Price When Reviewed

$349.99

Best Prices Today: Asus ZenScreen MB249C

$349.00

Portable screens are marketed for journey however, in actuality, most by no means go away the house or workplace they’re shipped to. Many buy transportable screens not for his or her portability however as an alternative their versatility and ease of use. The Asus ZenScreen MB249C leans into this, providing distinctive advantages alongside a 24-inch display screen.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best portable monitors to find out about competing merchandise.

What are the Asus ZenScreen MB249C specs?

Asus ZenScreen MB249C is marketed as “portable” however has a 23.8-inch show. Clearly, portability on this case isn’t about sticking the monitor in a suitcase however as an alternative refers to shifting it throughout a house or company workplace.

• Display measurement: 23.8-inch widescreen
• Native decision: 1920×1080
• Panel sort: IPS LCD
• Refresh fee: 75Hz
• Adaptive Sync: Yes, AMD FreeSync
• HDR: None
• Ports: 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 60 watts Power Delivery, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x 3.5mm audio out
• Stand adjustment: Height, swivel, tilt
• VESA mount: Yes, 100x100mm
• Speakers: Yes, 2x 1-watt
• Price: $349.99

The MB249C’s specs are in any other case common for a 1080p workplace show. It does enhance on the everyday refresh fee of 60Hz, as an alternative delivering as much as 75Hz, and gives assist for Adaptive Sync.

Asus ZenScreen MB249C design 

Matt Smith

Let’s speak concerning the elephant within the room. Asus’ ZenScreen MB249C is a conveyable monitor, but it has a 24-inch show panel, measures 21 inches broad, and weighs over six kilos. So, what provides?

Asus imagines this monitor as a conveyable show for workplace and residential workplace use. It will not be fitted to journey, however there are nonetheless conditions the place it’s useful to maneuver a show round an area. At house, it might let you’ve got two house workplace setups with out two screens. In an workplace, it could possibly be carried to conferences if you have to lead a presentation.

Matt Smith

The ZenScreen ships with a stand that clips to the again of a desk as an alternative of sitting on prime of it, which makes the ZenScreen MB249C straightforward to make use of as a second monitor in any house workplace setup. The stand is small, but purposeful, supporting adjustment for top, tilt, and swivel. It additionally rotates 90 levels into portrait orientation.

It additionally comes with two different choices to the stand: a folding kickstand and an uncommon hanger. The kickstand flips out from the rear of the show to assist it, as true of most transportable monitor kickstands. The hanger, which Asus calls a “partition mount,” is designed to hold from a half-height cubicle partition and successfully features as a wall mount, putting the show flush with a cubicle wall. I don’t have a cubicle in my house workplace, so I wasn’t in a position to give this feature a attempt. 

The MB249C’s design is uncommon however intelligent. It’s a distinct segment, however one which many will respect.

Asus ZenScreen MB249C options and menus 

The Asus ZenScreen MB249C gives benefits to those that need to tweak the monitor’s settings. It ships with a fairly succesful menu that features quite a lot of picture mode presets and management over facets of picture high quality akin to colour temperature and pores and skin tone. Interestingly, it additionally has a “Shadow Boost” which can be utilized in video games to make enemies in darkish areas simpler to note. 

That’s to not say picture high quality changes are intensive. There’s no gamma adjustment and the colour temperature adjustment is slim. Still, many transportable screens solely supply brightness and distinction adjustment, so the MB249C is above common.

Matt Smith

Connectivity is extra mundane. The monitor helps USB-C enter via DisplayPort Alternate Mode alongside HDMI 1.4, however that’s it. Given the worth, an extra video enter could be appreciated. The monitor lacks USB-A, which looks like a missed alternative—there’s room. 

Those seeking to join over USB-C ought to word the monitor helps as much as 60 watts of Power Delivery and, in my testing, would require that to function solely over USB-C. The monitor will perform with a USB-C laptop computer or desktop that lacks satisfactory USB Power Delivery when the monitor’s bundled energy brick is related. The energy brick can be wanted when solely the HDMI video enter is in use. 

The monitor has built-in audio system, however you gained’t need to depend on them. Volume is low and the audio system undergo distortion when taking part in music, motion pictures, or something extra sophisticated than spoken dialogue and system messages. Weak audio system, although disappointing, are typical for an workplace monitor.

