Testing the New ASUS ProArt 5K Display

[SebCohen]

Nice display, but no Thunderbolt. I wonder if it is fully compatible with an AppleTV 4K with all frame rates.

For my Mac's I've been using an LG 34inch 21:9 non-curved 4K monitor for a few years now. It's not 218ppi, but the fact that it is 21:9 makes it very relaxed to work with. Still waiting for an OLED (or better) with 218ppi with the same dimensions. And non-curved!

Thunderbolt accessories are TOO DANG EXPENSIVE…..that it matters here. And if you dont think theyre expensive, then the ASD isn’t expensive for you either.

Sure I “like” Thunderbolt. But for how expensive it is, I’ve excluded it from any and all of my purchases decisions. It’s “unimportant”….and…things are quite speedy nowadays anyway, so not a big big loss. Just…a little sad emoji

 

[MacFarmer]

from the comments it seems like this is a poor attempt to advertisement?

 

[nostradumbass]

Samsung and LG's are also plastic and yet not much cheaper than the studio display.

This ASUS monitor doesn’t seem to have speakers either.

The ASUS ProArt website is just bad. They keep saying AI this and AI that. They said their monitor empowers “AI ARTISTS”. There is no such thing as AI ARTISTS. If you call yourself an AI ARTIST even on the AI sub-reddits they will laugh at you.

 

[Realityck]

This ASUS monitor doesn’t seem to have speakers either.

The ASUS ProArt website is just bad. They keep saying AI this and AI that. They said their monitor empowers “AI ARTISTS”. There is no such thing as AI ARTISTS. If you call yourself an AI ARTIST even on the AI sub-reddits they will laugh at you.

Shows how much they think AI will incentivize sales.

 

[tobybrut]

Yeah, let's ignore the fact that there's a very apparent notch.

There isn’t a notch. In the video’s comments, MacRumors says that it’s an app called NotchNook. They apologized for not noticing the app was open.

 

[rmariboe]

I'm not interested in watching 7 minutes of advertising and video, is there a text transcript? Is it possible to produce a review in a reader-friendly way? This ain't it.

ChatGPT does that if transcripting is enabled

 

[nostradumbass]

Shows how much they think AI will incentivize sales.

Someone didn’t tell them that AI guys spent all their money on GPUs and a big percentage of them are nonces who don’t need color accuracy to generate the nasty things they do.

 

[joecomo]

Waiting for the 32-inch 6K version coming out soon for $1200.

if that is coming, I am waiting too

 

[joecomo]

It looks plastic, so even though the panel might be good the rest is low quality parts. So of course it is cheap.

depends on where you put it - in an office space that could be fine - living room not so much

 

[TechRunner]

ProArt and Studio Displays are for creatives like designers, photographers and architects. They can’t have a curve screens otherwise the horizontal lines in their design documents will appear curved too.

Your post is being viewed on my CURVED Calman certified, color calibrated Asus ProArt 34" widescreen display. Granted, it's a 3800R (very mild curvature) but thought you'd like to know the ProArt series does include at least one curved model.

 

[star-affinity]

I assume you have an M Series MacBook Pro. Does ProMotion work on your external display the same way it does on the MacBook screen? Do you use HDMI 2.1 to connect it? I assume so.

I use an M4 Pro Mac mini with the Philips Evnia 32M2N8900 and I use a 40 Gbps USB-C cable to connect video to the the display. I can use the Mac mini with up to 240 Hz (with ProMotion if one wants) at native resolution over that cable, so I don't use the HDMI port at all.

Not sure exactly what is being used for the video signal over USB-C to achieve this, but I can look if I can find out any details when I'm home from work. I guess maybe DisplayPort 1.4 with Display Stream Compression since I think otherwise it would max out at 120 Hz when driving all those 3840 x 2160 pixels. The display only has DP 1.4.

