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00:00Hey guys, I'm TomoTechChap and this is the new ASUS ROG PG42UQ and I'm very excited to try this.
00:07It's a 42-inch, 138Hz OLED gaming display and actually as you might be able to tell I'm not in my usual studio.
00:13You might be able to hear the car engines over there. This is actually in the paddock at Silverstone Circuit
00:18which you probably know is where they hold the British Grand Prix, but really I'm here for this.
00:24They've been teasing these new big 4K OLED monitors since January, but finally I've been able to get hands-on
00:32although only for a couple of hours and of course I'm willing to wait for my review sample back at the studio
00:37to run all my tests and see if it actually lives up to the hype and crucially the price.
00:41And firstly there are two models, a 42 and a 48-inch and they are identical other than size and price.
00:49So it will depend on your setup and you know how far away you sit from it
00:53but I reckon this 42-inch will be the best option for most of us.
01:01And if that's not enough, we've got three 48-inch displays all together playing Project Cars 2.
01:08I don't even want to know how much this setup would actually cost, but looking at those screens
01:13you can see the razor-thin bezels do make a multi-monitor setup kind of interesting.
01:20If you had a dream monitor checklist, I would bet this ticks off almost everything.
01:254K OLED HDR 120Hz, although easily overclockable to 138Hz.
01:30Brightness tops out at 900 nits, which isn't quite mini-LED levels of brightness
01:35but it's still beyond what almost all OLED TVs can pump out.
01:38It's also G-Sync and FreeSync compatible, we get VRR, ALLM, we get a 0.1ms response time
01:44as a result of that glorious OLED panel.
01:47And actually, compared to using a regular OLED TV as a monitor
01:50ASUS have added these custom heat sinks to prevent dimming and keep the temperatures down
01:54because as someone who has experienced that dimming when I've used an LG OLED TV as a monitor
01:59this is actually a big deal.
02:02The screen also gets this anti-glare micro-texture coating
02:05which gives the screen a nice matte finish and softens any lights or reflections.
02:10I reckon I'll have to get my microscope out for this one when I test it in my full review
02:14but ASUS are saying this has a sharper sub-pixel layout compared to most other OLED displays
02:19so in theory your 4K resolution will be extra crisp.
02:23In terms of design, well from the front you can see there is basically no bezel here
02:27which not only looks good but also has the functional benefit of taking up less room on your desk.
02:32It's also incredibly thin at the top but then it does get a little bit chunkier
02:36as you go down with the heat sinks, the ports and everything else.
02:39But overall it's still a remarkably low profile.
02:42We also get this tripod screw mount on top
02:44which you could attach a light or a camera to if you're going to do some streaming
02:48and then underneath we have this ROG logo and also the joystick to control the on-screen display.
02:53There's also a ton of ports on this.
02:55We get two HDMI 2.0s for some reason
02:58but more importantly we also get two HDMI 2.1s which support DSC or Display Stream Compression
03:03so these are what you'll want to use if you're plugging in your PS5 or your Series X
03:07to get that beautiful 4K 120.
03:09But for PC gamers you'll want to use the DisplayPort 1.4 to get that 4K 138Hz.
03:15So these have been designed primarily for PC and console gamers
03:19but the 10-bit panel, the 98% colour accuracy,
03:22the factory calibration and the OLED's 1 million to 1 contrast
03:26actually make it a surprisingly capable work and editing monitor.
03:30And you could also easily turn it into a TV if you plug in maybe a Roku or a Fire TV stick
03:34and then use the bundle remote control that comes with it.
03:37Now I will say it was hard to get a sense of the sound quality from these
03:41during my hands-on literally at a racetrack
03:43but we do get two 10-watt front-facing speakers and a 15-watt sub built-in
03:49so this should offer some pretty incredible sound for a monitor.
03:54So first impressions, well these are absolutely incredible
03:57although I do still think there's some room for improvement
04:00for example that 138Hz is frustratingly close to 144 which would have been nice
04:05also maybe a Thunderbolt port would have been a handy extra
04:07for plugging in laptops and getting a high refresh for the Mac
04:10and also bear in mind this does have some strong competition from LG's UltraGear
04:15another 48-inch OLED which are actually cheaper than these.
04:18The 42-inch will set you back £1,400 and the 48 will be £1,500
04:23which actually isn't as steep of a premium as I had expected for the bigger size.
04:27So that's just a quick look at the PG42UQ
04:37let me know what you make of this in the comments below
04:38a full review will be coming very soon
04:40thank you so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time right here
04:43on the Tech Channel
04:44if you'll excuse me