ASUS PQ321Q UltraHD Monitor Review: Living with a 31.5-inch 4K Desktop Display
by Chris Heinonen on July 23, 2013 9:01 AM ESTComing into this review, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect from the ASUS PQ321Q, or any monitor with this high of a resolution. I love the screen on my iPhone 5 and my retina iPad, but I hold those really close to my face. Since I sit a couple feet away from a monitor, was I really going to notice the difference? Yes, yes I did.
Even coming into the office right after a standard 30”, 2560x1600 display, the difference is huge. You get either a larger desktop, or a far crisper screen, or possibly both. It isn’t a small difference, but one that I can notice easily, and every single time I sit down to my desk. It also is apparent that many application vendors have to hurry up with their software support for DPI scaling, because when it isn’t supported correctly it is really ugly out there.
The ASUS PQ321Q does have its share of problems. The color gamut isn’t perfect and leads to a good number of errors in the red, orange, and yellows of the spectrum. I found yellows to be the only one that I could easily notice when I looked at photos, but I did see red and orange issues as well. The dual HDMI 1.4a inputs are nice, but with HDMI 2.0 possibly coming later this year you are going to be limited to 30p on those inputs. The OSD could also be improved upon, as it works, but lacks any location or size adjustments and takes up almost half the screen when active.
In the end, my feelings about the ASUS PQ321Q wind up being very simple. Of the dozens of displays that I’ve reviewed for AnandTech so far, this is the one I want to hold onto the most. The razor sharp screen is just addictive to use, and you realize this is the future for displays. I’m sure over the next few years that performance will improve, prices will come down, and features will increase, and that helps everyone. But I want this now, and I don’t want it to leave my house.
The ASUS PQ321Q is pricey, and I can’t say that getting three or four 30” 2560x1600 panels isn’t a better deal, but it’s not the same as having one display that looks like this. In the end, I give the ASUS PQ321Q a Silver Award, which is the highest award I've personally given to any display. It's not perfect, but there isn't a display that's come across my desk that left me in constant awe over how incredible it was to use on a day-to-day basis that the ASUS has. It's also effectively killed any thoughts I've had about buying a laptop like a MacBook Air instead of a Retina MacBook Pro, because I can't imagine going back to a regular display. The next few years of high resolution displays can't come fast enough now.
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cheinonen - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - link
And then after that you're going to sell far fewer, so your profit margins are going to have to change to adapt for that as well, and it really winds up making them far more expensive. It really is the best looking display I've used and the one I most want to keep around after the review period. Companies should be rewarded for taking the risk in releasing niche products that help push the market forward, and really are a breakthrough.Sivar - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - link
Ideally they can cut 3 good 15" displays from the failed 30" material.Whether the process actually works this way, I don't know.
madmilk - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - link
It doesn't work that way. That's like saying Intel can cut a quad core CPU into two dual core CPUs.sunflowerfly - Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - link
Where do you think Intel gets lower core count CPU's? They actually do disable cores and sell them for lower spec parts.DanNeely - Thursday, July 25, 2013 - link
They've done so in the past, and IIRC still do bin GPU levels that way; but in all their recent generations the dual and quad core CPUs that make up 99% of their sales have been separate dies.Your analogy breaks down even for the handful of exceptions (single core celeron, quadcore LGA2011); since the LCD equivalent would be to sell you a 15" screen in a 30" case with a huge asymmetric bezel covering 3/4ths of the panel area.
Calista - Thursday, July 25, 2013 - link
It's not just the parts getting more expensive to manufacture, it's also because the manufacturer knows it's a high-margin product. The difference in price for an APS-C vs an FF sensor is on the order of a magnitude smaller than the difference in price between the complete cameras, i.e. $500 vs $2500, even if the FF camera obviously also include faster processing, higher quality body etc.YazX_ - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - link
companies would like like to milk users as its brought to Desktop marketed as NEW TECH, this is the only reason why its very pricey, and dont forget that on the next months other companies will bring their products into competition which will help greatly in reduce the prices.Fleeb - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - link
This reply is better than yours: http://www.anandtech.com/comments/7157/asus-pq321q...madmilk - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - link
No worries, there's a 4K 39" TV on Amazon for $700. Since that TV has the same number of pixels and isn't a whole lot bigger, I think we will soon be seeing these 32" displays fall into that sub-$1000 range as well.peterfares - Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - link
That screen is lower quality and doesn't have an input capable of driving it at 60Hz at 4K