A couple of months ago I was disappointed to discover that a similar product I'd seen an advertisement for was a scam, and that actual real portable monitors you could purchase seem to be shoddy, fragile, and unreliable.
If this reviews well I'll seriously consider buying one. I don't care if it's the size and weight of a second laptop as long as the extra heft adds durability, and the color depth doesn't matter that much unless it makes 16-bit RDP sessions hideous or unusable for some reason.
For the prices they're charging, some of the reviews are pretty sketchy. It's also a lot to pay out of my own pocket for something that I'd mostly be buying to make working away from the office a little more practical, which is something I do only rarely (a second monitor could change that, though).
It would also be nice to have something that I could use as a second monitor for the living room computer that I could hide away when it's not needed, though. So I'll be watching the reviews on this Acer.
Acer is way late to the party. Asus's portal is overpriced and bulky. Google for a product called G-Story LCD. They have several models. 15" FHD for about 150 USD, with touchscreen at 200USD and they also have 2K and 4K models for a bit more. You may also find the FHD models in Nintendo stores paired up with a Switch console. The quality was good enough for me that I bought two. one driven by hdmi out and the other by usb-c.
@lazarpandar: Depends on the use case. Tablets can have better screens, multitouch and even pen support, plus you can use them on their own. They come in smaller sizes, true, but most of the time you can have them closer than your laptop’s screen is. The performance/lag with a laptop is something that I can live with easily, the 250 nits of brightness that the acer has less so.
Not plug and play with Windows and Linux (app required), very poor performance compared to a 'normal' monitor (frequent frame drops, input lag, compression artifacts).
Missed opportunity here. They should've added a second USB C port as a power input/passthru port. That way for laptops that can charge via USB C that don't have multiple USB C ports (yes they exist). You could have the laptop plugged into the monitor and then the laptop charger plugged into the monitor and powering them both most likely.
I puchased one of those last week with the intention of having a small second monitor for a Dell OptiPlex 3060 desktop PC. Unfortunately, I don't get a signal on the PM161Q when connecting it to the PC's DisplayPort output using a DP-to-USB-C adapter cable. Neither the PM161Q is being detected as new hardware when connected to the USB 3.0 port using a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter cable. Last chance is to buy a USB-C port for the PC, but will call Acer support first.
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Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
A couple of months ago I was disappointed to discover that a similar product I'd seen an advertisement for was a scam, and that actual real portable monitors you could purchase seem to be shoddy, fragile, and unreliable.If this reviews well I'll seriously consider buying one. I don't care if it's the size and weight of a second laptop as long as the extra heft adds durability, and the color depth doesn't matter that much unless it makes 16-bit RDP sessions hideous or unusable for some reason.
dontlistentome - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
The Asus Zen screen is all metal, seems pretty sturdy (we have one on a floating allocation at work and it's still in one piece).Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
For the prices they're charging, some of the reviews are pretty sketchy. It's also a lot to pay out of my own pocket for something that I'd mostly be buying to make working away from the office a little more practical, which is something I do only rarely (a second monitor could change that, though).It would also be nice to have something that I could use as a second monitor for the living room computer that I could hide away when it's not needed, though. So I'll be watching the reviews on this Acer.
jake winger - Tuesday, February 4, 2020 - link
Acer is way late to the party. Asus's portal is overpriced and bulky. Google for a product called G-Story LCD. They have several models. 15" FHD for about 150 USD, with touchscreen at 200USD and they also have 2K and 4K models for a bit more.You may also find the FHD models in Nintendo stores paired up with a Switch console.
The quality was good enough for me that I bought two. one driven by hdmi out and the other by usb-c.
jake winger - Tuesday, February 4, 2020 - link
s/portal/portable/gmjz_5 - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
Why not just use an iPad as a second monitor.dontlistentome - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
Twice the price, half the size and no direct conectionlazarpandar - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
I actually can't think of any scenario in which that would be better unless you already own an iPad and do not own this.xype - Tuesday, February 4, 2020 - link
@lazarpandar: Depends on the use case. Tablets can have better screens, multitouch and even pen support, plus you can use them on their own. They come in smaller sizes, true, but most of the time you can have them closer than your laptop’s screen is. The performance/lag with a laptop is something that I can live with easily, the 250 nits of brightness that the acer has less so.69369369 - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
Not plug and play with Windows and Linux (app required), very poor performance compared to a 'normal' monitor (frequent frame drops, input lag, compression artifacts).cygnus1 - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
Missed opportunity here. They should've added a second USB C port as a power input/passthru port. That way for laptops that can charge via USB C that don't have multiple USB C ports (yes they exist). You could have the laptop plugged into the monitor and then the laptop charger plugged into the monitor and powering them both most likely.brucethemoose - Monday, February 3, 2020 - link
Among those that are even interested in a portable second screen, I assume most 1-port laptop users wouldn't want something so bulky and cheap anyway.flyingpants265 - Tuesday, February 4, 2020 - link
You're better off just getting a better laptop, at that point..zzmad - Tuesday, February 4, 2020 - link
Can anything like this be plugged into a small desktop machine?Can an USB Type C of say an ITX motherboard power up and run such a device?
tw-64 - Sunday, May 24, 2020 - link
I puchased one of those last week with the intention of having a small second monitor for a Dell OptiPlex 3060 desktop PC. Unfortunately, I don't get a signal on the PM161Q when connecting it to the PC's DisplayPort output using a DP-to-USB-C adapter cable. Neither the PM161Q is being detected as new hardware when connected to the USB 3.0 port using a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter cable. Last chance is to buy a USB-C port for the PC, but will call Acer support first.