ASUS ROG Stream X16 overview

The mini-LED ROG Nebula HDR show is, from a purely subjective consumer expertise, the nicest wanting show we’ve seen on a laptop computer. It’s colourful, seems very crisp with its 2440 x 1600 decision, has a pleasant tall 16:10 16-ich show which is good for scrolling by way of two paperwork or internet pages side-by-side, and may be very brilliant when set to 100% – sufficient to view paperwork and video media in direct daylight on a sunny day. The bezels are good and skinny and it does really feel such as you get a whole lot of display house to play with.

We are able to’t say what the IPS model of the show is like, as we weren’t given one to overview, however the mini-LED display is certainly the one we’d go for.

In a super world we’d have appreciated to have seen a most refresh fee above 165Hz, which is the quickest possibility out there with this laptop computer, given the highly effective core parts are able to pushing past 165 FPS in video games (see the benchmark outcomes additional down this web page). That being mentioned, though we’re beginning to see 240Hz 1440p choices in 2022, we’ve but to see a competing 1600p laptop computer with a refresh fee above 165Hz, so it’s not like a competing system may do any higher. 165Hz is greater than sufficient for almost all of avid gamers wants anyway, and it’s solely actually a draw back should you’re a hardcore aggressive participant of on-line twitch shooters.

When it comes to the response time, ASUS declare 3ms when Overdrive is enabled within the onboard software program, although testing exhibits a mean 5ms grey-to-grey response time is extra correct. Regardless, that is nonetheless quicker than the 6ms wanted to utterly eradicate ghosting at this refresh fee, so it doesn’t really have to be any quicker than this, and is a formidable consequence.

The show comes with FreeSync help, not G-Sync sadly, nevertheless the USB-C/DisplayPort 1.4 output does help it if you wish to plug in to an exterior show. That is additionally a method to get the next max refresh fee, do you have to want to.

The next exams have been carried out with the Backlight Management set to One Zone (below Dwelling > System configuration throughout the Armoury Crate software program). This implies the show acts extra like a standard panel, with every of the min-LEDs appearing as one moderately than independently. This successfully disables HDR mode, reduces distinction ratio and means much less deep blacks, however is the one method to obtain the most effective colour accuracy.

ASUS ROG Stream X16 colour gamut

ASUS claims that the mini-LED model of the X14 has a colour gamut which covers 100% of the sRGB spectrum, in addition to 100% DCI-P3. Our outcomes, which you’ll be able to see beneath, help these claims, recording 99.9% sRGB and 99.6% DCI-P3 protection, which is shut sufficient in each situations to successfully rely at 100%. Adobe RGB protection was 94.2%.

ASUS ROG Stream X16 colour accuracy out of the field

Previous to calibrating the show, the colour accuracy of the X16 out of the field confirmed a mean delta of two.88, which is a bit disappointing, and above the two.5 threshold {that a} display wants to attain beneath to get a respectably low stage of variance. The white level nevertheless, was rattling close to good was excellent at 6504K, very near the perfect 6500K consequence. Gamma was equally good at 2.20, which is an ideal rating. Black depth was ample at 0.1324 cd/m², however we’d have appreciated to have seen a greater (decrease) consequence, and the identical could be mentioned for the distinction ratio, which was disappointingly low at 912.5:1. 

Switching the Backlight Management to Multi-Zone would possible enhance the distinction ratio and black depth outcomes as talked about, however we haven’t but examined these because of time pressures. Watch this house for the up to date outcomes. Both method the typical delta / colour accuracy was the principle disappointment, and Multi-Zone wouldn’t enhance this.

ASUS ROG Stream X16 colour accuracy following calibration

Calibration noticed just about no change to the outcomes, with white level getting barely worse to 6474K and distinction ratio barely enhancing to 917.1:1. The whole lot else remained precisely the identical, which isn’t shocking given the display has been Pantone calibrated and licensed (nonetheless at all times value a crack regardless). It’s attainable {that a} extra in-depth calibration than the one we did could yield a barely improved delta consequence, nevertheless it’s unlikely.

Finally, because of this professionals working in fields the place colour accuracy is paramount may not discover this show appropriate for his or her wants, even with the highest notch gamut protection. Nearly all of creatives (together with professionals) who don’t must be fairly so industry-precise with regards to colour ought to nonetheless discover it greater than appropriate nevertheless.

ASUS ROG Stream X16 panel uniformity

We do a panel uniformity check on all laptops we overview after their calibration, which exams for each luminance and colour accuracy. We begin on the centremost level as a reference after which check all the opposite sections of the display (25 in complete) to see how they evaluate.

Usually, any common colour variation below 1.00 is nice and exhibits up as inexperienced within the picture above, although the typical shopper gained’t be capable to inform a lot distinction beneath 3.00. Visible editors who work with colour nevertheless could have a keener eye.

The outcomes we bought on the X14 have been usually respectable. There was a mixture of variation above (in yellow) and beneath (in inexperienced) 1.00 common delta, however nothing exceeded the three.00 rating, which means no variance could be noticeable to the untrained eye. The best common variance was 2.31 within the second from backside left panel (equating to three.34 cd/m²) however nowhere else averaged above 2.00, which is fairly good.

All-in-all, a good consequence – definitely ok for many creatives to work with until they’re working on the very excessive finish of color-accurate requirements.

