Month: May 2020

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.

The LG GX gives you an OLED TV that’s packed with features in a stunning design, but is it worth the price premium over the CX?

T3 Verdict

The LG GX OLED TV (OLED65GX) is well worth considering thanks to its striking design and excellent image quality – its AI sound and vision enhancements are particularly formidable. But issues with usability, a lack of UK catch-up TV and a hefty price premium hold it back a little.

Reasons to buy

+ Slick, minimalist design

+ Excellent AI Picture and Sound modes

+ Advanced gaming features

Reasons to avoid

– No Freeview Play

– No HDR10+ support

– Not the brightest HDR

Welcome to T3’s LG GX (OLED65GX6LA) review. The GX is LG’s latest and greatest series of ‘Gallery’ TVs, meaning that it pairs the same fantastic 4K OLED panels and processing you’ll find in the cheaper CX TV with a fancier and thinner design, and beefed up speakers.

This does put the GX in a slightly awkward spot: LG’s generosity in putting its best panels in its lower-priced TVs means that will little to separate the higher-tier models on image quality, it falls to fancy cosmetics to define the hierarchy. 

Beyond the panels, feature attractions include the brand’s latest AI-enhanced image processing technologies and webOS smart functionality – again, shared with other models in the range. This sharing of the top tech is what’s always kept LG’s OLEDs so high in our lists of the best TVs, of course.

This is a 4K TV – though some of the best 8K TVs are becoming affordable, 8K OLED still lies in ‘footballer and sheikh’ territory. Otherwise, it’s fully cutting-edge on features, including gaming tech ready for what PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X can do.

LG GX OLED review: Price & features

Intended primarily as an on-wall design – hence its ‘Gallery’ moniker and thin design – the GX can be mounted flush against the wall using a dedicated bracket. There’s no stand in the box at all, but you can buy a set of feet as an extra, so it can sit on a TV unit.

Available in 55-, 65- and 77-inch sizes (dubbed OLED55GX, OLED65GX and OLED77GX respectively), we tested the 65-incher, and opted for the stand-mount configuration, with L-shaped feet left and right. The ensemble looks suitably swish but you’ll need wide AV furniture to accommodate the set, since the feet are at the ends rather than the centre.

The GX is the most expensive of LG’s mainstream OLED offerings this year, starting at £2,499/$2,500 for the 55-inch model, £3,499/$3,500 for the 65-inch model we tested, and £5,999/$6,000 for the 77-inch version. By way of comparison, LG’s step-down CX 65-inch TV sells for £2,799/$2,800. That’s a hefty £700/$700 price premium over the corresponding CX model, given that the image quality is the same.

Image processing comes from LG’s latest Alpha Gen 3 chip, and there’s support for Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Vision IQ (which adjusts brightness based on the light in the room, so the image always looks its best). There’s no HDR10+ support, though.

Connectivity is good. Four HDMIs support 4K at 120Hz, with an eARC-ready connection too. As we’ve seen on the new Samsung QLEDs such as the Q80T, these HDMIs feature functionality cherry picked from the HDMI 2.1 specification. 

Gamers will appreciate ALLM (auto low latency game mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) – both of which are supported by next-gen consoles – and Nvidia G-Sync support for smoother PC gaming, which is not common at all on TVs.

In addition there are three USBs, an optical digital audio output, and Ethernet LAN to support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The set is also AirPlay 2 compatible, for streaming video to it directly from Apple devices.

The GX sports both a terrestrial and single satellite tuner. Rather unfortunately for UK users, the former is no longer Freeview Play, owing to some sort of rift between LG and the nation’s digital video broadcast platform (more of which later). So we get regular Freeview HD.

LG GX OLED review: Picture quality

The OLED65GX delivers stunning images, with some minor caveats. Simple things first: out of the box and powered up, switch off Energy-saving mode, as it’s on auto as a default. Disabling it results in an immediate lift in average picture level. Also avoid the set’s Eco picture preset for much the same reason.

