ASUS ROG Strix XG49VQ Monitor review

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Conclusion

Final Words 

Our monitor reviews are somewhat subjectively rated as we try to show the experience supported by a handful of measurement. I mean it's great to get all the data from the colorimeter hardware including precise brightness levels and color gamuts, in the end though, often once you've calibrated a monitor, you'll still alter settings to match your personal preference. Also, there will be media outlets available with far more in-depth measurements. So please do look at my review more as a personal experience with my view on this product. That said, for me, a monitor works out the best if it offers a combo of features. I am an IPS / AH VA man myself, TN for example to me is a gnarly word (albeit over the years the technology has become much better). Some care less about deep dark blacks, others the viewing angles and then others incredibly fast refresh rate screens. Herein is a lot of complication to be found when reviewing monitors as shown today as most people will have a different preference in terms of what a screen needs to offer them. All these variables that make choosing the right monitor very difficult and subjective, let alone recommend one. What ASUS offers here as ultra ultra ultra wide purely seen from a hardware point of view and sheer design, is a bit of pron for geeks. 



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The Negatives

This is a nice monitor, but is it actually €1.099,- / 1049 USD nice?, we doubt that and are trying to understand why this monitor needs to cost that kind of cash. Basically, these are two Full HD screens merged together when you think of it. The €1.099,- is slightly out of my comfort zone, again would it have been 3840x1440 then I would probably not complain. Also if this had been an HDR 600 or better screen, again I would not complain. The HDR400 rating is a little on the low side alright. Then again, it's bright enough for most. Color precision was spot on, the panel brightness uniformity, however, leaves a lot left to desire. What bothered me was the too narrow heights of 1080 pixels, really that should have been at least 1200 or 1440. As a result, the pixel density is not very good. 

The Positives

An added benefit of the 144Hz screen is that it supports FreeSync2, which is adaptive sync and that means it will support GSYNC these days as well (NVIDIA opened up Adaptive sync support). While HDR600 is lacking, HDR400 is nice and brighter with more dynamic in colors. So is it for you? Well, the needs, desires, and requirements differ per person. I can tell you though, it's such a good display. You can tweak the color output to your preference, it's razor sharp in image quality and fast with its 60 / 98 / 120 / 144 Hz refresh rate. On the adaptive sync side, both FreeSync and these days GSYNC over adaptive sync worked quite lovely, the active range is 48-144Hz.



Hz-2

  

144Hz is a personal thing, for a generic majority of people 60 Hz screens are sufficient, true gamers like 144 Hz, especially fast ones with really low response times is gaming nirvana. The reality is that for gaming it does make a substantial difference. Such a difference does come with a price tag. The trend, I happily agree with, is slowly moving towards 144Hz becoming a new standard norm. The screen offers good response times even at 144 Hz, the panel sits at around 4~5ms. We measured this value at roughly 4ms (MPRT), however, we cannot measure it precisely or broadly, please do visit some colleagues that offer a more in-depth insight on this.


The Verdict

You know, the idea for this monitor was great, the execution of it, however, is average. For gaming, really I've been enjoying the XG49VQ. Games do need to support the odd resolution as when they don't the screen can result in a stretched image. Overall though mode games do support the 3840x1080 resolution configured at 32:9. It is wide alright and will utilize much space on your desktop being over 120 cm wide. For gaming it does offer a great experience from left to right your eyes are loaded with content. The curve for gaming works, normal desktop mode and especially working in spreadsheets and such (productivity), however, can be annoying, that also goes for web browsing as the lines of text also become slightly warped.

In ASUS's defense, this monitor is designed for one purpose, gaming. The overall specs listed on the box are decent and eye-catcher, the 144Hz panel is fast and responsive, measured the sRGB color gamut well over 100% the is great. HDR works well, but for anything to be truly called HDR I think would like to see at least 600 nits, and thus a Vesa HDR 600 rating. This screen tops out at a notch over 400 nits, which makes a difference, albeit not a substantial one. HDR, will bring more dynamic and richer colors towards your gaming scene, and that really is something to feast your eyes on. In terms of connectivity, the monitor has enough, two HDMI and a DP connector. The speakers produce sound at a level you can expect from a monitor, it's sound .. but it ends there as a qualification.

One thing has been bothering me is that the height is just too narrow. I like the super wide resolution, the 3840 pixels for it are fine. The height of 1080 pixels, however, is far too restricted making the pixel density visual, you can literally see pixels. Really, this monitor probably should've had been 3840x1440 at the least closing the pixel density gap. Of course, there is an advantage to that narrow 1080 pixel height, at 3840x1080 you basically rendering only two Full HD panels pixels wise (4.1 Mpixels), and most high-end graphics cards can deal with that. Changing to say 3840x1440 would mean 5.4 MPixels to render which is a little harder on the GPU. However, at 3840x1440 I might have picked one up myself, at 3840x1080 that will not be happening.  The combination of Free/G-Sync with 144 Hz is nice to see on such a wide panel and really help. And despite the low HDR nit rating, colors do seem more vibrant and dynamic as color ranges become boosted and dynamic. Brightness lighting uniformity was seriously off but remains hard to spot and we also understand the complexity of that with such a wide panel to lit. 

ASUS has been going hard and strong with their monitors. For games that support this resolution, it works well and is breathtaking to look at. Given what they offer for €1.099,- / 1049 USD we feel the price tag is a very limiting factor for this monitor. For that money, I would expect HDR600 for more eye-soring HDR and yeah a higher resolution at 3840x1440. I mean look at Samsung who will release a 49-inch 5120×1440 ultra-wide curved panel.  As an idea for a gaming monitor, it remains to be impressive and spectacular to look at due to its super widescreen gaming experience, the 144Hz refresh rate, and a bit of HDR. As a monitor overall it a really spectacular one to game on as an experience, but its implementation is 'okay' at best. 

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