ASUS PB Series PB238Q Black 23" 6ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 ASCR 80,000,000:1 Built-in Speakers IPS panel, Height, Pivot and Swivel adjustable

Pros: The picture looks great and I like the different preset modes available.

Cons: Since I first received the monitor, the speakers didn't work at all. If you try to play sound through them, they play a high pitched tone until you turn the sound off. I figured since I had my own speakers that it wasn't worth returning and kept using the monitor.

Fast forward 6 months of enjoyable use and suddenly while I'm reading something on the screen, the left side of the monitor is covered by a redish/pink hue. Then faint horizontal bars start rolling down the left side as well. This doesn't make it completely unusable but is very annoying to say the least. A few hours after that I notice the pixels on the left top corner are beginning to get stuck on the web page I was viewing. Now it is completely unusable.

Other Thoughts: Overall I enjoyed using the monitor up until my recent problems with the screen.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Will,

I’m sorry to hear your monitor issues. Which port are you using to get it connected to your computer (HDMI, DVI, VGA)? Please check your monitor cable if it needs replacement. You can also try a different computer and see if there’s any improvement. For further assistance, please email me at cl-celeste@asus.com and include ref#1072-11235 in the subject line.

Sincerely,
Celeste
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: Looks fantastic, I have two side by side and could not be any more happy.

Cons: Monitor speakers are kind of meh, I tried to hook my xbox via hdmi to it and no matter what I try, I can't get my own speakers to work instead of the monitor speakers.

Pros: Vibrant color
Images show great detail
LED backlight is bright; no mercury
HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI and VGA inputs
Powered USB hub
Multiple adjustments: height, tilt, swivel, pivot
Surprisingly decent speakers
Large, sturdy base - no wobble
Quality construction and solid 'feel'
Warranty: 3 years w/free 2-way shipping and free cross-shipping of replacement (if needed)

Cons: USB hub is USB 2.0, not 3.0
Hard-to-understand OSD settings
Utilitarian appearance
Not thin and plenty of bezel

Other Thoughts: 1- Little explanation of OSD settings, and what there is was written by someone who learned English via correspondence course. Scenery Mode? "Trace-free"? ASCR?
2- If you value svelte, Museum of Art design look elsewhere.
3- The pivot adjustment makes it quick and easy to plug and un-plug cables.
4- You wouldn't want the built-in speakers to be your main speakers, but if you need them in a pinch they sound surprisingly good - like a typical clock radio.
Bottom line: It's not fancy, but the Asus PB238Q delivers a terrific image and a wide array of useful features in a sturdy, high-quality package. I am very pleased.

Pros: *Contrast is amazing compared to my ASUS VS229H-P. Egg-shell whites, and no dingy or saturated colors.
*Extremely solid construction. Massive difference in quality from average $150 monitors.
*All adjustments are dynamic. They don't lock into position, allowing you to adjust every position from the front of the monitor.

I don't typically write reviews unless the product is either very poor or very good. As someone else noted, this might be my favorite upgrade, aside from switching to SSDs. For $240, I was impressed enough to buy a second less than a week later.

Cons: It'll be a con if they stop selling this.

Other Thoughts: Monitor arrived with no dead pixels.

Pros: Brilliant IPS Panel Display
Easy Height, Pivot, Swivel, Tilt Display Design
HDMI , D-Sub, DisplayPort, DVI-D and USB Ports
Built In Speakers

Cons: Slightly Clumsy Menu Buttons
QuickFit Virtual Scale Useless (for me)

Other Thoughts: LOVE this new monitor!! The display is noticeably clearer, with brilliant colors and whites/blacks when compared to others on the market. The screen is halfway between a matte/glossy, so you get the best of both worlds (without glare in a sun lit room.) I love the easy height, pivot, swivel, tilt of the display, along with the 4 USB down ports. I bought this monitor to go with a new high-end (water cooled) system I just pieced together, so I got to use the DisplayPort and it connected right out of the box. My ONLY complaint would be regarding the small and somewhat clumsy menu and on/off buttons. Once you master the flow of the menu to tweak it the way you want it, you shouldn't have to mess with these buttons much down the road - but they are a pain (and small) to mess with at first.

Pros: I was unsure about this monitor because it was expensive and didn't have very many reviews. In retrospect, I am very happy I decided to buy it.
- Beautiful picture
- Solid overall construction feel
- Excellent swivel/height adjustment mechanism
- IPS
- 1080p
- No glare/light reflections

I don't know that much about monitors but this one seems impressive to me. It produces a better picture than my 40" LED HDTV from Samsung (a few years old by now).

