The Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE ($399) is a formidable, well-rounded portable display for gamers and multimedia buffs, combining strengths from previous Asus portable monitors, including the Editors’ Choice award-winning ZenScreen Touch (MB16AMT), with gaming-centric features like a high refresh rate and Nvidia G-Sync compatibility. Although it comes at a high price for a 15.6-inch mobile monitor, it comes with a slew of extras, including a built-in battery, speakers, and kickstand, as well as a soft carrying sleeve. It performed admirably in our brightness and contrast tests, and its high sRGB color coverage makes it an ideal choice for watching images and videos. If you’re searching for a larger portable monitor, the ROG Strix earns an Editors’ Choice award.
Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE
- Low input lag and a high refresh rate
- Speakers and a built-in battery
- Colorful and bright (272 nits) (97.7 percent of sRGB)
- Both landscape and portrait modes are supported by the kickstand
- A plush carrying sleeve is included
- For a 15.6-inch portable monitor, it’s quite pricey
ASUS ROG STRIX XG16AHPE SPECS
| Panel Size (Corner-to-Corner) | 15.6 inches |
| Native Resolution | 1920 by 1080 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Screen Technology | IPS |
| Rated Screen Luminance | 300 nits |
| Rated Contrast Ratio | 1000:1 |
| Pixel Refresh Rate | 144 Hz |
| Adaptive Sync | Nvidia G-Sync |
| Video Inputs | USB-C |
| USB Ports (Excluding Upstream) | 1 |
| VESA DisplayHDR Level | NA |
| Dimensions (HWD) | 8.9 by 14.2 by 0.46 inches |
| Weight | 2 lbs |
| Height-Adjustable Stand? | No |
| Tilting Stand? | No |
| Swiveling Stand? | No |
| Landscape/Portrait Pivot | No |
| Warranty (Parts/Labor) | 3 years |
For the Road, a ROG Display
The XG16AHPE is reasonably tiny for a 15.6-inch portable panel, measuring 0.5 by 8.9 by 14.2 inches and weighing little under 2 pounds, especially given its inbuilt battery and speakers. It has a resolution of 1080p or full HD (1,920 by 1,080-pixel) and uses in-plane switching (IPS) technology. The Asus features extremely wide viewing angles, as is common of IPS displays, with both vertical and horizontal viewing angles of 178 degrees. Even while viewing the screen from extreme off-center locations, I detected very little color distortion or posterization.
The ROG Strix XG16AHPE is one of the new portable gaming monitors in the ROG Strix lineup. This black-clad display is similar to the white ROG Strix XG16AHP-W, which includes a tripod instead of a fold-out kickstand for $50 more ($449). (The XG16AHP-tripod W’s is similar in style to that of the company’s Republic of Gamers desktop monitors, with a small, stubby back support and two long, thin arms spread open in front to form a V.) The XG17AHP ($539.99) with the tripod and the XG17AHPE ($489) without the tripod are two 17.3-inch portable monitors, both in black and rated at scorching 240Hz refresh rates.
The XG16AHPE isn’t inexpensive, even though it’s less priced than those models. It costs a little more than the espresso Display ($369) and Asus’ ZenScreen Touch ($379.98), which are both excellent 15.6-inch portable screens.
Two USB-C ports (one for charging your laptop, the other for DisplayPort over USB) are located on the monitor’s lower left-hand edge, along with 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 if you don’t want to use the monitor’s two 1-watt speakers. Although the latter has a low volume, the sound quality is slightly better than that of similar setups.
The power button and three control buttons for navigating the onscreen display are located in the upper right corner (OSD). The OSD includes the standard range of options for modifying brightness, contrast, color, input, and other settings, as well as a gaming submenu that allows you to select a variable refresh rate and choose from eight different game modes, including MOBA, FPS, RTS/RPG, and Racing. You can add crosshairs, a timer, or an FPS counter to a GamePlus configuration. Furthermore, the Asus DisplayWidget program allows you to change many of these and other settings directly from your desktop.
A beautifully built kickstand is secured to the monitor’s rear and folds out diagonally to support the XG16AHPE in landscape or portrait mode. It’s 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, but it’s easier 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.
