ASUS PT201Q Review In Few Words (Mini Review)
ASUS PT201Q is a decent pen display & Cintiq alternative that comes for a good price. It features a tethered pen, which is weird for a pen display. But overall, the draw experience it offers is good, especially with the low parallax in it, which is credit to Sharp(the real manufacturer of the screen). The pressure sensitivity is also more than enough for most artists, and the screen has good colors too, despite being a TFT panel.
While ASUS PT201Q is quite affordable for its size, the nibs & pen are not that affordable. It is probably not a problem with the pen in case you are careful with your things. For the nibs, preserving your nibs as long as you can may help you alleviate that problem. But at the very least, the pen & the nibs are available for sale now (They were not in the past).
Just like the case with all the Cintiq replacement, ASUS PT201Q is not perfect, but it works very well compared to the other pen display. I advise you to check the cons just in case to see if you can go with that. Especially when it comes with the limited number of supported art applications.
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Quickly go to:-
Pros
- Has a low Parallax, which is pretty good for drawing.
- The pointing is accurate, even at the edges, that’s something many pen displays suffers from, but this one doesn’t.
- Very affordable for what it offers.
- Doesn’t require driver to work, which mean you can use them along with Wacom drivers on the same computer.
- Has a matte screen surface that won’t reflect so much light.
Cons
- The replacement nibs & pen are expensive, even by Wacom standards.
- Doesn’t work with all art programs.
Technical Specifications
- Screen Size:- 19.5 inches.
- Max Screen Resolution:-1920×1080 pixels
- Viewing Angle:- 178°Horizontally, 178° Vertically.
- Response Time : 5ms (Gray to Gray)
- Display Colors : 16.7M
- Has a touch Screen with capacitive 10-point multi-touch support.
- Works on Windows 7,8 &10. As well as Mac OSX.
- Has one USB port on it.
This is the first time I review a pen display from Asus, I know that company makes laptops & many other computer parts. But this is the first time I see a pen display from them. Which makes me curious how it performs.
From the look of it, ASUS PT201Q has a white & clean look. And like two stereo speakers on it. While this pen display is branded as Asus, it was actually made by Sharp. Both companies are trusted in my opinion.
The Screen
ASUS PT201Q has a 19.5 screen, with HD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. It features good viewing angle of 178° both vertically & horizontally, The viewing angles are good in the most ways you look at it, so you won’t have a problem drawing with this.
Despite the fact that ASUS PT201Q having a TFT panel, it has good colors in general.
ASUS PT201Q also supports 10-Point Touch screen, this mean you will be able to use multitouch gestures, something that’s kinda a standard these days. The touch screen has 3 modes, pen-mode, where the screen respond to your fingers only. Finger-mode, where it only responds to your finger. Or both where you can use it both ways, but not at the same time. The screen supports multi-touch gestures, which is fairly useful in art applications.
Unlike many of the other pen displays, ASUS PT201Q has a matte screen surface, which mean it won’t reflect the light so much in certain lighting condition. Which makes the screen harder to use, and makes it looks like a mirror. Something that plagued many glassy screens nowadays.
Drawing Capabilities
When it comes to drawing, ASUS PT201Q supports 1024 level of pressure sensitivity, which is enough for most artists. In case you don’t know, the pressure sensitivity is a feature that allows you to create a thicker or thinner lines based on how much you pressure you apply on the screen with the pen, and depending on your art program, it allows you to vary the opacity and other things using pressure. ASUS PT201Q also allows you to hover the pen over the screen to move the cursor around, which is useful in drawing & animation programs, the hovering distance is close to 1 inch.
When it comes to drawing, ASUS PT201Q’s screen has a relatively high Initial Activation Force, or simply IAF. IAF defines how much initial pressure you need to put on the screen using the stylus to create a stroke. For drawing, the less IAF there is, the easier it is to draw with it & create many types of strokes. With the high IAD in ASUS PT201Q, you need to press a little to create a stroke. While you could get used to that, if you used a product made with a low IAF, this may not be easy.
