Meet the Monitor Asus PA27AC

The arrival of a new generation of MacBook Pro to the Apple family is also celebrated with new accessories. In Applesfera we have thoroughly analyzed the 15.4″ model and the 13″, but for you to have an overview of the possibilities that can be achieved with these laptops, we will also talk about these useful accessories: and without a doubt, this is an external monitor with Thunderbolt connection, taking advantage of the power of 40 GB/s of the ports of these Macs. It had to be a compact and modern monitor, that takes advantage and expands the possibilities of new laptops and helps us in our daily work.

One of the best options is this Asus PA27AC, a 27″ widescreen monitor with a diagonal of 68.47 cm and a spectacular design – with minimal edges on any of its four sides and features that go beyond the typical home monitor. The main idea is to be more comfortable in our workflow with two screens, but also take advantage of the monitor hardware to use it as a hub, power of the laptop itself (thanks to the features of the USB-C) or even as a screen with several simultaneous sources.

The PA27AC also features HDR, which will make the colors even more vivid and enhance the features of Apple’s new laptops, as well as being able to use it in landscape or portrait mode – one of the most attractive aspects of that device, which allows us to read or design in this complete format by simply turning the monitor without using screwdrivers or messing up the monitor too much.

-Working with two displays will improve our workflow, especially if we take advantage of the possibilities of Thunderbolt 3 technology-

Specifications

We are facing a complete professional 2K monitor with WQHD resolution, with HDR-10 support and 400 nits of maximum brightness. It is based on an IPS panel with very good viewing angles and video features customized from the device’s own hardware. These are the main features of the product:

PANEL TFT-LC

IPS Real resolution: 2560×1440 Viewing area: (HxV) : 608.6 x 348.3 mm Brightness (Max:): 400 cd/ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio (ASCR) : 10000000000:1 Viewing Angle (CR-10): 178o (H)/178o (V) Response time: 5 ms (grey to gray) Display colors: 16.7 M (actual 8 bit) ZBD LCD Warranty: Yes No flickering

VIDEO/AUDIO FEATURES

Selecting the color temperature: 4 modes Color accuracy: .E<2 Support HDCP Gamma setting: Yes (Gamma support 1.8/2.0/2.2/2.4/2.6 ) Color adjustment: 6 adjustment channels (R,G,B,C,M,Y) QuickFit (modes) : Yes (A4/Alignment Grid/B5/Ruler/Customization) Picture-in-Picture : Yes Picture-by-Picture : Yes Reduced blue light: Yes Adaptive-Sync supported :Yes, DisplayPort / Thunderbolt™ 3 ports HDR (High Dynamic Range) Support :Yes, HDR-10 by HDMI(v2.0a) / DisplayPort / Thunderbolt™3 ports Stereo speakers: 2x 2 W RMS

PORTS OF ENTRY/EXIT

Signal input: Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C™ x2 (In x1, Out x1), HDMI(v2.0a), DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI(v1.4) x2 PC audio input: 3.5mm Mini-Jack AV audio input: HDMI USB upstream : USB3.0 Type-B x1 DOWN : USBstream: USB3.0 Type-A x1, USB3.0 Type-C x1

INCLUDED IN THE BOX

Thunderbolt™ 3 Cable (20Gbps) Power Cable DisplayPort Quick Start Guide USB 3.0 CD Support Card Warranty Card HDMI Cable

It also has A Kensington lock, in case you want to secure it in the office or in the office, and only comes with the color of the chassis in gray. It allows a VESA anchor for 100×100 mm wall and – one of the things that caught my attention – is that despite how functional the stand is in terms of movement, it is very easy to assemble, without having to adjust a single screw. It measures approximately (without stand) about 614 x 353 mm, making it fantastic both hanging and resting on it.

Design

The complete design of the monitor is designed to forget about it: the important thing is the window that is really the digital window that we need to work, and it is not only that it has a minimum border on all four sides, also that the panel mounted on the front is made without being embedded in any frame. This makes the limits the screen prologal towards the minimum edge giving a lighter and minimalist feel. The assembly is extremely simple and the stand as I say practically anchors with a tab, but in a very safe and stable way.

In addition to this rotation, the stand itself allows an inclination of -5o/+23o so that we can raise or lower it to adjust it to our viewing angle. You can also orient it sideways 60o to the left or right and raise it or lower it from the stand 120 mm. All these combinations give a lot of play when placing it on the table, showing our composition to a partner or adjusting it to an optimal working height. The movement is stable and can be done with one hand, the stand is very stable on the table and will not move when we do.

