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Asus ProArt 27 QD-OLED (PA279cdv) Review: HDR for All
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OLED is common in gaming monitors these days. But for those of us who don’t need gaming gear? Well, home-office and content-creation monitors have been much slower to adopt the exciting and more capable display technology. That’s unfortunate because having an OLED monitor is every bit as useful as having an OLED TV if you ever use your monitor for entertainment purposes. OLED displays are also helpful for photo editors, videographers, game developers, and other creators who might want to work in high dynamic range (HDR) for a broader range of brightness, contrast, and color.
The PA279CDV is Asus’ attempt to bring that OLED goodness to a wider demographic, at a retail price of $699, which is competitive for the technology. This monitor makes a few compromises to hit that price, but it does so without losing what makes owning a high-end OLED display feel unique.
Asus is one of the few manufacturers releasing OLED monitors precisely for this non-gamer demographic, and the PA279CDV is the cheapest it's ever had in its lineup. In fact, the monitor only has one major competitor: the Dell 32 Plus QD-OLED (9/10 WIRED Recommends). The main difference between the two is the size. Dell’s model is 31.6 inches, compared to Asus’ 27 inches. Being larger gives you more screen to work with, but it's also less sharp and takes up more desk space. The Samsung 32-inch Smart Monitor M90SF (7/10 WIRED Recommends) is the only other non-gaming OLED monitor option, but that's far more expensive.
As far as the Asus’ appearance goes, the side bezels are a bit large, and the top and bottom bezels aren’t the same size, which I find visually off-putting. Nicely, though, the amount of adjustability is impressive. This stand can swivel, tilt, rotate into portrait mode, and the height can shift 5 inches. The stand has some very basic built-in cable management, with down-firing ports that help keep cords organized. Also, the flat base doesn't require much space on my desk.
Each of the two back USB-C ports has a specific purpose. One is USB-C 3.2 with DP Alt Mode, which provides 96 watts of power delivery for your laptop. The other is a USB-C 3.2 port for the KVM switch, enabling you to connect two PCs to the monitor and switch between them seamlessly. Fortunately, Asus clearly labels each port, so you know which to use for your intended purpose. The monitor also comes with two USB-A ports for accessories, a headphone jack, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and a DisplayPort Out for daisy-chaining monitors together. This is a solid array of port selection that gives you just about everything you need to use the ProArt PA279cdv as a workstation.
Meanwhile, the controls for the onscreen display and menu are on the right side of the front panel. I tend to prefer just a single joystick for simplicity's sake, but like the other Asus ProArt monitors, this one gives you five control buttons, plus a power button, in addition to a joystick. Once you know how to use it, though, the buttons give you quick access to switching inputs or changing brightness.
There are quite a lot of features to dig through in the menu, including a number of color modes and detailed picture-quality tweaks. There's also a Display Widget app to handle all these settings, available in Windows 11 or macOS.
The monitor includes speakers, but they sound pretty bad, which is unfortunate for a monitor designed at least partially for entertainment purposes. Keep this in mind if you plan to watch a movie on the monitor, since you’ll only want to use the speakers for basic notifications. By contrast, the Dell 32 Plus QD-OLED has a really nice set of speakers.
Brightness—both measured in standard dynamic range (SDR) and HDR content—is the key feature of an OLED monitor, as it determines how good at HDR the device in question truly is. OLED displays can switch off individual pixels, a capability that provides the absolute blacks this class of display is known for. But if the pixels aren't bright enough,