Type of product: PC Monitor
Our rating: 10/10
I am providing my first ever Asus monitor review, on my brand-new Asus 27-inch LCD 1080p monitor. Actually, I acquired two Asus 27-inch monitors that I will comment on for this review. Why did I acquire 2 of these monitors you may ask? Because in a later review, coming out either the week after this review goes up or 2 weeks after this review, I will be covering my latest gaming machine build. More on that later. Now, I will break down what is in the box for these monitors, and what ports these monitors have available on them when they arrive. I will also explain how easy it was to unbox and set them up on your desk (spoiler alert, it was easy). I will describe how to connect the monitors to a PC/Laptop or Macbook or even a Surface Pro. What cable you might be looking to purchase given the various setups people may have at home, and whether all this is worth the price of the investment for those who are looking for a new monitor at home.
Let me describe why I purchased 2 of these bad boys for my office at home, the difference it has made in my productivity and the price I paid for each monitor. I picked this dual monitor set up because I felt a need to purchase an upgraded set for my current office. At the time, I had only a 22 inch Asus LED monitor that I have used to bring you all the blog posts I have been creating in the past year. I didn’t mention that until now because, well I had just gotten used to writing with the 22-inch monitor.
Let me start by describing the price of the monitor, what I paid for one monitor and what I was looking for in a monitor prior to making this particular purchase. To start, I was hoping to get 4K monitors for the office but quickly realized that for the price point of getting dual 4K monitors for my office the cost would be well outside my price range. I wanted monitors that would cost me under $200 per monitor, since I had decided I needed 2 of them. I wanted something at least 24-inches or above in size. I read over some reviews for monitors and started by reading reviews for the Asus 24-inch monitor. While I was impressed with the Asus monitors reviews, I wanted to keep looking to see how other monitors on the market might meet my needs. I favored the Asus monitor simply because I haven’t bought anything but Asus monitors for my office in years. However, I keep an open mind and did look at the Dell monitors and the Acer monitors that I have purchased in the past. I made the switch to Asus back in 2013 and must say I haven’t regretted it. Frankly, I have been more then satisfied with the quality and the reliability of the Asus monitors.
So, what did I pay for my monitors and where did I get them? I picked up the monitors from Amazon.com for $169.99/each. While that doesn’t sound like a lot of money, keep in mind, I was buying 2 of them for my home office. So, I spent $339.98 for both monitors. Of course, that was before sales tax, so after tax I spent $360.38 all said and done.
What exactly arrived and what ports are available on the monitors when you receive them? You get a standard power cable. If you have bought anything in the last 5 years, you might have quite a few of those floating around. Or if you’re like me, you might have about 50 of them laying around. Since I am in IT, I have lots of these ready to use at any given time. You also receive a VGA cable to connect to old school computers, an HDMI to DVI cable should you need to hook your monitor up to a DVI port, a speaker cable should you want to use that, and a stand for the monitor to sit on. What ports do you have available on the back of the monitor to connect to a computer? Well, I’m glad you asked (or were prompted to anyway). The ports available include 2x HDMI, 1 display port and 1x VGA port and a sound port.
How easy was it to set the monitors up right out of the box? It was easier then baking a cake. Though, I will admit to having burned many cakes in the past so that may not be fair comparison. All you have to do is just take the stand out of the box and hook it up to the base of the monitor, turn the screw a few times and you will have set up the monitor right out of the box. Honestly it is that easy, I’m not joking. It is easier then baking cake, lots easier.
Now why did I purchase 2 of these monitors? The price point I was looking at was right and the monitors are easy to set up. Now let’s examine how easy it is to hook the monitors into my computer system and what type of cables you might need to achieve this in your house. Let me start by describing the ease of connecting the monitors to a PC/Macbook or the Surface Pro I have. Right out of the box you have the VGA and the HDMI to DVI cable available, so you can connect the monitors to a VGA port. If you’re lucky enough to have a machine that still has one of these. It seems VGA ports are getting further and further from normal use now. Laptops have them. My old Acer laptop I lug around everywhere with me does anyway. The DVI to HDMI is honestly only useful if you have a PC with a DVI port on it. These monitors do not support DVI connections on the actual monitor, which I initially thought was a bad idea. Now that I think about it, those cables can come in handy if your PC/Laptop has a DVI port and you want to connect it to the monitors. Buying those types of cables can be expensive.
So, what does it take to connect even one of these monitors to my Surface Pro? The answer is without purchasing the overpriced Microsoft adapter for the Mini-display port to HDMI, you will need to purchase a Mini-display port to HDMI cable. These cables may not come cheap, but if you look around on Amazon or similar places you can find them for under $10 and yes, I did purchase one for under $10 about 2 years ago. It still works today.
Now that I have covered all the basics on the unboxing and price, let’s get into my take on these monitors. I love them and I’m glad I bought 2 of them for my office. I picked them out after countless hours of reading reviews and looking at monitor specifications. I knew what I was looking for in a monitor and what I wanted in my monitor set up. I enjoyed the easy set-up and I am looking to add one to the lab at some point, but it would probably be overkill to do that in my server lab right now. Then again, when have I ever done anything that wasn’t overkill?
I like the fact that these monitors are HD monitors. Their dual HDMI ports are useful so you can hook multiple computers up to one monitor, as many computers come with HDMI connections today. It would be nice if the monitors shipped with an HDMI cable and instead of forcing you to purchase one or an adapter for your HDMI to DVI cable the monitor comes with. Asus also thoughtfully included an audio cable to hook up to the monitor should you want to have your monitor provide sound. That was a nice touch. These monitors come with most of the connections that you will need to get you are set up right out of the box. They also just work with very little set up time, although you may need to purchase an additional cable depending on your specific computer’s outputs.
So now the big question: do I recommend this to my friends/colleagues/readers? The answer is a definite yes; I recommend either one or two of these monitors for your office or PC set up. It makes everything from gaming to writing blog posts a breeze, and it gives you plenty of screen space to be able to multi-task. After a month, I enjoy everything that these monitors have to offer.
This review has covered everything that matters about Asus 1080p 27-inch LED monitors. What’s in the box, the price, the monitor outputs, and my opinion and recommendation about the monitors. I hope you have enjoyed this blog post.
Thank you for reading
Jason
link to the above monitor: 27-inch Asus monitors
February 29, 2020
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