The ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM is a good overall monitor that delivers excellent performance. It's a 1080p TN monitor with a high 280Hz refresh rate, fast response time, and low input lag for smooth and responsive gaming. Unfortunately, the response time and input lag are worse at 60Hz. On the upside, it's well-suited to bright rooms due to its high peak brightness and great reflection handling. It also has an amazing SDR color gamut, but it doesn't perform well in HDR because it can't display a wide color gamut and doesn't get bright enough to bring out highlights. Viewing angles are also poor, resulting in image washout when viewing off-center, but it has fantastic ergonomics, so you can easily adjust the viewing position to suit your needs.
Our Verdict
The ASUS VG258QM is a good monitor for mixed usage. It performs best in bright lighting conditions thanks to its high peak brightness and great reflection handling. It's not as well-suited to watching movies or gaming in the dark because of its low contrast ratio. The high refresh rate, fast response time, and low input lag are excellent for gaming; however, response time and input lag perform worse at 60Hz. Unfortunately, it struggles with HDR, because it can't display a wide HDR color gamut and doesn't get bright enough to bring out highlights.
- Exceptionally high refresh rate.
- Low input lag.
- Great reflection handling.
- Fantastic ergonomics.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Poor viewing angles.
- Smaller size is not ideal for multitasking.
The ASUS VG258QM is decent for office use. It has fantastic ergonomics, allowing you to make adjustments to your ideal viewing position. It also gets very bright and has great reflection handling, so glare shouldn't be an issue in well-lit rooms. That said, its smaller size is less suited for multitasking, and it only has a 1080p resolution. It also has poor viewing angles, making it difficult to share content.
- Great reflection handling.
- Fantastic ergonomics.
- Poor viewing angles.
- Smaller size is not ideal for multitasking.
The ASUS VG258QM is an excellent gaming monitor. It has an extremely quick response time at its max refresh rate, which is very high at 280Hz, resulting in exceptionally smooth motion. It also has a low input lag and supports VRR to reduce screen tearing. Unfortunately, the response time and input lag are much worse at 60Hz. Also, the 1080p resolution may not be high enough for some people.
- Fast response time at max refresh rate.
- Low input lag.
- Compatible with FreeSync and G-SYNC.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Response time and input lag are significantly worse at 60Hz.
The ASUS VG258QM is decent for multimedia. It has great reflection handling, so glare shouldn't be an issue, and its ergonomics are superb, so you can set it to your ideal viewing position. However, the 1080p resolution may be too low if you prefer to watch movies in 4k, and the smaller screen size and poor viewing angles aren't well-suited to watching with another person.
- Great reflection handling.
- Fantastic ergonomics.
- Excellent SDR color gamut.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Poor viewing angles.
- Small size is not ideal for watching movies and other media.
The ASUS VG258QM is good for media creation. It has an excellent SDR color gamut with good coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing. It's easily adjusted to your ideal viewing position and has great reflection handling to cut glare. That said, the poor viewing angles cause the image to lose accuracy as soon as you move off-center, and the 1080p resolution may not be high enough for some content creators.
- Exceptionally high refresh rate.
- Great reflection handling.
- Fantastic ergonomics.
- Excellent SDR color gamut.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Poor viewing angles.
- Smaller size is not ideal for multitasking.
The ASUS VG258QM is okay for HDR gaming, mostly due to its excellent gaming performance. The high refresh rate and fast response time result in clear motion in fast-moving games. However, it's not recommended for HDR gaming because of its poor HDR color gamut and low contrast ratio.
- Fast response time at max refresh rate.
- Low input lag.
- Compatible with FreeSync and G-SYNC.
- Poor HDR color gamut.
- Mediocre contrast ratio.
- Response time and input lag are significantly worse at 60Hz.
- Not bright enough to make HDR highlights pop.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 25 inch ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM, which is the only size available for this particular model. It's the TN variant of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG259QM, which uses an IPS panel. That said, there are several other monitors in the ASUS TUF Gaming lineup that are similar.
Our unit was manufactured in December 2020, and you can see the label here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The ASUS VG258QM is similar to the ASUS TUF Gaming VG259QM, except it uses a TN instead of an IPS panel. It's an excellent gaming monitor with a high 280Hz refresh rate, and its TN panel delivers crisp motion at its max refresh rate, but it has worse out-of-the-box color accuracy than most monitors. For other options, see our recommendations for the best gaming monitors, the best 24-25 inch monitors, and the best 240Hz monitors.
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM is a bit better overall than the BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K, but they're both excellent for gaming due to their similarly fast response times. That said, the BenQ is better for gaming at 60Hz because it doesn't have the same input lag and response time issues that the ASUS does at 60Hz. They both use TN panels and suffer some of the same problems typical of that panel type, like narrow viewing angles and low contrast ratio. However, the ASUS gets significantly brighter, so it's better for well-lit rooms, and it feels better built.
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM is the TN variant of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG259QM. The TN panel, however, doesn't offer a significant advantage, as the VG259QM is a bit better in most ways that matter. They are very similarly built and look almost identical, but the IPS panel of the VG259QM has wider viewing angles and a slightly better contrast ratio. Most importantly, it has faster response times at both the max refresh rate and 60Hz, resulting in smoother motion. It also has a better HDR color gamut.
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM and the ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG259QN use different panel types. While they both offer excellent gaming performance, the PG259QN is a bit better overall, though the VG258QM may represent a better value to some. The PG259QN uses an IPS panel, so it has wider viewing angles. It also has much better out-of-the-box color accuracy than the VG258QM, so you may not have to calibrate it. It has a higher refresh rate at 360Hz, but the 280Hz on the VG258QM is still very high and you likely won't notice a huge difference. While there's more overshoot, the PG259QN also has faster response times and it's significantly better for 60Hz gaming since the VG258QM has issues with response time and input lag at 60Hz.
The ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM and the Dell Alienware AW2521HF perform quite similarly overall, but they use different panel types. While they're both great gaming monitors, the Dell has a bit of an edge. Its IPS panel provides wider viewing angles, so the image stays accurate from the side. It also has faster response times at both its max refresh rate and 60Hz, while the ASUS performs significantly worse at 60Hz than it does at its max refresh rate. One downside is that the Dell doesn't support HDR, but the ASUS doesn't deliver a great HDR experience anyway, so it shouldn't be the deciding factor.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
Test Results
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