Earlier in the week in my post regarding my thoughts on what’s going to be the talk of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show I made a guess that 4K was once again going to be high in the rankings as panels become more affordable and more developed over the last 12 months. Well it appears that my thoughts were right on the money and both Asus and Lenovo have stepped forward to give us a taster with their sub US $800 displays that pack the massive 4K resolution that it seems we are all desperate to get our hands on.

Over the last few months we have seen no end of 4K monitors available on the market, but truth be told they have been well out of the price range of many of us and so they were only but a reality for those with a deep pocket. The time has now come, however, where 4K panels have been condensed into a smaller frame, but remarkably the price has dropped considerably.

Starting off with the PB287Q from Asus, content creators can now stop saving up for the $3000 asking price of Asus’ larger 31.5″ panel that has been on the market for the last few months. Compared to its bigger brother, the PB287Q packs virtually the same feature set, with both DisplayPort 1.2 and MHL-capable HDMI ports on hand and the same jaw-dropping resolution of 3840 x 2160. The most important factor to consider though is the remarkable price of just US $799 which brings this monitor right into the price bracket of many high end content creators such as myself.

Like Asus, Lenovo are also breaking the mould with their own affordable 4K screen. The ThinkVision Pro2840m like the PB287Q is also a 28″ panel that packs the same 3840 x 2160 resolution, but it also features three USB 3.0 ports and dual 3W speakers for an extra premium over the Asus offering of around $1 – yes $1!.

Both monitors are scheduled to be available in the early to mid part of Q2 this year and I’ll make sure to head over to both vendors stands this week to get a closer look at what these screens have to offer.