T
heAsusPG27UQwasthefirst
gamingmonitortodelivera truly
spectacularHDRexperiencethanks
toits384-zoneFALDbacklight.However,a
highpriceandlimitedHDRcontentrestricted
itsappealatthetimeoflaunch.A yearanda
halfon,though,howdoesit holdup?
Well,thefirstthingtoreportis that,sadly,the
pricehasn’tdroppedallthatmuch.Whenfirst
released,it wentforaround£2,200incVAT
whereasnowit’swidelyavailableforcloserto
£1,900incVAT.Saving£300isn’ttobesniffed
at,butthisis stilla hugelyexpensivedisplay.
What’smore,theotherkeylimitingfactor
ofthisdisplay,whichisitssize,alsohasn’t
changed.Wesaidatlaunch,andstillfeel,
ASUS ROG SWIFT
PG27UQ /£1,900 inc VAT
SUPPLIER ebuyer.comthat for such a colossal price,
the relatively modest visual
impact of a 27in display is a hard
sell. You can literally go and buy
two stupendously good 34in,
ultrawide Asus PG348Q monitors
for less.
That applies doubly when you consider
that you can buy the 35in, HDR-capable, Asus
PG35VQ for a little over £600 more. For pure
big, bold, brash HDR content consumption
(watching video and playing games), we
known which we’d rather have.
This also brings us on to the final major issue
we have with this display, which is its resolution.
Although we’re sure the 4K (3,840 x 2,160)
resolution doesn’t add a huge amount to the
overall cost, it surely adds a little, while in many
ways not adding much to the display – it looks
lovely and sharp, of course, but 4K on a small
display has plenty of cons. It’s a pain to have to
scale everything on the desktop by 150 per cent
to make things readable (and still often have
apps not scale properly), it’s hugely demanding
to run games at the native resolution and it just
generally feels like a bit of a hassle.
We felt at the time of launch that surely
a more sensible way of getting started
on the HDR path would‘ve been to have a
conventional 2,560 x 1,440 resolution on
a 27in display and instead of 384 (24 x 16)
individual backlights, just 96 (12 x 8) would
have been plenty. Get a display such as that
one to cost under £1,000 inc VAT and you’re
getting somewhere.
So, we’ve given the PG27UQ quite a bashing
so far, but let’s be quite clear, the PG27UQ is the
single best 27in gaming monitor you can buy
(other than the near identical Acer X27). Sure, it
isn’t the very most responsive when it comes
to gaming, but it’s quick enough and its image
quality is unsurpassed.Its IPS-type LCD provides excellent overall
image quality –when combined with that
FALD backlight, it makes for the best image
quality you can get on a conventional LCD
monitor – it’s even better than the PG35VQ.
The fact you can also switch between proper
sRGB and high colour gamut modes (and
manually turn the variable backlight on and
off) also means it’s well suited to colour-
critical work applications too.
The display also has plenty of the premium
extras you’d expect for such a pricey model.
You get a fully adjustable stand, all sorts of
external lights for lighting up your desk and
a snazzy design. G-Sync is included too,
although overall input options are modest.Conclusion
The Asus PG27UQ remains (along the Acer
X27) the single best-looking 27in gaming
monitor you can buy, with stunning HDR
and a pin-sharp 4K resolution. However,
we just feel most people would get more
from a larger display at this price.SPEC
Screen size 27in
Resolution 3,840 x 2,160
Panel technology IPS
Maximum refresh rate 144Hz
Response time 4ms
Contrast 1,000:1
Display inputs 1 x DisplayPort 1.2, 1 x HDMI 1.4
Audio 3.5mm audio out (no volume control)
Stand adjustment Height, rotation, pivot, tilt
Extras G-Sync, 384-zone FALD backlight,
several external lights, USB 3 hub
HDR standard DisplayHDR 1000VERDICT
An astronomical price puts a huge dent in the
appeal of this otherwise fantastic display.SWIFT
SpectacularHDR
imagequality
Goodgaming
performance
Very good sRGB
image quality
SLOW- Screen size limits^
HDRimpact - 4K resolution costly
andunnecessary - Phenomenally
expensive
IMAGE QUALITY
30 / 30
FEATURES
16 / 20GAMING
24 / 30
VALUE
4 / 20OVERALLSCORE
74 %%