Asus TUF VG28UQL1A | Review
Design and features
The Asus TUF VG28UQL1A has a decidedly more sober design than that of the monitors of the Asus ROG range, but remains attractive and suitable for a respectable gaming station. Seen from the front it is also suitable for more "serious" environments than a gamer's den, such as an office, with all the design details on the back: on the sides we find glossy plastic inserts that contrast with the opaque of the monitor, in the center there is the Asus writing in silver color and finally, at the top of the stand, a chrome TUF logo stands out. The buttons and joystick for navigating the OSD menu are located along the rear edge and are easily accessible with the right hand.The stand is very solid and thanks to the V-shape of the support base it does not take up too much space on the desk, also in the back there is a section for cable management, a solution that we appreciated more than the classic hole. It is possible to tilt the monitor up and down by + 20 ° and -5 °, by 15 ° to the right or left and to rotate it by 90 °, so as to put it vertically. The base connects to the screen via a classic VESA 100 mount, which can be used to mount the Asus TUF VG28UQL1A even on a desk arm or aside, but unfortunately it does not allow you to adjust the height of the monitor.
The quantity and variety of video inputs makes it possible to connect all consoles at the same time as the monitor, a feature that will surely be appreciated by the most avid gamers. By connecting the PC to the DisplayPort, PS5 and Xbox Series X to the two HDMI 2.1 and Nintendo Switch to one HDMI 2.0, it also remains an empty HDMI 2.0, to which any other device can be connected. In short, a very interesting solution for all those who want to create a fixed gaming station, where they never touch even a cable, including all current platforms.
OSD Menu
The OSD Menu offers a variety of options, allowing you to customize the monitor to suit your needs. There is the ability to adjust the brightness and contrast, choose between different image presets (sRGB and Racing seemed the best, such as color accuracy), access and configure the shortcuts of the four buttons and enable features such as the viewfinder on screen or Shadow Boost, which lightens the dark areas of the scene, typical of gaming monitors.Among the various items of the OSD we find the one relating to overclocking, which allows you to overclock the refresh rate of the screen from 120Hz to 144Hz, the one to enable the ELMB Sync mentioned above, the Asus Smart Contrast Ratio (ASCR) which increases the dynamic contrast and adjusts the brightness according to the scene on the screen, and many others.
User experience
We used the Asus TUF VG28UQL1A as the main monitor for several weeks, using it both for gaming and for working and watching some streaming content. At the factory settings, the IPS panel offers good color reproduction, at least to the naked eye, with good balance and not exaggerated saturation. Most of the hours of the game we spent in Elden Ring, wandering around the Interregnum in search of challenges and secrets: in the open areas the image quality is really satisfactory, but when you enter the caves and dungeons and reach them in the darkest areas, backlight bleeding can be seen at the corners of the screen. Unfortunately, our editorial team (where we took the photos) is very bright and it is difficult to show the effect, given the reflections you can see yourself on the darker images.Abandoned Elden Ring and moved to a decidedly more frenetic title like Apex Legends, we had the opportunity to appreciate all the qualities of the Asus TUF VG28UQL1A: the 144Hz refresh rate and G-Sync technology, combined with our RTX 3080, have guaranteed several hours of gameplay free of tearing and graphic artifacts of any kind. During the game sessions we also activated ELMB Sync with satisfactory results, managing to eliminate motion blur and have a clearer view of what was happening on the screen.
Response time is excellent, but if you are looking for something even faster, you can do it by acting on the Variable OverDrive. By default the value is set to 1, in our opinion the best for the right balance between input lag and response time, but it is possible to go up to 5. However, know that OverDrive increases ghosting, a graphic artifact that does not have effect on input lag, but introduces annoying graphic artifacts.
No critical issues regarding daily operation, where the monitor performs well. The maximum brightness measured is about 340 nits, a value more than adequate to see the screen clearly even in very bright environments. In watching streaming content, however, the backlight bleeding problem already detected by playing Elden Ring re-emerges.
Test with colorimeter
As usual, we performed on the Asus TUF VG28UQL1A of tests with the colorimeter using Calman's “Computer monitor Check” workflow, software developed by Portrait Displays. The tests were performed with the sRGB profile, set at the factory; Here are the results obtained.
Tests carried out with Calman by Portrait Displays
The first test highlights a good RGB balance and a gamma curve slightly higher than ideal, but still good. The contrast of 1081: 1 is slightly lower than that of 1200: 1 reported on the Asus website, but even in this case it is still a good result.
sRGB coverage
DCI-P3 coverage
In the coverage test of the sRGB range the Asus TUF VG28UQL1A performs well, reaching 96.6%. The situation is different for the DCI-P3 range, where the results are below expectations: Asus declares a coverage of 90%, but in our tests we did not go beyond 71.3%. This is not a bad result in an absolute sense, on the contrary, but if you need an accurate color reproduction in this space, you should go to other solutions.
Tests carried out with Calman by Portrait Displays
We close with the deltaE test, which in this case reaches an average value of 2.99. This is also an acceptable score here, especially taking into account the fact that we are talking about a video game monitor, not a screen aimed at graphics professionals who need a low deltaE, less than 2.
Conclusions
If you are looking for a good level monitor for video games and it is essential for you to connect all the platforms at your disposal at the same time, the Asus TUF VG28UQL1A is an excellent choice: thanks to DisplayPort 1.4 and the two HDMI 2.1 it is possible to simultaneously connect PC, Xbox Series X and PS5, moreover one of the two HDMI 2.0 can be used to also connect Nintendo Switch and still have a free video input.The quality of the IPS panel is average, but in our opinion adequate for a monitor aimed at gamers. The DCI-P3 space coverage is lower than Asus claims, but the main problem here is the backlight bleeding we told you about: in dark scenes you will notice it if you are in a dark room and, while not undermining the experience of game in a serious way, it can be annoying. However, we would like to point out that problems like this vary from panel to panel, so the experience of those who buy this monitor may be different.
The Asus TUF VG28UQL1A is still difficult to find in Italy, but it should arrive. at a price of around 899 euros. Of course this is an important figure, but we believe it is adequate for the type of product and the features offered: the large number of ports, compatibility with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, full support for next-generation consoles and the presence of ELMB Sync make it a really good choice for the most avid gamers, who want to make the most of all their gaming platforms.
