Although designed for gamers, the 16.1" Arzopa Z1FC Grey display should also be great for photographers and especially videographers with its HDR facility. Here's the result of my deep dive into it.
I had never heard of Arzopa, but the business has quite a presence on Amazon. The company produces a range of affordable portable display equipment aimed at gamers. It seems to be hitting the mark, as one of their products has around 12,400 ratings, most of them five stars.
Unboxing the Arzopa Z1FC Grey
The package arrived quickly from Amazon. The screen was packed in a smart storage box, inside which were the screen, cables, instructions, and a neat grey carrying case. Pleasingly, there wasn't excessive single-use plastic.
What struck me first about the screen was the build quality. It looks and feels sleek. The slim, matte grey chassis, measuring 0.3 inches (0.76 cm), is robust. It is neat and hard-wearing. At first, I could not tell whether it was metal or a high-quality plastic; it's the latter.
The 16.1" 1080p screen has an anti-glare, matte finish, an HDR facility, and a greater gamut available than s-RGB (106%). It also has an excellent 144 Hz refresh speed. Moreover, with a response time of one millisecond, it is especially well-suited for gaming. Those features will equally appeal to photographers and videographers.
On one side of the chassis are the three buttons that activate and control the on-screen display (OSD), a mini-HDMI port, and two USB-C ports. There are also two speaker grills on either side. On the back is an offset kickstand that hinges outwards to allow the screen to stand in either orientation.
Plugging it in was easy. However, it did require both the USB-C and the HDMI cables to be plugged in. There is a tag on the USB-C cable saying "power only."
In Use
I tried the screen plugged into various devices, and it worked well. The image on the screen was crisp and clear. After I calibrated it using my Datacolor Spyder Pro, there was an exact color and brightness match to my other two screens.
With all the devices I tried it with here, it did require attaching both the mini-HDMI to HDMI cable and the USB-C cable. It's worth noting that there are two USB-C cables. One is designed for power only, while the other, higher-quality lead, carries the video signal from compatible devices. However, none of my devices would send a video signal to the screen via USB. I tried my main computer, laptop, Chromebook, and Android phone, but to no avail. However, I did read that others using the Nintendo Switch could use it with its "DisplayPort Alternative Mode."
The wide angle of view is useful, with no loss of brightness, color, or contrast when viewing almost side-on; it's far better than my TV in that respect.
The 16.1" Arzopa Z1FC Grey has 1080p resolution, which is standard HD (1080 x 1920 pixels). My main screen is 1440p (2560 x 1440), but it is larger, at 24". However, I am pushed to tell the difference in detail between the image quality of each when I compare them. The pictures I viewed on it looked sharp, and the screen has a great dynamic range even before enabling the HDR facility. The colors and tones have plenty of depth.
When I calibrate a screen, I must set it to 100% brightness and afterwards reduce the brightness. This screen was at 100% brightness by default, and unusually, I didn't need to reduce it during the calibration process. This left me wondering about the longevity of the screen. Would the brightness hold over time, as there was no scope for increasing it? Most screens get dimmer with age.
As you can see from the calibration chart from my Datacolor Spyder, pleasingly, the range of colors is wider than that of s-RGB, which is the standard color profile for many applications. However, it is narrower than Adobe RGB. So, for more advanced photographers who use other color profiles, this may not be the screen for you. However, for general use, such as sharing video or pictures online, or gaming, which is what this screen is designed for, it is spot on.
One more advanced feature the display does have is 2084 HDR mode. That means it uses a PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) curve. That is a mathematical function used in HDR (High Dynamic Range) video to map digital signal values to luminance levels, matching how the human eye perceives light. This function is used in games where the 2084 PQ curve is embedded; this screen is designed primarily for gaming. However, it's becoming a useful feature for photographers, as Adobe Lightroom Classic and other development and editing software include HDR merging and exporting. With support for AVIF, JPEG XL, and HEIC/HEIF formats, they can embed HDR metadata such as the 2084 PQ transfer function.
The kickstand on the back is very stable, including in portrait orientation, which I expected to be lacking with the cables coming from the top.
The speakers are small. Therefore, they lack bass. However, I found I could hear spoken dialog quite clearly on them, so the frequencies and volume must fall within the limited range of my far less-than-perfect hearing. I think most people would use headphones when watching a video or gaming with this screen.
The device is portable, and the nicely constructed carrying case protects the screen from scratching.
What I Liked and What Could Be Improved Next Time
What I Liked About the Arzopa Z1FC Grey
- Well constructed.
- Clear, bright display.
- Simple menus.
- HDR support.
- Fast 144 Hz refresh rate.
- Greater than s-RGB color space.
- The accessories are all of good quality.
- It has good portability.
- Affordable.
- Looks smart.
- A-rated energy consumption.
What Could Be Improved Next Time
- The maximum brightness is required for calibrating the screen, which is a concern for long-term use. So, a brighter backlight would be worth considering.
- It always seems to require two cables to run.
- A 4K OLED version would be great.
In Conclusion
As a budget screen, this does a nice job. Yes, it's mainly aimed at gamers, but for photographers working on location with a small-screen laptop, this will be a boon. If I were taking it in the field, I would probably run it from a power bank as it can deplete a laptop battery quickly.
The screen is available on Amazon and, at the time of writing, is priced at $169.99, with a recommended retail price of $199.99. That's really good value compared with some of the alternatives on the market.
Or just connect your iPad wirelessly to your MacBook via Apple’s Sidecar. Doubles my screen real estate when I’m on location and requires no cables or even a power supply. Color matches, too.