Author: batteryforpc

Chrome OS is finally getting some attention from the makers of peripherals and accessories. While most keyboards, mice, trackpads and such work well when paired with a Chromebook, it wasn’t until recently that we started seeing a fair amount of accessories made specifically designed for Chrome OS. The “Works with Chromebook” branding has been adopted by some of the biggest names in the industry and the list keeps growing. Companies like Anker, Logitech, Brydge and more have jumped on the bandwagon and are proudly slapping the Works with Chromebook badge of honor on their Chrome OS-compatible hardware.

It’s great to see accessories like docks, dongles and chargers on this list but one are that still needs some attention is keyboards. Mice usually just work with Chrome OS so a Chromebook-specific mouse isn’t really “a thing” but keyboards have a unique key layout for the operating system. While most keyboards work just fine and the function keys will perform the corresponding action, many new Chrome OS users might struggle if they don’t know which Fn key matches the alternate key on a Chromebook.

Manufacturers like ASUS and Acer have often included their own, somewhat cheap wired models when you purchase a Chromebox but Logitech’s latest K580 and Brydge’s C-Type (half off at the moment right now) are the only legitimate wireless options out there. Or so I thought. (Yes, I know ASUS made one a long time ago but they don’t sell them anymore.) Well, apparently Dell has its own iteration of a wireless Chrome OS keyboard and it looks awesome. We have one of these on the way to the office so I can’t really speak to the build quality but the design is eye-catching.

The body appears to be, at least partially, aluminum and it is molded to have a gentle incline as opposed to some keyboards that use retractable feet. It is powered by two AA batteries and pairs to a USB dongle that, in our experience, is the most reliable way to do wireless on Chrome OS. We’ll get our full opinion out on the Dell Chrome OS keyboard when it gets here but if you’re interested, it’s available from Dell and it’s even on sale at the moment for $43.99. Check it out. If you have one, drop a comment below. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

From the moment I laid eyes on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, I gave little thought to unforeseen limitations it would ship with when it finally became available. As a matter of fact, my main concern at the time was whether or not it looked good, felt good, and performed decently. After all, with a price point of $279 with a keyboard, I was expecting cheap hardware and a super-sluggish processor. Instead, when we had our chance to really get time with the tablet at CES 2020, I found it to be attractive, well-built, and fast enough for general use purposes.

Not one time did I give a passing thought to whether or not things like account syncing and extended monitors would work as expected. Sure, the Duet is a tablet, but it is a device running Chrome OS like all other devices running Chrome OS, right? Even with under-powered, slow devices like the Lenovo S330, I can successfully output to 1440p screens with no issue whatsoever. Additionally, I’ve never run into issue with my apps installing just as expected and arranging themselves on my shelf just the way I had them previously. These are things Chrome OS just does consistently well across the board.

So, when the app strangeness happened with the 10e, I chalked it up to unfinished software. That clearly isn’t the case and it doesn’t matter how I try to get the Duet to save my installed apps and their locations, when I powerwash it, everything goes back to the stock layout with oddball things like Google Docs pinned to my shelf. It’s strange and a bit of an annoyance, but this is far from the Duet’s biggest issue for me and other users who would love – LOVE – to use this little guy as a portable workstation. The absolute most confusing and mind-boggling setback on this tablet for me right now is the lack of usable display out over USB Type C. As it stands right now, the best possible output is 1440×900, but as most monitors are of the 16:9 variety, that quickly gets reduced to 1280×720 as your only real 16:9 option.

Again, I never gave this issue a thought over the past 5 months as we’ve waited for this device to arrive. Not one time did I ever worry about how well the display output would behave. Sure, there have been Chromebooks in the past that could only manage a 1080p extended display, but even that feels OK in a package this small and affordable. For most users, an additional display at 1080p is plenty to extend the long-term usability of a small-screen device. For me, it is exactly what I was planning on doing with the tablet during my testing: use this device as a tablet in the evenings and attach a larger display for getting work done during the day alongside a keyboard and mouse.

