Incorporating strengths from previous Asus portable monitors including the Editors’ Choice award-winning ZenScreen Touch (MB16AMT), while adding gaming-centric features like a high refresh rate and Nvidia G-Sync compatibility, the Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE ($399) is a formidable, well-rounded portable display for gamers and multimedia buffs. Although it has a premium price for a 15.6-inch mobile monitor, it’s crammed with features such as a built-in battery, speakers, and kickstand, as well as an included soft carrying sleeve. It did well in our brightness and contrast testing, and its excellent sRGB color coverage makes it a good choice for viewing photos and video. The ROG Strix earns an Editors’ Choice nod as an excellent portable monitor if you’re looking for one on the larger side.
A ROG Display for the Road
Measuring 0.5 by 8.9 by 14.2 inches and weighing just under 2 pounds, the XG16AHPE is reasonably compact for a 15.6-inch portable panel, especially considering its onboard battery and speakers. It provides 1080p or full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) resolution and employs in-plane switching (IPS) technology. As is typical of IPS displays, the Asus has very wide viewing angles, rated at 178 degrees for both vertical and horizontal. I saw a minimum of color distortion or posterization even when viewing the screen from extreme off-center positions.
The XG16AHPE is one of several recently introduced portable gaming monitors in the ROG Strix stable. This black-clad monitor is a close cousin to the white ROG Strix XG16AHP-W, which for $50 more ($449) provides a tripod instead of a fold-out kickstand. (In design, the XG16AHP-W’s tripod resembles those of the company’s Republic of Gamers desktop monitors, consisting of a short, stubby support in back and two long, thin arms splayed open in front to form a V.) The series also includes two 17.3-inch portable displays, each clad in black and rated at blistering 240Hz refresh rates—the XG17AHP ($539.99) with the tripod and XG17AHPE ($489) without.
Although less expensive than those models, the XG16AHPE doesn’t come cheap. It’s priced a tad higher than other premium 15.6-inch portable displays such as the espresso Display ($369) and Asus’ ZenScreen Touch ($379.98).
On the lower left-hand edge of the monitor are two USB-C ports (one for powering your laptop, the other for DisplayPort over USB), a micro HDMI port—the unit comes with a micro HDMI to HDMI cable as well as one with USB-C connectors on both ends—and a headphone jack in case you don’t want to use the two 1-watt speakers. The latter offer only modest volume, but their sound quality is a little better than that of similar setups.
At top right are the power button and three control buttons for navigating the onscreen display (OSD). The OSD has the usual range of options for adjusting brightness, contrast, color, input, and other settings, and it adds a gaming submenu that lets you enable a variable refresh rate and choose among eight gaming modes such as MOBA, FPS, RTS/RPG, and Racing. A GamePlus setting lets you add crosshairs, a timer, or an FPS counter. In addition, Asus DisplayWidget software lets you tweak a lot of these and similar settings from your desktop.
Secured to the monitor’s back is a cleverly designed kickstand that folds out along a diagonal, supporting the XG16AHPE whether it’s in landscape or portrait mode. It’s simpler to set up and more versatile than the common origami-style stands made of stiff board that fold along creases and adhere to a laptop via a magnetic strip, but less convenient than a built-in, hinged stand like the ones found on the Lenovo ThinkVision M14 and ThinkVision M14t or the detachable hinged stand offered as an option for the espresso Display.
The ROG Strix XG16AHPE comes with a soft, zippered black carrying case with a see-through mesh zippered pouch in front and a Velcro-sealed sleeve in back.
Built into the monitor is a 7,800mAh battery that Asus says provides up to three hours of use at a refresh rate of 144Hz, with a quick-charge feature that promises two hours’ use after one hour’s charging. Though uncommon in other portable monitors, we’ve seen this feature in other Asus entries such as the ZenScreen Touch and ZenScreen Go, as well as the other monitors in the company’s product line mentioned above.
Testing the Asus XG16AHPE: Bright, With Splendid Color Coverage
I performed our usual color and brightness testing for the Asus XG16AHPE using a Klein K10-A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ CalMAN software. I measured the panel’s luminance (brightness per unit area) at 272 candelas per meter squared (nits), a bit short of its rated 300 nits but still very good for a portable monitor.
The Strix did fall short of the Lenovo ThinkVision M14’s 280 nits, but edged the ThinkVision M14t (261 nits), the ViewSonic VG1655 (245 nits), and the Asus ZenScreen Touch (240 nits), among others. Most portable monitors we’ve tested fall in the 180-to-220-nit range. The XG16AHPE delivered a contrast ratio of 1,170:1 in our testing, considerably better than its 800:1 rating. (See more about how we test monitors.)
In our color-gamut testing, the XG16AHPE showed excellent coverage of the sRGB color space—the standard gamut for online art and many other applications. Asus rates its coverage at 97.1% of sRGB, while our testing yielded a score of 97.7%. (See the chromaticity or color coverage chart below.)
This is one of the best scores we’ve seen from a portable monitor; most cover only 60% to 72% of the sRGB space. The Lenovo ThinkVision M14 and M14t scored about 97% apiece, while the Lepow Lite H1 posted a 99% score. The 15-inch espresso Display topped even these standouts, covering 100% of the sRGB gamut.
In addition to our quantitative tests, I also viewed some of the standard video clips and photos we use in testing. I was happy with the richness and accuracy of the monitor’s color. The display did well in maintaining photo contrast and dynamic range in video, showing clear detail in both light and dark areas.
A better-than-average contrast ratio for an IPS monitor should serve the XG16AHPE well in gameplay, where the ability to distinguish, say, an enemy in the shadows can prove critical. Exacting color fidelity is less important in a gaming panel, with aesthetics usually taking a back seat in the heat of battle, but it’s a plus nonetheless. That’s especially true because its versatility makes the Asus more than just a gaming monitor, but a fine choice as a display for photo and video viewing as well.
The XG16AHPE offers a better user experience than the MSI Optix MAG161V, another 15.6-inch portable gaming panel. The MSI also beat its rated contrast ratio, delivering 1,066:1, and has a similar pair of speakers. But we measured its brightness at a low 192 nits; it covered a mere 64.4% percent of the sRGB color space; and its maximum refresh rate is the usual non-gaming standard of 60Hz. (At this writing the MAG161V is not widely available, likely due to the ongoing supply-chain crunch.)
The Asus XG16AHPE will also appeal to multimedia consumers—movie watchers and photo buffs—thanks to its very good coverage of sRGB color. Among the few popular features that it lacks are a touch screen and a mini-joystick controller for the OSD, found on both Asus’ ZenScreen Touch and ViewSonic’s TD1655 (the latter also costs $100 less than the XG16AHPE). If you’d prefer a full-fledged tripod to a built-in kickstand, you might consider either the Asus XG16AHP-W or the 17-inch Asus XG17AHP.
Primed for Gaming—and Media Watching
Although you can get a good portable monitor for less money than you’ll pay for the ROG Strix XG16AHPE, and it lacks a few items we’ve seen in other mobile monitors, it has no critical omissions. The display packs in a wealth of gaming features such as a high refresh rate, G-Sync compatibility, low input lag, and a built-in battery, speakers, and kickstand. It also offers good brightness and a relatively high contrast ratio. Its excellent sRGB coverage is less critical for gamers, but just adds to its appeal as an all-around portable entertainment monitor.
