ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP Review: Portable 1080p 240Hz gaming monitor

1. Introduction
2. Detailed Look
3. Connectivity, Specs & Marketing
4. Test System Specs
5. Workstation & Gaming Use
6. What's Hot & What's Not
7. Final Thoughts

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

A totally standout product: the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP is a one of its kind. It's just a pity it's so expensive, but from a nerd out point of view: it's kick ass.

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Introduction

ASUS reached out and wanted to send over their new ROG Strix XG17AHP, a new 17.3-inch portable gaming monitor with a native 1080p resolution and 240Hz refresh rate.

I thought it would be an interesting thing to test, a portable 1080p 240Hz gaming monitor. It's packed to the brim with connectivity, features, a great battery, great image quality, super-smooth 240FPS gaming if you can drive 240FPS, that is.

ASUS promises up to 3 hours of battery life from the monitor, with the 17.3-inch Full HD IPS-based panel rocking along with a 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. The 7800mAh battery can be charged up quick through Quick Charge 3.0 technology, too.

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The big star of the show is the wicked ROG Tripod that clips onto the back of the ROG Strix XG17AHP itself, and props it up on its own which looks great on a desk next to a laptop. Alternatively, there's a smart case that folds out to support the monitor in a couple of different angles.

ASUS sells the monitor on its own with the smart stand starting at around $500, while you'll pay around $600 (or more) for the model that includes the ROG Tripod. It is a massive amount of money, so you really need to be able to justify this monitor for your specific needs.

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I would highly recommend buying a desktop gaming monitor (that you could get a much larger, higher-end model) versus a small portable high refresh gaming monitor -- at this price. If it was priced at $250-$400 would be a bit better, but even then ASUS doesn't include the ROG Tripod in the box.

It was designed with the monitor, yet doesn't come in the package? It also costs $100+ more? That sucks.

Detailed Look

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The retail packaging for the ROG Strix XG17AHP is pretty sharp, I must say. I definitely loved even the exterior packaging to the product, which has that glaring and mean ROG eye to the right -- but the Republic of Gamers branding all over the left hand side of the box with the ROG STRIX XG17 branding nice and tight in the bottom left -- I love it.

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That same care is inside the monitor package as well, look at that small touch with the red-themed ROG branding inside of the box, too.

Best Portable Monitor Stand Ever?!

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Inside, you'll get the ROG Tripod: this is one of the -- no, it is the very best portable monitor stand I think I've ever seen? I don't even know of another one off the top of my head that is remotely close to the work ASUS did here.

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This bad boy, after it is out of the box and set up -- turns into this:

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Here we have the top of the mount on the left, where you will get a little attachment that gets screwed into the back of the monitor (on the right).

There are 3 legs that you can see there that get pressed down from the body, which when you press this button:

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A button on the bottom of the stand, it will put the stand into a super-portable form factor like this:

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Can you see what ASUS means when they want to make this portable gaming monitor experience, a well -- super-portable, and super-convenient (and very well thought out) design. And we haven't even gotten to how good the monitor is, we're only talking about the packaging and the stand so far.

Meet the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP

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This is the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP out of the box and setup on the ROG Tripod stand, it looks great with its tripod stand.

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When ASUS say that the ROG Strix XG17AHP is thin -- they mean it. I mean, check it out -- it's so thin. The stand is actually thicker than the 17.3-inch 1080p 240Hz monitor... crazy.

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The monitor is actually kinda nothing compared to the stand, it's so thin and light.

The ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP looks mighty fine from the back.

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ASUS provide a pretty kick ass and high quality bag to take your portable 1080p 240Hz gaming monitor beast around in.

Connectivity, Specs & Marketing

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ASUS has quite the package here with the ROG Strix XG17AHP -- a 17.3-inch 1080p 240Hz portable gaming monitor with a built-in 7800mAh battery and super-awesome custom ROG Tripod and Smart Cover included.

