Corsair Xeneon Edge Review

The long-anticipated Corsair Xeneon Edge is here. The Xeneon Edge has been created to augment your PC setup with support for multiple use cases, including content creation, digital media creation, gaming, and more. It is the ultimate touchscreen companion designed to unobtrusively and seamlessly integrate within your setup, by either internally mounting it to your PC chassis or externally positioning it for use. This LCD touchscreen is versatile with endless capabilities, and it’s only just been released.

Do you want to know what this new technology can offer you as an addition to your setup? Look no further, because we have tested it, and this article is a compilation of our thoughts, opinions, and experiences with this exciting new product.

Specification

The Corsair Xeneon Edge is a 14.5″ LCD screen with an AHVA (Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle) panel and a 60Hz refresh rate. The 60Hz refresh rate is standard and smooth enough for most uses, making this display further convincing that it can be used multifunctionally. When you compare it to another device with a small screen, like the original Nintendo Switch, they both have the same refresh rate, and this contextualises just how smoothly content will be displayed on screen. It also features a resolution of 2560 x 720, offering a high-definition display in a compact format that delivers quality graphics, regardless of your intended use.

Corsair Xeneon Edge Design

The Xeneon Edge is a display featuring a 5-point touchscreen, providing effortless control at your fingertips when used in conjunction with its iCUE software, owned by Corsair, which offers dedicated customisation options specifically designed for this device. The outer casing appears to be made of a durable ABS plastic, and the screen is made of glass, resulting in a total weight of 1.674kg; I feel relatively confident that if any non-serious accidental drops were to occur, this device would be able to withstand them, however, it would be nice to see some screen protector and extra shock absorber accessories released in the future, considering it’s generous mounting options that I am just about to delve into.

Not only is the Xeneon Edge equipped with two built-in ¼-20” mounting points so that it can be attached to an Elgato Multi-Mount or any standard AV arm, but it also has 14 built-in magnets which allow it to be mounted to a metal panel, inside your case, or on a PSU shroud. The magnets are strong; we even tested the magnetism on a fridge to see how well it would hold up on different surfaces- and it did, which was entertaining to say the least. If none of these options appeal to you, a desktop stand is also included in the box, which attaches magnetically and turns the Xeneon Edge into a desktop control panel or display. We’ve seen suggested use cases where the display is being used to view Twitch Chat, offering up more screen real estate on your primary monitor. Meaning that you won’t feel the need to get a whole new, bigger-screened monitor just for this purpose, we can see how this would be beneficial for setups with limited space, too, as not everyone has the room to mount a standard-sized screen just for smaller tasks.

With software integration for streaming, giving you access to any Twitch Chat, including your own, and Corsair have even announced that they are working in tandem with Elgato to create a widget that essentially makes a touchscreen Stream Deck. This is the feature that I feel the original Stream Deck, designed by Elgato, is missing. The software also offers plenty of customisation options. You can play YouTube videos, edit widgets, and add media like images or GIFs. Additionally, you can add a digital clock, and there’s also the option to add a sensor chart, which will show you real-time data about your components.

Features We Like

This device is more than just a monitor; it’s a well-thought-out companion to your PC, offering a deeper level of synergy within your setup or extra control when needed. It’s like a tablet that knows everything about your PC and wants to help carry out tasks more easily by providing one-click options, but it also has exceptional multitasking features, allowing you to split the screen into different regions for the functions mentioned above. The design is considerate and has been designed to be hassle-free with a simple setup and only needing one application to get it up and running, and it is touchscreen; ease of use was certainly a focus for this product.

It’s more than just a stream deck. If you have ever used the Stream Deck mobile app before, this is the ultimate upgrade, without compromising your phone’s functionality. The Xeneon Edge can be used in place of your mobile, and it still leaves room on the screen for other tasks, too, a real win. Again, it’s more than just a Stream Deck; it comes with auto-rotation, making it easy to integrate within a gaming simulator or even your PC case to give you an impressive presentation of information, such as the current temperatures of your CPU.

Features We Don’t Like

I had a couple of issues setting up the Xeneon Edge with a PC despite having up-to-date iCue software installed, cables plugged in, and updated graphics drivers. I tried different ports and cables, but I was only able to get it working with our gaming laptop. I can’t say for sure whether this was just an issue with our pre-release model, so this is not a serious consideration. However, since it’s newly released, there are likely to be a couple of bugs.

There is one caveat with the setup. You must have a GPU with a USB-C port that supports video output for the most minimal setup, which is quite rare these days. I don’t like that it requires two cables to function otherwise, and this has proven to be an issue for us, at least when connecting to our own PC. However, it’s not a problem if you’re using a laptop.

If you choose to mount the Xeneon Edge in your own non-Corsair PC case, you still need to be able to make sure that the wire can be plugged into the GPU, considering you likely won’t have it, meaning that cable management might look a bit clunky, wires coming from inside the case to the outside don’t feel very pragmatic. Obviously, if the display is seated within your PC chassis, the touchscreen becomes completely redundant, assuming that the outer panels have been reattached. On a final note, macOS iCUE is unsupported, meaning it will only function in monitor mode, which means there will be no touchscreen functionality.

Conclusion