The reason for using USB-C for the video signal is that I'm also using the KVM switch in the display (to switch between my Windows machine and the Mac mini and be able to use the same keyboard and mouse connected to the display) for both computers) and since USB-C carries both video and USB signals what works. If I were to use the HDMI port from the Mac I would still need a separate USB-C connected to the display to use the peripherals via the KVM in the display (not sure if this even works but ChatGPT says it will…). Seems there won't be any benefits using the HDMI port, rather the oposite if ChatGPT is correct about Chroma Subsampling might being used over HDMI:

HDMI: May use 4:2:2 at high refresh rates (this seems to be a macOS thing and not a HDMI limit)
DisplayPort (via USB-C): Always full RGB 4:4:4 with DSC

Sorry, hope it's okay my reply became so long and technical.

 

[kelake]

I bought one as soon as they were available. Fantastic monitor.

 

[jakey rolling]

People are always bringing these up and claiming that they are 5K monitors the same as a Studio Display but cheaper. It isn’t until you dig a little deeper that you find it is just a slightly wider 4K monitor.

And? That only means that it is "misnomered" to people who think that Apple's definition for things is the only definition to live by.

 

[jakey rolling]

Low-end built-in speakers? You, sir, have obviously never owned a studio display.

ASD's speakers are great for people who would rather look at their speakers than listen to their speakers.

 

[jakey rolling]

People are always bringing these up and claiming that they are 5K monitors the same as a Studio Display but cheaper. It isn’t until you dig a little deeper that you find it is just a slightly wider 4K monitor.

Which, for the vast majority of people (you know, the other 99.99% of people who don't edit photos or YouTube videos on their computer for a living), a larger, wider 4k screen is probably much more useful than a 5K piece of art.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Aren't those the (notoriously misnomered) "5K2K" monitors? I.e., not really the Apple spec of 218dpi.

They are 5K2K monitors, I have one and that is what I wanted. There is nothing misnomered about it though, 5K is all about the horizontal resolution and yes that means you can get different vertical resolutions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5K_resolution

And Apple doesn't make a monitor that I would want, besides I'm no fan of scaled resolutions anyway.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

I use an M4 Pro Mac mini with the Philips Evnia 32M2N8900 and I use a 40 Gbps USB-C cable to connect video to the the display. I can use the Mac mini with up to 240 Hz (with ProMotion if one wants) at native resolution over that cable, so I don't use the HDMI port at all.

Not sure exactly what is being used for the video signal over USB-C to achieve this, but I can look if I can find out any details when I'm home from work. I guess maybe DisplayPort 1.4 with Display Stream Compression since I think otherwise it would max out at 120 Hz when driving all those 3840 x 2160 pixels. The display only has DP 1.4.

The reason for using USB-C for the video signal is that I'm also using the KVM switch in the display (to switch between my Windows machine and the Mac mini and be able to use the same keyboard and mouse connected to the display) for both computers) and since USB-C carries both video and USB signals what works. If I were to use the HDMI port from the Mac I would still need a separate USB-C connected to the display to use the peripherals via the KVM in the display (not sure if this even works but ChatGPT says it will…). Seems there won't be any benefits using the HDMI port, rather the oposite if ChatGPT is correct about Chroma Subsampling might being used over HDMI:

HDMI: May use 4:2:2 at high refresh rates (this seems to be a macOS thing and not a HDMI limit)
DisplayPort (via USB-C): Always full RGB 4:4:4 with DSC

Sorry, hope it's okay my reply became so long and technical.

Very helpful! I have a 16 in M3 Pro and an M2 Max, so both are capable of high frame rate output. I am considering getting a high refresh monitor to get more than 60 hz. I was under the impression TB 3 and USB C didn't have the bandwidth for a high refresh rate. Hence, my mention of HDMI 2.1.

 

[gadgetfreak98]

I have had one for a few weeks. It’s definitely not perfect but I like it for the price. I am using it in a three screen setup with this Asus in the middle. The left is an Ultrafine LG 5K and the right is a Dell 4K. I have the LG and this Asus hooked to my Mac Mini and the Asus and Dell hooked to my Windows work laptop. All my peripherals are hooked to the Asus which serves as a KVM.

Overall I’m reasonably satisfied in this use case.

Regarding screen quality, for some reason it originally was seemingly not connecting at the correct resolution so I was feeling like the matte covering was really destroying the sharpness which is the whole point of 5K. However when that was resolved it started to look really nice. I think I actually like the matte finish now. And it also looks really good connected to the windows machine.

