Asus ProArt 5K Display First Impressions!

OK, I’ve had this monitor for two days. It’s the PA27JCV model, and I think I can start giving my first impressions.

Size and Resolution

Let’s start with size, since it’s the main reason I switched. This thing is massive. As I jokingly posted before, real 5K can feel unusable because the text gets tiny. I started running it at 2560x1440, which is exactly half the native 5120x2880 5K resolution. For macOS, this isn’t a big deal, as it can scale the interface for readability while still driving the monitor at its full 5K resolution for crisp video and photo content.

The monitor plays nice with my Mac, delivering a resolution that doesn’t require signal rescaling. With a typical 4K monitor, macOS often picks a higher resolution and downscales it, losing that 1:1 pixel clarity. Here, everything looks as crisp as it gets.

The 5K definition? Stunning. Compared to my MacBook Pro’s display, it’s not quite on par (no Mini-LED here), especially for video and HDR content. But HDR still impresses—you can see the brightness pop when you play an HDR video. It’s solid for what it is.

Let’s be clear, though: this isn’t a multimedia or gaming monitor. It’s an IPS panel with an LED backlight, a 60Hz refresh rate, and a 5ms response time. Its strengths are the 5K resolution and color accuracy—it’s factory-calibrated, though I’m no expert on that, so I’ll leave the deep analysis to others.

Day-to-Day Work

The bigger size gives me more screen real estate without changing the size of text or icons.

My top win? A larger VSCode window. AI panels, console output, search results, Git Diff—everything feels better with more space in one view. Two monitors can’t match this seamless flow.

I’ve always found dual monitors distracting. Plus, I hate shifting my eyes (and neck) too much. That’s why I went all-in on this single, big display.

Starting time: not very good, it takes at least 5 seconds to wake up, against the instantaneous wake-up of the laptop. Also, True Tone takes another ten seconds to adapt, which is annoying. If you leave your desk a lot, I can see this as an issue.

Price and Availability

I considered the Apple Studio Display, but I’m in Argentina, and it’s a nightmare to get. Amazon doesn’t ship it here, and local prices are insane—over $4,000, more than triple its actual cost.

Next up was the LG UltraFine 5K. I ordered one in October, waited until December, only for Amazon to cancel it without explanation. Now it’s not shipping here at all (I’ve heard it’s discontinued, which might explain it).

That left me with the Samsung ViewFinity S9 or the ASUS ProArt. After reading reviews, I picked the ASUS—anti-glare matte panel, better color gamut, higher contrast, more ports, and HDR support sealed the deal.

Brightness and True Tone

Brightness is fantastic. I keep it at 50%, and bumping it to 60% makes a noticeable jump—plenty for a bright office. It has auto-adjust features for brightness and color tone, similar to Apple’s True Tone. The tone matching is solid, easy on the eyes, and cuts blue light nicely. But the auto-brightness is way too sensitive. If a window shade moves with the wind, the screen flickers between brightness levels constantly. It’s maddening.

It gets worse with HDR on. The monitor’s brightness control switches from a slider to just two options: 250 nits or MAX. Thankfully, macOS brightness keys still work. My workaround? Enable HDR, set the monitor to MAX, and tweak it down with the keyboard until it’s comfortable. For a “Mac-ready” monitor, this feels clunky—my MacBook’s display rarely needs this much fuss. Still, I can live with it.

Viewing Angles

Viewing angles? Not amazing. This monitor is big. My old one sat about an arm’s length away, around 65cm. With this one, keeping that distance means the left and right edges lose some brightness. Pushing it back to 80cm fixes it, but I’m so used to focusing closer that it’s a bit annoying. If you’ve got good eyesight, it’s probably fine. Me? I might need new glasses anyway.

I’m also experimenting with a slightly lower resolution (2034x1296 is the next one suggested by the Display settings). The text is a bit more pleasant to read… But I will wait to have my new glasses for a final verdict :)

Ports & Sound

On paper, the connections look great. In practice? Mixed bag.

• There’s HDMI, but I couldn’t get 5K working consistently. It ran the first time, then never again after that :(
• Only one USB-C port is powered, so I use it to connect my Mac for video and charging at the same time. The other USB-C ports aren’t powered, so they’re useless for my needs—charging is my main use case!

It also has a DisplayPort, which I don’t use. So, lots of ports, but I’m not likely to use most of them.

There are also two 2W speakers built-in, but forget them, they are the worst speakers I’ve heard in a long time. The laptop closed is like 10 times better than these speakers. This wouldn’t have happened with the Studio Display :(

Conclusions

So far, my two biggest pain points are:

• The HDMI input, not reaching 5K. I’ve had HDMI issues before with my MacBook M1, especially with projectors. So I’m not discarding a computer fail here. The only reason this is not a deal breaker is because I still need the USB-C connection to power my Mac.
• The internal speakers suck. I expected to at least be decent enough for playing a podcast, but they are not even good for human voices!

Biggest win: the size and the crisp text. The ability to keep aspect ratios of everything exactly the same as it was, but adding more real state, is incredible.

All in all, I’m pleased with my purchase, as I can live with most of the downsides. There’s no really good replacement for the Apple Studio Display, so if you can afford it, I would say go for it. If not, this is a good monitor for work and occasionally watching something.

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