Review Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ 4K OLED Review: Stunning in Every Respect

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"One obstacle to wide acceptance has been size. Early OLED computer monitors weren’t much smaller than big-screen TVs". Article about 42 inch "PC monitor". Fail
 
oofdragon said:
"One obstacle to wide acceptance has been size. Early OLED computer monitors weren’t much smaller than big-screen TVs". Article about 42 inch "PC monitor". Fail
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42 inches for 4K on a monitor seems about ideal to me! I felt 30-inch for 1440p was a good size, so if you want to increase the resolution by 125% (1.5X in each dimension), you definitely need to make the screens bigger. This 4K in a 14-inch laptop business is ludicrous, and 4K in a 28-inch monitor isn't much better for practical use.
 
Admin said:
Asus adds a 42-inch 4K model to the list of available OLED gaming monitors. The ROG Swift PG42UQ sports a 138 Hz refresh rate, Adaptive-Sync, HDR and extended color. It delivers a stunning image and premium gaming performance.

Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ 4K OLED Review: Stunning in Every Respect : Read more
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I am a photographer and shoot high-res GFX 100 (100 MP) files. For years I have used an ASUS 32 inch IPS professional monitor that cost me several thousand 5 years ago. I don't render or edit video, and I don't game. I just edit and enjoy my high-res image files and use Photoshop and mostly Lightroom. The color gamut is important to me, but this monitor seems to be right there at the professional level for photography work, and the 42 inch size (up from 32) I think I would relish.

So, should I get this monitor if I never game? I build my own high-end desktop and am about to build a rig with the 4090 just for the Hell of it.

What do I lose when compared to the ASUS pro mini-led monitor that costs 5 grand?

I think I'm going to get this monitor for my photography work and enjoyment.

What do you think? Or is ASUS about to come out with a new "Pro" monitor that is cheaper and better than their current lineup?

I don't need 144 Hz, but why not? Maybe I will even try a game or two.
 
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Greg7579 said:
I am a photographer and shoot high-res GFX 100 (100 MP) files. For years I have used an ASUS 32 inch IPS professional monitor that cost me several thousand 5 years ago. I don't render or edit video, and I don't game. I just edit and enjoy my high-res image files and use Photoshop and mostly Lightroom. The color gamut is important to me, but this monitor seems to be right there at the professional level for photography work, and the 42 inch size (up from 32) I think I would relish.

So, should I get this monitor if I never game? I build my own high-end desktop and am about to build a rig with the 4090 just for the Hell of it.

What do I lose when compared to the ASUS pro mini-led monitor that costs 5 grand?

I think I'm going to get this monitor for my photography work and enjoyment.

What do you think? Or is ASUS about to come out with a new "Pro" monitor that is cheaper and better than their current lineup?

I don't need 144 Hz, but why not? Maybe I will even try a game or two.
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I bought this unit about 2 months ago, and the firmware issue is now resolved. This monitor is everything state of the art, for gaming, photography, or plain old work, net surfing. Currently, paired with my EVGA 2080 Ti, while the EVGA FTW3 RTX Ultra Gaming, is being repaired. Colors just "pop" compared to TN, VA, or IPS panels.
Without question you will enjoy this monitor immensely. Cheers :)
 
I have this monitor and it’s great - but I can’t believe that the article didn’t mention fringing on text. IMHO that’s the biggest issue (although you can live with it) with this monitor.

The author is minimizing it by using 150% scaling. He really should have also tested the monitor at 100% scaling so you can, you know, use the full 4K res of the monitor for your desktop.

This is an inherent problem of the WRGB sub pixel layout which pretty much all LG panels use. The real fix is that enough people need to complain about it (not work around it with higher scaling) so Microsoft updates ClearType which is currently optimized for normal RGB.

For those with this monitor, using MacType helps a bit, but a real fix to ClearType is really needed. It improves text quality, but it’s still nowhere near LCD level. You can turn off ClearType, but text looks terrible - even at 4K resolution so that it’s still better looking with the fringing.
 