Those hopes were quickly shot down as my initial testing shows that, like the 10e before it, the display output of the Duet is hamstrung for reasons we simply can’t understand at this point. We’ve done a bit of digging in the Chromium repositories and have found a missing bit of hardware for both ‘Krane’ and ‘Kodama’ (the Duet and 10e, respectively) that is present in upcoming ‘Kukui’ devices and absent on these two tablets. For reference, ‘Kukui’ is the unibuild baseboard for all of the MediTek Helio P60T devices on the way this year like the Duet and 10e.

This missing little bit of hardware is the Analogix ANX7625 MIPI-DSI/DPI to USB Type-C™ Bridge (Port Controller with MUX). Sure, that’s a mouth-full, but here’s some plain speak for us to see exactly what this little part does in other, upcoming MediaTek P60T Chromebooks or tablets:

The ANX7625 is an ultra-low power 4K Mobile HD Transmitter designed for portable devices. It converts MIPI DSI/DPI to DisplayPort 1.3 4K.

ANX7625 is a mobile HD transmitter designed for portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, Ultrabooks, docking stations, sports cameras, camcorders, and so on. It enables a mobile device to transfer audio, video, and data simultaneously. The ANX7625 converts MIPI™ to DisplayPort™ 1.3 high-performance video with the resolution up to 4K UHD.

While this transmitter is being added to some ‘Kukui’ boards, it seems it is absent from ‘Krane’ and ‘Kodama’. To this point, we’ve not been able to track down what – if any – transmitter is being used in the Duet and 10e. It is also unclear whether or not this is a bug, misstep, oversight, or poor choice by Lenovo to simply skip out on this addition. As the device is capable of a handful of display outputs, I’d assume there must be some transmitter present that is allowing the USB Type C port to even consider outputting a video signal. Could there be a workaround or fix to leverage the existing hardware on board to correct this oversight? Maybe.

I’ve created a bug report for this and at least one developer has acknowledged it so far. The bug is still unconfirmed and has not been assigned to anyone, but the fact that the same developer who led the charge on Virtual Desks has left an empty comment on the bug tells me at least someone is aware of the issue now. I don’t want to game the system or create a manipulative situation, but if you would like to star this bug to draw a bit more attention to it, you can do so here or the link at the top of this paragraph. Hit the link, sign in, and click the star up top. The more stars, the more likely some response will happen from the developers.

In the end, Lenovo is holding the line that this device is meant as a secondary unit and a tablet first and foremost. While I understand this, it is still a Chromebook through and through, so I can’t begin to understand the thinking that left off the aforementioned ANX7625 that is clearly being added to future Chrome OS devices built off of the exact same baseboard. Emails have already started pouring in and comments on the unboxing video have begun pointing out this deficiency in the tablet, so I’m really hopeful the developers, Google, and Lenovo can figure out a workaround to at least get us to a 1080p extended display.

This otherwise-great little tablet is set to get updates for over 8 years, so I’m still hopeful a fix will arrive to this strange misstep. For me and I’m sure many of you, the fact that I can’t spend a ton of time really working from this tablet is a bit of a black eye on the whole experience. It has changed my use cases for sure and it has ultimately altered the way that I’m going about the review process for this one. Aside from that, it just makes me a bit sad. While I don’t think the Duet has enough muscle to be my only laptop, I did feel like it had enough to be that for many potential users over the course of its long life. Being forced to always use it as a Chromebook with a 10.1-inch screen drastically changes that, however, and you can count me among the many that are severely disappointed by this whole situation right now.

The Intel Core i9-10900K has gone up for pre-order in the US, and it’s bad news for those who planned on rushing out to buy the flagship Comet Lake processor. 

