1. Best Overall
2. Best Value
3. Best for Productivity
4. Best for Gaming
5. Best Small-Screen
6. Best Dual Screen
7. Best Wireless
8. Shopping Tips
9. Discounts
A portable monitor can provide an extra screen for your laptop when you travel, serve as a compact display for a Raspberry Pi project, help you test a desktop that's still on your workbench, or even connect to a game console when you take it on vacation. Regarding the best portable monitors, I prioritize good image quality, light weight, strong usability, and plenty of connectivity options.
With prices ranging from under $60 to well over $700, screen sizes ranging from 10.5 inches all the way up to 18.5+ inches and beyond, resolutions that reach as high as 4K, and options such as high refresh rates, wireless connectivity, and touch input, there are a ton of options to choose from. I've extensively tested various makes and models to help you find the best portable monitor for your needs.
Our top choices are below, followed by some portable monitor shopping tips and details on how we benchmark. If you're looking for a screen that stays on your desk, check out our list of the best gaming monitors.
October Prime Day Portable Monitor Deals
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
It's Amazon's October Prime Day, meaning that deals abound on the best portable monitors. We're tracking all the savings on our best October Prime Day Monitor Deals page and our October Prime Day live blog. One of our favorites is below:
The Best Portable Monitors You Can Buy Today
Best Overall Portable Monitor
The Innocn is a mold-breaker in the portable monitor space. We typically expect OLED panels to come with a hefty price premium over their IPS rivals, but the Innocn 15A1F delivers OLED goodness for under $400. Not only is this pricing comparable to IPS panels in the 15.6-inch size class, but the color, brightness, and contrast are far superior on the 15A1F.
The 15A1F measures 15.6 inches diagonally and features a 1920x1080 resolution with a refresh rate of 60Hz. Brightness is rated at 400 nits, and we came remarkably close to that figure in our instrumented testing. sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut performance were admirable, and it's hard to beat the contrast made possible with an OLED panel.
On the other hand, we weren't too thrilled about the ever-present reflections with the glossy panel and the large bottom bezel might be off-putting to some. But with an MSRP of $349, those downsides are easy to overlook. The monitor has even dipped below the $200 price point in recent months, which makes it an unbeatable value in this space.
Read: Innocn 15A1F Portable Monitor Review
Best Portable Monitor Value
Sometimes, you just need an everyday workhorse that can get the job done, but won’t break the bank. That’s where Elecrow’s CrowView steps up to the plate to knock it out of the park. It hits all the right notes with a lightweight chassis, good build quality and various ways to use the monitor.
For example, you can use the CrowView as a traditional portable monitor, with it sitting beside your laptop using its built-in stand. Or you can clamp the monitor to the back of your laptop’s lid for some dual-screen action. You can even use it separately in a portrait orientation. You get HDMI and DisplayPort connectivity, and the monitor supports physically attaching to laptop screens measuring 13 to 16.5 inches.
It's not perfect: the OSD is a bit cumbersome to navigate due to the placement of the buttons, but that’s the only major misstep here. And given that it’s priced at less than $150, it gets an easy recommendation.
More: Elecrow CrowView review
Best Portable Monitor for Productivity
The Espresso 17 Pro is undoubtedly a pricey portable monitor, but you get a lot for your money with this monitor. Not only does it measure an expansive 17 inches across, but it features a 4K resolution and a glossy finish, which helps boost contrast and makes colors pop. The monitor also comes with a robust stand that allows the 17 Pro to be used in portrait or landscape modes. It also tilts and includes a provision to lock that display at an 18-degree angle, which is optimal for writing and drawing.
Perhaps more impressive is that the 17 Pro’s touchscreen works in Windows and macOS. Apple never designed macOS to support touch input, but Espresso has deftly added the functionality and includes software that makes navigating and interacting with macOS using your finger (or a pen) seem almost natural.
The $749 price tag might seem high for a portable monitor, but the breadth of features, color performance, and overall versatility of this monitor and its stand is currently unmatched.
More: Espresso 13 Touch and 17 Pro review
Best Portable Gaming Monitor
The Nexigo NG17FGQ achieves a feat that we don't often see in the portable monitor realm: it offers a tantalizing 300Hz refresh rate in a 17.3-inch form factor and connects to a laptop or desktop via HDMI or USB-C (DisplayPort Alt-Mode).
However, you'll need to connect the monitor to a PC with a USB-C cable to reach that 300Hz threshold. Connecting via an HDMI cable limits you to 240Hz, which is still not bad for a portable monitor.
Thanks to its good build quality, excellent color representation, and great performance while gaming, the NG17FGQ is hard to beat for mobile gamers looking for a step up in performance. If that wasn't enough, a remote is included in the box to make it easier to navigate the OSD (instead of fumbling with sometimes poorly-placed physical buttons on the actual monitor) along with built-in speakers.
More: Nexigo NG17FGQ Review
Best Small-Screen Portable Monitor
Feelworld may not be a name familiar to the general public, but the company’s DH101 portable monitor is a real winner. Portable monitors typically measure 13.3 to 17.3 inches in size. However, the DH101 bucks that trend with a relatively small 10.1-inch diagonal.