However, do engage LG’s AI Picture Pro processing, as it’s genuinely impressive. It snaps detail into focus, without obvious over-sharpening or edge emphasis. Skin texture becomes more believable, fabric more visually tactile.

The GX is also one of the first TVs we’ve seen in the wild to offer Filmmaker Mode. This new Hollywood-endorsed image preset aims to mimic the picture characteristics of a post-production monitor. 

LG has enabled the TV to auto-switch to Filmmaker Mode when when you play something that’s been flagged to enable the mode (although there’s nothing that does this, presently), but it can be manually selected as an image preset.

Filmmaker Mode automatically corrects frame rate (which is good) but also disables LG’s carefully crafted image processing (which is not so welcome).

In actuality, there’s actually not a great deal of difference between Filmmaker Mode and LG’s own Cinema mode; the exception is some low-level noise reduction used on the latter.

For everyday viewing, it’s the Standard mode which best exploits the panel’s natural attributes. With Standard, the image looks subjectively crisper with a higher average picture level.

Filmmaker Mode looks its best with 4K content, because it doesn’t dim down as much as with SDR HD.

The set also has Dolby Vision IQ functionality, not that you’ll notice. There’s no specific labelling. Instead, when you select the Dolby Vision Cinema Home preset it triggers the set’s AI Brightness Control function, which uses the on-board ambient lighting sensor to adjust the image based on viewing conditions – boosting it when the room is bright, and bringing it down a little in dim conditions.

The LG GX’s HDR performance is in line with previous LG panels. We measured an HDR peak at around 800 nits, which is more than enough for bright specular highlights (light flares, reflections, fireworks, that kind of thing). However that figure is only achievable on the set’s Vivid setting, which is not one of our recommended viewing modes. 

In Standard, the set’s HDR peak brightness is a tad less, around 750 nits. Opt for one of the Cinema-style modes, and you’ll restrict highlights to just 650 nits (consistent across 5 per cent and 10 per cent measurement windows). This is comparatively low.

Both Panasonic (with its hard-driven pro OLED display) and Philips have come in brighter with similar OLED sets. And the best LED TVs can go way beyond this – Samsung’s new QLED sets, including the mid-range Q80T and the high-end 8K Q950TS both offer stronger brightness.

Of course, OLED’s advantages really comes from the authenticity and nuance in the dynamic range, rather than brightness, and we were absolutely wowed by the set in this regard.

Picture depth is outstanding, perfect for big 4K close-ups. The sense of texture, courtesy of the set’s Alpha 9 Gen 3 processor, is supreme. We did note some overt grain on largely still images, presumably created by AI image enhancement, but with moving content this wasn’t an issue. High-speed action sequences are crisp and fluid. 

LG’s image interpolation solution, Trumotion, is available in Smooth, Natural, Cinema Clear or user adjustable settings, the latter with de-judder and de-blur sliders. 

There’s also OLED Motion Pro with Black Frame Insertion, which really robs the screen of brightness. Steer well clear. The temptation is to leave the TV on Cinema Clear, or turn off Trumotion altogether.

Like the industrial design, the set’s gaming performance is upper class, recording a low latency of just 13.2ms (1080/60) in Game mode. By way of comparison, if you play in Standard, image lag is a tardy 79.7ms.

LG GX OLED review: Sound quality

Despite its lack of cabinet depth, the GX actually has an effective onboard audio system. For general viewing, the downward-firing drivers are perfectly fine. There are EQ modes for Standard, Cinema, Clear Voice, Sports, Game and Music, bolstered by a hefty 60W of amplification.

However, by engaging the set’s secret weapon, specifically its AI Sound Pro mode, you might even be persuaded that you don’t need to rush out to buy a separate soundbar.

With AI Sound switched on, the soundstage audibly steps forward, improving the perception of depth. Without this, the set’s downward-firing stereo system almost sounds timid.