Unlike some touch screens out there, the bezel is flush, which mean you can swipe from the edge of the screen and use some of Windows 8 gestures. It is worth to note that having a flush bezel is one of Microsoft bezel design guidelines for multi-touch hardware for non-tablet devices, unless there is a border around the screen to allow for the gestures that starts at the edge of the screen. to work.
A great thing about ASUS PT201Q’s drawing abilities is the thin glass they used with the display, this results in a low parallax. Let me explain, when you draw on a screen with a thick glass, there will be a distance between the pen tip and the cursor, this can cause the pen to not match the pen tip position until you calibrate your screen. This can be annoying in case you tend to change your position while you draw. Besides that, the cursor position around the screen edge is also accurate. Which is a huge plus. And it is better than many of Wacom Cintiq models in that regard.
Supported Display Ports
ASUS PT201Q can be connected to your computer via HDMI & Displayport, making it compatible with many modern computers. In case your computer supports VGA DVI, or mini Displayport, then you will need an adapter for it.
The Pen
ASUS PT201Q’s pen is weird, instead of a wireless pen that takes power from the screen, or requires a battery to power itself. The pen is tethered to the screen by a cable, it kinda looks like an airbrush in a case you are familiar with tradition drawing media.
The pen comes with two nibs one in the pen, and the other in the pen. In case these two nibs wore off, you will need to order some from Asus, the nibs are expensive compared to their counterparts in Wacom & Huion devices, but they have a springy feel that you may like. The same goes for the pen itself, which is also more expensive than Wacom’s pens. But giving how both the pen and the nibs were not available until a while ago, that’s can be considered good improvement. The nibs are available for sale from this link:-
http://us.estore.asus.com/products/pt201q-pen-tip
The Kickstand, VESA Mount, And Compatible Ergotron Arms
ASUS PT201Q has a kickstand at the back, which allows you to tilt the display forward & backward. The nice thing about the stand is that you can remove it completely and lay the device completely flat on your desk. There is also a VESA mount at the back, where you can mount it on the wall or something. Which makes it possible to mount an Ergotron arm behind it. Something many artists with pen displays do. As it makes it more comfortable to draw and change the device position, either while you are standing up, or sitting on your chair.
If you intend to use ASUS PT201Q with an Ergotron arm, kindly check out the following arms, which are all compatible with ASUS PT201Q. According to Ergotron’s finder:-
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LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm(45-241-026) – Amazon
LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm(45-241-026) – Amazon.ca
LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm(45-241-026) – Amazon.co.uk
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LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm, Tall Pole (45-295-026) – Amazon
LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm, Tall Pole (45-295-026) – Amazon.ca
LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm, Tall Pole (45-295-026) – Amazon.co.uk
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LX Dual Stacking Arm (45-248-026) – Amazon
LX Dual Stacking Arm (45-248-026) – Amazon.ca
LX Dual Stacking Arm (45-248-026) – Amazon.co.uk
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LX Dual Side-by-Side Arm (45-245-026) – Amazon
LX Dual Side-by-Side Arm (45-245-026) – Amazon.ca
LX Dual Side-by-Side Arm (45-245-026) – Amazon.co.uk
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Neo-Flex LCD Arm (45-174-300) – Amazon
Neo-Flex LCD Arm (45-174-300) – Amazon.ca
Neo-Flex LCD Arm (45-174-300) – Amazon.co.uk
Compatible Art Software
There is really one thing I find it totally not good about ASUS PT201Q, which is that not all art programs are compatible with it. I think this has to do with the way it doesn’t require driver, or that it is not compatible with the API some of these programs use. Which means that only those who uses a compatible application can uses this pen display.
To know if you art program is compatible with ASUS PT201Q, kindly check out the following table, which is taken from Asus’s website:-
As you can see, not all the known art applications are
listed. But if you only work with one of the supported programs above, then you are good to go.
And Finally
ASUS PT201Q is one of the best pen display & Cintiq alternatives I reviewed so far, it is one of the few that I can consider really close to match it. While the expensive pen nibs thing can be totally be forgiven, if it were not for the bad art programs support, I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, unless I know they will be using these compatible software.
I hope you liked my ASUS PT201Q review, and see you again in another review. ^^
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See more pen displays in Amazon
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