Asus Introduces Decked-out Displays

The company's new 22- and 24-inch LCD monitors come with microphones, webcams, and stereo speakers built in.

If you find yourself with the desk space for a colossal 24-inch LCD, but somehow have a little trouble finding room for a microphone, webcam, and speakers, Asus has the display for you. The company just unveiled its MK221H and MK241H monitors on Wednesday, both of which roll full multimedia and videoconferencing capability into a display.

The smaller MK221H features a 22-inch display with a 5000:1 contrast radio, 300 nits of brightness, 1680 x 1050 resolution, and 2ms gray-to-gray response time. On top, it’s equipped with a swiveling 1.3-megapixel webcam and microphone array for videoconferencing. Both are plug-and-play devices, eliminating the need for drivers, and the mic array automatically reduced background noise and echos. The monitor also gets dual two-watt stereo speakers.

The larger MK241H gets the same multimedia and videoconferencing gear along with a slighter larger display. Contrast dips to 3000:1 on the bigger monitor, but brightness climbs to 450 nits, and it also boasts 1920 x 1200 resolution. An HDMI connection allows the display be used for full 1080p playback when coupled with HD devices such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, and Blu-ray/HD-DVD players.

Asus hasn’t yet released pricing or availability information for either display.