4K is quite the in-thing these days. Where 3D failed, 4K resolution is apt to thrive. Why? No glasses, of course. And people tend to really, really love pixels -- just look at how well the Retina display has gone over in the iPhone and MacBook Pro. Now, Asus is pushing the envelope by revealing a monster of a monitor. It's a 31.5" 4K Ultra HD monitor, designed for only the most spacious of desks and perceptive of eyes. It offers up 4x the resolution of a standard 1080p desk monitor, which should make photo designers drool.


The PQ321 has a native 3840 x 2160 resolution, 140 pixels-per-inch, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and support for RGB 'deep color.' It also uses Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) rather than traditional amorphous silicon for the active layer of its LCD panel. IGZO panels support much smaller transistors than amorphous silicon, which in turn gives much smaller pixels and the 3840 x 2160 resolution of the PQ321 is four times that of a 1920 x 1080 Full HD display. There's 176-degree viewing angles, 350 nits of brightness, and it's just 35mm at its thickest point.


It offers up DisplayPort connectivity, and the U.S. model will have twin HDMI ports (input) with PIP support, not to mention built-in two-watt stereo speakers. It's also wall-mountable, and the stand offers full height, swivel, and tilt adjustment. Sadly, there's no price -- but if it's even reasonably affordable, we're pretty sure everyone on staff will sell whatever they have to in order to own one.