A soft, zipped black carrying bag with a see-through mesh zippered pouch in front and a Velcro-sealed sleeve in rear is included with the ROG Strix XG16AHPE.
A 7,800mAh battery is built inside the monitor, which Asus claims would enable up to three hours of use at a refresh rate of 144Hz, with a quick-charge feature promising two hours of use after one hour of charging. We’ve seen this functionality in previous Asus entrants like the ZenScreen Touch and ZenScreen Go, as well as the other displays in the company’s product range stated above, though it’s not prevalent in other portable monitors.
The Asus XG16AHPE is bright and has excellent color coverage.
I used a Klein K10-A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ CalMAN software to evaluate the Asus XG16AHPE for color and brightness. The panel’s luminance (brightness per unit area) was measured at 272 candelas per meter squared (nits), which was somewhat less than the rated 300 nits but still extremely good for a portable monitor.
The Strix didn’t quite match the 280 nits of the Lenovo ThinkVision M14, but it did beat out the ThinkVision M14t (261 nits), the ViewSonic VG1655 (245 nits), and the Asus ZenScreen Touch (240 nits), among others. The majority of portable displays we’ve examined have a brightness range of 180 to 220 nits. In our tests, the XG16AHPE had a contrast ratio of 1,170:1, which was significantly higher than the 800:1 rating.
The XG16AHPE provided outstanding coverage of the sRGB color space in our color-gamut testing—the standard gamut for online art and many other applications. Asus claims 97.1 percent sRGB coverage, however our testing revealed a score of 97.7 percent. (See the color coverage or chromaticity chart below.)
This is one of the greatest results we’ve seen from a portable monitor; most typically cover 60% to 70% of the sRGB spectrum. The Lenovo ThinkVision M14 and M14t each received a score of around 97 percent, while the Lepow Lite H1 received a score of 99 percent. Even these standouts couldn’t compare to the 15-inch espresso Display, which covered 100 percent of the sRGB gamut.
I saw some of the regular video clips and photographs we use in testing in addition to our quantitative exams. The color accuracy and richness of the display pleased me. In video, the display did a good job of preserving photo contrast and dynamic range, displaying great detail in both light and dark areas.
The XG16AHPE should benefit from a higher-than-average contrast ratio for an IPS panel in gameplay, where the ability to discern an enemy in the shadows might be crucial. Color accuracy is less critical with a gaming panel because aesthetics normally take a back place in the heat of battle, but it’s still a positive. That’s especially true given the Asus’s versatility, which makes it a good pick for photo and video viewing as well as gaming.
The XG16AHPE outperforms the MSI Optix MAG161V, another 15.6-inch portable gaming screen, in terms of user experience. The MSI likewise outperformed its rated contrast ratio, with a ratio of 1,066:1. It also features a same set of speakers. However, we found that it was only 192 nits bright, covered just 64.4 percent of the sRGB color space, and had a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, which is common for non-gaming monitors. (At the time of writing, the MAG161V is not generally available, owing to a supply-chain shortage.)
The Asus XG16AHPE will also appeal to multimedia consumers—movie fans and photo enthusiasts—due to its excellent sRGB color coverage. A touch screen and a mini-joystick controller for the OSD are among the few popular features it lacks, which are featured on both Asus’ ZenScreen Touch and ViewSonic’s TD1655 (the latter also costs $100 less than the XG16AHPE). If you prefer a full-fledged tripod to a built-in kickstand, the Asus XG16AHP-W or the 17-inch Asus XG17AHP are good options.
Prepared for Gaming and Media Consumption
Although you can purchase an excellent portable display for less money than the ROG Strix XG16AHPE, and it lacks a few features we’ve seen in other mobile monitors, it doesn’t have any major flaws. The display includes a high refresh rate, G-Sync compatibility, low input lag, and a built-in battery, speakers, and kickstand, among other gaming features. It also has a significant amount of brightness and a strong contrast ratio. Its superior sRGB coverage is less important for gaming, but it only adds to its appeal as a portable entertainment monitor in general.
Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE
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