[Review] ASUS PA248Q 24" Widescreen IPS Monitor

Specifications:



It is shipped in a huge box! Fortunately there's a handle for you to carry it.



This is what you see once you opened the giant box. You get a nice ASUS cable tie, DVI cable, power cord, DisplayPort cable, USB 3.0 cable, Support CD, warranty card & color pre-calibration report. No HDMI cable provided.



Color calibration report, showing the results of the factory calibrated display. It is calibrated using Minolta Color Analyzer CA210. This LCD is specifically targeted at graphics professionals looking for the best accuracy in color reproduction.



The unit is shipped with the stand intact.



Out of the box in portrait mode. The screen is matte which I like, it doesn't get glare or reflections on them like glossy screens.



Swivel to horizontal mode. Not too tight, very easy to maneuver the screen.



The back view. The stand is height adjustable. It can be removed if you decided to wall mount it. The build quality is really good compared to majority LCD I come across, although there are some squeaky sound if you press hardly on the bezel. I believe it will not be an issue, as normal people do not press and pinch the bezel like I do. The stand and enclosure is made of hard plastic.



4x USB 3.0 ports on the left. The world's first. It is just a matter of time before other manufacturers come out with something similar.



The control panel. (From top to bottom) There's a small 5 way navigation stick for easy navigation through the menu. If you press on the navigation stick it will bring up QuickFit Virtual Scale Function, allowing users to preview photos and documents on screen in their actual sizes prior to printing. The "1" and "2" buttons are meant for shortcuts. You can assign it in the menu. By default it is set to Brightness and Contrast. Beneath button "2" is Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture toggle button, followed by Source button and finally Power button.


This post has been edited by kianwee: Aug 27 2012, 04:32 PM

There's even an indication on how this monitor can move printed on the stand.



ON/OFF button and outlet for power cable on the left.



DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, VGA, speaker and USB 3.0 on the right.



The Menu. You can adjust variety of settings here. I'm using sRGB mode throughout my review.



This display is really bright! I have to turn down the brightness all the way to 0 to soothe my eyes. If you're in sRGB mode you cannot change the contrast setting which will be greyed out.



Some of the settings are greyed out depending on the primary setting which is active.



Picture-in-Picture & Picture-by-Picture settings can be set here if you have more than 1 input connected to this display.



The Input Select menu. I don't see the need for this, when you have a physical button on the monitor to change the inputs which is way faster than navigating to the internal menu.



The System Setup menu where you can adjust your language or to do a factory reset in case you screwed the settings up.



And finally the Shortcut menu. By default, shortcut for button "1" and "2" are set to Brightness and Contrast.


This post has been edited by kianwee: Aug 28 2012, 10:25 PM

I am used to IPS screen, from my very first S-IPS on DELL 2007WFP 7 years ago, e-IPS on DELL 2209WA and H-IPS on DELL U2410, I would say this ASUS PA248Q's color rendition and viewing angle is really good. There are some minor backlight bleeding which is quite normal for current LCD in the market. It is not noticeable for normal usage unless you display a pure black background in a dark room.











This post has been edited by kianwee: Aug 28 2012, 10:16 PM

Here is the ASUS PA248Q compared side by side to the 3 years old DELL U2410.



Both unit running on default factory calibrated sRGB mode. The color temperature is a bit different, but close enough.



Thickness comparison. Asus is thinner and runs cooler due to LED backlighting. It is barely warm after testing it for 3 straight hours.



I invited two of my friends over to get some feedbacks from layman's eye view. They are really impressed with the color, they can tell the difference immediately compared to the e-IPS panels they using back home. There is no input lag noticable to human eye during gaming as well.







I am really impressed with this ASUS PA248Q. It is priced competitively, retailed at RM1399 with 3 years 1 to 1 swap. Overall screen and build quality is really good. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this model to anyone looking for a new 24" LCD, or to upgrade from existing e-IPS or TN display.


This post has been edited by kianwee: Aug 28 2012, 10:25 PM

It does 1:1 pixel mapping. Haven't seen any option for Fill IIRC. I will look into that later.

Those are not bleeding. It is just a white glow from the IPS panel when viewing at a tight angle. If you view directly from the front it is not an issue at all.

Here's an example.

Try Lelong.com.my. I saw a few sellers carrying this model.

If it's bleeding, it can be seen straight from the front. If it is a IPS glow, it cannot be seen from the front, but at side or top angle. It is as simple as that.

Don't bother to change if you already have a U2410.