Few tech firms are as comfy taking probabilities fairly like Asus, and the ROG Stream X16 is one other instance of the agency’s revolutionary spirit. This can be a big-screen gaming laptop computer with a 360-degree rotating show. That form of design selection would possibly sound unhinged at first, in spite of everything it is the form of motion that is normally discovered on extremely portables and notebooks for creatives.
In the end, nonetheless, it does make a shocking quantity of sense on a gaming unit. You should use the Stream as a standard laptop computer, certain, however it will probably additionally twist right into a tented place and work like a small TV, so you may play titles with a management pad or watch films. Transfer it into pill place and it is well-suited for inventive work or touchscreen video games. In case you can abdomen its dimension, it may even work for studying.
The design is underpinned with strong internals. Gaming capabilities and processing energy come courtesy of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti coupled with the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS. With this overview we are able to additionally see what’s good right here and contemplate what’s coming down the pipe, as a result of Asus has introduced a 2023 refresh of this identical laptop computer mannequin with just a few tweaks and enhancements.
Particular parts apart, the show delivers extra versatility than the typical gaming laptop computer, however consequently, the Asus ROG Stream X16 tends to be pricier than some rivals. The mannequin we have reviewed is the ROG Stream X16 GV601RW-M5110X that prices $2,499. That is $100 lower than an equal Razer Blade 15, however pricier than the MSI Raider GE77, which prices $2,199 with an RTX 3070 Ti.
Look past these rigs and you will find loads of different typical notebooks with an RTX 3070 Ti with costs that hover nearer to the $2,000 mark.
Options and Design
The convertible mechanism means the ROG Stream X16 is extra adaptable than most gaming laptops, and the Asus works nicely in relation to motion – the hinges rotate easily and have sufficient resistance to make sure the display stays firmly in place as soon as it is positioned.
That construct high quality is obvious throughout all the pocket book. The chassis makes use of an aluminum and magnesium alloy that is sturdy, and there is hardly any give within the show. It is a slick-looking laptop computer, too, due to a design that abandons RGB LED lighting for a subtler, industrial really feel.
It is undoubtedly spectacular, however the convertible design is not good. As a result of the Stream is 355mm vast and 19.4mm thick, it will show cumbersome for heaps of people that wish to use its pill mode for gaming, searching or studying. And at 4.6 kilos on the scales, it is not significantly gentle – you might really feel your arms getting drained sooner moderately than later. Additionally think about 1.2 kilos for the ability brick.
The Stream’s dimension actually is not ruinous, and its hybrid hinge provides versatility – nevertheless it’s not good, and do not assume that you simply’re getting a skinny, gentle laptop computer simply because it is a convertible.
Inside, you may discover two PCI-E 4.0 2280 M.2 SSD sockets and two RAM slots, so upgrades are doable. The battery is simple to take away, too, and the wi-fi card is accessible. That stated, it is tough to get inside – the bottom panel is secured with 13 Philips screws and plastic clips.
The Show
Asus says the Stream X16 works nicely in all types of positions, so there’s loads using on display high quality right here. Fortunately, the specs do not disappoint: this 16″ panel has a 2560 x 1600 decision and 16:10 facet ratio to ship sharp imagery and further vertical area. It is a Mini LED display, too, so it ought to simply outstrip IPS {hardware} in relation to distinction efficiency.
The 3ms response time is nice for many gaming conditions wanting essentially the most demanding esports titles, and this panel has AMD FreeSync Premium Professional clocked to 165Hz – a determine that may do a great job in single-player titles and mainstream esports video games.
Asus claims that this Mini LED show has a peak brightness of 1100cd/m2, and in testing the Stream did hit that lofty goal. The SDR mode peak brightness of 543cd/m2 is great, and it combines with the black level of 0.13cd/m2 for a incredible distinction ratio of 4,176:1. That is much better than any IPS show, and your video games and films have unimaginable punch, depth and vibrancy.
The Mini LED {hardware} has a whopping 512 dimming zones, so that you get loads of management and nuance in HDR media. This is without doubt one of the few gaming laptops that may do HDR video games and films justice, and it makes the X16 a tempting choice for high-impact gameplay.
The Delta E of three.06 is ok for gaming and you will not discover any vital accuracy points, however that determine is not fairly excessive sufficient for color-sensitive workloads, like design and photo-editing duties.