Thanks to its two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, we can even connect multiple monitors in series, without having to use a concerter or external hub: the laptop would be connected to one of them and another USB-C cable would come from it to the next monitor. MacBook Pros perfectly allow for this configuration and a Thunderbolt cable is included in the monitor box that can operate at 20 GB/s (I would recommend buying one with more bandwidth if we want to use two monitors). If we «only» use this monitor connected to the Mac, not only will it serve for image, it will also charge our laptop: yes, remember that the power of this port is 45W and the MacBook Pro of 15.4″ need one of 85W to charge at full power. This does not mean that it does not load or that it can be damaged, but that it will charge more slowly. The truth is that it’s a marvel to have everything on one cable above the table, especially when we connect or disconnect the laptop so many times a day if we work in mobility.

-We can connect two monitors in series without the need for any external hub: the monitor itself manages the second monitor, controlled by the Mac-

Asus also adds a few discreet speakers on the monitor (the sound also travels through this single cable), but the quality of them is far away even from the MacBook Pro’s own speakers, making this feature quite expendable. Yes, you can use the sound output of the monitor itself to connect your favorite speakers to it and again save you one more connection to the Mac above the table.

It is worth noting the large number of possibilities offered by Asus such as hub, USB ports, HDMI connections or Display Port… We will practically be able to connect everything to this laptop, even use it as a hub of USB devices releasing more devices from the table, although I think these ports are too hidden on the monitor: behind a cover (which can be easily removed, that is not problem) but oriented downwards if the monitor is in horizontal mode. In any case, you are pleased to have such a complete solution at the level of connections and possibilities, that really takes advantage of the possibilities of the Thunderbolt 3 protocol under the USB-C of our new MacBook Pro.

-The Asus proposal offers us many possibilities at the level of connections, even will power our Mac through the same cable-

Chromatic accuracy, spectacular image

Without a doubt, a professional-oriented monitor is definitely for the quality of the image. This Asus model complies with this: it could be summarized in the description that it has an IPS WQHD panel with full sRGB color support, up to 400 nits of brightness (the MacBook Pro monitor has 500 nits) and HDR-10 dynamic range. We might come to think that at this point we would need a 4K monitor, but in my opinion today a color representation like the one we get with HDR-10 is more useful than a higher resolution (it is also reflected in the price). This is the color range that we will have available:

The factory calibration that Asus makes to its ProArt is really good: it has an accuracy of the best that we can find on the market (E-<2, certified for Windows and for Mac) and we won’t need any calibration hardware beyond that we take this monitor out of the box. Among the various technologies, Asus has placed special emphasis on what we see on the screen is the end result: calibration levels 63, 127 and 255, 95% uniformity compensation so that the image does not fluctuate depending on the different areas of the screen: I have appreciated it especially with the contrast between bright whites and purer blacks (this is certainly an advantage of HDR-10).

Calibration software is included in the color and brightness settings and uniformity compensation, called ASUS ProArt Calibration, which is very easy to use and with a clear and precise interface. This software is compatible with many of the most popular hardware calibrators, such as the Datacolor Spyder5 or the X-Rite i1 Display PRO. A noteworthy aspect of this monitor is that the color profiles are stored on the integrated IC chip, so that we can work with different computers without having to recalibrate the monitor.

The hardware of the device itself allows us to work with two modes of different video sources in a very simple way, without installing anything and in a very simple way, within its own menu of configuration of the screen:

Picture-by-Picture (PbP) mode: Allows you to see two fonts side by side, which can also be configured with different RGB or sRGB color modes. This is useful to review differences between them, simply by connecting the second source to the HDMI or DisplayPort that we want to use.
Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode: You’ll be more familiar, it’s about seeing a secondary font in a corner of the screen. The size of this window comes predefined but we can adjust it to what we consider from the monitor’s own menu.

The on-screen interface menu of the monitor handles a convenient joystick located on the right rear of the device. It is very convenient to move around the menus or adjust the properties of each configuration precisely. In addition, it has six buttons located under it that are textured to differentiate them and can be used as customizable shortcuts for the functions that we most commonly use. It works at full speed and without problems of slowing or flickering between sources.

One of the most useful options is what the manufacturer calls QuickFit Virtual Scale, an on-screen display generated by the monitor’s own processor that shows virtual rules or patterns of the actual size that we want to introduce. For example, alignment grids, A4, B5 sizes or those that we want to customize that will be displayed on the screen highlighting that area to work on it freeing the computer or editing software from that task.

A monitor for everyday and everyday life

This Asus PA27AC is a good surprise as an accessory for MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3 connection, as it balances features very well, desiring the options for color accuracy and color fidelity. Even game-tested, the low 5ms response time and anti-flicker technology make them work and enjoy themselves smoothly.

It also has such interesting certifications as the blue light filter, which protects the user’s view against annoying light, sometimes where reading on the screen is important – it has 4 settings and are accessed very easily from the on-screen interface. All these details give more value to the whole whole, a product very well balanced in performance and possibilities, with an approximate price of 770.99 USD. It increases the chances of what we can do with our Mac and saves us concerters and wires on the table.

Without a doubt the possibility of different orientations, its image quality and its light profile are points to consider when buying a monitor of these characteristics. A very good creative tool that will empower and help us as creators, or as content consumers.