As spotted by Tom’s Hardware, US retailer B&H Photo Video already has the CPU available for pre-order, and despite Intel’s recommended price of $488 (about £395/A$765), it’s flogging the processor for some $600 – and that’s before you’ve bought a new motherboard, which you’ll unfortunately have to do. 

That price is much higher than the suggested price set by Intel for the Core i9-10900K, which is supposed to be just $488 (about £395/A$765). However, when Intel launches a new processor, the prices it releases are mere guidelines, rather than strict prices that retailers need to stick to.

This is also way more expensive than the Core i9-9900K, which fetched around $525 (around £420, AU$810) at launch. It’s also pricier than the 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, which arrived last year with an official price of $499. Either way, it looks like you’ll be paying a premium if you want to get in on Comet Lake-S early. 

B&H Photo and Video doesn’t say when it expects to have the CPU in stock, though it’s expected to launch at some point in May 2020. We’ve reached out to both Intel B&H Photo and Video for comment, and Intel reiterated that “Intel’s Recommended Customer Price (RCP) is only a guidance for end users of which could be consumers in the box versions.” We’ll update the article if we hear back from B&H. 

Worth it?

Despite its hefty price-tag, the Intel Core i9-10900K is shaping up to be a champion performer. Specs-wise, the CPU, which debuted earlier this month as the flagship CPU in Intel’s 10th-generation Comet Lake-S lineup, packs 10-cores, 20-threads, a TDP of 125W and boost clock speeds of up to 5.3GHz thanks to Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) technology.

However, early benchmarks show that the CPU is capable of hitting 5.4GHz across all 10 cores. This overclocking feat saw the Core 10900K score 3,002 points in the Cinebench R15 multi-core test, way ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K which scored 2,184. However, the processor failed to match the AMD Ryzen 3900X, which racked up 3,168 in the same test.

It remains to be seen how the incoming Intel Core-10900K performs in single-core tests, but if anything like the chipmaker’s previous releases, it’s likely to come out on top when it comes to gaming.

However, those that haven’t yet decided whether to upgrade to the Core i9-10900K, it’s worth remembering that AMD will be launching its long-rumored Ryzen 4000 ‘Vermeer’ desktop processors later this year. The Zen 3-based CPUs are expected to deliver a significant step up over AMD’s current Zen 2 CPUs, with 10-15% IPC gains, faster clocks, and higher core counts than ever before, and they’ll even be compatible with existing AM4 motherboards.

With Win10 version 2004 locked and loaded and ready to fire at any moment, now would be a very good time to store away an official, clean copy of Win10 version 1909. You never know when it might come in handy.

Downloading a clean Win10 version 1909 is remarkably easy, doesn’t take very long (if you have a fast internet connection anyway), and may well save your keister at some point. You can even download it from your phone or iPad.

Don’t worry, it’s 100% legal and, at worst, will occupy about 8GB on a USB drive for a while. Nothin’ to it.

Step 1. If you’re running Win10, use the Media Creation Tool

If you have a license for Windows 10, the easiest way to get version 1909 involves Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool. Go to the Download Windows 10 site and, under “Create Windows 10 installation media,” click the link marked “Download tool now.” 

You’ll see a notice that you’re opening MediaCreationTool1909.exe (screenshot). It may take a second, but when the Save File button goes live, click on it. Give approval for the Media Creation Tool to make changes to your PC, and you’ll see the Windows 10 Setup dialog. Click to accept Microsoft’s multi-page Software License Terms.

The Windows 10 Setup routine asks if you want to upgrade this PC now, or if you want to create installation media (screenshot).

Choose “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC.” Yes, you should choose that even if you never intend to use the clean copy of Win10 1909 on any other PC. Click Next. Choose the language, architecture and edition — all of which should match what you’re currently running. 

When you’re asked to “Choose which media to use,” choose “ISO file.” Ignore the part about “You’ll need to burn the ISO file to a DVD later” — old advice, rarely necessary these days. Click Next.