It is a disgrace, as a result of the Stream’s coloration temperature of 6,422K is superb, and the display does a great job with coloration gamuts. Its sRGB protection degree of 100% at 165.7% quantity ensures large punch in mainstream video games, and the display produced 99.7% of the DCI-P3 area at 117.4%, so each HDR shade will probably be rendered nicely.
Within the Adobe RGB area the Asus produced 91.1% of the shades required at 114.2%. That determine is not excessive sufficient to deal with demanding, color-sensitive workloads – identical to the Delta E end result. This can be an excellent display for video games and media due to Mini LED expertise, nevertheless it’s not fairly there for inventive workloads.
Your video games and films will sound nice, too, due to the quartet of audio system. They’re loud, daring, punchy and vibrant, with first rate bass that does not overwhelm the detailed mid-range. They’re simply adequate for gaming and watching media.
This display outpaces duller shows, it is higher than any IPS panel, nevertheless it’s price remembering that rivals are additionally out there with OLED choices at larger refresh charges, and that the forthcoming Razer Blade 16 may also function Mini LED shows.
It is also price holding off for the 2023 mannequin if you would like a display improve within the Stream. The newer machine retains the 2560 x 1600 decision and Mini LED design, however Asus now says the panel can soar past 1200cd/m2 with 1,024 dimming zones, so count on extra nuance and punch – and an upgraded 240Hz refresh price will probably be higher for esports, too.
Enter and Connectivity
We famous that the Stream’s exterior design is a bit inconsistent, and that continues elsewhere. On the Stream’s right-hand edge you may discover two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-A ports, a microSD slot and the ability button, however the button is annoyingly shallow and the entire ports sit in direction of the entrance of the rig, so they might find yourself in the best way of your mouse in the event you’re right-handed.
On the left-hand edge there are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C sockets that help DisplayPort and energy supply, however loads of area is occupied by the connector for the XG Mobile dock – despite the fact that that machine is not out there on the market in lots of markets and not one of the 2022 fashions outstrip the RTX 3070 Ti. It is a waste of area, no less than till the XG Cellular 2023 with its RTX 4090 arrives.
The Asus ROG Stream X16 has a webcam with Home windows Good day help, however no fingerprint reader. Internally, it is bought dual-band 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, however no wired web. There’s an HDMI 2.1 output for 4K/120Hz and 8K/60Hz gaming, however no Thunderbolt 4. And if you’d like a laptop computer for inventive work alongside gaming, a full-size SD slot would have been higher.
Fortunately, the 2023 refresh does repair a few of these. A transfer to Intel {hardware} means one Thunderbolt 4 port will probably be included, and the webcam will get an improve from 720p to 1080p.
You continue to do not get wired web on the upgraded mannequin, although, and there is nonetheless no fingerprint reader. Some rivals will nonetheless be higher: the hefty MSI Raider GE77 has an SD card slot, extra USB ports and a couple of.5Gbps Ethernet, and the Razer additionally has an additional full-size USB port and an SD card slot.
The keyboard might be a bit higher. The Stream’s buttons have a beneficiant 1.7mm of journey and the keys do impress – they’re quick, constant and sturdy, even while you’re hammering by means of gameplay.
Negatively, although, the Stream solely has single-zone RGB LED lighting and there is not any numberpad. And whereas the trackpad is ok for on a regular basis use, the buttons push down too far – and in the event you’re critical about gaming it’s best to connect a USB mouse anyway.
Efficiency
The ROG Stream X16 is essentially the most highly effective laptop computer on this vary, and it makes use of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with a peak energy restrict of 125W – so its 5,888 stream processors and 8GB of reminiscence can unleash their full potential. If you would like a deeper dive into this GPU, head over here for our full review.
AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HS is a equally formidable half with eight multi-threaded cores alongside base and enhance speeds of three.3 GHz and 4.9 GHz, and our review is available here. Elsewhere, there are not any surprises. There’s 32GB of dual-channel DDR5 reminiscence clocked at 4800 MHz and a Micron 3400 PCIe 4.0 SSD with strong learn and write speeds of 6,549 MB/s and 4,479 MB/s. Our solely criticism is that the SSD is not bigger.
