Asus' New Portable Monitor With Pen Support Is Made For Creators

Many people still argue about whether multiple monitors actually increase productivity or simply provide more distractions. There is, however, little debate when that second display turns out to be a touch screen that you can use as an additional input device. That's the kind of thinking Asus seems to have embraced with its newly introduced portable monitor made for creative professionals. The catch, however, is that this model isn't your run-of-the-mill second display that happens to have touch sensitivity; it instead sports a rather odd but novel tool that functions as the equivalent of a digital palette, complete with a physical dial.

Fans of Asus laptops may find the new ProArt Display PA147CDV oddly familiar (via PRNewswire). It's almost as if the PC maker ripped out a similarly short but wide display from its ZenBook Pro Duo laptops and propped it up on its own stand. Oddly enough, the ProArt Display is on the losing side as it includes a similar 14-inch screen, but one that has a lower 1920x550 resolution.

The purpose, however, is totally the same. The Asus ProArt Display PA147CDV offers creatives a second touch-enabled monitor that can be used to display side content or, as the case may be, additional controls for certain apps. It could be placed at the side of your laptop, even in a vertical orientation, to show references while you work on the larger monitor, but where it really shines is when it's used for creating content.

With full 100% support for the Rec. 709 and sRGB color gamuts, the Asus ProArt Display PA147CDV is already great for displaying the digital content you might be working on. Its compatibility with any stylus supporting the Microsoft Pen Protocol 2.0, however, takes that creativity to a whole new level. Admittedly, the ultra-wide 32:9 ratio of the screen makes it less of a Wacom Cintiq replacement, but it can get the job done if you need to touch up images in a pinch.

What really sets this second monitor apart is the Asus dial that sits on the left side of the stand; it supports the same controls that the Surface Dial has but also lets users customize what it does, depending on the app that's running. Unfortunately, it seems to be fixed in its spot, which means that left-handed users are once again left out by this unfortunate design.

Asus' Creator Hub app also transforms the screen into a customizable control panel for popular apps like Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. There is no word yet on how much the Asus ProArt Display PA147CDV will cost, but it is scheduled to launch sometime in the second quarter of this year. When it does, Asus will be throwing in three free months of Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription to help users make the best of that quirky second screen.