MSI PRO MP161 Series Portable Monitor Review

Performance

Let’s kick things off with a quick lock at the surprisingly comprehensive OSD. There’s response time, refresh rate, adaptive sync and even a built-in Alarm Clock (break reminder, really). There are loads of profiles too, but I just set mine to User mode for more brightness than the Eco mode.

There’s a full suite of brightness, contrast, colour and more, pretty much what you would expect from any standard MSI desktop monitor.

Input source can be changed too, handy if you have a few hooked up on your desktop and don’t just want to swap out cables.

You can customise the function of the side keys too.

For some damn reason I couldn’t get Type-C display out to work on my PC, Lucky for me I don’t work in tech, or that would have been really embarrassing. Switching up to the Mini-HDMI though, and things worked just fine, remembering to add the Type-C to deliver power to the display. As you can see my PC monitor, I just moved the Display layout to reflect where the MSI monitor was on my desk. It defaulted to Full HD 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz, which is great.

The panel is decent enough to look at, and while small, the Full HD resolution gives it pretty decent pixel density, making it easy enough to read. I left the eTeknix Discord running on it for a few hours and had no issues with the overall size of anything on the screen.

The brightness is really good, it’s surprisingly bright in here today, and the lights are on, and it is still nice and clear to read. It’s not mega bright, but honestly, it’s plenty capable to deal with a very bright office. It may suffer outside in direct sunlight, but well… most displays would anyway.

eTeknix fits on the page just nicely, and again, it’s a Full HD panel, and it’s 16×9, and it’s 60Hz, so really it feels like it meets all the main standards for a fairly decent monitor. Or at least, what we would call a good minimum standard for a monitor. The kickstand is great though, being able to rotate the display, or just pick it up and move it around my desk, is very handy.

It’s great for meetings and presentations, as you can simply turn the display around and face it towards them, but still keep your desktop/laptop display to yourself.

For media consumption, it’s got good colours and the built-in speakers work well enough, but aren’t very loud. In a quiet office room or a hotel room? Fine, but on the train or larger presentation, you’ll need something more powerful for sure.

For gaming, the 4ms response time and 60Hz refresh rate get the job done. eSports tournaments are a no-go, but some casual single-player stuff is certainly not a problem here.

Of course, it works on more than just a PC too, you could connect any HDMI device really. I also used a Type-C cable on my phone to use Samsung DEX and it worked perfectly without any extra setup. I can use my phone as a touchpad which is great, but it makes me want a touchscreen version of the monitor now too.