ASUS PB287Q 4K Monitor - The One to Rule Them All
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
2,180 words · ~10 min read
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my review of the Samsung u28 590d marked
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the beginning of reasonably priced 4K displays but while the ASUS pb287q took
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an extra 6 weeks or so to arrive I guess
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it goes to show what a little bit more incubation time can do for a product
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because this is one heck of a
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monitor a global leader in Tech recruiting is celebrating Geek Pride by
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giving away 10 amazing Tech prizes for more info visit the modus Facebook page
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or modus.com this 28in display actually uses the same
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panel as the Samsung one that I just mentioned so that means that yes it is
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TN but with its th to1 contrast ratio
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and support for 10bit color using frame rate control dithering it's one of the
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best TN panels I've ever seen it is still not IPS so there's noticeable
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color and contrast shift when looking from the top or bottom and I even
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noticed a subtle color shift with pure whites turning a bit yellowish at the
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edges when using the monitor normally but frankly it's the kind of flaw you'll
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notice for a few hours then completely forget about unless you go looking for
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it once you're actually using the thing let's just put it this way ASUS thought
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it was good enough to put their PB branding on it and I agree with the
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decision that is to say the monitor looks pretty darn good but while it's a
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godsend for video and photo editors who want to spread out all their tools with
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all them pixels it's not suitable for professional color work the added TN
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benefits though of better than average ghosting performance and only around 11
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milliseconds of total display leg including input and pixel response is a
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big bonus though for gamers get ready for a beautiful gaming experience with
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less than one frame of total display leg
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another thing that comes along with the PB branding is robust build quality the
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bezel is reasonably thin but much more
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importantly it has a durable matte finish hold on not that durable but but
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durable so it won't get covered in fingerprints then instantly get covered
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in micros scratches when you try to wipe them off compared to the Samsung value
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4K ausus offering is an obvious buy for
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me for this reason alone but it actually gets better the pb287q has 15 cm of
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height adjust 120° of swivel 25 Dees of
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tilt and even 90° pivot and if that
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isn't enough for you it has a vase amount on the back so you can mount it
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to a wall or a multi-display ARM or whatever else you want and all of that
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is without costing extra being able to position the monitor correctly is not
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only great for ergonomics but also for countering the inherent TN viewing angle
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limitations well done ASUS on the back
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behind the removable cable cover we'll find power in an audio input for the
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unexceptional built-in speakers and a headphone pass through a DisplayPort
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1.2 input which supports 4K at 60 HZ
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with a single tile and by the way the SLI issue with single tile 4G displays
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is now resolved as of today and two HDMI inputs that are limited to 30 HZ because
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HDMI is just too slow for 60 HZ speaking
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of which for a laugh I ran this monitor at 30 HZ for the first two days to see
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if I could get used to 30 HZ I can't it's horrible do yourself a favor and
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don't buy any of the 4K monitors that run at 30 HZ it'll be fine for movies
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but it's just not enough for gains or for me even General desktop use where
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there are simply better options available like this one one interesting
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thing about the HDMI inputs is that this monitor supports picture in picture and
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picture by picture if you uh really like having a separate computer for things
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instead of having another window running on the device that you're already using
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for some reason and it also supports MHL so you can play content from your phone
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if you feel like doing that Neato now before we dig through the otherwise
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excellent onscreen controls i' have something to get off my back a use this
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rearm mounted button nonsense is the worst thing ever LG's joystick is better
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benq's capacitive buttons are better and heck so is this it's hard to figure out
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which button is which without feeling out the entire row or shifting my head
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to the right to align it from straight on so yeah please stop otherwise it's
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really excellent ASUS's Splendid video
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modes range from very useful with srgb being my favorite these days as a
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content creator but standard also looking pretty good all the way to
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totally useless with reading mode being unfortunately horrible but don't worry
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guys dark room mode is a good alternative it also reduces the blue
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light output just like reading mode but doesn't monkey around with the sharpness
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so it looks quite a bit better the usual brightness contrast Etc options are in
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here and under image we get some really cool stuff including five levels of
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overdrive control and four levels of sharpness enhancement with the all
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important off option available for both of them very nice under system setup you
