ASUS VG279QM Monitor Review

The ASUS VG279QM has a very similar style to other ASUS monitors we've tested, like the ASUS VG279Q and the ASUS TUF VG27VQ.

The stand is simple, with a small overall footprint, but it supports the monitor well.

The ASUS VG279QM has outstanding ergonomics, identical to the ASUS VG279Q.

The back of the monitor is plain, with a simple design and no RGB backlighting. There's no quick release, which is a bit disappointing, but it can be VESA mounted. There's a small space within the stand for cable management.

The borders are thin on all four sides, making it a great choice for a multi-monitor setup.

The monitor has a thin profile and looks great when VESA mounted.

Great build quality. Although it's mostly made of solid plastic, it has a sturdy stand and it feels solid.

Like all IPS monitors, the ASUS VG279QM has a low contrast ratio. This causes blacks to appear gray in a dark room. For better dark-scene performance, look for a VA monitor, like the ASUS TUF VG27VQ.

This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. This video is provided for reference only.

Great peak brightness, but it's not quite as bright as the ASUS VG279Q. This monitor can easily overcome glare in a bright room.

Decent peak brightness in HDR, with very little variation in peak brightness with different content. We measured this with the "ASUS Gaming HDR" setting, which is the brightest mode. The "ASUS Movie HDR" setting is about 30 nits dimmer on average.

Great horizontal viewing angles, which is typical for IPS panels. Similar to the ASUS VG279Q, the image remains accurate even at a wide angle, which is great for sharing the screen with a few other people.

Decent vertical viewing angles. Even if you're sitting up close, the top and bottom of the screen remain accurate.

Outstanding gray uniformity. The corners of the screen are a bit darker than the center (this is known as vignetting), but the center of the screen is extremely uniform. In near-dark scenes, the uniformity is much better, with almost no variation.

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG279QM has decent black uniformity. The screen is a bit cloudy in dark scenes, but there's almost no backlight bleed.

With our pre-calibration settings, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG279QM has great accuracy. The only noticeable issue is the gamma, which doesn't follow the sRGB target curve, resulting in most scenes appearing brighter than they should be. Yellows and greens are slightly oversaturated, but we don't expect this to be an issue for most people.

After calibration, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG279QM has outstanding accuracy. We were able to fully correct the gamma, and most scenes are displayed at the correct brightness. Any remaining inaccuracies aren't noticeable.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model, due to manufacturing tolerances.

Excellent SDR color gamut, but it's pretty standard. This monitor can display the entire sRGB color space used by almost all web content, but it has only good coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space.

Excellent SDR color volume. Like most LCD displays, it can't display very bright blues, and due to the low contrast ratio, it can't display dark saturated colors very well.

The ASUS VG279QM has a mediocre HDR color gamut. It can't display a wide color gamut.

Mediocre HDR color volume. It can't display a wide color gamut, and like with SDR content, it can't display bright blues or dark saturated colors very well.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on this monitor.

Excellent gradient handling, but some banding is noticeable. The image is a bit brighter than usual, as this monitor automatically switches to HDR when we send a 10-bit signal, and the brightness can't be adjusted in HDR.

There are some signs of vertical color bleed, but this shouldn't be an issue for most people.

Decent reflection handling, very similar to the ASUS VG279Q. There shouldn't be any issues in brighter offices, but it's not a great choice if there's direct sunlight on it.

Like the ASUS VG279Q, this display has only decent text clarity, even after enabling ClearType (top photo).

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG279QM has an outstanding response time at the max refresh rate, resulting in extremely clear motion, with almost no motion blur behind fast-moving objects. Like most monitors, the level of overdrive can be adjusted, and we found that the '80' setting works best at the max refresh rate. There's a bit of overshoot in some scenes, especially when transitioning from a dark shade to a brighter one, but it's not very noticeable.

This monitor has an outstanding 60Hz response time, resulting in clear motion with only a bit of motion blur. This is much better than the Dell Alienware AW2720HF. The level of overdrive can be adjusted, but unlike at 280Hz, we recommend leaving it at '0' when gaming at 60Hz. Higher settings result in significant overshoot.

The backlight doesn't use PWM to dim, which is great.

The ASUS VG279QM has an optional black frame insertion (BFI) feature, which ASUS calls "ELMB". Unlike the majority of monitors on the market, this feature is also available when the variable refresh rate feature is enabled. This setting is known as "ELMB Sync".

The standard ELMB feature can only be enabled between 120Hz and 280Hz, but ELMB Sync can be enabled below that. Even though it can be enabled, we found that ELMB didn't do anything between 50 and 85Hz.

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG279QM supports VESA's Adaptive Sync variable refresh rate technology. It's certified by NVIDIA as G-SYNC Compatible, which works with most recent NVIDIA graphics cards, and it also works with most FreeSync devices, but it's not certified by AMD. G-SYNC only works over DisplayPort, but FreeSync works over HDMI as well. Note that when connected via HDMI, the 280Hz overclock isn't available, and the maximum refresh rate is 240Hz.

Outstanding low input lag, but only at the native resolution and refresh rate. Unfortunately, the 60Hz input lag is extremely high, making this a poor choice for console gamers. As these results are extremely high for 60Hz, we rechecked them a few times, even with a different tool, and our results were consistent.