When you get to the point where you choose a place to put the file, give it a name that you’ll be able to identify in the future — say, Win10 1909.iso or something similar — and stick the file someplace you’ll be able to find it.

Hit Save, wait a few minutes, and you’ll have a brand-new, clean copy of Win10 version 1909 downloaded and ready for the inevitable disaster.

When you’re told to burn the ISO file to a DVD, just ignore it and click “Finish.” OK, boomer.

Step 2. If you aren’t running Windows 10, grab a different machine

If you go to the Download Windows 10 site using anything other than a fully ordained Windows machine, you’ll see something like the screenshot, which was taken on my Android phone.

That’s good news. Really. Downloading Win10 is as simple as choosing an edition (“Windows 10 November 2019 Update” is version 1909) and clicking Confirm. You’ll need about 8GB of free space — which may or may not present a problem on your device. Moving the file from your phone, tablet, Mac, Linux machine, or Raspberry Pi is almost always a simple task.

Step 3. Make like a squirrel

No matter which path you choose, you’ll end up with a copy of the official Win10 version 1909 ISO file, which can be easily used to install 1909. At least, “easily” in a Windows kind of way. If you download right now, you’ll get the Jan. 14 flavor, known as build 18363.592.

Stow it away someplace handy. You may need it someday.

Having a portable monitor is a lifesaver. Whether your laptop’s screen just doesn’t give you enough space or you’re looking for something to connect to a smartphone or tablet, having an extra screen can instantly boost your productivity. But what if that lightweight screen wasn’t all business? What if it had a fun side too? 

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is just that, bringing a pro-level 240 Hz refresh rate to a portable screen for the first time. The 17.3-inch monitor (DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB Type-C or HDMI) delivered most of what I wanted and needed for both work and gaming and made its mark as a one-of-a-kind product. But that innovation comes at a $500 price tag that leaves us wondering if you’re better off just buying one of the best gaming monitors instead.

Design of Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

With speedy specs, there’s no doubt that the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is for gamers, but with portable monitors offering little space to work with, gamer aesthetics are only embodied by a pair of watchful eyes that are the Asus ROG logo. With black the dominating color, the overall look here is pretty mute, but Asus found subtle ways to include premium touches. 

With its subtle placement, smooth feel and silver look, the Asus ROG logo actually looks good in a bottom bezel that also manages to fit in two 1W front-firing speakers without taking up too much room. The back of the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is its fanciest looking part. A diagonal line starkly divides two contrasting brushed finishes that makes one half look darker than the other. Here lies another ROG eye that glows when the monitor’s on. I’m not usually a fan of massive branding, but when the logo looks this good and gives out a vibe this creepy, I can’t help but appreciate it. 

The 17.3-inch Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE will naturally take up more desk space than the 15.6-inch MSI Optix MAG161V (15.7 x 9.9 x 0.4 inches for the Asus versus 14.05 x 8.94 x 0.43 inches with the MSI), but it’s still comparably thin and even thinner than the Lenovo ThinkVision M14 (12.7 x 8.2-8.7 x 3.8 inches). However, with its larger size, the Asus is also heavier than those non-gaming portable displays (2.3 pounds versus the MSI’s 2 pounds and the Lenovo’s 1.3 pounds). But if you want larger screen size, which is handy for immersing yourself in the game as much as possible, the extra screen real estate will be worth the extra pound, and pixel density is still fantastic at 127.3 pixels per inch. 

A small way the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE starts earning its price tag is through versatile connectivity options. If you have a laptop or desktop with a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode, you can connect to the monitor that way. If your computer’s USB-C port can charge other devices, you can even use the ROG Strix XG17AHPE without ever having to worry about it running out of battery. Through USB-C, the monitor can receive up to 12V at 2A (with USB Power Delivery 3.0). With my laptop’s Thunderbolt port, I was able to use the ROG Strix XG17AHPE with a single (included) USB-C to USB-C cable for hours without its battery life ever dropping. USB-C also serves to connect tablets and smartphones, including a Samsung Galaxy S10 I connected to it effortlessly.

