Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As an avid ASUS fan, it really pains me to have to write this review, but the ASUS ROG Strix XG49VQ is a mediocre product (at best) in a sea of otherwise stellar top-performance gaming monitors, peripherals, and devices from the ASUS Republic of Gamers brand. While my monitor did not have the noticeable physical defects that other reviewers reported having, I did notice a few big problems that are worthy of calling out: 1. This monitor is technically an HDR display, but it's on the lower end of the clinical definition of HDR, and you will notice some challenges in achieving your targeted brightness because the range just isn't there. This is an HDR4 display that masquerades as something more sophisticated, but most games today that really take advantage of HDR will benefit from HDR8 or HDR10. Given how dull the lows are and how blinding the brights are in HDR4, you're going to be better off playing without HDR on in this model. Finally, if you have HDR on, you can't adjust your GameDisplay settings - it has to be off to make those changes. 2. Low Resolution - This is a FHD vertical display (and think of it as two large 1080p monitors joined horizontally), which means that if you are used to gaming on 1440p or better, you're going to notice the downgrade. But given the size of this monitor at 49", you can actually see all of the pixels. This wouldn't be a huge deal, generally, but the monitor's rendering engine engages in some weird sharpening effects (that do not seem removable) that make the text look aliased, regardless of your AA settings. The SDR calibration of this device looks like an actual firmware or hardware implementation rather than something you can adjust. 3. Physical Imperfections. While my device did not have strict "defects," there was definitely LED backlight bleed that exacerbates some of the HDR dysfunction previously mentioned, and probably contributes to some of the SDR over-aliasing that renders games at 1080p really jagged. And other posters are correct that the plastic on this monitor feels cheap, rushed, and likely to break or chip with any typical wear-and-tear. 4. Non-Premium. ASUS is known for building gamer-centric devices, but there is a very spartan implementation for this monitor, with no AURA or LED lightning, and not even casing elements that are stylish or luxurious. Instead, just a plain, black monitor implementation. Also, there is an eye-sore of a promotion on the right side of the monitor's bezel "Designed and Made by ASUS in Taiwan" in silver lettering that is visible half-way across the room. Who wants to see that? By and large, this monitor is not a "bad" monitor - especially for people who have never experienced variable refreshrates (FreeSync 2 does work, but with NVIDIA cards expect a lot of flickering and incompatibility - so as of the writing of this review, it generally only applies to AMD cards), or for non-gamers looking for a productivity workspace - but the price-point at ~$900 really justified something better thought out and put together. I returned my monitor after just four days of use, when the physical imperfections, LED backlight bleed, HDR dysfunction, and SDR over-aliasing rendered the limitations of this glorified 1080p panel too much to bear. Best to save your money and go deeper for a 4K solution, or use one of ASUS' excellent 1440p 34" Curved Panels instead.