ASUS ZenScreen MB16AMT Portable USB Monitor 15.6 inch Full HD Review

ASUS ZenScreen MB16AC Portable USB Monitor is a Full HD portable monitor with builtin battery that can last up to 4 hours. The ASUS ZenScreen is lightweight and also works as a touchscreen.

Design

This portable monitor dimensions are 359.7 x 227.4 x 9.0 mm and only weighs 900g without the included ASUS Smart Case.

The bezel are slim and not too clunky.

One buttons on the bottom left to navigate the OSD, this button is actually a five-way controller and a power button on the right. To the right there’s a hole for a pen which is included to use as a stand instead of the Smart Case. The pen is quite stable to use.

Only 2 input can be found on this screen which is the USB-C, this powers the monitor and also video via display port and a micro-HDMI.

A USB C to USB C cable is included which is actually using Display Port over USB C.

I would recommend using the micro-HDMI cable and leave the USB C port for charging it or charging other devices.

Features

Let’s take a look at the menu.

Pressing it once brings you to the mini menu which is great to select the favourite settings and input modes.

The first option is to select picture modes; Standard, sRGB, Scenery, Theater, Game, Night View, Reading, and Darkroom. It’s pretty much standard options on most monitors and can adjust based on your environment and comfort.

The next menu is the blue light filter which has four levels to choose from.

Next is the colour which controls Brightness, Contrast,  temperature and saturation.

For sharpness and aspect ratio it’s the next menu item under Image. There’s also Trace free (Ghosting and coronas are the visible pixel transitions being seen by the human eye.) and VividPixel (ASUS VividPixel Technology helps enhance image outlines and reduce noise bars for crystal-clear and detail-oriented viewing.).

There are 2 input select which is HDMI or USB Type-C

System setup controls the auto rotation, Touch Screen, Volume,  Input device, GamePlus and Quickfit and a few more settings.

A shortcut menu let’s you map the first menu to commonly used settings.

last item is a favourite settings options which can be save and load to any a previous setting.

The ZenScreen has a feature called ASUS blue light filter which has a range of settings to reduce the blue light on the screen. This helps reduce eye strain when using for prolonged period of time. It also comes with a flicker-free technology which reduce flicker.

As this is an IPS panel the viewing angle is the same as any other IPS panel at 178°and it’s good enough for a presentation at a cafe or a small meeting room.

The 10-point capacitive multi-touch input is fast and responsive and supports standard touch gestures such as pinching, stretching, or scrolling pages like using a tablet.

I really like the Smart Case design and ease to fold. The Case turns into a stand to prop the monitor up in either portrait or landscape mode. It’s strong enough to be able to stand both ways and uses magnets to keep it stable.

A cool feature is that the portable monitor doubles up as a portable charger for your phones. Just connect the USB C to your phone and change the settings on the OSD.

Usage

Using the ZenScreen outdoors in a cafe, the screen is a tat dim at 100% brightness and I would recommend only using it indoors. Comparing 250 nits with MacBook Pro 500 nits it’s half as bright. I prefer a brightness of at least 400 nits for better overall usage.

There is not much glare and colour is good enough for presentation and slides. It’s a good companion screen for discord/slack app for chatting which using the main screen on the laptop for work.

The cable is shorter than I expected. It work best beside a laptop. I would suggest getting another longer cable as it’s hard to maneuver if the port on your laptop is on the other side of the screen.

Charing is fast with Quick Charge 3.0 technology which newer chargers support and is quite standard for new mobile phones. The battery is 7800mAh and takes about 4 hours to fully charge.

Surprisingly, there’s built-in speaker in this portable monitor but it’s only 1W x 2 it’s not great but it’s louder than a typical phone, good enough for a quiet room. Don’t forget to change the audio output and wonder why there’s no sound coming out from your laptop.

One of my use case was watching a video in a cafe with someone opposite me and we don’t need to hurdle together and we are able to lean back on the armchair at the same time by mirroring the display from my laptop.

Another cool feature I could think of is viewing a PDF document and sharing it someone, with the touch screen the other party could zoom in and out while reading at their own leisure.

The provided pen also acts as a kickstand if you’re not carrying around the case.

Conclusion

The Asus ZenScreen Touch MB16AMT  is a great companion to your work from home/work from cafe with a slim and portable monitor to increase your work productivity with ease. With the Full HD touchscreen IPS panel it’s a big selling point and together with a large built-in battery that can last up to 4 hours. The battery also doubles up as a portable charger.