Monitor Review: Asus ProArt PA246Q

HEY GUYZ. I GOT A NEW MONITOR WITH THE MONEY I MADE AT ANTHROCON! XD

It's THIS ONE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=skDRQZ…

The ASUS ProArt PA246Q.

Price: At $490, it's extremely reasonable for a 24" IPS monitor with this many features. Don't buy it at a retail store though, you'll likely end up spending over $100 more there.

Color: The gamut (color range) on this monitor is EXTREMELY high, meaning that it covers about 98% of the visible spectrum. This also means that gradients won't have the "layered" effect that they do on some monitors. Even if you have a Cintiq instead of an Intuos, you can use the "navigator" feature to get a full view of your picture as you work on it with the other screen.

Size: 24 inches!! It's so HUUUUUUUUUUGE. Well, compared to my old 20", I mean. Alsio, 1920 x 1200 resolution. This monitor could also serve as an actual TV, especially since it has HDMI input and a headphone jack.

Response Time: Passable. It may not be as fast as a TN panel, but the superior color and intensity more than make up for it. Can't have everything.

Viewing Angle: As you would expect from an IPS monitor, it is simply not an issue. No complaints.

Features: I really like the "Quick Fit" technology. With the touch of a button, you can display many different grids on your monitor that overlay the image the computer is producing. You get a metric grid, as well as a standard one. You can also see boxes in the exact shape of different types of paper, such as A4, Letter, 8x10, and more. This allows you to see EXACTLY what your picture will look like on paper. Very useful, especially if you're worried about people not noticing details, or being unable to read your writing.

Features 2: It has a card reader on the side, but I honestly don't much care about that. It DOES however, have a built in USB hub, meaning that you can free a few slots on your computer, especially if you have loads of USB devices, like me. Oh, and it can be turned vertical. *shrug*

User Friendlyness: It takes a bit of getting used to, but the menus are rather easy to use. once you figure out where everything is.

Durability: The stand is freaking STURDY. Nothing short of a very hard shove will tip this monitor over. It's also very thick compared to the usual TN panels you see. But beware. It's also much HOTTER as well. Physically, I mean. Good thing it's heavily ventilated.

Contrast: This is the only problem I have with the monitor so far. It could be a problem when playing extremely "dark" games. Particularly dungeon crawlers like Skyrim, where there are lots of deep blacks. The backlighting is especially obvious on a completely black screen. Other than that however, Blacks are still very black, and whites are still very white. I just hope this doesn't ruin my experience when Thief 4 is finally released.


FINAL VERDICT: 8.5/10. Pretty freaking great! Except for the whole backlighting thing, this monitor is near perfect for my needs. Really, the only way I could possibly get a noticeably improvement over this monitor is if I spent upwards of $1000. And I'm not sure I'd forgive myself.