Despite its small size, Feelworld has infused the DH101 with plenty of features, including a robust and adjustable kickstand. All of the monitor's ports are located on the kickstand, which prevents cables from hanging off the display, which is a huge plus. In addition, the monitor supports touch, which is a nice bonus for this value-priced offering. Other features include integrated speakers and an extra USB-C port to connect low-power devices like keyboards, mice, and USB sticks.
It’s hard to find any significant deficit with the Feelworld DH101, other than the speakers being a bit disappointing in audio quality. However, with a price tag of around $130, it easy to overlook that flaw.
Read: Feelworld DH101 Review
Best Dual Screen Portable Monitor
Limink truly has a standout product with its LK14 portable monitor. While we’re used to seeing single-screen portable monitors in various sizes, the LK14 bucks that trend with dual screens. You get multiple screens flanking your laptops, and the whole unit is built with high-quality materials and precision.
Each 14-inch monitor offers a 1920 x 1200 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, and a maximum brightness of 400 nits. In addition to providing excellent overall image quality, the LK14 is also actually useful as an everyday accessory for your laptop. You get a huge increase in available screen real estate for your daily productivity needs.
Even though Limink bills the LK14 as a portable monitor, its 3.22-pound weight blunts its effectiveness there. However, the unit at least folds up into an easily transportable package and slips into a nice, book-style pleather case.
However, the Limink LK14 doesn’t come cheap, given its $700 MSRP. However, regular sales see the LK14 dip below $600 for those who can truly take advantage of its capabilities.
Read: Limink LK14 Review
Best Portable Wireless Monitor
Asus pulled out all the stops with the ZenScreen Go MB16AWP, which is an impressive 15.6-inch Full HD portable monitor. At first glance, the ZenScreen Go MB16AWP seems like your run-of-the-mill entry in this segment with its Full HD IP panel and 60 Hz refresh rate, but Asus has baked in plenty of features that make it unique.
For starters, there's an integrated 7,800 mAh battery that is good for three hours of runtime before a recharge is needed. Our testing also showed that the battery could be juiced from 0 percent to 100 percent in just over two hours. The other standout feature of the ZenScreen Go MB16AWP is integrated Wi-Fi connectivity.
With Wi-Fi enabled, you can mirror your device's screen to the ZenScreen Go MB16AWP without plugging in a USB-C or HDMI cable. When you couple this with the integrated battery, you have a completely wire-free experience with this portable monitor. Asus provides broad compatibility, with support across Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, Android and iOS operating systems.
Other features include a built-in accelerometer that allows the ZenScreen Go MB16AWP to switch from portrait to landscape mode with ease, two USB-C ports, and a single Mini-HDMI port. Throw in excellent color performance across sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, and it's hard not to recommend the ZenScreen Go MB16AWP.
At $469, the Asus ZenScreen Go MB16AWP doesn't come cheap, but it offers a lot of bang for the buck when it comes to features and performance.
More: Asus ZenScreen Go MB16AWP Review
Shopping Tips for Best Portable Monitors
- Make sure it connects to your device(s). Some monitors connect over standard HDMI, which lets them work with almost anything, while others use USB-C’s alternate mode. A select few provide DisplayLink connectivity, which allows them to plug into any USB 3.0 capable port, even an old-fashioned type-A connector.
- Pay close attention to monitor kickstands. A kickstand can be a make-or-break proposition for some portable monitors. The best portable monitors have a built-in kickstand that allows you to easily adjust the display for the best possible viewing angles. On the other hand, some monitors have separate, magnetic origami-style covers that double as a kickstand. These are rarely (if ever) better than a good built-in kickstand and can ruin an otherwise good display experience.
- Battery or no battery? Most modern portable monitors draw power over USB-C, either via a dedicated wall charger or by drawing power directly from your laptop. However, some models, like the Asus ROG ROG XG16AHPE and XG17AHPE, have a built-in lithium-ion battery that allows you to game without being plugged into a wall. So, if you prefer to connect to your laptop via HDMI, you could do so with just a single cable with battery-equipped monitors.
- Productivity or Gaming? Most portable monitors come with a standard 60Hz refresh rate, which is perfectly fine for productivity tasks and suits most consumers. However, some alternatives like the Asus ROG ROG XG16AHPE and ViewSonic VX1755 offer up to 144Hz refresh rates and support for Adaptive-Sync technologies for those that want to game on a portable display that’s larger than what their laptop natively offers.
For more guidance picking a monitor of any resolution – gaming or otherwise – check out our PC Monitor Buying Guide and list of the Best Computer Monitors.
Discounts on the Best Portable Monitors
Whether you're shopping for one of the screens that made our list of best portable monitors above or something else, you may find savings by checking out our best monitor deals page, along with our lists of Dell coupon codes, Lenovo coupon codes, LG coupon codes, HP coupon codes, Monoprice coupon codes and Newegg promo codes.
MORE: Best Gaming Monitors
MORE: How We Test Monitors
MORE: All Monitor Content
