Journey into 4K goodness. Asus PB287Q Review

[deVIZtation]

TL;DR: This monitor is a beast at 4k.

 

The box that the Asus PB287Q comes in was huge. One would expect that for a 28 in display, but seeing as this was my first large display, I really didn't know. It came packed in hard foam. Normally I really don't mind as the only thing that ever came in soft cell foam was my Corsair AX750. Ummm, I just spent like $500 on a monitor, I expected some soft cell foam. Although the monitor came undamaged as well as the box, you just never know these days with UPS.

 

Attaching the monitor to the base was very easy. The base is pretty nice looking and nice to the touch. This huge display dwarfs my 23in 1080p monitor. Using the displayport that came in the package, I stick it into the displayport slot on my GTX 670 (yeah, I know, I'm upgrading later.) BAM! Everything looks so much nicer. I had to scale everything to about 150% but I was so amazed. I thought 1080P was good enough, but 4K, even with my aging GPU looks amazing. I also had to change in the options to Displayport 1.2. Why Asus doesn't already set this up, I don't know. I actually had to watch Linus' video on the PB287Q to figure out how to do it. I, like alot of the reviews on this monitor already, also do not care for the buttons being on the back. There isn't that many videos on Youtube that have 4K capabilities, but I found a couple LTT videos, and they look incredible. As I'm staring at my new monitor, I look over to the right at my 1080P secondary, and can really tell the difference.

 

I played some GTA V and had to put every single graphical option on the lowest setting in order to not go over the 2GB of VRAM. I was achieving 30 FPS, and sometimes a bit less. This was expected of course, but I just wanted to experiment. I also played Heroes of the Storm, having all the options at high and above, I was able to maintain a steady 50-60 FPS in most cases, so happy about that.

 

It will take some getting use to looking at everything in 4K, as there is a bunch of blank space, but was it worth it? I believe so. I can have so many things open and still feel like I can read everything. This effect doubles obviously with my secondary display. There are certain applications that don't scale well with 4K, but that should be the case since these displays have only been out for less than a year. In regards to the buttons being on the back, what Asus could have done was have the 7 dots in the front be capacitive. So instead of reaching your fingers behind the monitor, you just touch the dot for menu.

 

The original purpose of this purchase was that my primary monitor (secondary now) has something wrong with it. I could have spent about $200 on a 1080P IPS monitor, but got to thinking. I was planning on grabbing a GTX 980 or 980TI later on. Why not spend a bit more and journey into 4K. They say everything is better when it's bigger. Well, it's not only bigger, but it's more clear. Now I only wish that there was more 4K content not just on Youtube, but other streaming services as well. I'm very happy with my purchase and have no buyer's remorse even including the price. 10/10 for me. I can't even dock 1 point off for the menu buttons being on the back of the monitor, because truthfully, I only needed to access though buttons once. Would I recommend this monitor? Probably not, unless you do have a capable graphics card, and want to pay semi-early adopter's tax. I feel that 4K is a long way from being a mainstream display for PC users. The day you will see a 28in 4K display for around $200, there will be something even greater.

 

If you still are reading this, you kick arse!

[MegaDave91]

Glad you like your PB287Q! I own one as well and with a bit of color tweaking, I've got it nearly indistinguishable (except for blacks and whites) from my IPS 1440p. 

 

With a double blind test, I honestly doubt you'd be able to discern the two without a little examining.

 

I've increase Windows' scaling to 125% and Chrome to 175%, otherwise text is painful to read.

[deVIZtation]

Glad you like your PB287Q! I own one as well and with a bit of color tweaking, I've got it nearly indistinguishable (except for blacks and whites) from my IPS 1440p. 

 

With a double blind test, I honestly doubt you'd be able to discern the two without a little examining.

 

I've increase Windows' scaling to 125% and Chrome to %175, otherwise text is painful to read.

Very painful indeed. I really feel that 4K is the jump everyone was looking for since 1080P. It's as big of a jump as 720P to 1080P was. Part of the reason I didn't go for 1440P is that most of them cost about the same as a 4K display.