Asus debuts 27-inch 240Hz OLED gaming monitor with brighter MLA panel

MW
Mike Wheatley

Asus unveiled a number of dazzling new monitors at CES 2023, with the headline act being a new gaming display that boasts LG Display’s newest OLED panel with Micro Lens Array technology for improved brightness.

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That particular model is the 27-inch Rog PG27AQDM (pictured), a 240Hz OLED gaming monitor that’s similar to ones announced by LG Electronics, Acer and Dough, which all use the same panel.

The Rog PG27AQDM incorporates MLA, which is a new technology created by LG Display that aims to boost brightness to unprecedented new heights for OLED. It works by using billions of tiny microlenses that help direct more light towards the viewer, where previously it would scatter in all directions, including inside the display. The idea is that it maximises the light emission from the OLED pixels. Asus also pairs a new META Booster algorithm with the MLA technology to further improve efficiency.

Even so, while the 55-inch and larger OLED panels destined for TVs can achieve a peak brightness of 2,100 nits, the 27-inch and 45-inch gaming monitor panels can hit a maximum of 1,000 nits peak brightness.

Other capabilities include a custom heatsink, 2560x1440 resolution and an impressive 0.03 ms response time. Asus hasn’t said when it will be released, but we can expect it sometime this year.

Besides the new Rog, Asus also unveiled its PG248QP gaming monitor, which is a 24-inch monitor that’s billed as the world’s first display with a 540Hz refresh rate. It’s essentially a modified version of the 500Hz monitor that Asus launched last year, and is equipped with a TN LCD panel built by AU Optronics. It’s all about speed and smoothness, but the image quality is unlikely to be as good as what OLED delivers. It supports Nvidia G-Sync and will go on sale in the second quarter.

Third is a second OLED monitor, the 31.5-inch ProArt PA32DCM. As the name suggests, it’s aimed at graphics designers, video and photo editors. It relies on the latest JOLED RGB-stripe OLED panel and delivers up to 700 nits peak brightness with over 300 nits fullscreen and covers 99% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. It also supports HDR10 and HLG, and has been calibrated to Delta E <1 colour difference. Asus said it will launch later this year. Also aimed at artists is the 27-inch ProArt PA239CRV, which is based on a standard IPS LCD panel.

Besides those, there were two additional monitors announced at CES. They include the curved, 49-inch Asus XG49WCR LCD gaming monitor, which boasts a 32:9 aspect ratio, 5120x1440 resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate, and the 32-inch PG32UQXR LCD display that boasts Mini-LED tech with 576 dimming zones, 1,000 nits peak brightness and a 160Hz refresh rate. It also supports the new DisplayPort 2.1 standard and HDMI 2.1.

Asus said pricing for all of the monitors will be announced later.