Introduction
Whether you are using it as a primary monitor for your PC or an external monitor to up your work productivity, especially if you are a content creator, it’s important to have a good monitor. People will often go for professional monitors, but they can get quite expensive. This is the ASUS ProArt PA27AC, a professional monitor that offers plenty of features but doesn’t cost too much.
ASUS ProArt PA27AC Specs
- Panel Size: 27-inch
- Panel Type: IPS
- True Resolution: 2,560 x 1,440
- Display Viewing Area (HxV): 608.6 x 348.3mm
- Brightness(Max): 400cd/㎡
- Viewing Angle (CR≧10): 178°(H)/178°(V)
- Response Time: 5ms (Gray to Gray)
- Display Colors: 16.7M (8-bit)
- Color Gamut: 100% sRGB
- HDR (High Dynamic Range) Support: Yes
- Maximum Refresh Rate: 60Hz
- Power Consumption: 25W
- Weight: 8.5kg
Unboxing
Let’s just skip the box design, it’s the largest box that I’ve ever unboxed so far. Inside the box, you get a lot of stuff besides the display itself and the stand, including:
- Thunderbolt 3 Cable (20Gbps)
- Power cord
- DisplayPort cable
- USB 3.0 cable
- Quick start guide
- HDMI cable
- Support CD
- Warranty Card
- Color pre-calibration report
It’s good to see that ASUS has also included the color pre-calibration report. Each monitor is calibrated from the factory and color accuracy is quite important for a professional monitor.
Design
In terms of design, the display panel has slim bezels all around and you can’t actually find the ASUS branding itself, I really like the minimalist look and it looks premium too.
The back of the display is a different story, it’s all black brushed plastic! There are buttons and a joystick for you to navigate through the settings and options on this monitor.
As for the I/O ports, the monitor has two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports (In x1, Out x1), an HDMI port (v2.0a), a DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI ports (v1.4), a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB 3.0 Type-B port, two USB 3.0 Type-A port, and a USB 3.0 Type-C port. Additionally, the monitor also comes with stereo speakers, but it would be better for you to use an external speaker as they sound rather soft and flat with no bass and no highs.
Supporting the display panel is a grey brushed aluminum stand with golden trim and a base that has the ASUS branding on it. The ProArt PA27AC can be adjusted to a comfortable viewing position with tilt, swivel, pivot, and height adjustments. Its onscreen menu even rotates automatically to display correctly when using the monitor in portrait orientation
Experience
I’m not a professional in terms of judging the viewing performance of the monitor, so this is just my personal opinion of the display. It’s a bright and vivid display, most of the time I set the display brightness at 25% and it’s already bright enough for me. If your laptop doesn’t support Thunderbolt 3 USB-C, you’ll need to connect to the monitor via HDMI, but only the HDMI 3 port supports HDR. Obviously, having a huge 27-inch WQHD/2K display really improves my overall work productivity, especially when editing videos.
The display comes with a few handy features such as Quick Fit Virtual Scaling, Blue Light Filter, and Flicker-free technology. The Quick Fit Virtual Scaling feature provides you with an onscreen grid overlay so you can align and preview documents in their actual sizes prior to printing. The Blue Light Filter is certified by TÜV Rheinland, which offers four settings that are easily accessed through the onscreen display menu via the hotkey. Flicker-free technology provides a more comfortable viewing experience and working environment by reducing onscreen flicker to minimize eye strain, headaches, and eye fatigue when you spend long hours in front of the display.
Moving on to the main selling point of the monitor — the Thunderbolt 3 USB-C support. The monitor comes with two USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3 for data transfer speeds of up to 40Gb/s. I’ve used it as the ProArt StudioBook Pro 17’s external monitor, which I reviewed not long ago. Once you are connected via Thunderbolt 3, the monitor will actually work as a USB hub, just connect everything to the monitor and your laptop will detect it. Furthermore, the USB-C port also supports Power Delivery for providing up to 45W of power to external devices, I’ve used it to charge the ROG Phone 3 and it actually supports fast charging.
Final Words
Retailing at RM2,199, the ASUS ProArt PA27AC is an affordable HDR professional monitor you can get right now. It’s a professional monitor for those who are considering taking their content creations to another level, more seriously I meant. It’s really great to see ASUS includes the Thunderbolt 3 USB-C support, which really gets many things done easily. If you are a gamer, I don’t think you will consider this monitor since it only has a 60Hz refresh rate. After all, this monitor is not meant for gaming.
For more info, head over to the product page here.