Cons: - Pricey but you get what you pay for
- 60Hz

Other Thoughts: If I don't find a 120Hz monitor I like, then I will probably get a second one of these eventually.

Pros: I work with computers all day and i enjoy good direct x 11 gaming too and i wanted a beautiful monitor to play my games and for work and i really am happy i chose this screen.
-Amazing colors specially after i fully callibrated it.
-Rich and nice black.(you have to have a light in the room ofcourse or the back light will be too bright, a dim light)
-i got NO back light bleed the only time i notice any back light is in a pitch black room witch any monitor or tv does this.
- TV controls are very simple and basic
-NO ghosting in games means response time is amazing and i play a lot of FPS games like far cry 3 battlefield and metro 2033
- compared to my last LED from samsung and my LCD from Asus this screen is plain Beautifull the colors are incredible.
-its heavy so thank goodness for the strong build base.
-Speakers are good but nothing out of this world but what can you expect from little built in speakers.
-the base and back of monitor are a nice and not very glossy black finish witch doesnt attract much dust thank goodnes.

Cons: Speakers are w/e but thats to be expected just buy computer speakers.

Other Thoughts: Amazing monitor beautiful colors my callibrater marked this screen to be 99% color accurate witch is unbelivable most monitors say 100% but are in the low 90's and high 80's so im really happy with this monitor.

Pros: Beautiful display, very solid mount... there are some complaints on weight, but with the swiveling feature, anything lighter would not stay in place while rotating...

Cons: the buttons are flush mounted within the bezels of the display, making them hard to push with anything but a dainty finger...

the volume and brightness controls are incorporated into the same buttons, so must follow a short button protocol to increase volume, or decrease brightness (kind of a nit picky complaint really)

Other Thoughts: Happy with the purchase

Pros: Fully Adjustable
Excellent Color Reproduction
Sturdy
Great Response Time
Photo Guidelines
Anti-Glare is average for a matte monitor -- Not too light not too heavy

Cons: Menus are somewhat difficult to navigate but standard Asus menus
Minor IPS Glow but to be expected from a monitor such as this
Calibration Necessary

Pros: *Excellent stand
*Variety of connections
*AG coating isn't too aggressive, in fact it was quite light on mine. *Virtually no haze. I did manage to catch a reflection of my outline a few times in dark screens in a lit room which suggests to me this is actually lighter than what you see on most TNs. It's almost a semi-matte coat, if you will.
*IPS

Cons: 1. Bad quality control. Mine had massive amounts of backlight bleed from the bottom right corner. To me that means the monitor was basically unusable.
2. IPS glow, as is common with all monitors, but it was visually exacerbated by the high transparency of e-IPS and backlight bleed of my unit.
3. e-IPS, don't let people fool you. This is a LG manufactured e-IPS 6-bit panel, using A-FRC to simulate colors outside of the panel's inherent color range, that said you're not likely to notice any problems with color reproduction, maybe you'll notice flickering though. e-IPS panels are also more susceptible to letting excess light bleed through near the light source where intensity is high.
4. HIGH BLACKPOINT, this is a bad thing. It was measured as 0.44cd/m at 120cd/m white luminance using a Spyder 4 colorimeter, both the Spyder 4 Pro software and basICColor gave me similar luminance values. In short, the blacks are really bad, and it was noticeable (more of a very dark grey, more than typical anyway). As a result contrast is also bad.

Other Thoughts: Interesting notes:
The PB238Q's product page on ASUS's website shows it shares many features with the PA238Q, meaning this monitor may have a 10-bit LUT just like the PA238Q. Though that is only my inference based on the product page, it isn't actually directly stated. To most people this won't mean anything.

I hope this was just an isolated unit, but e-IPS panel based monitors do tend to have cheap construction and poor quality control due to the intended market of e-ips panels. Tread with caution

Manufacturer Response:

Dear geoxile,

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback on the PB238Q. While we do run numerous tests on a unit to ensure that the quality of our product is up to standards, occasionally, some develop unpredictable, minor glitches once they leave our testing facility and put in real-life situations. However, PB238Q has been an exceptional experience for most customers. But if you are considering a different ProArt Series model and you would like get more information about it, please let me know. For questions, comments or concerns, please contact me at me at cl-celeste@asus.com and include ref#1072-7632.

Sincerely,
Celeste
ASUS Customer Loyalty