ASUS ProArt PA278CFRV 27" Black 2024

The PA278CFRV hits the 93rd percentile for color accuracy with 95% DCI-P3 and 100% sRGB, pre-calibrated and Calman Verified. USB-C with 96W power delivery and a fully adjustable stand make it a practical pick for creatives. Just watch the price, US listings swing from $199 to $1,875, and the low end is where the value lives.

The color numbers are the headline here. 95% DCI-P3 coverage, 100% sRGB, 10-bit color depth, and 1.07 billion colors with HDR10. That's top-of-the-charts territory for a monitor in this price bracket, and the pre-calibration means you can plug it in and trust what you're seeing without spending an afternoon with a colorimeter. The 350-nit brightness is solid for indoor work, though HDR content won't exactly knock your socks off on an IPS panel with a 1000:1 contrast ratio.

The 100Hz refresh rate and 5ms GtG response time put this in the middle of the pack for performance, 53rd percentile. It's not a gaming monitor, and it doesn't pretend to be. But the bump from 60Hz to 100Hz is noticeable even for everyday scrolling and window dragging, and Adaptive-Sync keeps things smooth if you do fire up a game now and then. The 2560 x 1440 resolution on a 27-inch panel gives you roughly 109 pixels per inch, which is comfortable for text and detailed enough for photo work without needing display scaling.

Against the MSI MAG 271QPX QD-OLED E2 and Samsung Odyssey G60SD, the PA278CFRV loses on contrast and response time, those OLED panels are in a different league for gaming and HDR. But they also cost more and don't offer the same factory color calibration or USB-C power delivery. The BenQ MA270U is probably the closest direct competitor, another 27-inch 1440p panel aimed at creatives, and it trades blows on color but the ASUS edges ahead on connectivity with that 96W USB-C. The LG UltraGear 32GX850A-B is bigger at 32 inches and faster, but if you're doing color-critical work, the ProArt's pre-calibration and 95% DCI-P3 coverage are the more relevant specs. The Gigabyte MO27Q28G is a gaming OLED, so it's really a different tool for a different job.

Pricing on this thing is all over the map. US listings range from $199 to $1,875 across seven listings, which is a wild $1,676 spread. If you can find it near the low end, this is an absolute steal for a color-accurate 1440p panel with USB-C power delivery. At the high end, you're paying more than you would for some OLED options, and that makes no sense for an IPS monitor. Canadian pricing is tighter, CAD 274 to CAD 698 across three listings, a CAD 424 spread. The sweet spot is clearly the lower end of either range. Shop around before you commit, because the same monitor at $199 and $1,875 is the same monitor, and one of those prices is a mistake.

The ASUS ProArt PA278CFRV lands in the 93rd percentile for color accuracy in our database, and that's the whole story right there. This is a 27-inch 1440p IPS panel that covers 95% of DCI-P3 and 100% of sRGB, comes pre-calibrated and Calman Verified, and pushes 100Hz with a 5ms response time. For photo editors and designers, that color performance is the kind of thing you usually pay a lot more for. The 350-nit brightness and HDR10 support are fine, though the 1000:1 static contrast ratio is standard IPS fare, nothing to write home about.

Where this monitor really shines is connectivity and ergonomics. It's in the 90th percentile for connectivity and 91st for ergonomics, with USB-C delivering 96W of power, daisy-chaining over DisplayPort, and a stand that does height, tilt, swivel, and pivot. The 16W power draw is modest for a monitor this size. At 6.6kg it's not a featherweight, but it's not meant to be portable, and the 14.2/100 portable score confirms that. This is a desk monitor, full stop.

If you're buying this for gaming, keep walking. The 5ms response time and 53rd percentile performance ranking won't keep up with fast-paced titles, and the 1000:1 contrast ratio means dark scenes look washed out compared to any decent VA or OLED panel. HDR enthusiasts should also look elsewhere, 350 nits and HDR10 on an IPS panel is more of a checkbox than a feature. And if you're sensitive to quality control risk, the dead-on-arrival reports from a few owners are worth weighing, especially if you're ordering from a vendor with a painful return process. The built-in 2W speakers are also genuinely bad, so budget for external speakers or headphones if audio matters to you.

The PA278CFRV is a color-accurate workhorse that nails its target audience. The 93rd percentile color performance, pre-calibration, and USB-C with 96W power delivery make it a genuinely great pick for photo editors, designers, and anyone running a Mac setup. The 4.3 out of 5 customer rating across 12 reviews backs that up, with owners consistently praising the out-of-the-box color and build quality. The dead-on-arrival reports are concerning, and the speakers are an afterthought, but neither of those should scare off the core buyer. If you find it at a reasonable price, this is one of the best creative monitors in its class.