* The big problem *
I purchased this to replace an older 60hz monitor of the same size and resolution. However, upon turning it on to my Windows desktop, a problem was immediately apparent. Text looked wrong. Especially small text with fine 1-pixel-wide lines. It is like there is a little bit of vertical blur smearing the fine lines. It looks like a poorly configured sharpness setting, except there isn't a sharpness setting on this monitor, and the problem fades away toward the bottom of the screen! (see pictures!) It is a little hard to discern in photographs, but in person, it makes regular black-on-white text look like it has a drop-shadow.
I believe that many people notice this problem, but for lack of a better explanation, blame it on the BGR subpixel layout. I must emphasize that this problem is entirely unrelated to the BGR subpixel layout. Every 4K 43 inch panel I've ever seen (and I've seen several) has a BGR subpixel layout, and the effect of using RGB subpixel antialiasing on a BGR panel is so subtle that most owners never notice a problem. This monitor's problem is different, and can be most easily confirmed by viewing a sharpness test pattern on the monitor.
* No solution from Asus *
I contacted Asus tech support about the rendering problem, and their reply was a generic copy-and-pasted list advising things like using the auto-adjust button (yes, the one from old VGA monitors, that doesn't even exist on this model), running native resolution (duh), and trying different cables. I tried different cables, and there was no change.
After several replies, they suggested that I return the monitor for a replacement. However, before I returned the monitor, I wanted to know if a replacement would have the same issue. So I scoured various internet forums and was able to receive confirmation that mine was not the only panel with this particular flaw. I returned the monitor for a refund instead, and I will eagerly await the release of a better model.
* General panel quality *
To be fair, many people run this monitor with 125% DPI scaling, which largely masks the effect of the panel's rendering problem. It is also a non-issue in most games. So I will briefly discuss the panel quality compared to others I have used.
This panel has notably poor viewing angles, a fact which my brother was quick to point out whenever I tried to show him something on it. He would look over from a steep angle, and it would be too washed out to make sense of anything. Inevitably, he had to get up out of his chair and move over to look from a better angle. Not so with the LG IPS monitor I was using before (and after) this Asus monitor.
Motion blur is pretty bad for a gaming monitor, too. I spent quite a bit of time playing WoW Classic on it, and green player names drifting by had a distinct streak behind them, especially in dark environments. This was even with overdrive set to the second-highest setting. The highest overdrive setting was drastically overdone to the point that it created horrid overshooting artifacts everywhere there was motion, making it basically unusable for gaming. This monitor does use a VA panel, and VA panels are known for this kind of streaking, particularly when transitioning to/from black. I cannot compare this panel's performance with other VA panels however, as I have never used another VA panel for gaming.
* Conclusion *
As much as it has been eagerly anticipated, I must recommend skipping this monitor. More-advanced models like Acer Predator CG437K and Asus XG43UQ are due to be released soon (around the end of 2019), and with any luck, they may not share the same rendering problems as the Asus XG438Q.
| Standing screen display size | 35 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3440 x 1440 Pixels |
| Processor | 2.8 GHz core_i7 |
| RAM | 24 GB SDRAM |
| Hard Drive | 128 GB Hybrid |
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB GDDR5 |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 6.5 Hours |