How is the Asus ZenScreen MB249C SDR picture high quality?

The Asus ZenScreen MB249C targets workplace productiveness and makes few particular claims about its picture high quality. That left me with low expectations, which, to my shock, the monitor simply beat. 

Matt Smith

Brightness is available in at a decent 264 nits which, though not superb, is mid-pack for a conveyable monitor and fairly good for an workplace productiveness monitor. This degree of brightness is ample to be used in any room with average mild management. It might seem a bit dim close to a sunlit window, nonetheless. 

Matt Smith

The monitor delivered a shock in distinction with a most distinction ratio of 1380:1. That’s in the direction of the excessive finish of what I count on from screens with an IPS show panel and no superior backlight know-how, akin to Mini-LED. 

Don’t get too excited. The monitor can nonetheless wrestle with shadow element, particularly when viewing motion pictures which have a darkish palette like The Batman. Still, a distinction ratio of 1380:1 is increased than most opponents and it gives a greater sense of depth. An different just like the BenQ GW2785TC will seem flat and one-dimensional by comparability.

Matt Smith

Color gamut isn’t unhealthy, both, offering one hundred pc of the sRGB colour gamut and 81 % of DCI-P3. This isn’t sufficient to be thought of a “wide gamut” monitor, and never sufficient for a lot of content material creators seeking to edit photographs or video, nevertheless it’s a number of % higher than most options. The monitor has satisfying, vibrant colour.

Matt Smith

It’s correct, as effectively, attaining a median colour error that’s only a tad worse than the Asus ProArt PA279CRV, a monitor particularly constructed for correct and real looking colour efficiency. The colour error is worst in blue hues, which is usually true of LED-backlit screens, nevertheless it didn’t soar out in real-world use.

The monitor’s accuracy is additional helped by a gamma studying of two.1, which implies that photos seem simply barely brighter than they need to. Color temperature got here in at exactly the popular goal of 6500K, so it’s neither overly heat or too cool. To put it merely, the monitor seems extraordinarily correct in real-world use and is effectively suited to workplace productiveness. 

Sharpness is a draw back, because the show gives solely 1080p decision with a pixel density of roughly 93 pixels per inch. Many workplace screens on this worth vary can hit 4K decision, which enhance pixel density to 163 pixels per inch. It’s a noticeable hole and the Asus ZenScreen MB249C can look pixelated and mushy subsequent to 4K options.

On the entire, Asus’ ZenScreen MB249C gives wonderful picture high quality for its supposed objective. It’s brilliant sufficient and scores effectively in distinction, colour gamut, and colour accuracy, all whereas avoiding notable issues or pitfalls. The solely caveat is decision, because it’s attainable to purchase an analogous 4K such because the Dell S2721QS for much less—nonetheless, such options lack the MB249C’s portability.

Asus ZenScreen MB249C HDR picture high quality

The Asus ZenScreen MB249C doesn’t assist HDR. That’s to be anticipated, because the monitor’s most brightness is effectively under what’s wanted for a satisfactory HDR expertise. Increasing brightness to ranges appropriate for HDR additionally will increase energy draw, which wouldn’t pair effectively with the monitor’s USB-C connectivity. 

Asus ZenScreen MB249C movement efficiency

Though meant for productiveness, the Asus ZenScreen MB249C gives a barely improved refresh fee of 75Hz and Adaptive Sync support for easy body pacing in video games. Adaptive Sync was purposeful with the monitor related to an AMD video card. I wasn’t in a position to check the monitor with Nvidia G-Sync. 

Is the Asus ZenScreen MB249c value it?

The Asus ZenScreen MB249C is an uncommon however helpful house and workplace productiveness monitor. Its odd design, which pairs a 24-inch display screen with a number of stand choices together with a kickstand, makes it straightforward to tote round a home or company workplace. It additionally gives good picture high quality with satisfactory brightness and powerful colour efficiency. The $350 worth is a bit a lot for a 1080p monitor and gained’t make sense when you’ve got no motive to make use of its distinctive options, nevertheless it’s not unreasonable. The MB249C is a superb alternative for a second monitor, too, because it gives a number of methods to mount and orient it alongside your main monitor.