The GX is compatible with Dolby Atmos content, and will pass through an Atmos bitstream to a compatible device over HDMI, if you do decide to pick up one of the best soundbars.

LG GX OLED review: Design & usability

Unlike many rival OLEDs, the screen doesn’t adopt a wafer-thin panel with sagging electronics bulge in the centre. The screen depth is uniform top to bottom, just 20mm thin.

The panel itself is framed by a minuscule bezel, just 5mm at its thinnest, so all you see is the screen.

For smooth control, the GX comes with LG’s familiar Magic remote control. LG has made some minor changes to its webOS smart platform but the resulting usability isn’t necessarily for the better.

The system adopts the same two-tier design from 2019, and the app selection remains comprehensive, including NOW TV, Netflix, Rakuten TV, Prime Video, Disney Plus, YouTube, and Apple TV. But UK catch-up TV apps are conspicuous by their absence. 

LG tells us it’s negotiating to secure individual channel players, and there’s no reason to think they won’t come soon via an update, however for the time being be aware that they’re AWOL, which does put the TV at a disadvantage compared to other brands. You can easily add channels by picking up one of the best 4K media streamers, but should you have to?

As we intimated, we have some reservations about the set’s new user interface. What was once clean cut and intuitive is now beginning to look a little busy. 

The new Home Dashboard, a central hub for sources, is stylistically unconnected to anything else on the platform. It’s from here you can connect your mobile device, take advantage of AirPlay, or access content on USB or networked servers.

LG GX OLED review: Verdict

There’s no doubting the GX Gallery OLED series is an impressive achievement. Its cosmetic design is top notch, and overall image quality is similarly accomplished. The execution of AI image processing is subtle and effective, although HD upscaling can’t really claim an edge over rivals. The absence of Freeview Play, with zero UK catch-up players, is more of an issue (although this could and should be resolved).

LG’s principal competition, as always, tends to come from its own ranks. We suspect that most people will be drawn towards the more affordable CX range, since it gives you the same image quality for cheaper (and comes with a stand in the box). 

We also need to note that the GX (and CX for that matter) are landing in a current market where last-year’s fantastic LG C9 is still available, offering very nearly as good image quality and most of the same features, but for under £2,000/$2,200 at 65 inches (and, in the UK, actually does have the catch-up services the GX is missing).

In terms of new 2020 sets, there’s also stiff competition to be had from Panasonic’s HZ2000, which offers a high-brightness HDR panel (around 20% brighter than the LG, which is definitely a visible change), a full-blown Dolby Atmos sound system built-in and universal HDR support.

And in terms of having a spectacular design piece, Samsung’s Q950TS is still up there as the TV to beat. Its minute bezels look like the picture is floating in the air, and its 8K panel and huge brightness are spectacular (though can’t quite match the GX for nuance in dark areas).

Chinese motherboard vendor Zeal-All today revealed its new ZA-KB1650 motherboard, a Frankenstein union between the Intel LGA1151 CPU socket and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 in a single package.

Similar to the ZA-SK1050, the new ZA-KB1650 doesn’t conform to any official form factors. The motherboard has a 234.95 x 197.48mm footprint, so that would put it somewhere in the middle of the what we know as FlexATX and MicroATX. Although the ZA-KB1650 is based on the same LGA1151 socket as the ZA-SK1050, it does leverage a more a modern chipset. Its H310C chipset ushers in support for Intel’s Core chips spanning from the 6th Generation to 9th Generation families.

The ZA-KB1650 isn’t built for overclocking though, as you can tell by the motherboard’s humble 4-phase power delivery subsystem. Furthermore, there are no 24-pin or 8-pin EPS power connectors on the board. The ZA-KB1650 draws power entirely from its lone 19V DC port.

