Asus' new monitors purify 90% of airborne dust from your desktop and I've definitely seen some gnarly gaming setups that would benefit

Asus's new ultrawide sucks as hard as it blows

(Image credit: Asus)

Asus has just announced its newest lineup of monitors, which feature air purifying fans. The new VU Air Ionizer series includes three models with 24-, 27-, and 34-inch sized screens.

Each houses a series of vents at the back which boast the ability to remove 90% of airborne dust within a 1m cubed area in about 3 hours. It's definitely a gimmick, but one that has the potential to pay off in a world ever more concerned by airborne particles.

All of the VU Air Ionizer lineup cap out at a 100 Hz refresh rate, and are being marketed far more towards office work and won't be hitting our best gaming monitor list any time soon. They're also only FHD, with a 1ms MPRT and come packed with low blue light and anti-flicker tech. The two smaller panels are relatively flat with 178 degree viewing angles while the 34-inch has an ultrawide 1500R curved panel as well as USB Type-C connection options.

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To further those modern clean office vibes, the monitors' casings are all white, including the fairly minimal looking stands. From the product images it looks like you can get some tilt and height adjustment but probably not a tonne. I also wouldn't be expecting a bunch of ports on these with only power, aux, and what looks like HDMI visible.

These specks make it pretty clear that these screens are intended for workstations rather than gaming ones. It's a shame as the idea is fairly solid. Having air purification built into hardware that's already on your desk could be a big space saver, plus hopefully it cuts down on particulates actually getting inside your machines.

It's especially helpful that these don't require filters, but it has me wondering just where the dust ends up. Will these vents require constant cleaning or is there something else at play with the nano-ion tech. Still as long as it's not inside of my rig, I'd count it as a win. Consider this a reminder to give your PC a good dusting.

If Asus ends up dropping one as refreshing to frame rates as it's supposed to be to the air, it could be worth a look. I've definitely seen some pretty gnarly gaming setups in my time that could probably use some of these screens.

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Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here. No, she’s not kidding.