ASUS PA248QV Review: Budget 24″ 1920×1200 IPS Photo Editing Monitor

The ASUS PA248QV is an affordable 24″ 1920×1200 IPS monitor with professional-grade Delta E < 2 factory calibration, making it perfect for designers and photo editors on a budget.

Image Quality

Based on an IPS panel with a screen resolution of 1920×1200 and an aspect ratio of 16:10, the ASUS PA248QV offers extra vertical screen space in comparison to the more popular 1920×1080 Full HD models.

Its 24.1-inch viewable screen in combination with the 1920×1200 resolution results in a pixel density of roughly 94 PPI (pixels per inch).

This is pretty much equivalent to the ~93 PPI pixel density of the more common 23.8″ 1080p displays. So, you get reasonably sharp details and text as well as a decent amount of screen real estate without any scaling necessary.

The IPS panel with 178° wide viewing angles ensures that the colors will remain precise and consistent across the entire screen, at all times, regardless of the angle you’re looking at the screen.

The ASUS PA248QV covers 100% of the sRGB color space, and it comes factory-calibrated (Calman verified) at Delta E < 2 for professional-grade accuracy out of the box!

Other panel-related specifications include a 300-nit peak brightness, a static contrast ratio of 1,000:1 and 8-bit color depth support via dithering for 16.7 million colors – all of which is standard for an IPS display at this price range.

One thing to keep in mind about all IPS monitors is IPS glow. This is a common drawback of this technology that’s characterized as visible ‘glowing’ around the corners of the screen.

The intensity of IPS glow varies across different units of monitors, but in most cases, it’s only visible when brightness is set very high and you’re viewing dark content in a dark room.

Performance

Even though the ASUS PA248QV monitor is not intended for gaming, it does offer a rather decent gaming experience.

Its input lag amounts to only ~9ms, which makes for imperceptible delay between your actions and the result on the screen.

The response time speed performance is not as fluid since there’s some minor trailing visible behind fast-moving objects.

So, the monitor is not ideal for competitive FPS games, but if you want a display for that, you’ll need a 144Hz+ gaming model anyway.

For casual gaming, the pixel response time speed of the ASUS PA248QV will suffice. More importantly, the 75Hz refresh rate will provide you with a small but quite noticeable boost in motion clarity in video games!

On top of that, the monitor also supports Adaptive-Sync with a 48-75Hz variable refresh rate (VRR) range for both AMD (over DisplayPort and HDMI) and NVIDIA (over DP only) cards.

If you have a compatible graphics card and enable this feature, the ASUS PA248QV will change its refresh rate dynamically (Hz=FPS) to completely eliminate screen stuttering and tearing with no noticeable input lag penalty.

Below 48FPS, the variable refresh rate won’t work, unfortunately. But, you can try using CRU (Custom Resolution Utility) to extend the supported variable refresh rate range.

Lastly, note that the monitor has a flicker-free backlight and an integrated low-blue light filter.

These two features ensure a comfortable viewing experience even after prolonged use of the display.

Features

To access and control the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu, you can use the five hotkeys placed beneath the bottom bezel, on the right side of the display.

You’ll find plenty of useful features in the OSD menu including various pre-calibrated picture presets (sRGB, Rec.709, Reading, Darkroom, etc).

The Rapid Rendering mode is a Motion Blur Reduction technology; once enabled, the monitor will strobe the backlight for smoother motion clarity, but due to the monitor’s low 75Hz refresh rate, it’s not very useful.

Besides the standard image adjustment tools such as brightness and contrast, you’ll also get access to some advanced settings including gamma (from 1.8 to 2.6) and 6-axis hue/saturation.

You’ll also find the VividPixel and ASCR features in the OSD menu which we recommend leaving disabled for the best image quality as they mess with the sharpness and contrast of the image.

Other noteworthy features include ‘Trace Free’ and ‘QuickFit’. The former increases the pixel response time speed, but we don’t recommend setting it over ’60’ as then it introduces pixel overshoot (inverse ghosting).

QuickFit allows you to place a virtual grid on the screen to help you align your documents, photos and other items.

Design & Connectivity

The stand of the monitor offers full ergonomic support including up to 130mm height adjustment, -5°/35° tilt, 90° pivot, 90° swivel and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.

The side and top bezels are ultra-thin while the bottom bezel is a bit thicker and has a centimeter ruler. You won’t run into any issues with reflections as the screen has an anti-glare matte coating.

Connectivity options are abundant and include DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4, VGA, a headphone jack, a quad-USB 3.0 hub and two 2W built-in speakers.

Price & Similar Monitors

The ASUS PA248QV price amounts to ~$160 – $200, and it’s the best photo editing monitor you can get for that price.

It’s also available as a standard 1920×1080 model and a USB-C port with DP 1.2 Alt Mode and 65W Power Delivery, the ASUS PA247CV.

Additionally, we reviewed the 27″ sized model, the ASUS PA278QV with a higher 2560×1440 screen resolution and the same features.

If you’re looking for something similar, be sure to also check out the ViewSonic VP2468 with the more common 1920×1080 resolution as well as 14-bit 3D LUT and hardware calibration support. It’s also available as a 27″ 1440p variant, the ViewSonic VP2768.

For more information, check out our best photo/video editing monitors buyer’s guide.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a cheap but good monitor for photo editing, and also like to do a little bit of gaming on the side, the ASUS PA248QV is hands-down the best display you can get for under $200.

Specifications

Screen Size	24.1-inch
Resolution	1920×1200 (WUXGA)
Panel Type	IPS
Aspect Ratio	16:10
Refresh Rate	75Hz
Response Time	5ms
Adaptive-Sync	FreeSync (48-75Hz)
Speakers	2x2W
Ports	DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4, VGA
Other Ports	Headphone Jack, 4x USB 3.0
Brightness	300 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	1000:1 (static)
Colors	16.7 million (6-bit + FRC)
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)