Zeal-All has an affinity for Nvidia graphics cards that come with a 75W TDP (thermal design power), and rightfully so, since they sip very little power and are easy to cool. Compared to the ZA-SK1050 motherboard that has an integrated Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, Zeal-All has endowed its latest offering with a more up-to-date graphics card in the form of the Turing-powered GTX 1650. You won’t be able to swap it out for a new graphics card, as the GPU and other chips are soldered to the motherboard’s PCB. The cooling solution consists of a heatsink and corresponding cooling fan.

The ZA-KB1650 only offers you two SO-DIMM DDR4 RAM slots. According to the manufacturer, the maximum that the motherboard supports is 32GB, and memory speeds are limited to DDR4-2133.

The storage options on the ZA-KB1650 are limited. There’s only one SATA III port, but you get access to an M.2 port that appears to support SSDs up to 80mm. At the time of writing, the user manual wasn’t available, so we’re not certain if the M.2 port’s topology and whether it supports both SATA-and PCIe-based drives. To round off the storage options, there’s also a JSATA port if you’re into that kind of thing.

The layout of the ZA-KB1650 exposes three 4-pin fan connectors, one LVDS header, three USB 2.0 headers, two parallel ports, a front panel header, a speaker header and the mysterious invert and CFPA headers.

Zeal-All has definitely upped the ZA-KB1650’s display game. The motherboad provides one HDMI port and two DisplayPort outputs for connecting your best monitors. 

Internet connectivity on the ZA-KB1650 is pretty overpowered for a H310 offering. Zeal-All has included three Gigabit Ethernet ports, which are based on Intel’s I211 controller. There’s also a special M.2 port present for installing M.2 Wi-Fi cards. 

Once again, Zeal-All utilized the Realtek ALC662 codec for audio duties. The rear panel houses four USB 3.0 ports and two 3.5mm audio jacks as well.

The list of features on the ZA-KB1650 includes support for PoE (Power over Ethernet) and different kinds of monitoring, such as temperature, voltage and system power management. The motherboard is compatible with three operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8 and Linux.

Zeal-All didn’t reveal the price or release date for the ZA-KB1650.

The Motorola One Vision launched with a brand-first punch-hole selfie camera in its 21:9 display. It was also unusual among its series as it did so with the Exynos 9609 SoC. Now – despite having been around for about a year now – it seems it is getting a new version.

This evidence comes courtesy of the Android Enterprise Recommended directory, to which a “One Vision Plus” has just been added. However, it is difficult to see what is new about this variant; its new official listing shows it persists in having a 6.3-inch display and 4GB of RAM.

On the other hand, an image of this phone shows it has a waterdrop-style notch rather than the One Vision’s newer kind of front-facing shooter. This detail presents even more of a puzzle as to what could be ‘Plus’ about this phone, frankly. Perhaps it has more storage, or a more up-to-date processor. However, time will ultimately tell whenever this One Vision Plus is launched.

The two most popular smartwatch options for Android are devices running Google’s own Wear OS platform (formerly Android Wear), and Samsung’s Galaxy/Gear watches that are powered by Tizen OS. While there is a great deal of overlap between the two — they can both display notifications, run apps, track health, and so on — there are also some differences between them.

In this guide, we’ll go over the key differences between both platforms, so you can make an informed smartwatch purchase.

Watch selection

The first key difference between Wear OS and Tizen is the watch selection. Several manufacturers produce watches with Wear OS, including Motorola, Fossil Group, Mobvoi, and others. By comparison, Samsung is the only one creating watches with Tizen. While Samsung does produce a few different watch styles, it can’t match the variety you get with Wear OS.

Most Wear OS watches on the market right now come from Fossil Group and its various sub-brands, including Skagen, Diesel, Misfit, and others. Taking into account the handful of watches produced under the entirety of Fossil Group, and all the different styles available for each model, you get dozens of possible designs. That’s not including the new Moto360, the TicWatch lineup, and other models created outside of Fossil.

