The Asus BE279QSK ($259) is a 27-inch productivity monitor built for the modern age of office videoconferencing. It packs a higher-resolution (2-megapixel) webcam than the majority of laptops, and adds dual microphones and 2-watt stereo speakers, all at a price that's little more than many ordinary, camera-less 27-inch business monitors. It lacks the ample connection choices of two recently reviewed HP teleconferencing monitors (we'll get into them below), but it's a great match for laptops that predate USB-C, as well as for legacy PCs—laptop or desktop—from the heyday of VGA video connectivity.

Boost Your Video-Chat Game

Videoconferencing has proven to be a vital communication tool for both businesses and individuals over the past two years, but most people still rely on their laptops' built-in webcam, microphone, and speakers. A conferencing monitor such as the BE279QSK gives you upgraded video and audio components within a productivity display.

The Asus features a 27-inch in-plane switching (IPS) panel with 1,920-by-1,080-pixel (a.k.a. full HD or 1080p) resolution at a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. A 27-inch 1080p monitor yields a pixel density of 81 pixels per inch (ppi), which is fine for general office work but low for tasks like photo or video editing. Generally, the greater the pixel density, the sharper the image. The Editors' Choice-award-winning HP E27m G4 QHD USB-C Conferencing Monitor, a 27-inch display with higher 1440p resolution, has a pixel density of 108ppi.

The matte-black BE279QSK weighs 15 pounds and measures 21.6 by 24 by 10.5 inches (HWD) with its stand extended to full height. It offers a full range of ergonomic features. The panel can be raised or lowered up to 5.9 inches, as large a height range as we've seen, and it has an unusually ample tilt range—you can tilt the top of the panel up to 5 degrees toward or 35 degrees away from you. The base allows 180 degrees of swivel in either direction (letting you turn the screen away from you for a colleague to see), and you can pivot the monitor between landscape and portrait modes in either direction.

The monitor incorporates a full HD (1080p) webcam, a step up from the 720p of most laptop webcams, though lower-res than the 5MP cameras of the HP E24m G4 FHD USB-C Conferencing Monitor and the abovementioned HP E27m. The webcam stands on a short stalk that centers it just above the top of the display. It can't be lowered or hidden as the two HP monitors' cameras can, but you can slide a built-in lens cover over it when not in use. The Asus BE279QSK webcam requires two cables to connect: one to your video source (HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA) plus an included USB Type-B to Type-A cable for connecting to the webcam.

Those three video inputs give you a lot of flexibility. Many business laptops have DisplayPort connectors (and in a few cases, HDMI as well), while many consumer laptops have HDMI ports. (Thin-and-light laptops sometimes use mini- or micro-HDMI ports with an adapter that plugs into a monitor's full-size HDMI port, while some recent slimlines are equipped only with USB-C and Thunderbolt ports.) The analog VGA connector has been largely phased out, but it's a welcome addition for use with older PCs that may lack the other connectors. With the Asus' three inputs, you should be able to connect to almost any recent computer, business or consumer.

The BE279QSK also has one audio-in and one headphone jack, plus a pair of 2-watt speakers with reasonably good audio quality. They should be fine for casual music listening, video watching, and gaming as well as teleconferencing. The dual 5-watt speakers found on the HP E24m and E27m let you kick up the volume a bit without sacrificing audio quality.

The two HP conferencing monitors lack VGA ports but outdo the Asus in other connections, adding an Ethernet jack, four downstream USB-A ports for connecting peripherals such as keyboards, mice, or flash drives, and a USB-C port for connecting to a computer from which it can stream video or data. The E24m and E27m can even power or charge a laptop over their USB connections.

The Asus BE279QSK's only USB port is the Type-B port used solely for connecting the webcam to a computer's USB Type-A port (in addition to whichever video connection you choose). When the USB connection is active, the webcam should appear under the Camera menu item in Windows' Device Manager (along with your PC's own webcam, if any). You must disable any laptop webcam for the BE279QSK's camera to work.

The buttons for controlling the monitor's onscreen display (OSD) are on the lower right corner of the front bezel. They face the user, which is a better arrangement than the slightly smaller, downward-facing control buttons of the HP E24m and E27m. Even better, the Asus' leftmost control button is actually a mini-joystick controller that lets you navigate up, down, left, and right through menus and open items by pressing straight down.

Testing the BE279QSK: Standout sRGB Color Coverage

I tested the BE279QSK's brightness, contrast ratio, and color accuracy using our standard test equipment: a Klein K-80 colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays' CalMAN 5 calibration software.

Asus rates the display's luminance at 250 nits (candelas per square meter); it fell just short of that at 234 nits in my testing. I measured its contrast ratio at 959:1, a bit short of its rated 1,000:1.

The BE279QSK proved exemplary in handling sRGB, the color space used on the web, covering 99.2% of the gamut. It also covered 76.9% of the wider Adobe RGB color space and 80.4% of the DCI-P3 gamut designed for digital video.

In addition to quantitative testing, we subjectively test image quality by viewing a selection of photos and video clips. Our photo images looked reasonably bright, and colors seemed both vivid and accurate. Video clips showed good contrast and color saturation. The BE279QSK also rendered video well, with realistic-looking colors and clear details in both bright and dark areas.

As for the Asus' webcam, both my own Zoom feeds and selfie videos using the Windows Camera app looked clearly better than their counterparts from my laptop's 720p camera. The most notable difference was that video from the BE279QSK's webcam was less noisy, as well as a bit sharper.

A Solid, Cost-Effective Conferencing Display

You needn't spend a fortune to up your Zoom game. If you've been having trouble making yourself seen or heard in video calls, a conferencing monitor may be your best bet as it will improve your webcam, microphones, and speakers in one fell swoop. The Asus BE279QSK is available at a very good price for a 27-inch business monitor with teleconferencing features. Its webcam is no match for the higher-resolution cameras of the HP E24m and Editors' Choice-winning HP E27m, but it's almost sure to produce a clearer image than the webcam built into your laptop.

The Asus lacks the Ethernet and USB-C connectivity of the docking-station-capable HP monitors, but those features are only of use if your laptop is new enough to have a USB-C port. Thus, the BE279QSK is a great fit for laptops more than a few years old, and for most any office desktop. Indeed, if you need an easy teleconferencing solution for a legacy PC made in the VGA era, it may be one of your few good choices.