ASUS ProArt PQ22UC 4K OLED Monitor: £4699, ~$5150
by Anton Shilov on March 22, 2019 5:00 PM EST
ASUS announced its first professional OLED display back at CES 2018 over a year ago. The compact and lightweight 21.6-inch 4K monitor covering 99% of the DCI-P3 color aimed at professionals attracted a lot of attention from various parties, but it has taken ASUS quite some time to perfect the product. Only this month the company began to sell the display on select markets with broader availability expected going forward. Meanwhile, the price of the monitor looks rather overwhelming.
The ASUS ProArt PQ22UC features a 21.6-inch 4K RGB stripe OLED panel produced by JOLED using its printing method. The panel supports a 3840×2160 resolution, 140 - 330 nits brightness (typical/peak), a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, and a response time of 0.1 ms. The monitor features an internal 14-bit 3D LUT (lookup table), can reproduce 1.07 billion colors, and comes factory-calibrated to a Delta E <2 accuracy. The ProArt PQ22UC is said to feature a 95% uniformity compensation to avoid fluctuations in brightness and chromaticity on different parts of the screen. ASUS says that it can cover 99% of the DCI-P3 color space (without specifying whitepoint chromacity) and supports HDR10 as well as HLG formats for high dynamic range content. Meanwhile, ASUS yet has to reveal which other modes the display supports (e.g., REC2020, REC709, etc.).
Besides very accurate colors and a very high contrast ratio, the main features of the ProArt PQ22UC are its compact dimensions, a foldable stand, a foldable protection case, as well as a low weight (about a kilogram or so with the stand). To further save space and make the product thinner, ASUS equipped the the ProArt PQ22UC with two USB Type-C and micro-HDMI inputs (no word on exact protocols, but DP 1.2 and HDMI 2.0x are likely). The compact dimensions and weight enable owners to easily carry it around, which is particularly important for people who need to do post-production outside of their studios as well as various on-set routines. ASUS does not ship the monitor with a light-shielding hood, a common accessory for displays used for cinematography and color-critical workloads, due to its portability.
| Brief Specifications of the ASUS ProArt PQ22UC | |
| PQ22UC | |
| Panel | 21.6" OLED |
| Native Resolution | 3840 × 2160 |
| Maximum Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
| Response Time | 0.1 ms (black to white) |
| Brightness | minimum: 0.0005 cd/m² typical: 140 cd/m² maximum: 330 cd/m² |
| Contrast | 1,000,000:1 |
| Viewing Angles | 178°/178° horizontal/vertical |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.1245 mm² |
| Pixel Density | 204 ppi |
| Display Colors | 1.07 billion |
| Color Gamut Support | DCI-P3: 99% sRGB/Rec 709: 100% (tbc) Adobe RGB: ? SMPTE C: ? Rec2020: ? |
| Stand | Tilt and height adjustable |
| Inputs | 2 × USB Type-C (DP 1.2?) 1 × mini HDMI (2.0a? 2.0b?) |
| PSU | External |
| Launch Price & Date | Spring 2019 €5000 ~ $5000 |
The ASUS ProArt PQ22UC display is now available from select stores in Austria and the UK for €5,160 and £4,699 with taxes. TFTCentral claims that broader availability is expected in April, but the official price for the UK will be £4,799 with taxes. If we roughly subtract the UK sales tax from the current retail price and convert the sum to US Dollars, we will get something like $5150, which means that the product will likely carry a ~$5000 MSRP in the US.
Related Reading:
- ASUS Unveils ProArt PQ22UC OLED Monitor: 4K, 99% DCI-P3, 0.1 ms Response Time
- JOLED Demos 21.6-Inch OLED Monitor for Gamers
- Dell at CES 2019: Alienware 55-Inch 4K 120 Hz OLED Gaming Monitor Showcased
- New 8K OLED Displays for Tablets and Laptops: 8.3 and 13.3 Inches
Sources: TFT Central, AVMagazine
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bigboxes - Monday, March 25, 2019 - link
Your 8 year old monitor is not OLED.Canam Aldrin - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
For everyone complaining about the price and that it is "stupid" high, I'm a filmmaker and professional colorist and my first reaction was "wow this is cheap, when can I order it?" That is, assuming the 3D LUT support mentioned is real and robust. If you're comparing to consumer monitors, it will seem stupid expensive. But the alternatives are things like the Eizo CG319X I am typing this on (~$5600), which is not even OLED but has the LUT functionality required. Or there's Flanders Scientific DM250 for $25K, which is a similar size OLED but has SDI inputs (that additional functionality is worth about $5K on its own). Point is, there is a market for this monitor and Asus is not stupid, it's just not for YOU.Opencg - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
but i am a gamer and therefore there are better products i can buy. ME WRITE COMMENT SO GOODAlistair - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
Fine, next time you are Asus and you are announcing an OLED monitor, say that you only want to sell a hundred of them, that it is a professional only product, and that you expect the price to be >$5000. They created anticipation that this would be a consumer OLED monitor, and that was misleading.Pyrostemplar - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
Ahah (The Simpsons' Nelson style) - 5k for a 22" screen. Really?Anyway, Oled contrast is tipically stated as infinite because blacks are really without any light. So why the 1 million to one?
Metroid - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
this is what i call a stupid product.Tams80 - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
This is a top end monitor. It's squarely aimed at professionals. It's this price for a number of reasons:a) It's using top end technology.
b) These lines have bigger profit margins.
c) These kinds of products are bought by large organisations that have dedicated pools of cash for this. Some may even have a "use it or lose it" policy. $5,000 is nothing to them. They also often buy in bulk, outfitting whole studios, etc. with them.
In other words, this isn't intended for your average Joe, or even the enthusiasts found here. Just like we won't go out and buy an ARRI or RED camera. We just get a chance to buy them if we so wish (which is great).
kbswaff - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - link
$5150 the number referring to the California Psych Hold seems about right. Anyone paying that much for a 21.5 inch should ve locked up.YoloPascual - Sunday, March 24, 2019 - link
Dafuq is that price? Thats a top of the line Microsoft surface studio money.eastcoast_pete - Monday, March 25, 2019 - link
@Anton: Thanks. Nice specs, outrageous price. Questions: Any information on resistance to burn-in? Are the JOLED panels more resistant than LG's, SONY's or SAMSUNG's offerings? Burn-in is a real risk with organic LED screens used as monitors, at least up to now. Are these different, and does ASUS warrant against burn-in for, let's say, 5 years?I was tempted to go with an LG 4K OLED panel (TV, really) as my main monitor (gorgeous colors!), but shied away from them as I use my monitors in daylight, so at high brightness settings.