB-C connectivity with both hub features and KVM switch functions for quickly swapping between machines.

USB-C is the perfect fit for modern laptops. Even slimline laptops these days can provide astonishing levels of performance, but the same can’t be said for connectivity, which is often in short supply. Thankfully, a single USB-C cable can carry both 4K images and rapid-charge your laptop with 96W of power delivery. It can also power up an integrated USB hub.

Even the most affordable Graphics Pro U3 model adds a trio of USB-A ports and a further USB-C output with 15W charging capability. Helpfully, a handful of these ports are positioned on the monitor’s left-hand edge, alongside the 3.5mm headphone output, so you can quickly attach external disk drives or charge a smartphone without having to reach around the back of the monitor – or scrabble under your desk with a torch pointed at your desktop PC.

Standard video inputs include HDMI and DisplayPort, with every model having a secondary DisplayPort output for daisy-chaining a second monitor – again, another boon for port-starved laptops. If your work sees you flitting between multiple machines for content creation and video production, you can connect multiple devices for reliable, colour-accurate performance.

4. Award-winning design – and ergonomic features for perfect posture

While most of us are focused on what’s on the screen itself, it’s always nice to have a monitor that looks good from any angle – and that’s easy to adjust so that you can work comfortably, without worrying about aches and pains.

The Graphic Pro U3 family all share the same two-tone T-shaped stand and four-sided frameless bezel design, and it’s safe to say that it looks suitably high-end – more so than you might expect given the RRP.

The good looks don’t leave the ergonomic priorities behind, however. The stand provides a full range of movement, with 150mm of height adjustability, tilt and swivel in addition to a pivot mode for using the monitor in portrait orientation. What’s more, integrated sensors automatically detect when you flip the monitor around into portrait mode, automatically rotating your desktop to suit.

Browse the Graphics Pro U3 range at AOC

5. An on-screen display that makes your life easier

Being able to quickly swap between supported colour spaces, gamma and colour temperature settings is a boon for content creators. AOC has completely redesigned the on-screen display for its Graphic Pro monitors, making it both simpler to adjust and check current settings at a glance.

Tap the menu button, and the interface gives you an immediate at-a-glance overview of the current brightness setting, picture preset, colour space, dynamic range and resolution. It might not sound like much, but it’s a crucial quality-of-life improvement: as anyone that’s battled back and forth through a poorly laid-out monitor menu just to check multiple settings will attest.

The Graphic Pro U3 range is available now at Amazon, Overclockers and Currys.