Asus firms up 4K future

As you all know, KitGuru has been tracking the move toward affordable 4K very closely over the past 12 months. With a series of price drops and product launches, the magic moment when you can buy a 4K TV for less than £1,500 is edging closer. Asus wants to deliver a resolution revolution of its own.

For those of you saving up to buy a 1080p HD TV, KitGuru is inclined to exclaim “What? Why? Wait!”.

It seems that, pretty soon, 4K monitors will be widely available and cheaper than ever.

If you haven't been following our stories, then you might be wondering what 4K means. Well the actual definition can vary slightly, according to each implementation, but – in general – it means a screen with a resolution that is around 4,000 pixels left to right and close to 2,000 pixels top to bottom. You can get a full line up on the resolution options from here.

Easy maths tells us that 4×2 = 8 million pixels, which is going to be fun for any graphics engine that is not quite up to scratch.

.Bear in mind that, right now, KitGuru's regular testing is at full HD (1920×1080) and when we push systems hard, we use triple-screen action (5760×1080) and a lot of graphic cards struggle at that level – which is only 6.2 million pixels. Increase the pixel count by almost 30% more and there will be a serious strain.

Asus has recently presented KitGuru with a number of 4K offerings, including:-

• A gorgeous 39″ 4K LCD monitor, which looked sublime and sleek and beautiful with True UHD resolutions. The size of 39″ is probably more suited to TV or HTPC applications, but still the bezel was extremely thin, the stand stable and, overall, aesthetically appealing
• The second screen was a PQ321. This is described as a true 4K UHD monitor and provides an absolutely stunning image, with crystal clarity at the highest UHD resolutions. With an ultra HD demo video of nature scenes flowing past, it was almost mesmerising – without the slightest flicker or drag. Impressive stuff

The monitors come with 2 HDMI 1.4 ports and DisplayPort 1 & 2 support, as well as an audio input – as well as bundled headphones. The stands come with a full range of tilt, swivel and height adjustments as well.

Asus is not ignoring the resolutions between HD and the new 4K standards either.

We have also seen the PB298Q screen, which is an ultra wide (21:9) panoramic LCD monitor. The design allows or multiple documents to be open simultaneously without the need for an extra monitor.

At 29 inches wide, it has a 2,560 pixels available left to right – which is around 33% more real estate than a regular HD screen.

And it is frameless. We have to say that the ‘edge to edge' designs are excellent – like an infinity pool for your eyes.

KitGuru says: We expect these screens to be launching in the UK before the end of August, so watch this space for updates.

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