ASUS PB287Q True 4K Monitor Review

Introduction

Once upon a time a computer monitor was a separate thing to a television, with different requirements and different inputs. As the switch to flat panel displays alongside the increased media capabilities, and indeed popularity, of home consoles came to be, so the difference between a monitor and a television was blurred to the point that they overlap. In the home the major manufacturers have been pushing 3D as the technology of the future, and it's nearly impossible to buy a good quality panel that doesn't come with some form of nausea inducing 3D built in.

Those of us who understand technology though, we knew that the future wasn't gimmicky 3D but increased pixel density and higher resolutions. The difference between Standard Definition and High Definition is massive, even though we've all got used to it. So when the first 4K televisions appeared we salivated. We then saw the price of them and went to buy a lottery ticket. They were laughably expensive, with even an average model costing a years wages. Thankfully in the same way that HD displays have become almost cheap, so the price of 4K screens is slowly dropping.

Not content with dropping the price slowly, ASUS have come out of the gate with the PB287Q, a 4K display priced at a barely believable £600. That isn't much more expensive than a 2560x1440 monitor, except you're getting 3840x2160. A huge amount of screen space. Any of us who work in the digital content world require all the space possible, and if you're a gamer who requires nothing but the finest possible display, the PB287Q could be right up your alley.

Technical Specifications

It's difficult to not look at the specifications of the PB287Q and not be blown away. 28 inches of screen, 4K resolution at 60Hz (via Display Port), a pretty good 157 Pixels Per Inch and full 10 bit colour are enough to make anyone salivate. When you add to that a 1ms grey-to-grey response time, and kudos to ASUS for admitting it's GtG rather than black to white, and a stand that actually is adjustable, it's clear that no corners have been cut to hit that low price point.