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Even the best Mini LED panels can’t reproduce intra-image black levels like an OLED.
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Yep, my OLED has far better local dimming than the Mini LCD TV and none of the light bleeding. Each Mini LED backlight still illuminates thousands of pixels, so Mini LED still suffers from the same problems of IPS, TN and VA panels, light bleeding, no true black, viewing angle problems, etc.

The light bleeding which causes blooming, is less of an issue on TV consuming movies for example. But it is a real issue for text for example.

Only OLED and E-ink solves this problem.

(The exception is of course the QD-OLED garbage from Samsung and Alienware, which messes it all up with their color artefacts.)

The big promise was that Micro LED would solve Mini LED's problems and have per pixel dimming. But Micro LED is turning out to be a manufacturing nightmare. The tiny circuitry needed to power millions of LED is a mess and yields are terrible.
 
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I have this monitor and it’s great - but I can’t believe that the article didn’t mention fringing on text. IMHO that’s the biggest issue (although you can live with it) with this monitor.
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The Alienware and Samsung QD-OLED have this problem. Color artefacts, color fringes. Whatever people want to call it. They're red and green lines surrounding high contrast elements due to a difference in pixel layout.

I am spared from this problem on my regular OLED TV which I use as a monitor.
 
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This is an inherent problem of the WRGB sub pixel layout which pretty much all LG panels use.
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LG sells OLED monitors with an RGB layout that has no color fringing, like the LG Ultrafine Pro series.

Of course, they're more expensive than the OLED screens found in gaming monitors.
 
Interesting review. Every other monitor testing site and reviewer suggested that "Cinema Mode" is the best setting for accurate colors. I'm also curious which firmware the reviewer is using, as people all over the place are dealing with washed out non-functional HDR on firmware V033. All of the previous firmware versions don't allow the panel to wake on sleep if you're using "overclocking" to reach 138hz, and the pixel refresh pop up returns very commonly, so I was surprised to see no mention of any of that.
You can read about the broken HDR in depth on Rtings review of the monitor. The tone mapping is broken on this monitor, and only covers 34% of the gamut when HDR is on, as you can see here: https://www.rtings.com/assets/pages/ncyZeV4m/fall-800-hdr-off-large.jpg
If anyone knows which firmware the reviewer is using, let me know. I don't think it's the updated version V033.
 
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~43" I find perfect for 4k displays. Just a couple of comments. As with all OLED monitors, it's important to check out the screen warranty.

PG42UQ - Support

www.asus.com www.asus.com

It's two years on the screen, which is an improvement over many OLED screen warranties which tend to run 1 year. Also, Asus considers a few dead pixels to be "normal," according to the warranty information--not a warranty issue.

The HDR performance is pretty bad, frankly. 450 nits max is barely HDR at all, as most standard monitors run at ~300 nits normal brightness. And of course HDR 1000 certification means that your monitor handles ~1000 nits of brightness in that mode. It's gorgeous--certainly not a "light cannon"...😉

But as far as pixel latency goes--OLED cannot be beat. But, I was disappointed with the HDR specs, and so I'd pass just because of that. (I'm spoiled with a 43" 4k HDR-1000 vesa-certified HDR display, and latency is not a noticeable issue for me on this VA screen.)
 
Perfect at everything but text clarity at which it absolutely sucks so you can't buy it if you aren't like 15 and need to do any actual work on it
 
PlaneInTheSky said:
The Alienware and Samsung QD-OLED have this problem. Color artefacts, color fringes. Whatever people want to call it. They're red and green lines surrounding high contrast elements due to a difference in pixel layout.

I am spared from this problem on my regular OLED TV which I use as a monitor.
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What TV are you using? All the LG TVs are WRGB. The Samsungs are QD-OLED. Sonys use LG or Samsung panels, so all TVs should be affected.

PlaneInTheSky said:
LG sells OLED monitors with an RGB layout that has no color fringing, like the LG Ultrafine Pro series.

Of course, they're more expensive than the OLED screens found in gaming monitors.
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They don‘t have a 42 Ultrafine yet, but I’ve been watching. Curious if they’re any good for gaming, though.

The easy button, would be if MS would just update ClearType, but they have less pressure to do so if publications don’t bring this issue up every time they review an OLED monitor with a non-RGB arrangement.
 
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