Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNot appropriate for photography and terrible uniformity
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2024
I purchased this in the hope that it would server dual purpose: 1) general use and 2) photo editing. I did not plan to use it for gaming other than casually. At first I was very pleased with the overall image quality - until I went to calibrate it. First - be aware that this does not come even close to supporting the Adobe RGB color space. To be fair, they don't claim this, but I assumed that it would cover a reasonable portion of that gamut. If you work in sRGB for the web, this is of no concern, but if you are a serious photographer and you print photos, this is a problem. However, that's my fault for not doing my research.
Of much greater concern is the lack of uniformity across the screen. I used an i1 display pro to calibrate the monitor, and then followed up with a uniformity check at 9 locations across the screen. The monitor failed 7 of those. The differences in brightness from location to location were dramatic. Shockingly, my 15 year old Acer monitor was far more uniform, passing the uniformity test at all but 2 locations. So even if you don't intend to print your creations, you will not be seeing an accurate representation of the final output. What good is having a well-calibrated display if it's only calibrated in the center???
After some googling, I discovered other similar reports. Given that this monitor lacks in other features (eg
higher refresh rate), if it can't be relied on for its primary purpose - creative work - I see no reason to choose it. At this price point, there are other options with better features for general use. The reason to choose this is color accuracy - and color accuracy includes screen uniformity.
I plan to return this monitor and have found an AOC monitor that offers a much wider color gamut as well as high refresh rate. I don't know about the uniformity yet but even if it's just as bad, it seems like a better choice for photo editing and general use.
UPDATE 13 Jan 2024
I went ahead and purchased an AOC monitor in their G2 series which is intended for gaming and makes no claims about creative arts use. Price was in the same range as this ASUS. After calibration, I found that it supported the entire sRGB gamut and most of the Adobe RGB gamut! So in comparison, a monitor intended for gaming has a much better color gamut for creative work than a monitor intended for creative work. Uniformity was somewhat better than ASUS though not stellar. It also has a 144 Mhz refresh rate. So the AOC is better for creative work AND better for gaming. There are a few things I prefer about the ASUS. The on screen settings are easier to use and more intuitive; the AOC has awful buttons to change the settings. It also has less flexibility in terms of presets. The presets on the AOC are almost entirely for gaming, whereas the ASUS also has some for other purposes. However, color gamut, refresh rate and uniformity feel more important to me than the monitor presets, so in the end, I'm sending this ASUS back and keeping the AOC.