The RTX 3070 Ti will play most single-player video games easily at native decision and good high quality settings – together with DLSS and ray tracing. In Murderer’s Creed Valhalla at 2560 x 1600 and with Extremely settings enabled the Stream averaged 59 fps, and it hit 64.9 fps in Borderlands 3. In Horizon Zero Daybreak at Final settings the Asus returned 69 fps, and in Far Cry New Daybreak it topped out at 76 fps.
Head over to Rainbow Six Siege and you will find a median of 201 fps at 2560 x 1600 and Extremely settings, so there’s ample tempo right here for esports video games, too.
The RTX 3070 Ti is not infallible although. In Pink Useless Redemption 2 the Asus solely averaged 49 fps with each setting ramped up at 2560 x 1600. That is indicative of the RTX 3070 Ti working out of headroom in actually demanding video games. And whereas 49 fps continues to be playable, you may need to compromise if you wish to run the world’s most demanding titles at speeds past 60 fps.
Which will imply dropping the decision – the Asus rattled by means of Pink Useless’s 1080p Extremely take a look at at 63 fps – or lowering graphics settings. However the RTX 3070 Ti cannot compete with GPUs just like the RTX 3080 Ti, and it will not deal with each scenario with out breaking a sweat.
Equally, you may need to suppose twice if you wish to use this laptop computer for some exterior situations. It will deal with esports video games on 1080p/360Hz shows, however might battle at 480Hz. Widescreens and 4K panels will battle until you drop high quality settings down, too.
As typical, Asus provides additional efficiency modes by means of its Armoury Crate app, and switching from the default Efficiency mode to the Turbo choice is an efficient technique to squeeze a little bit extra from this transportable.
In Far Cry: New Daybreak the X16’s authentic 76 fps end result improved to 82 fps in Turbo mode, and its Murderer’s Creed Valhalla end result additionally rose by 6 frames. That Turbo mode added a whopping 9 frames to the rig’s Horizon rating.
That is nice, nevertheless it’s additionally the one approach that this GPU was in a position to typically match the efficiency we noticed from the RTX 3070 Ti in our overview, the place it sat alongside an Intel Core i7-12700H. The Asus proved a bit faster than our overview chip in Pink Useless 2, as an example, nevertheless it was nonetheless a bit slower in Horizon and Rainbow Six.
That is no shock when Intel has lengthy been a greater laptop computer gaming choice than AMD, and it could partially clarify why Asus has switched to Intel for the X16’s 2023 refresh.
Different efficiency modes impress. The Home windows choice reduces GPU velocity and fan noise however nonetheless noticed the X16 ship 77 fps and 59 fps averages in Far Cry and Murderer’s Creed at 2560 x 1600. In Silent mode, the X16 nonetheless ran by means of these video games at 59 fps and 54 fps.
These efficiency modes had a big effect on gaming, however they weren’t in a position to assist the Ryzen 9 6900HS attain its full potential.
In Cinebench R23 the X16 returned single- and multi-threaded outcomes of 1,575 and 13,830. These are nice scores, however each sit beneath the scores extracted from the chip in our overview – and each fall behind Intel’s Core i7-12700H.
The X16’s Matlab R2020 results of 1.506 was about half a second slower than Intel’s half, and the X16’s PCMark 10 Functions rating of 13,237 stays a little bit behind these different chips. The Asus laptop computer may solely handle 7-Zip compression and decompression outcomes of 51.4MB/s and 666.97MB/s, with each figures a good distance wanting what this chip can obtain.
The one vivid spark got here from the Excel take a look at. On this benchmark the Ryzen 9 6900HS outpaced the inventory chip due to a results of 8.5 seconds, though Intel’s silicon was nonetheless higher.
Switching over to Turbo mode noticed the X16’s Cinebench R23 multi-core end result improved to 14,257, however that is hardly ground-breaking tempo – that simply brings the Asus consistent with how the 6900HS carried out in our overview, and it is nonetheless unable to overtake Intel. Its revised 7Zip scores of 54.6MB/s and 730.5MB/s are higher, however nonetheless not massively spectacular.
On the opposite finish of the dimensions, the Home windows and Silent choices do not have a lot impression on CPU efficiency.