ASUS ROG Stream X16 brightness

We completed off our colour accuracy testing by operating a luminance check. On the unit we examined, we bought a peak brightness of 518.73 cd/m² and a minimal of 37.03 cd/m². It is a very respectable consequence and nicely above common by way of the height brightness. It’s nicely wanting the 1100 nits peak brightness claimed by ASUS, however this will likely be when the laptop computer is examined in HDR mode, which now we have but to do (watch this house although!).

When utilizing the laptop computer within the daytime we’d advocate matching the brightness to 120 cd/m² which equates to a brightness setting of 29% below the brightness controls for this laptop computer.

Audio

ASUS are one of many few gaming laptop computer manufacturers that are likely to have respectable audio system on their fashions, and the final audio high quality of the X16’s are nicely above common (although not up there with the likes of the most effective non-gaming fashions just like the MacBook and Dell XPS 13 Plus). There’s a richness to the sound high quality, the higher and center frequencies are nicely represented, and there’s a diploma of bass by comparability to most gaming laptops.

Like with just about all laptops, the decrease bass frequencies are nonetheless fairly absent, so should you’re enjoying any songs with a whole lot of sub-bass tones, you’re unlikely to listen to them. Equally, a whole lot of the low rumbling high quality of sound results in video games (explosions and the like) are lacking. Nonetheless, the audio system are ok to get pleasure from Netflix and so forth. should you aren’t too valuable about this type of factor, and the actual fact is there aren’t actually any competing units that may output this type of bass anyway.

Quantity-wise the audio system have been additionally above common, definitely loud sufficient for gaming and watching media on, and most crucially there wasn’t any discernable lack of sound high quality at max quantity.

Battery life

The ASUS ROG Stream X16 battery life, on the mini-LED RTX 3070 Ti mannequin we examined at the very least, got here in at simply over 5 hours. 

This was with our normal check, with brightness set to 50%, background purposes switched off, two hours of fullscreen YouTube, then the remainder internet searching and typing on GoogleDocs. We set every part inside Armoury Crate to enhance power effectivity as a lot as attainable, with MSHybrid (i.e. Optimus), Eco Mode, Panel Energy saver all turned on below Dwelling > System Configuration, One Zone Backlight Management switched on, Panel Overdrive turned off, and below Gadget > System the GPU Energy Saving set to Eco Mode. Keyboard RGB was additionally turned off.

We wouldn’t go so far as to name this a formidable consequence, nevertheless it’s definitely not unhealthy, contemplating each the pretty slimline nature of the system, the mini-LED show, and the high-powered parts. The performance of having the ability to tweak so many settings inside Armoury Crate definitely helps lots, and we think about if these aren’t tweaked the battery life would solely final a mere fraction of the above.

Efficiency, noise & temperature

Noise

On the whole, non-gaming utilization, when set to Silent mode inside Armoury Crate the X16 was simply that. Even Balanced Mode was nearly inaudible, and that is in all probability the setting we’d advocate should you’re within the workplace or typing on the transfer, because it gained’t be heard by anybody but will provide higher inner and exterior cooling. When gaming below Turbo or our personal customized Guide preset (which we’d advocate), the laptop computer did get pretty loud, however was nonetheless quieter than your typical gaming laptop computer working below the extent of pressure we subjected it to, which speaks to the advantages of getting the third inner fan.

Exterior temperature

The X16 remained moderately temperate for normal use when switched to Balanced mode. Silent mode generated noticeable heat on the keyboard however to not an uncomfortable stage, on a heat day you may get sweaty palms although. When gaming on both Turbo mode or our personal maximised customized preset, with each the followers and energy allocation to the CU and GPU set to the max, the keyboard did get fairly heat, however not more than nearly all of gaming laptops. Given the slimline nature of the machine the general expertise was definitely respectable.

Inside temperature

The graph above exhibits the temperature outcomes for the video games we examined (as defined beneath, now we have but to efficiently check Far Cry 6, however will add this at a later time). 

As per all of our exams, we set the wattage allocation to the CPU and GPU to the utmost throughout the onboard software program, set the followers to most below Dwelling > handbook mode, and turned off any power saving settings for the GPU and different parts – this can put the utmost pressure on the inner temperatures of the laptop computer, and isn’t essentially what you’d need for day after day gaming, however provides the most effective thought of the utmost efficiency potential.

To get an thought, the low-to-mid 90’s is the place thermal throttling begins to happen on a CPU, and the excessive 90’s is the place harm to the longevity of parts begins to happen. Though the outcomes could seem excessive to the untrained eye, these are literally decrease temperatures than what we’ve seen on the XMG Neo 15 E22, which is a a lot thicker laptop computer, each for CPU and GPU efficiency, to not point out the smaller sized ASUS G14 (which is much less shocking). In brief, it appears that evidently the brand new cooling expertise is doing a great job; these are spectacular outcomes for such a skinny machine and should you turned the ability limits down a bit in comparison with how we had them on this check, you can anticipate to get an honest lifespan out of this machine.

ASUS ROG Stream X16 benchmarks

We examined the ASUS ROG Stream X16 with Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti and AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS in each its native 1600p decision and at 1080p throughout a variety of titles on completely different graphical presets. 

We made certain the MSHybrid/Optimus was turned off with the MUX Swap throughout the Armoury Crate software program, which is how we advocate everybody has it set when enjoying demanding video games, because the FPS uplift it brings could be as excessive as 50% in some titles.
Notice: The outcomes aren’t as complete as we’d like but, as we had points operating Far Cry 6 with out it crashing (although this isn’t possible a problem with the laptop computer itself). We will likely be updating this overview with the Far Cry 6 leads to the close to future.