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You can see that ASUS wants you to use the portable monitor in any way possible thanks to the ROG Tripod, which can be setup in a magnitude of different ways. It can be used with your gaming laptop, console, or even your smartphone.

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Speaking of the ROG Tripod, the quick release mechanism on the back makes installation, setup, and the tear down super, super simple. I was up and running in less than 60 seconds, and back into the bag and put away in even less. Even the ROG Tripod itself folds up, check that out below:

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See, it's a pretty compact stand as all of the arms fold up once you press this button on the very bottom of the ROG Tripod:

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This is what you'll get in the box if you get the ROG Tripod version of the monitor:

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Inside, you'll have a huge 7800mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 and USB Power Delivery 3.0 technologies, which ensures you have some super-quick charging and non-stop gaming at 240FPS.

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It's pretty ridiculous, to have a portable 1080p 240Hz (!!!) gaming monitor -- this isn't just a small, thin, super-charging 60Hz monitor, but rather a no-holds-barred 240FPS gaming monster.

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Connectivity wise we have USB-C and micro-HDMI (cables both in the box) which lets the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP plug into virtually anything. This includes your desktop gaming PC, gaming laptop, Ultrabook, gaming console, smartphone, or tablet.

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It's super-thin (just 0.39 inches or 1cm thick) and weighs only 2.3 pounds (1060g).

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It wouldn't be a portable gaming monitor without some speakers, so ASUS gives you some pretty kick ass speakers inside of the ROG Strix XG17AHP with a single-chip audio processor capable of delivering 24-bit / 192kHz lossloss playback. The display has a built-in ESS 9118 digital-to-analogue (DAC) converter to drive your 3.5mm headphones, too.

Detailed Specs

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Test System Specs

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When ASUS originally asked if I'd like to check out the ROG Strix XG17AHP, I accepted because I thought the idea of testing a portable 1080p 240Hz monitor out was right up my alley. But I also requested that if they wanted me to review it, I wanted to review it the way it would be more intended to be used.

I'm not much of a mobile gamer myself, but I'm a huge PC gamer -- no desktop PC gamer is going to buy this monitor, but a gaming laptop user might. You might have a laptop that you wanted a second display with, and didn't want a desktop LCD and wanted something portable -- but didn't want a 60Hz panel.

That's when the ROG Strix XG17AHP steps into the ring, and can be super-useful for a multitude of tasks thanks to its USB-C connectivity.

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So I asked ASUS to send over a gaming laptop, where they sent their AMD Ryzen 4000-series CPU-powered Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop which packs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics.

I wanted to take some time to also admire the beauty that goes into the ASUS design on the Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop, too. It was actually impressive to be sitting there playing Call of Duty: Warzone at 1080p and 120FPS+ on the portable gaming monitor.

It's not easy to be hitting 240FPS on a gaming laptop, where the closest I could achieve that was playing something like Fortnite or Minecraft.

Workstation & Gaming Use

I used the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP for around 2 weeks on and off with workstation and gaming use, and even let my 6-year-old daughter Evelyn get some Fortnite on it and asked her thoughts, too.

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She liked how it looked, and loved the stand and thought it looked cool -- and she got a bunch of good kills and even won a Battle Royale so she was happy with the monitor. I guess we can wrap the review up now, right?!

In all seriousness, the type of use case for this monitor makes sense for a kid as well -- I mean, I could go away on holiday with this monitor and I could plug a Nintendo Switch into it and get a huge 17.3-inch monitor output from the USB-C port.

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I could take an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 with me for the kids, and plug it into this monitor if the place I'm staying at doesn't have a second TV for example. There are many examples where a portable 1080p 240Hz monitor would be kinda cool -- excessive, hell yes -- but cool nonetheless.

I put some good hours into using the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP in some games, including Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. Even when I was flicking around like crazy in Fortnite, ruinning things on low enough details to drive 200FPS+ on the GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q that was inside of the ASUS Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop.

