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Professional screens, being a serious matter, haven't tended to offer trendy fripperies like a curved panel or ultrawide aspect ratio. But if you're creating immersive content, or need all the screen real estate you can get for your software interface, a curved 21:9 monitor with a high resolution could well be just what you're after. So ASUS' new ProArt PA34VC might be just what you're looking for. A 34in panel with 3,440 x 1,440 resolution, it's got pixels aplenty.
The PA34VC isn't the first curved screen we've seen with this size and resolution, but it's the first one aimed at professionals, and we were quite excited about the possibilities when we first heard news of it. We reviewed Samsung's CF791 over two years ago, and appreciated both the quality and the width. But that wasn't quite aimed at professionals, being more a jack of all trades with some work and entertainment combined. Being an ASUS ProArt, the PA34VC is clearly targeting content creators, and has a price in excess of £1,000 to match.
Whereas the Samsung CF791 uses a VA panel, the ASUS PA34VC opts for IPS. This provides the same 300cd/m2 brightness rating, but a lower 1,000:1 contrast and relatively relaxed 5ms grey-to-grey pixel response. The maximum refresh is the same 100Hz, and adaptive FreeSync is supported should you want to play a game or two. However, this panel isn't as curvy as Samsung's with a 1900R rating rather than 1500R.
More importantly for the professional user, the panel is rated at 100 per cent sRGB and comes factory calibrated. It also supports HDR-10, so in theory can provide a 10-bit colour depth capable of displaying the Rec.2020 colour space, which will be great for watching HDR movies, but also if you're creating content destined for this level of quality. There's also a specific Rec. 709 preset, which is the colour space for HDTV.
There are plenty of ports to play with. To start with, you get a pair of HDMI connections plus DisplayPort. But there are also two Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C ports, plus a trio of USB 3.0 Type A and an audio minijack output. You even get stereo 2W speakers.
A full range of physical adjustments are available, including tilting forwards and backwards, height adjustment, and swivelling. So this is a comprehensively specified screen at a hefty price. Whether it's worth the money depends on how well it fares in the quality stakes. Read on to find out our results.
Specification:
- Screen size: 34-inch, 21:9 aspect
- Native resolution: 3,440 x 1,440
- Curvature: 1900R
- Refresh rate: 100Hz
- Panel type: IPS
- Contrast ratio: 1,000:1 (typical)
- Brightness: 300cd/m2
- Response time: 5ms Grey-to-Grey
- Display inputs: HDMI 2.0b x 2, DisplayPort 1.2, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C x 2
- USB hub: 3 x USB 3.0 Type A
- Tilt: 5 degrees forward, 23 degrees backward
- Raise: 120mm range
- Swivel: 30 degrees each way
- Other: Audio output, 2W stereo speakers, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C output (for diasy chain)
Retail Price: £1,069 (inc. VAT)
