ViewSonic ColorPro VP16-OLED Portable Monitor

With its sweet OLED screen and an unusually flexible, sturdy stand, the ViewSonic ColorPro VP16-OLED ($422.99) is a portable monitor geared to graphic artists, videographers, and other creative professionals. It renders vivid colors and its superior contrast is especially good for bringing out detail in dark areas. It doesn't come cheap, but it's priced lower than some elite portable monitors and is well worth the investment if you're a creative pro looking for a portable or secondary display, earning it our Editors' Choice award.

A Sweet Screen and a Solid Stand

The ColorPro VP16-OLED's 15.6-inch OLED panel has full HD (1080p or 1,920-by-1,080-pixel) resolution and a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Now, 1080p may not seem like much for a monitor geared to creatives, but on this compact screen, the pixels are packed into a relatively small area. The pixel density comes out to 141 pixels per inch (ppi), which is more than sufficient for typical photo or video editing.

The all-black VP16-OLED measures 12.4 by 14.1 by 0.8 inches (HWD) with its stand fully extended. The screen is framed by an inch-thick bezel bearing the ViewSonic name on the bottom, and much trimmer bezels on the sides.

One key feature of the VP16-OLED is a cleverly designed double-hinged stand, which attaches to the bottom of the monitor where it has a 180-degree range of motion. It fastens to the base with a second pair of hinges. This setup allows for a wide range of tilt adjustments, as well as more than 3 inches of height adjustment. Plus, when the display is not in use, you can fold the stand and base flat against the back of the chassis for transport or storage.

On top of the base are four buttons used to navigate the ViewSonic's onscreen display (OSD) menu system. Although many portable monitors skimp on their OSDs, this one is as full-featured as many of the ones on the company's desktop monitors.

Ports include two USB-C connectors—one to power the monitor (an adapter is included), one that delivers 40 watts for charging—and one micro HDMI jack. There's also a 3.5mm audio-out port. Included in the box are three cables: USB Type-C-to-C, USB Type-C-to-A, and micro HDMI-to-HDMI.

Also included with the VP16-OLED is a hood that magnetically attaches to the frame, extending about 4.3 inches toward the user and tapering to about 1.5 inches at the bottom of each side. This extra, also included in much larger form with the ViewSonic ColorPro VP2776, shades the glossy screen from the intrusion of ambient light from above and from the sides.

Testing the ViewSonic ColorPro VP16-OLED: Stellar Color Coverage

I tested the ColorPro VP16-OLED's brightness, contrast, and color coverage using our standard test equipment: a Klein K-10A colorimeter and Portrait Displays' Calman 5 software. ViewSonic rates the VP16-OLED's luminance (brightness per unit area) at 400 nits (candelas per square meter). The panel tested very close to that at 385 nits, which makes it one of the brightest portable monitors we've reviewed.

OLED-based monitors are known for sky-high contrast ratios due to their inky black tones (black pixels are literally turned off, with no backlight shining through). ViewSonic advertises a static contrast ratio of 100,000:1. Our test unit did even better than that at 369,928:1. This is far better than the best IPS and VA displays (IPS Black monitors have contrast ratios of about 2,000:1, while VA panels can exceed 3,000:1).

In color-gamut coverage testing, the VP16-OLED did very well in all three of the color modes we test, covering 100% of sRGB, 99.3% of DCI-P3, and 98% of the Adobe RGB color space. (ViewSonic rates the monitor at 100% of both sRGB and DCI-P3 and 96% for Adobe RGB coverage.)

ViewSonic gives two color-gamut ratings for each color space: coverage and size. The area within the triangle in each of our chromaticity charts represents the colors that comprise the particular color space being tested. While the color coverage is the percentage of the triangle within the circles (our tested measurements), the size is the total area covered, compared with the bounds of the triangle. ViewSonic rates the VP16-OLED's sRGB coverage size at 150%, and it tested even better than that at 154.9% (see the chart below). In practical terms, not only does the monitor cover the entire sRGB space, but its colors look rich and vivid.

We don't normally discuss color coverage in terms of size, but in this case it demonstrates how wide the VP16-OLED's coverage is. Like most professional monitors, this ViewSonic has 10-bit color depth, capable of choosing from a palette of up to 1.07 billion colors. Most portable monitors are limited to 8-bit color depth and can display a mere 16.8 million different colors. This distinction may not matter to the average user, but the VP16-OLED is targeted to graphic arts professionals, so 10-bit color is more relevant.

The VP16-OLED's color accuracy wasn't as good as its color coverage. The company claims a Delta E (dE) of less than 2 for the monitor, although the company doesn't specify for which color space this is the case. When it comes to dE, the lower the better; an average dE below 2 indicates color accurate enough that a casual observer likely won't distinguish any variation between the color on screen and the intended (source) color. The VP16-OLED came closest in the DCI-P3 space, where I measured dE at 2.32 (see below). In sRGB, its dE was 3.03, and in Adobe RGB it was 2.81.

In addition to quantitative testing, I also viewed images from our photo suite and a selection of video clips that we commonly use in our testing. In both cases, colors were rich and saturated, and the VP16-OLED did well in rendering detail in both bright and (especially) dark areas.

Verdict: An Excellent OLED for Pros on the Road

The ViewSonic ColorPro VP16-OLED's image quality is among the best we've seen from a portable monitor, with both vivid rendering of colors and exceptional ability to preserve detail in dark areas. It's remarkably bright for a portable monitor, with wide color coverage befitting a panel with 10-bit color depth and the excellent contrast you expect from an OLED screen. In addition, its flexible yet sturdy stand is a step up from the single-hinged stands seen on the Lenovo ThinkVision M14d and other models. Its color accuracy could be better, but it's a joy to use and a worthy tool for any graphic artist looking for a secondary or mobile display, making it an Editors' Choice award winner among portable monitors for graphic artists. If you're just looking to extend your laptop screen for casual viewing on the go, however, you'll be better served by a less costly Editors' Choice winner, the $184.99 ViewSonic VG1655.