Getting the right monitor for your everyday work and gaming is a chore, as they also evolve through the years with better contrast, improved refresh rate and wider resolution options. Then of course, there is the balancing of your budget with the quality of the monitor you are buying. We tested out the VX279H from Asus to see, is it worth your money or just a plain waste, we’ll soon find out.
Before we start, let’s take a look at the specifications:
Display | Panel Size: Wide Screen 27.0″(68.6cm) 16:9 Panel Type : AH-IPS True Resolution : 1920×1080 Full HD 1080P : Yes Pixel Pitch : 0.311mm Brightness(Max) : 250 cd/㎡ ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio (ASCR) : 80000000:1 Viewing Angle (CR≧10) : 178°(H)/178°(V) Response Time : 5ms (GTGσ) Display Colors : 16.7M |
Video Feature | SPLENDID Video Intelligence Technology SPLENDID Video Preset Modes : 6 Modes (sRGB Mode/Scenery Mode/Theater Mode/Standard Mode/Night View Mode/Game Mode) Skin-Tone Selection : 3 Modes Color Temperature Selection : 4 Modes QuickFit (modes) : Yes (Letter/A4/Alignment Grid/Photo Modes) GamePlus(modes) : Yes (Aimpoint/Timer) HDCP support |
Audio | Stereo Speakers : 1.5W x 2 Stereo RMS |
Convenient Hotkey | SPLENDID Video Preset Mode Selection Auto. Adjustment Brightness Adjustment Volume Adjustment Input Selection QuickFit |
I/O Ports | Signal Input : HDMI/MHLx 2, D-Sub PC Audio Input : 3.5mm Mini-Jack AV Audio Input : HDMI Earphone jack : 3.5mm Mini-Jack |
Signal Frequency | Analog Signal Frequency : 30~80 KHz(H)/ 56~76 Hz(V) Digital Signal Frequency : 30~80 KHz(H)/ 56~76 Hz(V) |
Power Consumption | Power Consumption:<29.1W Power Saving Mode:<0.5W Power Off Mode:<0.5W Voltage: 100-240V/50-60Hz |
Mechanical Design | Chassis Colors : Black Tilt : +20°~-5° Slim Design : Yes |
Security | Kensington lock |
Dimensions | Phys. Dimension with Stand (WxHxD): 622.6×441.3×210.1mm Box Dimension (WxHxD): 550x680x119mm |
Weight | Net Weight (Esti.): 4.6kg Gross Weight (Esti.): 7.0kg |
Accessories | VGA cable Audio cable Power cord Power adapter Quick start guide HDMI-to-DVI cable HDMI cable Warranty Card MHL cable |
The VX279H has scored some great points on the design department; slim build, a much modern look and a much wider screen (at 27 inches). Its thin bezel (at around 0.8 mm) makes it looked like the monitor is frameless for that simplistic feel, the screen panel has a matte finish that helps lessen the glare from external light source including sunlight which is pretty handy when your monitor is located near the window. The mount stand can swivel and tilt the screen smoothly, making it easier to adjust to suit your viewing angle, sadly there is no height adjustment for the stand and no attachment on the back of the screen that lets you mount it on walls or on custom made desktop mounts.
Everything in the design of the VX279H are great except for the hotkey placement, the hotkey buttons are touch sensitive that a slight tap on any of the buttons will register an input, and to make it worse, the labels on the hotkeys aren’t very visible so you have to scuffle your way around the buttons and hope you pressed the right one. It would have been better if the labels are illuminated or place on the side of the monitor instead. There two built-in 1.5w stereo speakers in the monitor, but like all built-in speakers, the quality is not that much impressive, if you are going to use it for viewing movies or playing games, better stick with much powerful external speakers or headsets.
The monitor has a wide array of connector ports, ranging from the standard VGA port to two HDMI/MHL ports and for the audio; one for each 3.5mm headphone jack and audio output ports. The HDMI/MHL ports allows the user of smartphones (as long as the unit supports MHL) to use the monitor as the smartphone’s external screen and not to mention it also acts as a charging port.
Since the monitor is an IPS panel, the screen has a wider viewing angle, reaching up to 178° and has better color accuracy. The Asus Smart Contrast Ratio help improve the viewing pleasure of any VX279H user. There are some nifty image enhancing features such as the Splendid Video Intelligence Technology that optimize the video and image quality, the ASUS Eyecare where it provides flicker-free output to lessen eyestrains and QuickFit Virtual Scale that allows you to preview word documents or images in specific size formats that is useful for printing photos or document papers.
We tested the VX279H in our everyday internet surfing, video marathons and non-stop gaming sessions. We tested the color accuracy with the use of the Passmark Monitor Test software, so far the color accuracy is very close to 100%. Since the monitor is at around 70Hz, running videos and games at 60 frames per second is very smooth, and with a response time of 5ms, which is fairly acceptable for games that require fast input response such as fighting games. We tried testing some games from the PC and PlayStation 3 to see any difference. Most PS3 games run on 720p resolution yet the video output on the VX279H is still great as it does not look pixelated though few games look a bit washed out upon close up but not to the point that it look unpleasant, though we noticed some tearing issues in some rare cases for the PS3 version of Diablo 3, yet we found not tearing issues for the PC version of Ultra Street Fighter IV.
The Splendid Video Intelligence Tech is pretty handy for certain videos as the feature offers six presets to help enhance the image quality of certain videos or games, you can even customize the presets to your own liking and in case you made a screw up on the settings, you can restore to its default setting at any time. We also noticed that we had no issue of sudden eye strains on the VX279H on the first few days of using it, as compared to other large monitors that we tested which took us some time to adapt to the screen, the Eyecare feature probably help eliminate that eyestrain problem.
So far the VX279H is a great monitor to enjoy your favorite HD movies and videos, and this is still acceptable as your main screen for your gaming, but some purists may prefer monitors with a much lower response time (2ms and 144Hz) as this monitor is still prone to any screen tearing or motion blurs as you have to keep in mind that this is not optimized for gaming. There are some minor issues such as the cumbersome hotkeys and the lack of height adjustment, but these can be remedied with some alternatives. Its simplistic design help made it stand out thanks to its thin bezel and matte finished screen.
So if you need a large all-around monitor for your gaming console, smartphone and PC, better pick VX279H.
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