It is not as bright as my LG it seems — and I cannot quite get the colors to match between the two 5Ks.

The KVM function works ok. I use one of the buttons on the bezel as a shortcut to switch between the machines. It works like 85% of the time but is slooooow. Still, it’s useful for me as I’m not usually flitting back and forth between the machines frequently.

I don’t really care out 60 vs 120 Hz but appreciate others might. I’m looking and word and excel files and doing zooms.

I had briefly tried a very highly rated Dell 4K with built in KVM capabilities but I could never get the Mac KVM software to work. And support was comically awful. That’s another story. This came out right when my Dell return window was closing. Glad I made the switch.

Finally THERE IS NO NOTCH. Also I don’t really care about the plastics. I have it VESA mounted on an arm — and am glad I can switch back to a stand if I change my mind (which I know the ASD cannot do). And I have a good webcam and external speakers so anything built in would have been extraneous.

Hope that helps. It’s a very good, not great monitor. If you care solely about screen quality and like the idea of matte and are ok with 60 Hz, it’s a great option (relatively). If you care about what happens beyond the screen (build quality, speakers, etc), this is not for you.

 

[sushicat]

I like the fact that this Asus monitor does not have a built-in webcam and built-in speakers. I'd rather buy a monitor like that along with a top-of-the-line Logitech 4K webcam and Klipsch 2.1 computer speakers, which would total hundreds of dollars less than the Apple Studio Display. Why pay hundreds of dollars more for Apple's low-end built-in webcam and Apple's low-end built-in speakers?

I have the same question about Macbook Air and Pro (Air especially since it's supposed to be entry level). Why the hell do they have to have a webcam? Hosted on a horrible notch at that. I don't know about y'all but I use the webcam once a year tops. Can't Apple just make a small external webcam so people can buy it if they need it like back in the day? I don't personally know a single user who uses video calls enough to need a webcam embedded in the screen so I'm confused by the choice. At least in the Air model they could ditch it.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I have the same question about Macbook Air and Pro (Air especially since it's supposed to be entry level). Why the hell do they have to have a webcam? Hosted on a horrible notch at that. I don't know about y'all but I use the webcam once a year tops. Can't Apple just make a small external webcam so people can buy it if they need it like back in the day? I don't personally know a single user who uses video calls enough to need a webcam embedded in the screen so I'm confused by the choice. At least in the Air model they could ditch it.

Eh ahem, numerous corporate users and students use Airs all day long, great all-day battery life. Microsoft Teams and Zoom calls all the time. You know, people who work or study actually use that stuff.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I like the fact that this Asus monitor does not have a built-in webcam and built-in speakers. I'd rather buy a monitor like that along with a top-of-the-line Logitech 4K webcam and Klipsch 2.1 computer speakers, which would total hundreds of dollars less than the Apple Studio Display. Why pay hundreds of dollars more for Apple's low-end built-in webcam and Apple's low-end built-in speakers?

I tend to use my iPhone nowadays as a continuity cam on my main desk where I've got my big 5K ultrawide screen from LG. I also use KRK Rokit 8 with an audio interface as speakers 👍

 

[vgmrm]

Asus, never again!
A monitor with a built-in camera that I bought stopped having support for the camera at first macOS system update. So without a clear guarantee of support, I don't plan to buy anything else from Asus.
On the other hand, the quality of the hardware leaves a lot to be desired in other areas, so I am banned from buying any Asus hardware.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Asus, never again!
A monitor with a built-in camera that I bought stopped having support for the camera at first macOS system update. So without a clear guarantee of support, I don't plan to buy anything else from Asus.
On the other hand, the quality of the hardware leaves a lot to be desired in other areas, so I am banned from buying any Asus hardware.

A camera without macOS support, hmm I find that hard to believe. You don't even need drivers for the cameras.

 

[mattopotamus]

Count me as another that is using this monitor and is completely satisfied for the price/performance compared to the competition. I enjoy the matte finish, but something to considered if you are expecting the glossy ASD screen.

Best part, having a single cable to dock my MacBook.

 

[satchmo]

It's still listed for $1099 on the Kuycon US website.

Not much of a savings, and I think I'd rather have an Apple display that will be backed by Apple for years.

$500 is not much of a savings?