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can dim the backlight to save power turn off the power LED lock the power button
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on overlay AC crossair for no scoping
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all them noobs seriously though this is basically cheating and no competition
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will let you use it but I mean I guess it's cool to have it on there and you can change the DisplayPort mode from
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1.1 to 1.2 which is basically the first
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thing you should do when you get the monitor 1.1 doesn't support 4K at 60 HZ
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now because I had a bit more time with the pb287q compared to Samsung's
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offering I decided to try using it a few different ways I already mentioned that
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I tried it at 30 HZ but what I also tried was with 150% scaling and with no
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scaling at all for a couple of days each and this is where I feel like for the
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first time in a while these software guys Microsoft and application
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developers have a lot of work to do to catch up with the hardware unscaled the
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extra screen real estate is really nice but it felt like I was doing an eye exam
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the whole time cuz cuz I was straining a little bit and without LG's handy
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virtual screen splitting app using stock Windows multi- window management tools
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like Aeros snap either gave me tons of white space or didn't leverage the extra
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pixels other than in applications that support zooming really nicely where the
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fonts look like really great and really smooth I'd recommend picking up
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something like display fusion though so you can create your own virtual desktops
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if you're planning to use it unscaled but most people won't want to any way
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particularly without Vivid pixel which I bumped up to 25 to improve text
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sharpness a touch I could use it but it just wasn't comfortable like that and
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this is the double-edged sword of a whopping 157 pixels per inch in
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supported applications like games the image is so crisp that you can't even
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really see anti-aliasing beyond 2 to 4X I mean man it's beautiful so it hurts
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that much more when you turn on scaling to 150% to make text sizes comfortable
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but then many applications don't scale correctly causing their text to be
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blurry and crummy looking but when she looks good man she looks good and the
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applications that work correctly are coming slowly but surely now that the
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flood of 4K desktop and other highdensity displays has really started
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picking up speed and truthfully going with Windows 8.1 can actually help with
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that already one of the you know for some of the purists out there are few
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things that Windows 8.1 truly does do better than previous operating systems
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now one thing that actually helped make the non-scaled scenario somewhat usable
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for me with this monitor was the DC LED
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backlight versus the more traditional pwm control that causes subtle
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flickering at anything but 100% backlight I've only seen this on a few
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monitors so far but it really does make the display less tiring to look at which
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for me means my vision is less likely to blur as the day wears on particularly
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when you're using very large monitors I find my eyes do get quite tired normally
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now the conclusion for this product is pretty simple as you'd expect it uses
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the same panel as Samsung's offering which means it's good enough for any
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general consumer but not good enough for serious color work and has some subtle
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but occasionally noticeable inconsistency on uniform light
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backgrounds but it has a very long list
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of great features and improvements over the Samsung model that earn it a must
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buy rating for anyone looking for for a reasonably priced 4k monitor it's
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flicker-free backlight genuinely makes it more comfortable for me to use than pwm controlled monitors and at the same
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price you get 60 HZ support Vasa mounting a solidly built ergonomic stand
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with all the usual adjustments better gaming performance and outstandingly
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comprehensive on-screen display and a three-year warranty with onee of zero
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bright dot coverage which is pretty solid not as good as Dell's three-year
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bright dot warranty but a lot better than Samsung's basic 1-year warranty so
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I feel like it's a really well balanced package so there you have it my feelings
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about 4K versus 3440 x440 21x 9 monitors
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like the LG 3495 haven't changed but right now the
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3495 is the only option available in that form factor and while it's IPS and
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I prefer the lower pixel density it's po included stand and input leg of around
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17 to 25 milliseconds are definite points against it not to mention it's
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much more expensive so from the perspective of a gamer or a value
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Shopper who's looking for an 8 megapixel
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4k monitor this is it folks it's time to
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go buy one Speaking of going and buying one do you have any idea how long it
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took for my sales guy to go buy this Fedora for me today the store's like 7
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minutes away by Google Maps and he was gone for an hour apparently due to
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traffic although I suspect he was probably goofing off but none of that
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changes the fact that when you run to the store for a quick
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shaving time and shaving money as usual
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guys the link to pricing and availability for this monitor is in the
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video description below the like dislike and share buttons which you should use
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