Joining the sensor panel fray is Zalman with its new ZM-MF916 that features a 9.16" IPS LCD display screen, where the screen connects to your PC either via a nine-pin USB 2.0 connector or a USB 2.0 Type-A port.

Sensor panel displays are becoming increasingly popular in the DIY PC space, with many builders opting to include one as part of their PC setup so as to spice things up from an aesthetics and functionality perspective. For this article, we’ll be taking a look at a sensor panel display that can be mounted within your PC case or outside of your PC case – the Zalman ZM-MF916.

Available in black or white, the ZM-MF916 is yet another sensor panel offering in a scene that’s starting to see more branded product offerings at different price points. With a price of around $79 Singapore dollars, the ZM-MF916 is a budget-friendlier branded sensor panel option, especially when you consider offerings from other brands such as Lian Li and Thermaltake. Read on to learn more about the ZM-MF916!

Packaging

In terms of packaging, the screen ships in a rectangular box with a purple-and-white colourway, with information on the specs of the sensor panel display found on the rear of the box.

The ZM-MF916 doesn't come with much in terms of accessories - we get a male nine-pin USB 2.0 to male USB Type-A cable, where this cable is to be hooked up to the ZM-MF916 should you wish to use it as an external display that connects to your PC via a USB Type-A port. 

Rounding things off is a plastic stand with a magnetic base that allows you to mount the ZM-MF916 in either a portrait or landscape orientation, depending on which orientation works best for your setup.

Product Walkthrough

First impressions of the ZM-MF916, it’s made of a combination of plastic and steel, where the frame of the LCD screen seems to be made of steel, and the rear housing of the MF916 is made of plastic. Appearances wise, the screen looks pretty ordinary, all things considered.

In terms of connectivity, the ZM-MF916 comes with a nine-pin female USB 2.0 connector, which you’ll have to hook up to your motherboard's onboard USB 2.0 header to power and control the screen.

Otherwise, you can use the included male nine-pin USB 2.0 to male USB Type-A cable to connect the ZM-MF916 to your PC’s USB Type-A port, and use the screen outside of your PC case.

In case you're wondering, the cable that runs from the screen and terminates in a female nine-pin USB 2.0 connector measures in at approximately 60cm in length (including the length of the connector), whilst the male nine-pin USB 2.0 to male USB Type-A cable measures in at approximately 23.8cm in length, including the lengths of the connectors.

Specifications

With that, let’s run through the specs of the ZM-MF916 real quick. Zalman’s included a 9.16” IPS LCD panel that features a 60Hz refresh rate, where it has a resolution of 1920x462. Dimensions wise, the ZM-MF916 measures in at 269mm x 70mm x 15mm, while the stand measures in at 86mm x 66mm x 58mm.

Setup Experience

Setup experience wise, as far as I can tell, the ZM-MF916 is meant to be used with the included plastic stand, though nothing's stopping you from attaching the screen directly to a flat surface in your PC case via adhesive tape, which you’ll have to purchase on your own. Otherwise, mounting the screen in either the landscape or portrait orientation on the included base is pretty straightforward, simply slide the screen onto the stand in the desired orientation, and you’re all set.

Software (Zalman OZ Wide) Walkthrough

With that, let’s talk about the software that you’ll have to install in order to enable the LCD display screen. It’s called the Zalman OZ-Wide app, and you’ll have to download it from Zalman’s website in order to customise what’s displayed on the screen.

Usage experience wise, the UI of the OZ-Wide app was pretty straightforward to navigate, where we’ve got a section that has a mockup of what’s shown on the screen, and a selection of 11 widgets that you can select to be displayed on the screen. We get three pages worth of widgets (up to four widgets per page) that you customise to your heart’s content.

The "Saved List" section pictured above comes with two fixed preset templates, "Default" and "Default MO (Media Overlay)", and of course, you get the option of "Adding New" templates so that you can begin the customisation process. The “Auto Switch” slider allows you to set the screen such that it changes between the three pages at a certain interval; clicking on the numbers 1, 2 and 3 allow you to set the said interval timing. According to the OZ Wide instructional video (accessible from the screen's product page on Zalman's website), these numbers correspond to 3-second, 5-second and 10-second intervals; why Zalman didn’t decide to label them as such and went with 1, 2 and 3 is beyond me.

The media overlay template gives you a rectangular widget where you can upload an animation or video of your choice - the said widget has three selectable positions on the screen, and you have the option of uploading a custom media file of your choice.

On the left sidebar is an "Upload Media" button here that comes with four default backgrounds in the portrait mode, and 12 default backgrounds in the landscape mode (the orientation of the screen can be adjusted from the "Settings" page). Any media files (i.e. images and videos) that you’ve uploaded into the app will show up here as well.

Rounding things off, we get a "System" button in the left sidebar that when selected, shows the specs and status of your PC, alongside a "Settings" button that allows you to tweak stuff such as brightness, app language, update the LCD screen’s firmware and so on.

Demo Aesthetics

Conclusion & Pricing

To sum things up, my take on the Zalman ZM-MF916 is that it’s a mainstream sensor panel display that gets the job done without any fuss. Build quality is decent enough, the screen quality looks pretty good to me, and the OZ Wide software was straightforward to use.

That said, I do wish that the screen had more features when it comes to mounting it within your PC case – that is, if you decide not to use the included stand. It would have been nice if the screen had for instance, come with some double sided adhesive tape for mounting on the internal surfaces of your PC case, or some other feature like a flexible arm that allows for more mounting options, though this would probably push the price of the ZM-MF916 up somewhat.

In terms of pricing, the ZM-MF916 is available to purchase in Singapore for a price of around $79 Singapore dollars, which converts to roughly $62 US dollars for you international readers.

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The sensor panel display featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from CDL Trading Pte Ltd, the exclusive distributor for Zalman in Singapore.