Either of the two USB-C ports can power the monitor, so if none of your system’s ports can’t do that, you can use one to connect to your device and the other to supply it power. The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, which plugs into an included power brick. That adapter also means the monitor can connect to your system’s USB-A port and receive power. 

In addition to USB-C or USB-A, you also have the option to connect to a device’s HDMI port via a MicroHDMI to HDMI cable. This opens up possibilities in the world of Raspberry Pi, gaming consoles and even cameras. If you use HDMI, it’ll either run on battery (see the Battery Life section) or you could simultaneously give the monitor power through a USB-C cable. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for plugging in your best gaming headset. 

The panel’s left side holds all the ports and controls. Controls come in the form of a power button located higher than the rest of the inputs and lights up when on or charging, plus three additional buttons. They’re all pretty shallow but worked on the first try.

Origami Stand on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

Like with many portable monitors, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE uses an origami-style stand that you must fold a certain way to prop up the monitor. It felt a little more intuitive to fold than the one found on the Optix MAG161V, and the Asus has a magnetic hard bit that secures under the bottom bezel for added stability. But the stand was still a pain in the butt. 

The origami stand does allow for different levels of back tilt, but I sometimes wished I could get the monitor closer to 90 degrees to better line it up with a connected laptop. If my table started shaking due to aggressive typing, I’d notice the XG17AHPE wobbling too. But the monitor never came crashing down, even if I slid it across my desk (putting pressure on the top bezel was a different story though). 

In portrait mode, the stand never failed me, but I felt nervous the whole time. The stand just doesn’t provide enough of a foundation for me to feel safe using it that way long-term or with a wobbly table. But I have to admit that having this much vertical screen space is fantastic for reading and something missed with the vast majority of laptops. 

We wish more monitors would employ a reliable and sturdy kickstand like Lenovo does with the ThinkVision M14, which has not one, but two built-in stands. Portable monitors are just too delicate and, in the XG17AHPE’s case, expensive to bet it all on thin, bendy stand-sleeves. The monitor will eventually be available as a different SKU (XG17AHP) with a tripod stand, (plus the same sleeve and a bag), but that ups the monitor’s price to $600.

As bad as this thing is as a stand, it’s even worse as a protective case. While the cover makes a debatably safe stand, it’s an undeniably flawed protector that leaves the sides and back of the monitor exposed. Since this monitor’s meant for traveling, we expected Asus to provide a sleeve that covered all bases without easily sliding off.

Gaming Performance of Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

A 240 Hz monitor opens up a world of potential for first-person shooters and other eSports. While even the best graphics cards for gamers can’t always push AAA titles at a frame rate of 240 frames per second (fps) and high settings, eSports games look extra smooth at 240 fps with low latency and the elimination of disastrous distractions, like ghosting. The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s FreeSync fights off screen tearing, which happens when your GPU’s frame rate doesn’t match up with the display’s refresh rate, but that only works with AMD graphics cards.

Unfortunately, with New York City in lockdown we couldn’t use our lag tester on the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE; however, I put it through its Overwatch paces, paired to a gaming laptop running an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 mobile GPU. I used the monitor’s out-of-the box settings, so overdrive was set to Level 3. 

As I played Overwatch for a few hours, I didn’t notice any input delay with the monitor with the game set to run at 1920 x 1080 at 240 Hz, but with a GTX 1060 GPU, I was only able to hit a frame rate of about 63-85 fps. To maximize the screen’s potential, I’d need a more-powerful GPU that can push out 240 fps with this game. 

