ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: How Good Can A Cheap Monitor Be?

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R is an affordable gaming monitor, with prices starting at just $145 for a brand-new model, and just $99 for a used refurbished model, which can be good too, as the used market often can have hidden gems here and there. The monitor offers a classic specs sheet for the budget gamer. There’s a Full HD IPS panel that stretches across a 24-inch frame.

The panel has a 144Hz refresh rate that can safely be overclocked to 165Hz, as well as a 1ms response time, and AMD FreeSync Premium support. Today we’re here to do more than glance at gaming specs, however, and that means taking the monitor for a spin with our Display Profiles, which have been shown to offer massive improvements not only in color accuracy (the TUF Gaming VG249Q1R receives a 3X improvement) but in other fields too, like gaming and entertainment, as well as when it comes to making the screen less irritating for your eyes. You’ll see what we’re talking about once we get deeper into the article.

You can check the current price of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Contents

Specs sheet, Assembly, OSD, Drivers, Design, Connectivity

What’s in the box? Assembly

OSD Menu

Drivers and Software

The monitor is plug-and-play, so you don’t need any drivers. However, you can download ASUS’ support software, like the DisplayWidget Center or DisplayWidget Lite, which gives you OSD-level control inside the operating system. You can download them in the monitor’s Support Page.

Design and Connectivity

The design of the monitor isn’t something special, however, the ring base does surprise us, as usually, TUF monitors have a rectangular or even a Y-shaped base. Nevertheless, the stand doesn’t move as much, only offering Tilt functionality. The design itself is pretty impressive, mainly due to the thin profile of the monitor. Seriously, the side profile of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R looks like it’s just a centimeter or two, with the bottom bulge carrying the mass of the electrical components. There’s also a stereo speaker setup, consisting of 2x 2W units. On the back, there’s a joystick for going through the OSD menu, as well as the port selection. The latter consists of one DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 1.4 ports, as well as an audio jack.

Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R brings a 23.8-inch Full HD screen (1920 x 1080), which calculates to a pixel density of 92.56 PPI, a pitch of 0.2744 x 0.2744 mm, and a Retina distance of 37.14 inches or 94.33 cm. From this distance, the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 7050 K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 92% of the sRGB color gamut.

(Fig.1) ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R covers 92% of the Web colors (sRGB) 

This means that if the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the ones you’ll see on the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R, the Average color accuracy was 6.7 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 2.2 dE (Fig. 3). The profile provides a 3X Increase in accuracy, making the monitor close to suitable Creator work.

(Fig. 2) ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R in its factory condition

(Fig. 3) ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R with our display profiles

Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Here’s how to prepare thе monitor for our profiles:

1. Open the OSD menu (On-Screen Display)
2. Reset Settings: Go to Menu ➡️ System Setup ➡️ All Reset, and click ‘Yes’.
3. Brightness: Navigate to Image ➡️ Brightness and set it to 95% for optimal viewing.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

• $9.90 BUY NOW

Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

• $9.90 BUY NOW

Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

• $9.90 BUY NOW

Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount

• $19.90 BUY NOW

Buy Now Checkout Added to cart

Verdict

The ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R is a quality gaming monitor that you can get for a good price (links at the top and below). It’s compact, slim, and lightweight, thanks to a clever design from ASUS. The stand doesn’t;t offer the best adjustment (in fact it almost offers nothing except for Tilt). The port selection isn’t anything special either, however, the fact that built-in speakers are available should be mentioned, as we really like it. Watching movies and shows on your PC is much better with speakers rather than headphones, as you can relax, and eat snacks without something weighing on your head.

As for how good our Display Profiles are for the monitor, the Web Design and Office Work profile increases the accuracy by three-fold, with the original dE value of 6.7 going down to 2.2. While not below 2.0, this is still a massive increase, so even your games and media will look better, especially with the 92% sRGB coverage that we have here. If you feel like you don’t see some details in your games and movies, we recommend our Games and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, so all details become clearer.

Lastly, the Health-Guard should be toggled pretty much always, as Blue Light and PWM (Flickering) run rampant in most monitors, and our profile helps reduce both of them, to a point where your eyes will be healthier and less tired.

You can check the current price of the ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

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