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Passing 200FPS on this monitor is a joy... if you want to feel 200FPS on a portable gaming monitor, then you've met your match.

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It's hard to think -- 1920 x 1080 @ 240FPS all while powering and charging up the display and its battery -- all over this single USB-C cable. Impressive, isn't it?

What's Hot & What's Not

What's Hot

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• ASUS ROG design: You can't knock that ASUS ROG design, which is from the packaging through to every inch of the very petite ROG Strix XG17AHP. All of the little details, the ROG eye, and striking design -- it just screams ROG.

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• ROG Tripod, it's portable magic: Seriously, kudos to ASUS for creating the ROG Tripod: I think they're going to have many copycats because the design is just so easy. A quick screw on the back of the monitor, slot the screen on, and you're ready to go in seconds.
• It's so damn thin! Seriously, it's just 1cm thick which is crazy -- and inside of that you have a super-fast 240Hz refresh rate and 1920 x 1080 native resolution.
• 1080p 240Hz on-the-go: I can't even get over the fact we have such a small monitor with a native 1080p resolution and 240FPS refresh rate option. This is actually so crazy because most use cases would have the ROG Strix XG17AHP plugged into something that wouldn't even be able to drive 240FPS at 1080p.
• Great quality for 240FPS gaming: However, if you want those huge 240FPS -- then you're going to get it with some great image quality too. I pumped some hours into Call of Duty: Warzone and while I wasn't hitting 240FPS the image quality was great, and the 100-120FPS average I was getting felt, and looked great.

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• Quick Charge 3.0 + USB Power Delivery 3.0: The inclusion of Quick Charge 3.0 means that you can have another 120 minutes of 240FPS gaming after just a single 1 hour of charging. Once the ROG Strix XG17AHP is fully charged, you get a great 3 hours of solid 240FPS gaming out of it.
• Carry bag included: Another nice touch is that ASUS includes the carry bag in the package, so you don't need to spend another $50-$100 on a high quality to protect your new expensive portable 1080p 240Hz gaming monitor.

What's Not

• It's expensive: Did you think a bleeding edge, portable 1080p 240Hz monitor was going to be cheap? It's not even really a 'What's Not' about it, more of a 'I do have to point out that it is expensive'. But again, each market has their own customers and there will be people who will shell out the coin for it.
• You probably don't need it (but some people do): I'm playing Devil's Advocate here really, because a new 17.3-inch 1080p 240Hz portable gaming monitor isn't something that everyone is going to run out and buy. But those who who want one of the very best portable gaming monitors ever made, will flock to the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP.

Final Thoughts

If you are serious about wanting the very best portable gaming monitor there is on the market, then you have found your destination in the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHP. It holds nothing back, giving you everything it can technologically right now.

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We have a 17.3-inch panel with a native 1080p resolution and super-smooth 240Hz refresh, most desktop gamers don't even have 240Hz monitors right now. But hey, if you want to roll out in style and have a quick-to-use stand and super-insane 240Hz portable gaming monitor... you'll be the envy of your friends.

With the built-in 7800mAh battery fully charged, you're going to get a huge 3 hours of portable 240FPS gaming. Thanks to ASUS baking in some glorious Quick Charge 3.0 and USB Power Delivery 3.0 technologies, you can get 2 more hours of gaming out of a single 1 hour of charging.

Through USB-PD you can be gaming at 1080p 240FPS while the monitor itself is charging, so that if you want to use it portable afterwards it will then have 3 hours of full charge for 240FPS gaming on-the-go.

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I don't know how you could improve from here honestly -- 1440p would probably be a little too much for a 17.3-inch panel. Maybe a portable 20 or 21-inch monitor with 1440p native resolution and 165Hz refresh rate?

How crazy would it be to have 4K 120FPS in a portable gaming monitor... it feels like we're not too far away from that if we've got 1080p 240Hz portable gaming monitors -- and hell, with 3 hours of battery life at 240 frames per second for 180 minutes of gaming.

That's actually kinda awesome.