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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom from TechChap and I've been waiting for this one.
00:04This is the ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQ-DMW OLED Gaming Monitor and given the specs, the size
00:12and also the price, this is shaping up to be one of the best all-round gaming monitors
00:16and one you might actually want to buy.
00:19I mean, what's not to love?
00:20It's a 27-inch, 1440p, 240Hz OLED with 1000-nit brightness, G-Sync compatibility, FreeSync
00:27Premium Pro and it's also incredibly colour accurate with this 10-bit panel.
00:32It's like check every single box that I would want for a gaming monitor.
00:36And while we have seen similar specs on bigger gaming displays with like 42- and 48-inch
00:40models from ASUS and LG, the problem with those is they're even more expensive and
00:45they are bloody huge and they barely fit on my desk.
00:48This is the first time we're seeing these cast specs in a 27-inch form factor.
00:52Coming in at £1,000 or $1,000, this is pretty pricey for a 27-inch, but compared to the
00:58Sony Inzone M9, which is about the same price and only offers a 144Hz IPS, this 240Hz OLED
01:05seems like a pretty good deal.
01:07But it's not alone.
01:08This has a cousin, shall we say, from LG.
01:10Their 27GR95QE OLED shares the same panel and also shares the new MLA or Micro Lens Array
01:16tech and the LG also has an HDMI 2.1 port.
01:20This does not.
01:21This is limited to HDMI 2 and we'll come back to that in a second.
01:23But the advantage with the ASUS is it can get much brighter.
01:26This has a much beefier heatsink, so we're topping out at around 1,000 nits compared
01:30to about 650 on the LG and so for that alone, I think this is probably going to be the better
01:34option.
01:35But let's take a step back.
01:36Why are we all drooling over OLED?
01:38Well essentially, each pixel emits its own light and so in a very dark scene can be turned
01:43off completely, giving you those perfect blacks without any nasty backlight bleed or blooming,
01:47which of course affects the contrast on regular IPS, VA and Mini LED displays.
01:51Plus, OLEDs offer fantastic HDR with a wide colour gamut, great colour accuracy, faster
01:56response times and also a lower input lag.
01:59However, the main compromise with these has always been brightness.
02:03But with this new ASUS ROG and also its LG cousin, we're now seeing much higher brightnesses
02:07than older OLED monitors and it's also now paired with a 240Hz refresh rate.
02:12But the boost in brightness is down to the new MLA or Micro Lens Array technology, which
02:16is very similar to what I have in my new LG G3 TV and I'm working on my review video of
02:21that.
02:22And basically, it uses lenses placed across the panel to boost brightness and increase
02:25the light scattering, which should also help us get even better viewing angles.
02:29And as I rotate that to a 180 degree level, holy moly, look at that.
02:35You can see there's almost no brightness or colour drop-off at all, which on a smaller
02:4027-inch monitor like this is more important.
02:42And while obviously you're probably gonna be sat straight in front of it most of the
02:45time, that is a bit good, isn't it?
02:48And actually together with a new anti-reflective coating, this is still a glossy screen but
02:52we've got this new sort of mattifying AR coating, you're not staring back at yourself in darker
02:56scenes.
02:57So the improved viewing angles, the anti-reflective coating, the brightness, together with the
03:02incredible colours and deep inky blacks that you get with the other panel, and of course
03:05that smooth 240Hz refresh rate and that lightning fast response time, I think I'm in love.
03:12That said, some IPS and mini-LED panels are still brighter and offer even higher refresh
03:16rates and versus this, Asus at least can also give us a clearer image at the same resolution
03:21but I still absolutely adore this for gaming.
03:24For gaming.
03:25That's actually quite important and if I jump out of this and go to the desktop, one of
03:29the issues I do have with this, aside from only having an HDMI 2 and not 2.1 port but
03:33that's not really a deal-breaker, my biggest issue is the fact that this uses a W-OLED
03:38panel.
03:39I'm not gonna say WoLED.
03:40Where the pixels emit white light with colour through sub-pixel RGB filters called WRGB,
03:45as opposed to your regular RGB.
03:47It's a technical difference that's really imperceptible in games but it's definitely
03:51noticeable on the desktop.
03:53Even with this QHD 1440p resolution, it comes down to the different way the WRGB layout
03:58renders colours and it results in some blurriness and colour fringing around detail and text.
04:04This looks a lot less sharp and crisp than it should and in fact, when I set this up,
04:09I thought it was running at 1080p.
04:11So this particular kind of panel is definitely behind a traditional OLED or LED LCD screen
04:16when it comes to productivity and desktop use, as I say, particularly around text.
04:20But honestly, for games, I don't think it's a big deal at all, really.
04:25Let's talk about the design of this guy and the first time I set it up, I was pretty blown
04:28away just by how thin this is.
04:32Look at that panel, it's like a couple of credit cards.
