Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Closed

Asus PB287Q 28-Inch 4K Monitor Review: Ultra HD For $650

Tags:
  • Asus
  • Monitors
  • Tom's Hardware Top Picks
  • Display
Last response: in Reviews comments
Share
May 27, 2014 6:04:05 AM

We've seen plenty of buzz about the beauty of gaming at 3840x2160. Up until now, though, that meant spending several grand on a 4K monitor. Asus drives the price down to $650 with its 28-inch PB287Q. But are there sacrifices made in the process?

Asus PB287Q 28-Inch 4K Monitor Review: Ultra HD For $650 : Read more

More about : asus pb287q inch monitor review ultra 650

a b C Monitor
May 27, 2014 6:29:11 AM

Great article and review! I do have a few questions that I hope the author can answer:

1) Is this monitor capable of higher than 60Hz refresh rates at lower resolutions? i.e. 2560x1440, 1920x1080, etc

2) Is the power unit completely internal, or is there a power brick required for operation?

3) Does the screen have a glossy or matte finish?

Thanks!
Score
1
May 27, 2014 7:05:05 AM

I would like to see the ROG SWIFT vs this screen.
Score
0
Related resources
May 27, 2014 7:34:37 AM

Great article, and way to go ASUS!

How much smaller is the windows print on this than a 27" 1440p monitor? I'm guessing the print on the ASUS is about 70-75% of the size of print on the 1440p. Probably too small for daily productivity use (unless you have eagle eyes), but it shouldn't really matter that much for gaming.

Overall it's amazing to see this performance this quickly at this price.
Score
0
May 27, 2014 7:38:29 AM

Man I want to see more 1200p/1440p monitors. 4k Doesn't appeal to me because 1) It's too dang big, and 2) I don't want to spend another 1500$ on sli 780tis to run it.
Score
1
May 27, 2014 7:52:20 AM

Adroid - I currently own the samsung UD590 and a single 780 ti. It maxes out every game but crysis 3 at 4k. In fact, modded skyrim is still the most difficult game to to run and that's only because I'm limited to 3GB video RAM. I highly recommend considering one of these monitors.
Score
0
May 27, 2014 7:57:04 AM

Ninjawithagun said:
Great article and review! I do have a few questions that I hope the author can answer:

1) Is this monitor capable of higher than 60Hz refresh rates at lower resolutions? i.e. 2560x1440, 1920x1080, etc

2) Is the power unit completely internal, or is there a power brick required for operation?

3) Does the screen have a glossy or matte finish?

Thanks!


Monitors generally do not gain the ability to do extra Hz at lower resolutions; so no, it cannot.

I can't answer the power brick one I guess, but I would assume external. These monitors need a decent amount of power to run so the samsung one I own is an external brick.

It's a matte finish. So far no one is releasing this panel with a glossy finish (the samsung UD590 is semi-gloss)
Score
0
May 27, 2014 8:00:32 AM

This is the first monitor I've even considered since buying a 144Hz monitor (ASUS VG248QE, smoothest monitor by far). Pixel count is very important for games (or any application really) that rely on text, such as Eve Online.
Score
0
May 27, 2014 8:10:14 AM

yes it does do 60hz at lower resolutions. this does 60hz @ 4K, there is no reason why it couldnt do 60 hz at lower resolutions. The bandwidth is there and the panel is capable.
Score
0
May 27, 2014 8:43:49 AM

Ninjawithagun said:
Great article and review! I do have a few questions that I hope the author can answer:

1) Is this monitor capable of higher than 60Hz refresh rates at lower resolutions? i.e. 2560x1440, 1920x1080, etc

2) Is the power unit completely internal, or is there a power brick required for operation?

3) Does the screen have a glossy or matte finish?

Thanks!


Thanks for the compliment! To answer your questions:
1) It won't go higher than 60 Hz at any resolution.
2) The power supply is internal. There is no external brick.
3) The screen is closer to glossy than matte. The anti-glare layer is classified as light.

-Christian-
Score
0
May 27, 2014 8:51:05 AM

vertexx said:
Great article, and way to go ASUS!

How much smaller is the windows print on this than a 27" 1440p monitor? I'm guessing the print on the ASUS is about 70-75% of the size of print on the 1440p. Probably too small for daily productivity use (unless you have eagle eyes), but it shouldn't really matter that much for gaming.

Overall it's amazing to see this performance this quickly at this price.


Using pixel density, the equivalent font size on a 28-inch UHD monitor would be 30-percent smaller than on a 27-inch QHD screen. I used the monitor for several hours and text size was borderline for me. My vision is not great but I have excellent glasses to help me. If you're planning to use a UHD screen for productivity, the 32-inch models would be a better solution.

-Christian-
Score
0
a b C Monitor
May 28, 2014 6:35:19 AM

ceberle said:
Ninjawithagun said:
Great article and review! I do have a few questions that I hope the author can answer:

1) Is this monitor capable of higher than 60Hz refresh rates at lower resolutions? i.e. 2560x1440, 1920x1080, etc

2) Is the power unit completely internal, or is there a power brick required for operation?

3) Does the screen have a glossy or matte finish?

Thanks!


Thanks for the compliment! To answer your questions:
1) It won't go higher than 60 Hz at any resolution.
2) The power supply is internal. There is no external brick.
3) The screen is closer to glossy than matte. The anti-glare layer is classified as light.

-Christian-


Christian, thanks for answering my questions! I am a bit disappointed regarding the lack of capability for higher refresh rates at the lower resolutions. The Seiki 39-inch 4K TV is capable of 120Hz refresh rates when used at the 1920x1080 resolution (made possible through a firmware update), so I was a bit surprised that a name brand monitor is not able to do the same. I guess we are just going to have to wait until next year when TVs and monitors will be equipped with Displayport 1.3, which is capable of 4K @ 120Hz :D 
Score
0
May 28, 2014 6:47:14 AM

ceberle said:
vertexx said:
Great article, and way to go ASUS!

How much smaller is the windows print on this than a 27" 1440p monitor? I'm guessing the print on the ASUS is about 70-75% of the size of print on the 1440p. Probably too small for daily productivity use (unless you have eagle eyes), but it shouldn't really matter that much for gaming.

Overall it's amazing to see this performance this quickly at this price.


Using pixel density, the equivalent font size on a 28-inch UHD monitor would be 30-percent smaller than on a 27-inch QHD screen. I used the monitor for several hours and text size was borderline for me. My vision is not great but I have excellent glasses to help me. If you're planning to use a UHD screen for productivity, the 32-inch models would be a better solution.

-Christian-


Thanks for answering - that was about what I had estimated. And my guess is a 32-inch TN panel would start to distort more at the edges. No doubt this is good news for gaming though (or more correctly, great news for high-end video card sales!).

Of course it also means that Tom's will need to start including UHD resolutions in high-end GPU tests - i.e. Tell Don W. that he needs to include a Best Gaming GPU (or GPUs) for UHD...
Score
0
!