ASUS MB169C+15.6″ Review

asus mb 169c

Everybody realizes that utilizing two screens on your PC makes you progressively gainful. As of recently, however, the best compact USB screens have beaten out at an unobtrusive 1366 x 768 goals. ASUS is changing all that with its new MB168B+, a 15.6-inch USB screen with a 1920 x 1080 presentation. With a cost of just $199 and a svelte, 1.6-lb. frame, the MB168B+ is an unquestionable requirement have extra for business explorers or any individual who should be profitable away from home.

Design

At 14.9 x 9.26 x 0.26 inches and simply 1.6 lbs., the ASUS MB168B+ is essentially more slender and lighter than the AOC e1659fwu (14.8 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches, 2.4 lbs.), which is additionally 15.6 inches, and the 14-inch Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 (13.2 x 8.6 x 0.85 inches, 2.4 lbs.). In any case, in contrast to the Lenovo and AOC gadgets, the MB168B+ doesn’t have an arm. The ASUS requires its 1-lb. canvas conveying case, which overlap over for mounting.

At the point when inside its case, the ASUS MB168B+ weighs 2.6 lbs. what’s more, measures 15.25 x 10.75 x 0.7 inches. In our testing, the case fit effectively into one pocket of our enormous PC sack, leaving space for a littler note pad or tablet.

The ASUS MB168B+ one of the best portable monitors for laptop that looks particularly like an exceptional item, with a metallic-shaded plastic back suggestive of the tops on ASUS’ Zenbook line of Ultrabooks. The front and sides are an inconspicuous matte plastic, which is a lot more tasteful than the modest shiny plastic on the AOC e1659fwu. The left side houses the majority of the MB168B+’s connectors and catches: a solitary small scale USB 3.0 port, a splendor rocker and a power on/off catch.

Setup

ASUS incorporates a CD-ROM with its EZlink and Multiframe programming, which encourages you deal with your windows, however for those without optical drives, the utilities are accessible on support.asus.com. Like most compact USB screens, the MB168B+ is fueled by a DisplayLink chip, so EZlink just introduces either the Mac or Windows DisplayLink drivers for you. Nonetheless, we favored downloading the most recent variant of the driver straightforwardly from DisplayLink.com. In the event that you as of now utilize a DisplayLink-fueled dock or other screen on your PC, you may as of now have the product you need introduced.

When you have DisplayLink programming, you should simply join the screen to a USB port on your PC and it should illuminate and show a second work area for you. Similarly as with every single auxiliary screen, you can modify its position, goals and different settings in Windows by right-tapping on the work area and choosing Screen Resolution or in Mac by visiting the Display segment of the System Preferences menu. On Windows 7, our work area backdrop didn’t fill the whole screen if the essential screen was a lower goals than the MB168B+, however the foundation shading did.

The wobbly 26-inch microUSB 3.0-to-USB link ASUS packs with the MB168B+ is the screen’s greatest downside. In our tests, we found the link excessively short, and its microUSB 3.0 fitting flew out of the screen unreasonably effectively. Far more detestable, various PCs we joined it to – incorporating a MacBook Air with USB 3.0 ports and an old Acer Timeline 1810T with just USB 2.0 – didn’t radiate enough squeeze to control the screen over a solitary port. Luckily, when we utilized a USB Y link to interface it to double ports on these frameworks, the screen worked fine and dandy.

When we utilized an alternate USB 3.0 link, it fit into the USB port on the screen substantially more safely. In case you’re going to buy the ASUS MB168B+, we firmly suggest that you buy a USB 3.0 Y link, which you can purchase on a site, for example, NewEgg for as meager as $10.

Mounting

When you see how to overlay its case, mounting the ASUS MB168B+ USB screen is genuinely simple. You should crease down a fold on the front side of the canvas case, which at that point shapes a little 2-inch back to lean the screen against. There are two Velcro strips within the case that you should use to hold the front of the screen set up. Position the screen against the base strip and it sits at an about 90-degree edge. Spot it against the top strip and it reclines around 15 degrees, which is the position we liked. When you’ve put the screen against the strip, you should crease down the case’s top fold and secure it against the Velcro.

Utilizing Velcro strips and a fabric back appears to be a wobbly method to mount the screen, however it had a sense of safety in our tests. In any case, we wouldn’t prescribe putting the screen on a flimsy surface or shaking it to an extreme. We were additionally ready to situate the screen in representation mode on the mount, yet it appeared to be exceptionally top-substantial and we stressed it may in the end fall over.

Picture Quality

The ASUS MB168B+ gives wide review points, brilliant pictures and a lot of screen land. When we viewed a 1080p video of “The Avengers,” pictures stayed valid from up to 60 degrees to one side or right, and hues, for example, Iron Man’s red protective layer and Captain America’s blue outfit seemed exact, however not excessively rich. Since the screen utilizes a matte as opposed to a reflexive board, we didn’t perceive any reflections until we drew nearer to 90 degrees.

At 163 lux on our light meter, the MB168B+ is a lot more brilliant than the 103-lux ThinkVision LT1421, however falls a couple of focuses shy of the 177-lux AOC e1659fwu.

While the 1920 x 1080 goals is incredible for observing full HD motion pictures, it’s far and away superior for efficiency work. Utilizing Excel 2013 at 100 percent zoom, we had the option to fit 24 segments and 41 lines of substance on the MB168B+’s showcase. In Word 2013 at 100 percent zoom, the ASUS screen showed two pages next to each other with 49 columns of content each. By examination, the 1366 x 768 ThinkVision LT1421 demonstrated just 16 sections and 25 columns in Excel and one page with 27 lines of content in Word.

Performance

The ASUS MB168B+ USB screen gave smooth, sharp pictures regardless of what we tossed at it. Regardless of whether we were altering in Excel or playing a high edge rate 1080p video, movement was splendidly smooth and consistent on the PC. On a Macbook Air running OS X Mountain Lion, we had no issues playing 1080p video or surfing the Web.

Verdict

The ASUS MB168B+ is the best convenient screen we’ve utilized, offering expedient execution, precise shading and a lot of screen land in a lightweight, compact bundle. In spite of the fact that different screens, for example, the $129 AOC e1659fwu are more affordable, the $199 MB168B+ merits each penny since its high-goals show will make you progressively profitable out and about. Simply make a point to purchase your very own USB link.

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