The Best Portable Monitors for Home and Remote Work

Whether you’re working from home or the office, chances are you have a laptop and monitor setup. It allows you to have the big screen when you need it, but also the flexibility to take your work on the road. The problem with this is if you have to work away from your monitor setup for too long, you start to miss it. And you become less productive.

If you need an extra screen for your laptop more than you need it for your desk, a portable monitor could be the solution. It’s cheaper than buying a tablet (many of which can double as portable monitors) and it provides the extra screen space that you’re used to with the external monitor. It’s also thin, lightweight and travel-friendly, so you can take it anywhere.

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What to Look for

Size: The vast majority of portable monitors come in similar sizes to most laptops. On the low-end, you can get a 13-inch portable monitor. And on the high-end, you can get a 17-inch monitor. The larger the screen, the more expensive it’s likely to be.

Connectivity: Most portable monitors these days connect to your laptop via USB-C, but there are some that require a HDMI connection. Some can do both, too, which could free up an extra port on your laptop (specifically if you have a Windows laptop).

Kickstand: This is a low-key, really important thing to consider before buying a portable monitor. Some come with integrated kickstands right in their body, which is really convenient. Other portable monitors, however, come with attachable stands that are less ideal because they aren’t always the easiest things to figure out.

Battery: Portable monitors can come with or without built-in batteries. The ones with built-in batteries are a little more expensive, but they can last for several hours before stealing power from your laptop. Portable monitors without built-in batteries need to be plugged into a power source. This can mean your laptop, of course, but it will cause your laptop to lose power faster.

Screen: As with laptops, portable monitors vary in their display quality. You can get ones that have a higher resolution, higher refresh rate or even have a touchscreen — but all those add to the price. The majority of portable monitors max out at a 1080p display.

Speakers: Some portable monitors come equipped with their own built-in speakers. It’s a nice feature, especially if you have an older laptop with not-so-great speakers or you’re using the monitor with a gaming console (like a Nintendo Switch). However, if your laptop does have built-in speakers, you might find it annoying when the audio keeps switching to the portable monitor’s speakers (in which case, you can just adjust this in your laptop’s settings).

How We Tested

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The below portable monitors were used mostly in a work capacity — as a replacement for the external monitor in a setup with a laptop and portable monitor. We tested the portable monitors in split-screen and mirroring modes and judged them on brightness, image quality, ease-of-use (connectivity), their kickstand and any other features (like speakers and Wi-Fi connectivity). All the below monitors were tested with either a 2017 MacBook Pro or 2022 MacBook Air.

Notable Portable Monitors Not on This List

• : This is a portable monitor that’s basically a touchscreen version of the Asus ZenScreen Go (MB16AWP) that’s on this list. The catch is, however, it’s not compatible with Macs.

• : This is essentially a higher-end, more expensive and touchscreen version of the non-“t” ThinkVision M14 that’s already on this list.

• Desklab 4K Touchscreen: This is one of the few portable monitors out there that has a 4K display (max) and a touchscreen. It’s also quite expensive.

The Best Portable Monitors

Lenovo ThinkVision M14

Lenovo

amazon.com

$224.66

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Very travel-friendly
Great kickstand
Very easy to use with any USB-C laptop

No built-in battery or speakers
Not feature-packed

Size: 14-inches
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Connectivity: USB-C
Battery: No
Speakers: No

The Lenovo ThinkVision M14 is a small and lightweight, portable monitor. It’s got a bright and vibrant screen and has a highly adjustable kickstand. And it’s relatively affordable, although it lacks an integrated battery and varied port selection of higher-end options. It’s a simple option that’ll work with most USB-C laptops. The kicker is that it can be mounted (via a 100×100 VESA), which could come in handy if you want to use it even when not traveling.

Dell C1422H

amazon.com

$399.99

$269.01 (33% off)

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Very travel-friendly
Great kickstand
Very easy to use with any USB-C laptop
Can be VESA mounted

No built-in battery or speakers
Not feature-packed

Size: 14-inches
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Connectivity: USB-C
Battery: No
Speakers: No

The Dell C1422H is actually nearly identical to the ThinkVision M14 (above). Again, it’s a smaller portable monitor that’s fairly straightforward to use and will work well with most USB-C laptops. It delivers maybe a little brighter picture in our option and does a better job at blocking out reflections. But other than that, it has the same ports and a great integrated kickstand. It doesn’t have a built-in battery, however, meaning it’ll take power from your laptop or it’ll need to be plugged into a wall outlet (power adapter not included) while you’re using it.

Asus ZenScreen Go (MB16AWP)

ASUS

amazon.com

$440.99

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Huge display
Built-in battery and speakers
Supports wireless connectivity
Great kickstand

It ain’t cheap

Size: 15.6-inches
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Connectivity: USB-C or HDMI
Battery: Yes
Speakers: Yes

Asus makes several different models of its ZenScreen Go — so be aware of which one you’re buying — and its MB16AWP is one of the nicest (and most expensive) ones you can buy. It’s a 15.6-inch monitor with a 1080p display (and 60Hz refresh rate) and it has an integrated battery that can last between three and four hours. Maybe the neatest thing about this ZenScreen Go is that it has built-in Wi-Fi, so you can extend or mirror your laptop’s screen without using a wired USB-C or HDMI connection.

ViewSonic VX1755

Amazon

ViewSonic VX1755

amazon.com

$309.99

$239.99 (23% off)

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Huge 17.2-inch display
Supports high-refresh rate and gaming features

Not super portable because of its size
No built-in battery
Quite pricey

Size: 17.2-inches
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Connectivity: USB-C
Battery: No
Speakers: Yes

The ViewSonic VX1755 is portable monitor that’s ideal for gamers who are looking for a big extra screen. It’s 17.2-inches, making it one of the biggest portable monitors you can buy. IT also supports several much-have gaming features such as a very high refresh rate (144Hz) and support for AMD FreeSync Premium Adaptive-Sync (to fight latency when playing FPS and fast-moving action games). It is definitely on the pricey side, but the ViewSonic VX1755 makes a great partner for smaller gaming laptops or even people who bring their consoles with them on the road.

Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE

Amazon

Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE

amazon.com

$349.00

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Large 15.6-inch display
Supports high refresh rate and gaming features
Large built-in battery

Very expensive

Size: 15.6-inches
Resolution:1920 x 1080
Connectivity: USB-C
Battery: Yes
Speakers: Yes

The Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE is another high-end yet pricey portable monitor that’s optimized for gaming. Like the ViewSonic VX1755 (above), the Asus ROG Strix XG16AHPE has a high refresh rate panel (144Hz) and supports AMD FreeSync Premium Adaptive-Sync, which are two must-haves for gaming. The difference is that this portable monitor is slightly smaller and more expensive, but it does have a built-in battery — and at 7,800mAh, it’s pretty sizable — meaning it won’t such the juice from your laptop when using it.