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When Ultra HD 4K monitors were announced, the pricing was extremely prohibitive. Kitguru has been in a fortunate position of using the £2,400 Asus PQ321QE now for the last eight months – the IGZO display is spectacular, but the asking price had proved a sticking point for many.
Late last year a slew of inexpensive 30hz 4K screens saturated the market, but gamers avoided them because of the low refresh rate. No one wanted to game on a 30hz panel and we couldn't blame them either.
This week, alongside the Asus PB287Q, AOC have released their 28 inch U2868PQU and we have been suitably impressed. Both screens use a less exciting twisted nematic panel, but the price tag is much sweeter. The AOC U2868PQU has the edge in regards to price, £100 less than the Asus screen at only £499.99 inc vat on Overclockers UK this week.
Both screens have stereo speakers onboard – they are equally feeble and have no bass response worth mentioning, but they are easily ignored if you have an external pair of speakers or headphones. Better to have, than not, we say.
Technically there are some differences between the Asus PB287Q and AOC U2868PQU panels. Asus are using a 10 bit panel, while AOC's is a 8 bit +FRC arrangement. While we noticed the ASUS screen produced slightly deeper reds and it rated a little better in our white purity test, they are very evenly matched for gaming and general everyday tasks. Viewing angles are not great, but the 1ms refresh rating on both is equally impressive – targeting the wide, yet demanding gaming audience.
The AOC U2868PQU, in a similar fashion to the Asus PB287Q has a very practical and sturdy stand system which offers full tilt, swivel, pivot along with height adjustments. Portrait mode can be useful for the audience who use Facebook and forums on a regular basis, and the AOC screen can be rotated into portrait mode by increasing the height to maximum and pushing down on one side of the panel.
The onscreen menu system of the AOC U2868PQU is accessed by front mounted touch buttons, which work reasonably well. We wouldn't say it was a flawless implementation as it can require a fair amount of pressure, but I liked it a little better than the fiddly rear mounted physical buttons on the Asus PB287Q. I still don't know why Asus felt it was a good idea to put the power button right next to the ‘OK' button in the same row – it was a constant pain to deal with.
AOC have included a four port USB 3.0/2.0 hub on the U2868PQU, which may prove benefical to a wide audience, especially those with a variety of USB powered items on their desk. It is a genuinely useful addition and is not included on the Asus PB287Q.
Everything considered, the AOC U2868PQU is a bargain. It doesn't deliver a perfect image, but at only £500 it delivers an outstanding gaming experience to potentially a very wide audience. The image quality on the Asus U2868PQU is a little better, but AOC and Asus panels are so closely matched that we doubt many people would notice under real world conditions. At £100 less, and with the addition of a four port USB 3.0/USB 2.0 hub it may just seal the deal for many.
You can buy the AOC U2868PQU 4k direct from Overclockers UK now, for £499.99 inc vat.
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Pros:
- Very competitively priced.
- stand is well constructed, tool-less and supports portrait mode.
- 1ms GTG refresh.
- panel linearity is decent.
- overall image quality is high.
- 4 port USB hub.
- cables all in the box.
Cons:
- onboard speakers are weak.
- touch panel interface could be better.
Kitguru says: At £499.99 this is a very difficult screen to ignore. There are some flaws, but all-in-all this screen is bargain priced.