It feels like fairly a poor invoice of well being for the X16’s processor, however that is not strictly true. Whereas it is correct that the Ryzen 9 6900HS would not attain its full potential right here and the chip cannot compete with the Intel Core i7-12700H, it is nonetheless quick sufficient for each computing, Workplace instruments, mainstream content material creation and streaming. You may solely want extra energy if you’d like a laptop computer for 4K video modifying and different demanding duties.
In case you are in that place, it is price procuring round – the MSI Raider GE77 used a Core i9-12900HX, as an example – or ready for the X16’s 2023 refresh.
In case you resolve to carry out for the upgraded mannequin then you are going to get an enormous improve in processing efficiency due to the change to Intel’s Core i9-13900H. The up to date GV601VI may also change the RTX 3070 Ti with the RTX 4070, however do not count on an enormous gaming enhance there – the newer chip relies on the Ada Lovelace structure however that mannequin will include fewer stream processors than the older chip.
Thermals and Battery Life
In its typical Efficiency mode the X16 is a good thermal performer – there’s fan noise current, however the Asus’s aural output by no means rose past 47db and also you simply will not discover the noise in the event you’re carrying a headset or in the event you’ve bought the laptop computer’s audio system turned as much as a wholesome quantity.
Throughout gaming checks in Efficiency mode the underside and steel across the keyboard grew to become heat, however by no means dangerously sizzling.
In Turbo mode the noise ranges elevated to round 50db and the steel did change into hotter, however the noise and warmth had been by no means worrying – the X16 continues to be manageable, which is greater than may be stated for loads of different gaming laptops.
Noise ranges had been reasonable in Home windows mode, too, and in Silent mode the X16 was extraordinarily quiet – not fairly as hushed as that identify suggests, however simply quiet sufficient for low-key, informal gaming.
In processing duties the X16 was all the time quiet, which bodes nicely for content material creation on this laptop computer. In single-core checks, although, the CPU peaked at 4.7GHz – moderately than the 4.9GHz that the chip can handle on paper. In multi-core checks it by no means rose past 4.4GHz. These outcomes aren’t dreadful, particularly for a comparatively slim and quiet rig, however they do clarify the 6900HS’s faltering benchmarks.
The X16’s battery efficiency was a little bit higher. In an on a regular basis work benchmark with the show at full brightness the Asus lasted for 4 hours, and that determine prolonged to five hours and 35 minutes with the show at 50% brightness – sufficient longevity to handle a morning on the workplace.
Extra impressively, the Asus performed media for greater than eight hours with the show at half brightness, which suggests you may get past lunchtime with this laptop computer in the event you’re cautious about how you utilize the parts.
That is nice, nevertheless it’s enterprise as typical within the gaming take a look at. The X16 has a 90Wh energy pack which solely lasted an hour whereas gaming. That is regular for a gaming laptop computer although, it’s best to keep plugged in if you wish to benefit from the rig’s full efficiency.
Wrap Up
Asus has taken dangers with the ROG Stream X16, and in a number of departments these have paid off. The ROG Stream X16’s sturdy, handsome exterior works nicely as a laptop computer and as a tented display. Change to pill mode and it is usable for inventive work and at the same time as a studying and web-browsing machine in the event you can abdomen its dimension.
The X16’s RTX 3070 Ti graphics core is a strong performer 2560 x 1600, and the Mini LED show delivers unimaginable SDR and HDR efficiency that makes video games and films pop from the panel.
This Asus ROG laptop computer suffers a little bit in relation to worth. Its $2,499 price is not horrible, however in the event you’re completely happy to eschew the convertible design and Mini LED show you may discover this velocity for round $2,000 elsewhere. You may even discover RTX 3080 Ti laptops at lower than $2,750. The Asus additionally comes with an RTX 3060, nevertheless it’s nonetheless fairly dear contemplating its internals.
The long run additionally undermines the X16. In case you’re prepared to attend just a few months, the Stream’s 2023 model will arrive with RTX 4070 graphics cores and sooner Intel processors. Razer can be deploying 15.6″ and 16″ laptops with up to date internals. All these rigs will in all probability be dearer than the $2,500 ROG Stream X16, however you may get extra bang in your buck.
Regardless of which yr’s classic you select, the Asus ROG Stream X16 delivers a shocking display, spectacular kind issue and good gaming efficiency, you may simply have to resolve in the event you’re desire that over the improved connectivity and even higher speeds that extra typical units provide.
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