Still, images on the ROG Strix XG17AHPE appeared smooth, even during Sigma’s most intense and fastest moments of battles or when enemies filled the screen. Trotting around felt very smooth and realistic. Ocean waves in the distance moved smoothly without stuttering. I’m used to gaming on a 17.3-inch 144 Hz screen, so I didn’t notice a grand improvement in quality when graduating to a 17.3-inch 240 Hz display. But if you’re moving from a standard 60 Hz screen, your experience may differ. 

On-Screen Display, Calibration on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s on-screen display (OSD) is surprisingly navigable for a portable monitor settings menu. Pressing the menu button on the side brings up icons on the display that align with the corresponding buttons for activating. This makes it easy to know where the buttons for scrolling, selecting and back are. It’s no joystick, but the pop-ups are large and proved helpful in navigation. 

Asus also surprised me with a large number of calibration options on the ROG Strix XG17AHPE. The Gaming menu features overdrive (five levels of overdrive, plus off), an option for toggling FreeSync and the GamePlus menu, which has a crosshair, timer, FPS counter and display alignment. In the GameVisual section, you can pick from eight image modes. Racing is the default, but there’s also Scenery, Cinema, RTS/RPG, FPS, sRGB, MOBA and User. The Gaming section also has Shadow Boost, which, according to Asus, “clarifies dark areas of the game without overexposing brighter areas” with three levels, including 0, the default.

The Image section of the ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s OSD provides control over things like brightness, contrast and the blue light filter, depending on the mode selected. Meanwhile, the Color menu has options for Color Temp (cool, normal, warm, or user with red, green and blue sliders from 0-100%), Gamma (2.2, the logic default, or 1.8 or 2.5) and Saturation. 

Other menu sections include Power, Input Select (HDMI or USB Type-C), My Favorite, for shortcuts and customized settings and System Setup, with standards like language, volume, key lock, OSD setup and reset. There’s also an Auto Rotation feature, but to use it you must download Asus’ DisplayWidget software. 

Image Quality on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

We did our testing with out-of-the box image settings, so the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE was in Racing Mode with contrast set to 80 and the blue light filter and Shadow Boost off. 

The ROG Strix XG17AHPE worked great as my general second display with plenty of brightness. Even when I was facing a sunny window, the screen was bright enough for productivity use at 50% max brightness, and games were playable at this setting, albeit more dull. 

Word documents were luminous enough to edit while looking at the monitor head on, and when I turned it perpendicular from me, I could still view documents and games, but with just a touch of reflection in the further third of the screen. When I boosted brightness up to 100%, that reflection was barely noticeable. Additionally, with the screen completely flat, I could comfortably view documents and movies, only sacrificing a small amount of brightness. Credit is due to Asus’ use of IPS, a panel tech known for strong viewing angles.

Overwatch, a particularly colorful game, looked properly saturated on the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE, and dark colors were distinct. Different shades of dark green topiaries and a yellow sunflower were apparent in shadowed corners. Colors on the movie Mission: Impossible Fallout were also strong, from green poplars that looked exuberant and vivid as Ethan and Ilsa walked past them, to differing shades of gold and rust in a club scene. Even the secretly olive green in Ilsa’s jacket was discernible on the ROG Strix XG17AHPE. 

The ROG Strix XG17AHPE proved pleasantly bright in our testing but fell short of Asus’ 300-nit max brightness claim. Still, 285.6 nits is plenty and still brighter than the next runner up by 117.2 nits, as well as the average of the comparison group by 81.6 nits.

Asus claims that the ROG Strix XG17AHPE covers 100% of the sRGB color space, but our review unit actually surpassed that slightly. Colors on the Asus should look more saturated than those on the MAG161V or the 15.6-inch Asus ZenScreen MB16AC. The Lenovo fell behind the XG17AHPE by 11.5%. When it came to the wider DCI-P3 space, the XG17AHPE hit an impressive 77.5% coverage, significantly better than what MSI’s MAG161V or Asus’ MB16AC can do here. 

