ASUS has announced its new Strix XG49VQ gaming monitor, a 3840x1080 resolution, super ultra-wide 49" curved monitor the company says is the ultimate immersive gaming experience. The display sports a 144 Hz refresh rate, meets the DisplayHDR 400 certification, supports Radeon FreeSync 2 HDR, as well as covering 90% of the DCI-P3 professional color gamut making this a solid, though likely expensive, option for high refresh rate gaming and increasing screen real estate.
The 3840x1080 (32:9) resolution provides the same viewing area as two 27" monitors side by side except without a gap or bezels splitting the view. This isn't a problem with productivity type use, but it can be in gaming. Ultra-wide gaming support has improved over the years. However, some titles still have issues and won't support it without stretching the image to fit. This stretching can take away from the immersion factor the large curved screen helps with.
The XG49VQ offers multiple inputs and picture-by-picture (PbP) support which lets the user watch up to three content sources at the same time. For example, users can play Xbox1 or PS4 Pro games and watch twitch streams at the same time. It also includes hotkeys for PbP to display different video sources side by side easily. Inputs include HDMI (2.0) DisplayPort (1.2), Dual USB 3.0 ports, an easy-access USB 3.0 port, as well as a headphone jack. The adjustable stand can swivel +/- 16°, adjusts height up to 120mm, as well as a +20/-5° tilt to put the monitor in the viewer's sweet spot.
The panel itself covers 90% of the DCI-P3 professional color gamut with 10-bit color depth coupled with ASUS' Shadow Boost technology said to improve details in dark areas without over-exposing bright areas. The XG49VQ also includes ASUS' proprietary backlight technology which is "custom-created and configured by ROG engineers." This technology includes additional LEDs and light-guide film to increase luminosity. The panel also has custom backlighting said to increase luminosity by over 10% (peak luminance is 450 cd/m2). ROG tests each monitor before shipping to ensure it passes DisplayHDR 400 Vesa certification.
The screen real-estate this single monitor provides is a plus for productivity allowing two 27-inch monitors worth of space at 1080p resolution and would be a pretty cool monitor to have when playing games, assuming the game supports this stretched resolution.
The ASUS XG49VQ is set to launch this month at around £999 in the UK.
Photo Credits: ASUS website
