The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV is a very good budget-friendly monitor that's intended for creative professionals. Its superb ergonomics, high peak brightness, and wide viewing angles make it a good fit for nearly any type of workspace. It comes with good color accuracy out-of-the-box and it has an excellent SDR color gamut; however, it can't display a wide color gamut and doesn't support HDR. It has impressive gaming performance despite its professional-looking design, as it has a fast response time, Adaptive Sync support, and a 75Hz refresh rate that makes fast motion look just a bit more fluid. Unfortunately, it has a low contrast ratio and mediocre black uniformity, which is expected of most IPS panels. On the bright side, it provides a generous number of USB ports and even has a pair of built-in speakers.
Update 09/24/2020: We mistakenly indicated that this monitor has native FreeSync support. It supports Adaptive Sync, and is FreeSync compatible.
The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV is a great monitor for most uses. It has a large screen with a high resolution that's well-suited for work, gaming, or media consumption. It has a fast response time, low input lag, and a 75Hz refresh rate that makes fast motion look smoother than a typical 60Hz panel. It has superb ergonomics, wide viewing angles, and it overcomes glare easily in bright lighting conditions. Unfortunately, it has a low contrast ratio that makes it less ideal for dark room viewing and it doesn't support HDR.
The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV is a great office monitor. Its large screen and high resolution allow you to work comfortably, with plenty of screen space to have multiple windows opened at the same time. It has wide viewing angles, it overcomes glare easily, and it has superb ergonomics, so you can adjust the monitor however you like. Input lag is low and the monitor's 75Hz refresh rate makes scrolling through documents feel just a tad smoother.
The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV is a great monitor for gaming. It has a fast response time, low input lag, and its 75Hz refresh rate makes motion look just a bit smoother than your typical 60Hz panel. It supports Adaptive Sync to reduce screen tearing and it's compatible with FreeSync and G-SYNC sources. It isn't well-suited for gaming in the dark, as it has a low contrast ratio and mediocre black uniformity. On the upside, it has a large screen and high resolution that makes gaming feel incredibly immersive.
The ASUS PA278QV is a good monitor for media consumption. It delivers good picture quality thanks to its high resolution and its large screen feels immersive. It has superb ergonomics and wide viewing angles, making it easy to share content with others. It's well-suited for bright rooms, as it handles reflection well and it gets bright enough to overcome glare. However, it doesn't perform all that well in dark rooms due to its low contrast ratio and mediocre black uniformity.
The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV is a very good monitor for content creators. Its high pixel density results in sharp images and text, and there's plenty of screen space to have multiple windows opened at the same time. It has superb ergonomics, wide viewing angles, and it gets bright enough for use in any lighting conditions. Unfortunately, its contrast ratio and black uniformity are both mediocre, so blacks look more grayish. It has near full coverage of the sRGB color space; however, its Adobe RGB coverage is only decent.
The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV doesn't support HDR.
The ASUS ProArt PA278QV's design is simple and a bit boxy, very similar to Dell's UltraSharp monitors, such as the Dell UltraSharp U2720Q. It has thin bezels on three sides but the bottom bezel is thicker, as it houses the monitor's controls and also has a built-in ruler. The stand has a square base that doesn't take up too much space and it has a brushed metallic finish.
The back of the monitor has a clean and professional look. The stand has a quick release feature if you want to wall-mount it, and there's a small cutout in the stand that serves as cable management.
This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is for reference only.
The ASUS ProArt PA278QV's SDR peak brightness is great. It's bright enough to overcome glare in any lighting conditions and is extremely consistent across different content.
The ASUS PA278QV doesn't support HDR.
Great horizontal viewing angles. Images should remain accurate when viewed from the side, making it easier to share your work with others.
Excellent vertical viewing angles. This is good if you tend to sit extremely close to the screen or have the monitor mounted above eye level.
Out-of-the-box, the ASUS ProArt PA278QV has good color accuracy. The monitor has an sRGB mode that's factory-calibrated and comes with a calibration report in the box. It's advertised to have an accuracy that's below 2dE; however, some of our measurements exceed that. This is likely due to different methods of measuring color accuracy.
Most of the color inaccuracies are difficult to spot, but white balance is off due to the warm color temperature giving the image a reddish tint. Gamma follows the target curve reasonably well except for bright scenes, which are over-brightened.
After calibration, the color accuracy is superb. The remaining inaccuracies shouldn't be noticeable without the aid of a colorimeter. White balance is nearly perfect and the color temperature is much closer to our 6500K target. Gamma is better, but dark scenes are still brighter than they should be.
You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and should not be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model due to manufacturing tolerances.
The ASUS PA278QV has an excellent SDR color gamut. It has near full coverage of the widely-used sRGB color space, but its coverage of the Adobe RGB is more limited and may not be good enough for professional photo editing.
The ASUS PA278QV doesn't support HDR.
This monitor doesn't support HDR.
The ASUS PA278QV has good reflection handling. The matte anti-reflective coating does a good job of diffusing reflected light. Direct reflections can be a bit distracting, but the monitor can get bright enough to compensate.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
0 | Chart | Table | Photo |
20 | Chart | Table | Photo |
40 | Chart | Table | Photo |
60 | Chart | Table | Photo |
80 | Chart | Table | Photo |
100 | Chart | Table | Photo |
The ASUS PA278QV has great response time when running at its max refresh rate. This results in only a small blur trail behind fast-moving objects and makes this monitor a good option for gaming. The best overdive setting is '60', as it provides the best performance with minimal overshoot.
Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
0 | Chart | Table | Photo |
20 | Chart | Table | Photo |
40 | Chart | Table | Photo |
60 | Chart | Table | Photo |
80 | Chart | Table | Photo |
100 | Chart | Table | Photo |
The response time at 60Hz is nearly identical to the response time at max refresh rate, but with even less overshoot. The best overdrive setting at 60Hz is '40', as the higher settings have significantly more overshoot, causing visible artifacts.
There's an optional Black Frame Insertion feature to help improve motion clarity. It only works at 75Hz and can't be used at the same time as variable refresh rate. Unfortunately, the strobe crosstalk is quite bad, as it causes visible image duplication. To enable the Black Frame Insertion feature, you have to be in the 'Rapid Rendering' mode.
The ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV supports Adaptive Sync to reduce screen tearing when gaming. It's also compatible with FreeSync and NVIDIA's G-SYNC; however, the latter only works over a DisplayPort connection.