04:35I mean, obviously, it doesn't really make that much difference because you've still
04:37got a pretty big stand here, although you could VESA mount it and also we'd get really,
04:40really nice narrow bezels, which I love.
04:42Obviously, a little bit thicker here for the heatsink and then we have the stand at the
04:46back, which also has a three and a half mil thread if you want to put a webcam or a light
04:50up here.
04:51Great if you're streaming.
04:52And we have a typical stand and REG base, nothing really changed there.
04:54I do quite like this lighting and it's kind of teasing me that maybe one day we'll see
04:58the Anime Matrix tech, which we see on the back of some of the laptops on these monitors.
05:03I think it'd have to be quite a lot brighter, though, to make an impact on the back wall,
05:07but it's a cool look.
05:08And I've also just realized I haven't even done the peel.
05:13Look at that.
05:15So we've got this tilt, a nice bit of rotation, height adjustment, as you would expect, which
05:20is quite nice.
05:21You can actually rotate this a full 90 if it doesn't pull all my cables out.
05:26There you go.
05:27Look at that.
05:28So you can use it that way if you like.
05:29Although I wish there was like a little click or locking mechanism when it got back to its
05:33default reset position, because I'm not quite sure if that's straight.
05:38And then also at the back here behind this little logo, we have the joystick where you
05:41can control the on-screen display.
05:43And that's got all your options for adaptive sync, picture and color modes, the lighting
05:47effects, and also controlling the aspect ratio, blue light filters, various game genre profiles
05:52and also Game Plus where you've got FPS counters, crosshairs, all that good stuff that I never
05:56actually use.
05:57As for ports, connectivity, well, it's OK.
06:00We get two HDMI 2s, no 2.1 in sight, which is a bit of a shame, although considering
06:05this is a 1440p and not a 4K resolution, it's not actually the end of the world.
06:10For laptops and desktops, HDMI will limit you to 1440p at 120Hz or Full HD 240.
06:16And sadly, there's no USB-C option for your laptops.
06:19But we do also get a DisplayPort, which is what I would recommend if you are hooking
06:22up to a desktop PC.
06:23And if you plug in your PS5 or Xbox, because you might want to use this with your console,
06:27especially with that brightness and the OLED screen, again, you don't have those bandwidth
06:30limitations because it's not 4K.
06:321440p, 120, absolutely fine through HDMI 2.
06:36At this point, I would normally mention the speakers, but there aren't any, which feels
06:39a little bit cheap on a £1000 monitor.
06:42Back to games though, and the motion performance of this is incredible at 240Hz, with a grey-to-grey
06:47response time measured between 0.27 and 0.6ms, which is some way off the claimed 0.03ms,
06:55but it's still ridiculously fast and I don't know if you'd actually be able to tell the
06:58difference there.
06:59As for brightness, I measured 1000 nits HDR peak brightness on a 10% screen window for
07:053 minutes before the auto-dimming kicked in, which then left at around 900 nits, still
07:09very bright.
07:10In SDR, I measured around 480 nits, which stayed fairly consistent over time and together
07:15with that anti-reflective matte coating, it gives you a really nice gaming experience
07:19even in brighter rooms.
07:20I would have loved this even more if we'd had Dolby Vision support, but instead we just
07:24have HDR10.
07:25Although I would recommend if you're watching HDR video and movies, to switch to the ASUS
07:29Cinema HDR mode, currently the only mode that adapts the image to dynamic tone mapping,
07:33which is what you want for superior HDR.
07:36And I measured 100% sRGB, 89% AdobeRGB, and also 96% DCI-P3, which is a little way off
07:43their claimed 99%, and also 75% of the REC 2020 standard.
07:48And finally, obviously the big concern with OLED is burn-in, well, I mean, we've been here
07:53for a while now, right?
07:54We've had OLED monitors and TVs for a few years.
07:57These things come with a whole bunch of OLED care settings, like pixel refresh and screensavers
08:01and time-offs and things.
08:02So realistically, as long as you don't abuse it and leave it on the same screen with the
08:05same HUD, perhaps like a Windows taskbar here, at max brightness for hours and hours and
08:10hours with no change, you're not really going to have any problem.
08:13Although it's worth noting that burn-in isn't covered under the warranty, and also we've
08:17only had this for a couple of weeks, so I can't tell you long-term.
08:20Just keep it in mind.
08:23So let's wrap up.
08:24I'm sure as you've guessed from my enthusiasm throughout this video, this is an incredible
08:28gaming monitor, although for productivity, for work, probably wouldn't be my number one
08:32choice.
08:33But what do you reckon?
08:34For a cool £1,000, would you be tempted to buy one of these, or give it a miss?
08:39Let me know what you make of this guy in the comments below, and also if you've got any
08:42questions, I'll do my best to answer, and if you did enjoy this video and want to see
08:44more monitor reviews from me, then a like and subscribe would be amazing.
08:48Thank you so much for watching, guys, and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech
08:51Chat.
08:52Engine off, engine off.