Asus ProArt Display PA278QV
Even without the guaranteed colour accuracy, this 27in IPS screen would have been terrific value for money
SCORE
PRICE £291 (£349 inc VAT) from scan.co.uk
It wasn’t so long ago that a pre-calibrated monitor with guaranteed colour accuracy sent accountants’ blood pressure soaring. Last month, in our group test of 35 monitors, the BenQ PD2705Q ( see issue 313, p82) changed that: this £379 monitor came with Calman and Pantone certification, along with the promise of an average Delta E of under three. Considering that price bought you a high-quality 27in IPS panel with a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, we came away impressed.
This month, the ProArt Display PA278QV arrives on the scene with a similar sales patter. The PA278QV’s price is lower, yet it again includes Calman certification and this time a guarantee of a Delta E less than two. Delta E is a measure of colour accuracy, and a sub-two figure effectively means it’s so accurate that even a professional would assess the colours as perfect. However, it’s also become almost irrelevant as humble gaming monitors such as the MSI opposite consistently have average Delta E figures of under one.
Instead, the biggest points of difference for displays aimed at design professionals are which colour spaces they cover and how well they do so. There’s little to separate the ProArt and BenQ here, as they both target the sRGB and Rec.709 spaces (in simple terms, Rec.709 is sRGB for video editors) and do so comprehensively. Slip the ProArt into sRGB mode and it covers 94.9% of sRGB with a 98.4% volume; that compares to 96.2% and 98% for the BenQ, making the difference wafer-thin.
Neither monitor has the flexibility to cover the Adobe RGB or DCI-P3 colour gamuts, hovering around the 70% mark, but Asus offers more advanced colour control thanks to its “6-axis colour adjustment”. This allows you to embolden the red colour balance, for example, without affecting the white background, and will be a godsend to anyone who loves to fine-tune colours to the nth degree.
It helps that Asus provides an intuitive OSD. This uses five buttons on the bottom bezel of the screen that change depending on the menu’s context, and thanks to clear visual labelling and a nippy response to commands, it’s easy to play around (there’s always a reset option in the OSD if you go too far).
The ProArt’s flexibility extends to the stand. At first sight, this matte-grey block seems tame and boring, but start grappling with the PA278QV and you’ll soon realise it can squeeze into positions that would make contortionists blush: it swivels 90° in either direction, supports portrait mode and tilts back a generous 35°. It also offers 140mm of height adjustment, dropping right down to a centimetre from the stand. And it does all this while staying solidly in place when you want it to. If only all stands were this well made.
Asus finds room in the budget for two 2W speakers, but keep your headphones to hand; Prince’s Kiss emerged with all the passion of a Rich Tea biscuit. There’s an earphone jack at the rear, where you will
“It’s a terrific panel, backed up with the guarantees a professional working in the sRGB or Rec.709 colour space will need”
find a curious selection of video inputs. HDMI and DisplayPort are to be expected, the mini-DisplayPort and DVI input less so. Note that the Asus ProArt Display PA278QV supports HDCPencrypted content.
One obvious negative is that a USB-C input isn’t nestled among these ports, which is the key area where the BenQ wins out; if your primary computer is a laptop that can be powered via USB-C, this alone is a reason to buy the BenQ instead. There is minor consolation in the form of a four-port USB 3 hub, and Asus sensibly positions two of those ports on the left so that they’re within easy reach.
Being an IPS panel, the PA278QV is more at home displaying crisp whites than first-person shooters, but Asus throws gamers a bone by offering adaptive sync support up to the screen’s peak 75Hz refresh rate. You may also want to switch on
Asus’ cryptic ASCR (Asus Smart Contrast Ratio) option in the OSD because this will dynamically boost the panel’s mediocre static contrast ratio of 866:1. This was our measurement, with Asus claiming a typical value of 1,000:1, but we found that Asus understated the brightness: we measured a peak of 462cd/m2 where the official figure is 350cd/m2.
Lowly contrast ratio aside – and this made no appreciable difference in general use – this is a terrific panel in an incredibly flexible stand, all backed up with the guarantees that a professional working in the sRGB or Rec.709 colour space will need. And note that if you register your monitor with Asus within three months of purchase the company will extend the three-year warranty to five years. Considering its exceptionally low price, I have no hesitation in giving the Asus ProArt Display PA278QV a
PC Pro Recommended award.
SPECIFICATIONS
27in 2,560 x 1,440 IPS panel 8-bit panel
(16.7 million colours) 5ms response time 350cd/m2 brightness (claimed) DisplayPort (HDCP 1.2) HDMI (HDCP 1.4) miniDisplayPort (HDCP 1.2) DVI 4-port USB hub
-90° to 90° swivel -5° to 35° tilt 150mm height adjustment 2W stereo speakers
615 x 226 x 382-532mm (WDH) 7.7kg 3yr warranty (5yr after registration)