ASUS introduced a new professional-grade monitor at CES this week. The unit supports a 4K (UHD) resolution, HDR10, a very high brightness and an astonishing range of color gamuts required by artists, designers, photographers and video professionals today, including the Rec. 2020 (BT.2020) standard. The ProArt PA32U will be available in the second half of this year at a rather hefty price tag, as you can imagine. In addition, ASUS announced its ProArt PA27AQ monitor aimed at the entry level segment of the professional market.

The ASUS ProArt PA32U uses a 4K UHD panel with HDR capabilities, a quantum dot film and a special backlight featuring 384 LED zones that enable 1000-nit brightness and support for local dimming. The manufacturer notes that its new panel with quantum dots, backlighting and calibration enable the monitor to cover 99.5% of the Adobe RGB, 85% of the Rec. 2020, 100% of the sRGB and 95% of the DCI-P3 color spaces, which makes the display particularly appealing to artists and photographers (Adobe RGB) as well as to video editors and animation designers who do post-production work for digital cinema or TV (DCI-P3 and BT.2020). The number of features, as well as the use of quantum dot technology, represents an interesting combination for a professional display. Moreover, it looks like the ASUS ProArt PA32U will be one of the first mass-market monitors supporting the Rec. 2020 color gamut at all and covering 85% of it.

The ASUS ProArt Displays Specifications
  ProArt PA32U ProArt PA27AQ
Panel 32" with quantum dots 27" IPS
Native Resolution 4K 2560 × 1440
Maximum Refresh Rate 60 Hz (?)
Brightness 1000 cd/m² unknown
Contrast high unknown
Viewing Angles 178°/178° horizontal/vertical (?)
Pixel Pitch 0.185 mm 0.233 mm
Pixel Density 138 ppi 109 ppi
Anti-Glare Coating Yes (?)
Color Gamut Adobe RGB: 99.5%
DCI-P3: 95%
sRGB: 100%
Rec. 2020: 85%
sRGB: 100%
Inputs 1 × Thunderbolt 3
1 × DP 1.2 (?)
1 × Thunderbolt 3
1 × DP 1.2 (?)
Extras ASUS ProArt Calibration with color parameters saved locally

The ProArt PA32U monitor will be calibrated at the factory, but people with appropriate equipment will be able to further tune them their particular needs. The ProArt PA32U stores all the color parameters locally (and not on the PC), so users will be able to use it with different devices without the necessity to recalibrate it. This will be particularly valuable for those who works on Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows platforms. To hook up the monitor to either PC, the PA32U is equipped with a Thunderbolt 3 input (which means DP 1.2 over a USB-C cable), but we do not know whether other ports are supported.

Since this is a preliminary announcement, ASUS does not disclose whether it uses an IPS or VA panel, or if the TFT is ASi or IGZO (like it used for its previous-generation flagship professional display) for its PA32U as well as details about the LUTs (look-up-tables), refresh rate and so on. We do understand that the panel is an LCD based on usage of quantum dots and high, but not prohibitively high, price.

For people who do not need 4K UHD resolution, Rec. 2020 or DCI-P3 color spaces and HDR, ASUS plans to offer its 27” ProArt PA27 AQ monitor with 2560 × 1440 resolution, sRGB color gamut and Thunderbolt 3 input. The monitor will also come pre-calibrated and will support the same ProArt Calibration features as its bigger brother (color-accuracy tuning, uniformity compensation local store of parameters, etc.).

The ASUS ProArt PA32U will be available in Q3 2017 for $1799 – $1999.

Pricing of the ProArt PA27AQ (as well as its availability timeframe) are unknown.

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Source: ASUS

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  • haukionkannel - Thursday, January 11, 2018 - link

    You need 8K for that. And 4 titan1080ti in sli running it ;)
  • zodiacfml - Friday, January 6, 2017 - link

    Pricey. I saw an Nvidia HDR monitor somewhere with 4k, 144 Hz, Quantum Dots, and DP 1.4 for just $1,100
  • pixelstuff - Friday, January 6, 2017 - link

    You are thinking about the Asus PG27UQ probably.
  • halcyon - Sunday, January 8, 2017 - link

    That is a tool for gamers. This is a tool for pros. Look at the relevant specs for each audience.
  • David_K - Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - link

    27" 1440p display with 100% sRGB coverage, you already enough monitors doing that just fine.
  • pixelstuff - Friday, January 6, 2017 - link

    How about the PG27UQ in a professional (i.e. plain) looking enclosure.
  • wrkingclass_hero - Saturday, January 7, 2017 - link

    If only it had a hdmi 2.0 port it would be the perfect monitor for my use case.
  • wrkingclass_hero - Saturday, January 7, 2017 - link

    I mean hdmi 2.0a (or higher)
  • Lolimaster - Sunday, January 8, 2017 - link

    You can't call it pro if you miss the most important thing, contrast. OLED or nothing.
  • tuxRoller - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link

    Very similar to this eizo:
    http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/coloredge/cg314...

    1000nits, 1000000:1 contrast, 99%p3 (but eye ball estimate of the color space triangle puts it far outside dci-p3, so 85% of rec.2020 looks to be about right), 31.1" with dci-4k (4096x2160)

    Btw, that eizo will run you about $5.5k

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