Battery Life on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE runs on a 7,800mAh battery. If you have a USB-C or USB-A port with Power Delivery 3.0 support, it can provide the monitor enough power to save you from having to get a charger. When I used it with a Thunderbolt port, battery life never fell below 100%, and when I used it with a supporting USB-A port for 7 hours at max brightness, the battery life only dropped to 97%.

But if your device doesn’t have a Power Delivery port, the monitor will be running off battery power. With the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE running at 240 Hz and using the speakers at max volume, it lasted about 2 hours at 80% brightness. At 100% brightness and without using the speakers, it lasted about 3 hours and 30 minutes. 

At 60 Hz, the display uses less battery power. With brightness maxed out, but rarely using the speakers, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE lasted 3 hours. When I used the XG17AHPE at 50% brightness at this refresh rate, the portable monitor lasted about 4.5 hours. 

Asus claims that the ROG Strix XG17AHPE can get enough juice to game for 2 hours at the max 240 Hz refresh rate with an hour of charging.

Audio on Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE

It’s not the primary reason people buy portable monitors, but the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s two 1W stereo speakers are shockingly loud and might outblast a connected phone, tablet or disappointing laptop speakers. The ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s speakers were especially handy when I played emulated N64 games off a Raspberry Pi, which, of course, doesn’t include speakers, as would also be the case if you connected the XG17AHPE to a gaming console. 

Because the speakers on my laptop are particularly bad, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s speakers were actually an upgrade when I played Overwatch. With front-firing speakers, audio from the monitor never sounded muffled. During battle, I could make out the differences in sound effects from various weapons and still clearly hear characters’ voices and even that of my teammate, who wished something bad would happen to me in real life (I hope you live a long life, pal!). Overall, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE provided fuller sound, even allowing me to hear wind blowing in the background during a quiet training session that I couldn’t hear when I toggled audio back to my lackluster laptop speakers. 

Hearing Mission: Impossible Fallout was also easy, even with the windows in my Brooklyn apartment open. Ethan and Ilsa’s whisperings were hard to make out, but gunshots were booming, and I could even follow the echo of Luther’s pained voice traveling down a tunnel. 

You can also plug a pair of cans into the display’s 3.5mm headphone jack, which uses an integrated ESS ES9118 digital-to-analogue (DAC) converter. For audiophiles, the SoC drives 24-bit, 192 kHz lossless playback that Asus promises delivers “unprecedented dynamic range and ultra-low distortion.” 

Bottom Line

The Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is an amazing portable monitor for gamers with the need for it. Nothing can compete for pairing with a good graphics card or gaming console or just packing up for a LAN party, thanks to its thin build and 2.3-pound weight. And with great viewing angles, it’s also a great second screen for work.

But $500 is a steep price to pay for a portable monitor considering that some of the best full-sized PC gaming monitors are available for less. 240 Hz monitors are so speedy that they’re in their own category, but our favorite 240 Hz desktop monitor right now is the Samsung 27-inch CRG5, which as of this writing is a mere $400. Looking around online, I also found a 27-inch LG 240 Hz monitor for pre-order at $279 and a 240 Hz Acer 25-inch available now for $300. At $500, then, the XG17AHPE isn’t for gamers seeking an inexpensive way to add a 240 Hz display to their setup. 

Therefore, this monitor’s best audience is those who need a monitor they can easily pick up. If you travel a lot, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE will make sure you’re never stuck gaming on a lackluster screen or, even worse, not gaming at all.

If you’re just looking for a quality portable display, the Lenovo Thinkvision M14 isn’t fit for gaming, but is half the price ($250) and has a built-in kickstand rather than an annoying origami stand. That said, you can’t get this level of color saturation from Lenovo’s monitor. And the ROG Strix XG17AHPE’s port selection brings valuable versatility, including console gaming, connecting to a Raspberry Pi and getting power and data from one cable. 

If you need a gaming monitor that can move with you while delivering very high refresh rates, the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE is a premium option, but it’s also the only option we know of.