Samsung currently produces just two smartwatch models: the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active2. The former is a larger watch, with a spinning bezel used for navigating through menus. The latter model is a slimmer sports watch with no spinning bezel, available in two sizes.

While Wear OS does offer more aesthetic options, Samsung’s watches are generally regarded as being well-designed. Looks are entirely subjective, so this is one comparison that you’ll have to make for yourself.

Interface

After the last major Wear OS update, which added full-screen tiles to the platform, it and Tizen OS are more similar than ever from a design perspective.

Let’s start with Wear OS. The watch face acts as the ‘home screen’ of sorts, and you can scroll through your notifications by swiping up on the watch face. Swiping down opens the quick settings, and pressing the center side button displays your list of apps. ‘Tiles,’ full-screen widgets that display information from installed apps, are accessible by swiping to the side of the watch face. Pretty simple.

Tizen operates in a similar manner, but with some of the gestures switched around. Notifications are organized to the left of the watch face, with tiles to the right. Just like on Wear OS, pressing the side button will show a list of apps, and swiping down from the top will bring up quick settings. If you already use Samsung phones, you might appreciate that Tizen has the same One UI interface design as Samsung’s recent Galaxy devices.

One of the greatest advantages of Tizen is its performance. Swiping between tasks and opening apps is noticeably faster and smoother on Samsung’s watches than on any Wear OS wearable. The performance difference is less noticeable on Wear OS watches with 1GB of RAM, like the Fossil Gen 5 and Skagen Falster 3, but it’s still there.

Apps

Wear OS and Tizen both have a fairly limited selection of applications, especially third-party ones. There are a few big names on both platforms, like Spotify, Strava, and Uber, but the vast amount of apps come from smaller third-party developers or the OS vendor (Samsung/Google).

As you might expect, most of the must-have apps on Wear OS come from Google. You can check notes on your wrist with Google Keep, scroll through texts with Messages (as long as the Messages SMS app is on your phone), review fitness data with Google Fit, and so on. If you’re deeply entrenched in the Google ecosystem, with no desire to switch to other services, Wear OS might be a better option.

Tizen is in a similar situation, with most of the headlining apps coming from Samsung itself. You have Samsung Fit, Samsung Internet, SmartThings (for smart home device management), and a few others. Again, there are only a few apps from big-name developers.

Assistant

Google Assistant is arguably the best virtual assistant on any platform, so its presence on Wear OS is a major selling point. While Assistant on Wear OS can’t do everything that the Android equivalent can, like reading news summaries, the core functionality is still available: sending texts, talking to third-party services, retrieving the weather, opening apps, and so on. If your watch has a speaker (or if you have Bluetooth headphones paired), Assistant replies are spoken aloud.

The major catch is that Assistant is still a somewhat-buggy experience on Wear OS. Whether due to Bluetooth sync issues, or some other factor, Assistant telling you “Sorry, something went wrong” is a common occurrence on even the best Wear OS watches.

Galaxy watches have the ever-useful Bixby assistant, the same found on most recent Samsung phones. While Bixby doesn’t have as much functionality as Assistant, it does do just about everything you would want from a watch. It can start timers, tell you the weather, send texts, and other tasks. In my experience, Bixby doesn’t fail nearly as often as Assistant on Wear OS, so Bixby has that going for it.

Health

Most people buy smartwatches with the primary intention of using to track physical activity, and if you’re in that camp, a Galaxy Watch is probably a better choice than any Wear OS device. While Google Fit is serviceable, it has had plenty of issues in the past, and some planned features never saw the light of day.

Samsung Health generally goes slightly beyond Google Fit. The Galaxy Watch and Watch Active periodically remind you to stretch if you haven’t moved in a while, and some watches can measure stress levels. The Galaxy Watch Active and Active2 can also measure blood pressure with an app, but the feature isn’t quite as tested as the Apple Watch’s pressure monitor.