When comparing ASUS PB279Q vs Planar Helium PCT2785, the Slant community recommends Planar Helium PCT2785 for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” Planar Helium PCT2785 is ranked 30th while ASUS PB279Q is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose Planar Helium PCT2785 is:
The black levels are respectively low at 0.16cd/m², which helps the contrast ratio achieve 1100:1 which is much lower than the advertised 5000:1, but still quite good.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Thin bezels
The top and side bezels are about 13mm thin with the bottom bezel being slightly thicker at 18mm.
Pro Reasonably good luminance uniformity
The screen also has good luminance uniformity, providing a evenly lit picture. At the dimmest point, the deviation is 12% from the brightest point (141.4 cd/m² to 160.4 cd/m²).
Pro Low input lag
Complete input lag time (signal delay and pixel response time) is 7.4ms or under ½ of a frame.
Pro Easily adjustable
The monitor tilts (5° forward, 20° backward), swivels (60° to both the left and right), pivots (90° clockwise, allowing it to be used in portrait mode) and allows adjusting height between 43mm (1.69") to 410mm (16.14").
Pro Good contrast and brightness
According to tests performed by PC Monitors, PB279Q set to factory defaults (90% brightness, "Splendid" preset) produces luminance in the range of 0.24 - 282 cd/m² with a contrast of 1175. It provides both lots of brightness and reasonably dark blacks.
Pro Good color accuracy
The monitor covers all of sRGB space and represents the colors accurately.
Pro Decent black levels, good contrast ratio
The black levels are respectively low at 0.16cd/m², which helps the contrast ratio achieve 1100:1 which is much lower than the advertised 5000:1, but still quite good.
Pro Pretty fast response times make the system feel quick
The response time is 12ms, which isn't lightning fast, but it's still quick enough to make the system feel more responsive than cheaper monitors. While not fast enough for high-level gaming, this monitor won't make your system feel slow or unresponsive.
Pro 'Massive tablet' design is unique, and versitile
It really does look like a massive tablet with a kickstand - but that's not a bad thing. There's no stand visible, leaving the front looking very clean. The stand can angle anywhere from 15-70 degrees which allows for flexible use, or it can be folded in and used flat on the desk or even mounted using the VESA mounting holes.
Pro Built-in speakers, webcam, and mic
This monitor has many peripherals built-in, and unless you use them heavily they will do the job just fine. Unless you feel the need for dedicated hardware, the built-in stereo speakers work well enough, and the webcam and mic are acceptable quality for occasional recreational use (for business calls or other uses where quality is important, you'll want to upgrade to dedicated hardware).
Cons
Con A maximum refresh rate of 60Hz can be a concern for some
A 60Hz monitor, while sufficient for most people in most cases, can still cause issues with fast-moving objects on screen. It's especially important with things like gaming where the ability to react to events happening on the screen quickly is important.
Con Minor color temperature uniformity issues
According to Spyder4Elite tests performed by PC Monitor, PB279Q has color temperature issues that can be seen with the naked eye. A DeltaE deviation of over 3 can be easily noticed and the left side of the monitor deviates between 2.4 and 3.1.
Con AHVA glow
AHVA glow is the light on the sides or corners of the screen that can reduce some of the peripheral detail.
Con HDMI connections are limited to 30Hz
DisplayPort 1.2 (or MiniDP 1.2) is needed to run at 60Hz.
Con Disappointing color accuracy
The MVA panel (multi-domain vertical alignment: in-between of TN and IPS technologies) doesn't reproduce colors very accurately. It scores just 82% of the sRGB color gamut, while other panels offer high 80s and even above 90%. This display's weakest points are with the green and cyan shades, while reds and blues appeared just fine.
Con Dim display
The display doesn't get very bright - at just 172cd/m² this panel is very dim. Many monitors can achieve 300cd/m² or higher brightnesses.
Con Takes much more power than similar monitors
Without using the ECO mode, this monitor requires about 50 watts to power it. This is double than other monitors. There are different levels of ECO modes, however these dim the display and barely get down to the power level of other monitors when they are all enabled.