ASUS ML249H 24-Inch LED Monitor (Black)
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- LED Powered enables 50,000,000:1 ASUS Smart Contrast Ration
- MVA panel with 178?(H) / 178?(V) Ultra Wide Viewing Angle
- Full 1080P HD with HDMI
- Ultra Slim 16.5mm Profile
- Ring Stand with Ergo Fit II Technology enables Easy Tilt and Swivel
178 Degree of vertical and horizontal ultra wide viewing angle
Asus Monitor
ASUS ML249H 24-Inch LED Monitor (Black)
List Price: $ 248.99
Price:
WHOA, TALK ABOUT COLOR!,
GENERAL
I debated whether to get the speed of the ML248H or the higher contrast of this ML249H for some time. There weren’t any reviews yet of the 249, and I wasn’t able to find either in a store for serious scrutiny. Owners of the ML248H were very happy with their 2ms units. I don’t play games, but I do edit video. I decided to go for the contrast ratio, hoping it was for real, and hoping I wouldn’t be dinged by the slower redraw stats posted by the factory. So far, if there is a penalty for the speed, I haven’t been able to detect it. But the color is amazing.
When my 249 arrived, I was surprised to find you could put the stand together without even thinking about looking for a manual. I had seen reviews of the 248 which suggested assembly might be perplexing, but that’s not the case. There are just two screws with hinged finger drivers; and two pieces to a very sturdy metal base.
I noted also that reviews of the 248 complained of flimsiness in the base. There’s none in the base itself, but there is a fair amount of flexure in the plastic of the case itself, where it is screwed to the upper half of the base. I would say that overall the connection is somewhat more flexible than my iMac — which is pretty solid really. It could be stiffer at the connection to the monitor itself.
The ML249H comes with cables, but I purchased a Mediabridge Ultra Series – High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet – Category 2 Certified – Supports 3D & Audio Return Channel [Latest HDMI Version Available] – (6 Feet), which is also working excellent with the ML249H. I’ve had very good results with Mediabridge in other applications. Ten bucks for a top-of-the-line cable.
All in all, I was up and running in just a few minutes, although the manual was less than most of us would hope for. In the end, the rather scant documentation (and none online at the time I looked for better material) was no problem. You usually expect issues to need coverage. Setup is really too straightforward to believe (stand and all).
APPLICATIONS
I’m using this monitor as a second monitor for an iMac and as a single monitor for a Mac Mini. It’s well tested with both already, and I really think already that it’s an especially awesome monitor. It’s contrast is truly remarkable. Scenery, images, art, are rendered with amazing definition. The best I’ve seen. I’ll point out some important issues about text legibility however below, because the contrast of this monitor is so powerful, you have to adjust well to get the incredible text legibility it delivers as well.
NITPICKING
These are really handsome units. The finish is a flawless gloss black which really has a distinctive look on your desktop. Other new equipment looks like it was designed a long time ago. This ASUS has a body by Fischer. The packaging is great as well. They really go to a lot of trouble to protect the gloss finish.
Then they stick two trivial decals on the front of it. Not only are the “energy efficient” and “try me” decals trivial and redundant, they’re about as appealing as a road kill. These had to go away immediately. The problem I have with that is what solvent do you use? What cloth? After all the trouble they went to to protect the high gloss finish, they stick atrocities on that finish which you’re very likely to damage getting those atrocities off. Mine happened to come off with minimal (if any) effects on the finish; but others might not be so fortunate. Hot water, dish detergent, and a soft paper towel (dry and wet alternately) after carefully peeling both decals off. This is a pretty big issue in my opinion — no more decals please.
The second possible complaint is the manual is like a pseudo document. Just a few words to indicate that assembly is really as simple as it appears to be would be nice. No big deal.
It wasn’t really obvious how to work the controls at first, but in a few seconds of fumbling, you’ll figure them out.
One of the really outstanding properties of the monitor however is how these controls work. You just gently touch them. That’s it. They’re majorly responsive.
MAIN PLUSES
COLOR
Surreal color. Period. You’re just not going to see better definition in surprising elements such as miniature icons reduced from larger, higher definition images. Usual computer objects look really cool. But high definition images are incomparable on this monitor. Even with contrast toned way down, you’re going to see greens, yellows, all sorts of colors you’ve never seen on a computer monitor before. I mean, a *real*, pure canary yellow for instance. Black that is real black. Nothing abnormal; on the contrary, you soon realize you haven’t seen real normal…
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|Great Picture Quality,
The image quality is not as perfect as my HP LP2475w that has IPS matrix (costs 3 times more), BUT it is so much better than my other Dell that I purchased a month earlier for 290.00
I use it with my Macbook pro, I did some color correction. I am very satisfied with this purchase.
You will not find a 24″ monitor of the same picture quality for the same or cheaper price.
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|1920×1080 Monitor to make me switch from 1920×1200,
I have long bought only monitors with 1920×1200 resolution, in the 24″ + category. I bought this one based on the price, and to see if I could live with losing several lines of resolution. (I do a lot of things that make use of every part of my screen, so I didn’t want to give any up.) This was to work as a second monitor, so screen space was not as critical for me.
After seeing it hooked up, I have been considering switching my main monitor to this as well. It’s a really good looking monitor. Longer term, I’ll be setting this up in a 3 or 6 monitor setup.
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