Welcome to our most bold and daring unboxing ever. This is the ASUS Designer
Series MX279. And what's bold and daring about our
unboxing of it is the fact that we're doing it outside pretty much in the
rain. Now, I didn't realize that this is just going to open up like this. I've
never seen an LCD box that's configured quite like this. So, let's have a look
at what they have to say for themselves on the outside of the box. First audio
is by Bang and Olison with their Ice Power technology. So there's two 3 W
speakers that are actually on the back of the monitor, but they use quite a
large speaker size in order to get deeper bass. Um it uses a frameless
design which is8 mm or 0.800
in or something like that uh for the frame. So we're going to show you that
after. It uses an IPS screen with
motion blur reduction technology that makes it suitable for gaming in spite of
the fact that it is IPS, not TN. An LED backlight, a 178 degree viewing angle,
and of course, a 5 millisecond response
time. So, let's check this out. First of
all, we've got ASUS's warranty card, which we're not going to worry too much
about. Next, we've got an HDMI to DVI
cable. This is an interesting inclusion and the reason they've done this is if
you want to come closer and have a look at the accessories, just yeah, pick it
up and come on over. Um, the reason they've done this is that the monitor
itself doesn't actually have a DVI
input. So, you'll run this DVI cable to your video card or other device and this
HDMI connection into the back of the monitor. So, that's why they that's why
they include that. They also include there we go, a VGA cable just in case
you're still using one of those, but please don't. This is such a beautiful monitor and it's just wasted. Uh just ah
utterly wasted on that 3 and 1/2 mm
audio connection. A power brick. So
there is no power supply built into the monitor itself. This is because it is so
slim that there wasn't enough room to even integrate this. And then a power
cable for that. Next up, we've got the ring which is actually modeled after
like kind of a a sund dial inspired design. So you guys are going to see
what I mean as soon as I open it up. It looks just like a sund dial. And then
the monitor sits forward on it like this. Uh it's got rubberized grips on
the bottom, so it's not going anywhere once you put it in place. And then
assembly looks like it's going to be super simple with one screw in the bottom that holds the entire monitor
onto the top. So let's go ahead and
enjoy the uniqueness of this packaging here, which has thrown me off a little
bit because I was not expecting it to be quite like this. You can see the monitor
itself is protected by a hard foam. So,
we've got about here, check this out. We've got about probably a little over
half an inch of foam protection around the outside of the box. However, monitor
packaging has gotten slimmer and lower profile as monitors have continued to
get slimmer and lower profile. And this monitor itself is actually not that
heavy. So, I don't expect it to be that much of an issue. So, this is what ASUS
means by frameless design. Check this out. There's the bezel. That's it.
That's all. The screen looks matte from here, but I think what we're going to
discover is that there is a Yeah, there's a covering over it. So, that
film protector I'm having a little bit
of trouble getting off. At least I hope that's a protective film. Come on.
Uh, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I just won't do that. We'll be
back in a moment. So, we got rained on out there. Either way, it looks like the
only removable plastic film is on the back, the front. Actually, the reason I
couldn't get it off is that it is an anti-glare coating. So, while ASUS has
used a single panel for the front of the monitor here, in order to make sure that
it's h very seamless and very smooth, they they've gone for the route where they don't want a super glossy single
panel. And they've put an anti-glare coating that is, I guess, protective as
well as reducing the uh the reflections
that makes it well, I mean, you can see, but you can't see a clear reflection of
my hand through the monitor. So, we're going to have to fire this up and see how it works. I'm I'm pretty excited to
check that out. In terms of the IO,
because the monitor again is so thin, this is so this is the same reason we
ended up with a design that has the
power brick external. Um, at the back you're going to see that there isn't
really much room to hide the inputs and
outputs. So on the back we find HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and VGA. The reason they've gone
with dual HDMI, I think, so this is just my guess is that that way you can easily
hook up like a computer and a game console and switch between them at your
convenience. VGA is just there for legacy. There is your line in as well as
headphones out if you don't want to use the integrated speakers and DC volume in
and a Kensington lock. The back is a gloss finish in contrast to the front
which is that matte finish. Uh, personally, I'd love to see less gloss
and more matte, but if they're going to put gloss somewhere, I'm glad that it's
on the back because when you look at the side of the monitor, you actually can
see again, it's matte. So, every part that you're going to be looking at is
going to be matte and so I it bothers me a lot less that way. Let's do a cell
phone size comparison. So, this is the HTC1. So you can see the monitor is
extremely slim and only bulges out a little bit towards the middle at the
back where the IO is and other than that maintains its sevelt
uh profile. Now,
okay, it should be noted guys that the actual picture doesn't go quite to the
edge. So there's about a pinky's width of space here where there isn't going to
be an actual image, but we'll maybe show you that in more detail once we've got
it fired up. So, the installation procedure, I'll just show you guys. ASUS
recommends putting it down on a table. I came up with the uh with the cardboard
idea myself because I'm not comfortable putting something like this directly
down on the table because the double-edged sword of having no bezel is
that, you know, you have no bezel. If you lay it down on something, you're basically laying it down almost flat on
the screen. Although, this bottom part here does protrude out a little bit. So,
it wouldn't be it wouldn't be quite just flat on the screen. So, there you go.
That's what it looks like. and we'll uh we'll fire it up in a moment and give
you guys our impressions. All the onscreen display uh controls are here
along the bottom. They are tactile buttons, so you can actually feel what
you're pressing. So, that gives you control of your brightness, your input,
your menu, as well as your splendid options. So, that's ASUS's feature that
allows you to pick different uh different picture profiles for it. And
then last but not least, it does have quick fit, which is a feature that we haven't seen on anything other than Pro
Art up till now, which puts grid lines on the screen, so you can easily um size
things up just by looking at