ASUS MG28UQ 4K 28-Inch Adaptive-Sync Monitor

The past few weeks I have been testing out the ASUS MG28UQ 4K display as the monitor on my main daily workstation. This ~$500 monitor has been working out well and also supports extra features like Adaptive-Sync once the open-source Linux graphics drivers catch up.

I first wrote about the ASUS MG28UQ in the middle of June when snagging a deal on this monitor. I managed to get this monitor for just $429 USD while now it's at $508 from Amazon or $549 USD from NewEgg. For the $429 price, it was a great deal for this monitor that just made it to the marketplace earlier this year and supports all of the latest display features.

The ASUS MG28UQ 3840 x 2160 panel is 28-inch in size, has 170 / 160 degree (H / V) viewing angles, 0.16mm x 0.16mm pixel pitch, 1.07 billion display colors, 330 cd/m2 brightness, 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and 1ms response time. The display supports HDMI v2.0/1.4 inputs, DisplayPort 1.2, and also has a built-in USB 3.0 hub and speakers. There are two HDMI inputs for v1.4, one HDMI 2.0 input, one DisplayPort input, and the USB hub provides just two ports. One of my few complaints about this monitor is having just two USB 3.0 ports provided behind the monitor and no USB 3.0 ports on the side where it's more easily accessible for USB peripherals.

The MG28UQ stand supports tilting, swiveling, and pivoting along with basic height adjustments. This 28-inch 4K UHD monitor also supports a standard 100 x 100 VESA mount. The built-in dual 2 Watt speakers are decent for being built into the monitor but obviously nothing desired by an audiophile.

This monitor does support AMD FreeSync / VESA Adaptive-Sync, but unfortunately couldn't be tested for the current lack of support by the AMD Linux graphics drivers. However, FreeSync/AdaptiveSync is expected to come to the AMDGPU stack once the DAL display abstraction code is merged.

I've tested this monitor with a few different Intel/AMD/NVIDIA Linux setups and haven't run into any issues like problematic EDID, mode-setting troubles, flashing, or any other problems. With my primary workstation I've been using the past few weeks with this monitor it's been powered by an Intel Core i5 6500 with HD Graphics.

Prior to snagging a deal on this ASUS 4K display, in use by my main system was this Acer 28-inch 4K display. The ASUS MG28UQ has much better colors than the older Acer model, the speakers are better, and there's the HDMI 2.0 and FreeSync/AdaptiveSync support for future testing under Linux.

I've been happily using the ASUS MG28UQ so just wanted to pass along this short article and recommendation if you are in the market for a ~$500 4K display. You can find this ASUS MG28UQ display via NewEgg.com and Amazon.com.