ASUS ML238H is a great full HD monitor with good looks and decent peformance for its price of Rs.10,600. The colours were rendered well and we found the sRGB mode to be the best amongst others. Readability of text was quite good. We were put off with touch sensitive OSD controls. It is a real pain to use those buttons. It comes with just a D-Sub and HDMI display out and a DVI to HDMI converter. There is a range of power connector cords too. Assembling the stand is a bit of a task though. On the whole a decent package.
The monitor has a glossy black bezel which houses touch sensitive buttons in the bottom right hand corner. The panel itself has a matte finish, so we are spared unwanted reflections which are so common on glossy panels. Coming to the rear side, we have a glossy white plastic finish. Power connector is present at the base and the monitor comes with a power adapter, thus explaining the slim profile. There are only two connectivity ports, viz the D-sub and the HDMI port, which is a bit sad. But you do get a DVI to HDMI converter.
Coming to the OSD functionality, the ASUS ML238H offers quite a variety of tweaking options. We liked the various modes such as sRGB, Adobe RGB, Theatre, etc. which allows you to select different monitor profiles.
Performance
According to Spyder3Elite the contrast ratio at 50 percent levels was around 478 :1 which is decent for a monitor meant for regular everyday use. In the Lagom.nl tests, the ASUS ML238H passed most of the tests. The Gradient (banding) test showed gradual transition and there wasn’t any unwanted banding. In the Contrast test, we noticed a tendency of the monitor to merge the last two bands with green, red and magenta. The Black level test, showed each block distinctly, but we noticed a slight greenish tinge in the lowermost row.
While watching HD content, the colours appeared quite natural. Skin tones were rendered quite well. In pitch dark scenes, we could notice some backlight bleeding. In our test movie, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, the forest scenes popped out. In the darker scenes, even though the blacks werent’t very deep, we did not notice any unwanted noise.
Operating the touchscreen menu is a big pain. It takes more than one touch to activate the buttons, and you really have to pay attention on the touchscreen buttons, as leaving them idle for sometime deactivates them.
Verdict
ASUS ML238H is a great full HD monitor with good looks and decent peformance for its price of Rs. 10,600. The colours were rendered well and we found the sRGB mode to be the best amongst others. Readability of text was quite good. We were put off with touch sensitive OSD controls. It is a real pain to use those buttons. It comes with just a D-Sub and HDMI display out and a DVI to HDMI converter. There is a range of power connector cords too. Assembling the stand is a bit of a task though. On the whole a decent package.
Contact Details
ASUS Technology Pvt Ltd
Phone: 1800 209 0365
Email: reachus@asus.com
Website: www.asus.in