This Portable Monitor Kept Me Productive Even When I Was Away From Home
Windows
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Key Takeaways
- Plugable has made a practical 15.6-inch portable monitor with USB-C connectivity and extra slots for peripherals.
- The monitor is easy to set up and has multiple color modes to tweak screen settings to your liking.
- The monitor’s battery drain is manageable, making it a viable choice for on-the-go work.
I have a good laptop, but I hate doing work on it. Not having two screens makes juggling tasks difficult, and if I forget my mouse, my productivity goes out the window. However, the Plugable USBC-PDMON portable monitor is the solution I needed to work on my laptop properly. It can’t help me remember my mouse, though.
Plugable USBC-PDMON Portable Monitor
$160 $200 Save $40
The Plugable USB-C portable monitor for laptops offers premium features like 2x 10Gbps USB-C ports for data or connecting peripherals, 100W PD pass-through (85W charging), a crisp 15.6” IPS display, and a cover/stand.
Pros
- Easy setup, including screen settings
- Horizontal and vertical viewing modes
- Extra USB-C slots for peripherals
Cons
- Can take up a lot of room
$199.95 at Plugable$160 at Amazon
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Price and Availability
The Plugable USBC-PDMON Portable Monitor is available for $199.95 on Amazon and Plugable’s store page. The purchase includes the monitor and a short USB-C cable to plug it in.
Easy to Pack and Take With You
The first thing that struck me about the Plugable Portable Monitor was its size. At 15.6 inches, it is the same size as a standard laptop screen. I have a slightly larger 17-inch laptop, but even next to the bigger screen, this monitor wasn’t a slouch. The screen is bright and easy to read, and everything is easy to set up. All I had to do was plug the monitor into the laptop and adjust the resolution settings, and I was good to go.
One thing I dislike about setting up a second monitor is trying to get the image settings to look the same, but Plugable makes it easy. On the monitor’s side are three buttons—two to raise and lower the brightness and a third that switches between various color modes. There are five presets, one of which mimics the settings on your laptop. This setting is very accurate, and after adjusting the brightness, the two screens looked nearly identical.
Of course, it’s important to note that a laptop with a second screen will undoubtedly take up more space than just a laptop on its own. This can become a problem if you’re working in a place with only small surfaces to set up on, such as a coffee shop table or a hotel’s desk area. This is a fairly obvious problem with all laptop accessories, but given the size of Plugable’s monitor, it can sometimes be difficult to find the space for it and anything else you might need to get to work.
Working on a Laptop Is So Much Easier
The point of a portable monitor is not just to display a pretty picture; it’s all about how well it works. Now, with a 60Hz refresh rate, you shouldn’t use the Plugable for gaming, but if you have a gaming laptop, you don’t have much reason to use the portable monitor over the laptop’s built-in screen.
As such, a portable monitor is meant mainly for productivity and multitasking. Working on just one screen can be frustrating for many, as it’s much harder to switch between tasks and applications when working on a screen smaller than the two (or more) you have at your home or office. It can be easy to take that second screen for granted until you’re trying to work on a project on a tight deadline while traveling.
But if the monitor doesn’t work correctly or is difficult to set up, it’s bound to cause even more frustration than suffering with just one screen. Thankfully, Plugable has made sure to have as little friction as possible when using its portable monitor, and it truly makes life so much easier. Scrolling between the screens was smooth; you can switch between horizontal and vertical modes as needed, and there’s no need to find a power outlet to plug the monitor into—the laptop powers it.
The monitor even doubles as a small USB-C hub. There are three USB-C ports: one to plug the monitor into the laptop, one that offers passthrough charging and data transmission, and a final port for just data transmission. It’s enough to plug in a Bluetooth dongle or wired mouse, provided it has a USB-C wire or you have a USB-A to USB-C adapter. These extra slots can be a big advantage if your laptop lacks ports.
Plus, the monitor is compatible with Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPad, iPhone, and Android (assuming the device has a USB-C or Thunderbolt port). It’s also HDCP compliant, so you shouldn’t have any issues watching content from your favorite streaming services.
Watch Your Battery
Since your laptop powers the Plugable Portable Monitor, you might wonder how much it may drain your battery life. After all, if it drains too much laptop power, the convenience of two screens will quickly turn to frustration when you can only use them for an hour or two.
I have a big gaming laptop, which is not well known for its battery life. Depending on what I’m doing, I can usually get between four and six hours of power before recharging. So, needless to say, if Plugable’s monitor drained too much of my battery, I wouldn’t be able to use it when I’d typically use my laptop.
So, while the battery drain from the monitor was noticeable on my laptop, it wasn’t so much so that I was worried about using both outside my home. Most laptops will have a better battery life than my own, and the likelihood is that this monitor will be even less of a drain on them. This is great, as it makes this portable monitor a viable choice for any work you need to do outside the house.
Additionally, the Plugable USBC-PDMON supports 100W pass-through, with 85W going out to charging your laptop. This might not be enough juice for some powerful machines, but the average Windows laptop or MacBook should receive a full charge while plugged in at a coffee shop.
Should You Buy the Plugable USBC-PDMON Portable Monitor?
I am thoroughly impressed by the Plugable USBC-PDMON Portable Monitor. It has a nice screen, is light despite its size, and even has some extra USB-C ports for your other laptop accessories. Plugable put a lot of thought into this monitor, and it shows with how well it works.
Plugable USBC-PDMON Portable Monitor
$160 $200 Save $40
The Plugable USB-C portable monitor for laptops offers premium features like 2x 10Gbps USB-C ports for data or connecting peripherals, 100W PD pass-through (85W charging), a crisp 15.6” IPS display, and a cover/stand.
$199.95 at Plugable$160 at Amazon
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