INTRODUCTION

   As expected, portable monitors are not nearly as popular as their full sized cousins but their sales numbers have actually risen in both 2020 and 2021, probably due to many people pairing them with their USB-C smartphones and tablets (even laptops, iPads and MacBooks). Now I’ve always liked the idea of a portable monitor but at the same time I’ve always had a thing for large screens and so I never got around to either getting or testing one. That was until roughly 2 months ago when i got in touch with Desklab, a rather new manufacturer which back in late 2019 launched a very successful Kickstarter campaign (concluded in 2020) for a feature-rich 15.6-inch 4k portable touchscreen monitor that landed in the lab not long ago.

   We started by a team of engineers that believe in something more than gadgets. Gadgets were great back in the day, but in the modern world, we have the power to consolidate all the functions of our gadgets into one, lightweight system. So why do we fill our bags and pockets with more gadgets, cables, and accessories than ever before? Our engineers had a solution. They sought to put an entire suite of functions for work and play into one ultra-light monitor. It’s not a laptop, and it’s not a tablet. Instead, it brings the functionality of a cutting-edge workstation to any device on the planet. You don’t need gadgets. You don’t need accessories. You don’t need clutter and excess weight.

   This portable monitor by Desklab sports a rather large 15.6-inch (40cm diagonal) 4k (3840x2160p) touchscreen WLED 16:9 IPS display (8bit with dithering) that supports HDR and features a refresh rate of 60Hz (FreeSync compatible), input lag of just 20ms (GTG), 1200:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 luminance and 178 degrees viewing angles. It also features a brushed aluminum rear plate and comes ready with two rear-firing stereo speakers and a good number of available connectors such as dual USB-C (one is used for power), USB-A (can be used to charge portable devices), HDMI and a 3.5mm headphones jack. Aside FreeSync and HDR the monitor also has 5 display presets loaded from the factory (TV/Games/Cinema/Photography/Text), 3 temperature settings (9300/6500/user), allows the end user to rotate the screen 180 degrees and also has a dynamic contrast ratio (DCR) function. So, let's see if the 4k portable touchscreen monitor is worth what Desklab asks for it.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

I was surprised to see that Desklab ships the monitor inside a black and white box that has no reference to the resolution of the included model (since they have both 1080p and 4k models i was assured they will update the box).

Packing is very good with the monitor wrapped inside a synthetic cover and placed in a piece of foam.

Along with the 4k touchscreen monitor and its power adapter you're also getting an HDMI cable, USB-C to USB-C cable and the user manual.

Desklab also send over the foldable magnetic cover (attached onto the monitor via 4 pieces of double side tape) and a mini HDMI to HDMI cable (optional accessories).

THE 4K PORTABLE TOUCHSCREEN MONITOR

Measuring just 358mm in length, 230mm in width and 9mm in thickness (6mm thinnest, 10mm thickest) the 725g heavy 4k portable touchscreen monitor by Desklab is indeed quite compact (for a 15inch model).

Just over 60% of the monitor is just 6mm in thickness and less than 40% is 10mm in thickness (this is where all the connectors are at).

The 3.5mm headphone jack with the two USB-C ports and the HDMI port are all located on the left side.

On the right side we find the USB-A port and 3 buttons (menu navigation - you can also navigate the menus with the touch function).

Two rubber feet are located at the front/base of the monitor.

The brushed aluminum rear of the monitor feels and looks great.

Here you can also see tags for all connectors and buttons.

These 8 small holes at the center of the rear brushed aluminum plate are the monitor's two stereo speakers.

The foldable magnetic cover is made out of leatherette and does protect the screen, sufficiently.

Unfortunately, only half of the rear is covered by it (makes sense because of the speakers).

MENUS

The 4k portable touchscreen monitor by Desklab doesn't have that many menus, just for volume, picture, temperature, features (presets/orientation/HDR/DCR) and input selection (the FreeSync and reset functions are also placed here).

VIEWING ANGLES / PICTURE QUALITY

I can't say i was blown away by the image quality of the Desklab 4k touchscreen monitor but it actually did better than i had initially expected (especially with HDR enabled).

Viewing angles are also quite good although i think it goes without saying that i seriously doubt anyone be looking at a portable monitor from an angle.

TEST RESULTS

DATACOLOR SPYDERX ELITE MEASUREMENTS

By using the SpyderX Elite Colorimeter by Datacolor i measure both the color gamut (SRGB and Adobe) and the brightness levels of the monitor at hand.

Here you can see results for Color and Luminance Screen Uniformity (instead of just listing results at 100% brightness I’m listing all of them - 50/67/83/100%).

Datacolor rates monitors based on their overall results so it was decided to include this chart as well.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Power consumption may not be what most people look for when out to get a brand new monitor but at the end of the day it's still an important factor so i do hope this is of interest to some of you.

CONCLUSION

   Since the Desklab model is the very first portable touchscreen monitor to make its way to the lab I can’t say that I know how it does against its competition. Hopefully more such models will get here in time and I’ll be able to tell, for now I can only compare specifications and after doing that, well let’s just say that it’s very hard to find a model that can take this one head on. Image quality is very good (color accuracy could be better but let’s not forget that we’re talking about a portable monitor), angles are also very good and in terms of available features its support for both FreeSync and HDR is something we don’t even see with many full-size models. Build quality is also very good and as for the touchscreen feature it works smartphones, tablets and Windows 10 PC’s (as long as you also connect it with either a USB-C or a TB3/4 port – aside the HDMI that is). Unfortunately, not all smartphones are compatible, for example even though it worked like a charm with the Samsung Galaxy S10+ my Xiaomi Redmi Note 8/9 Pro and Realme 7 Pro didn’t work at all (they did power it up but didn’t mirror their screens). Now I can’t say that I spend much time troubleshooting this issue (primarily because I focused on PC use) but the fact that the Samsung model worked without any steps from my part means that this has something to do with the settings of those smartphones (perhaps a developer option needs to be switched on?). A built-in rechargeable battery pack would also be great to see. Yes, it would probably increase the thickness and weight of the screen (not to mention cost) but I doubt that would be a deal breaker for many people (not when they’d skip using the battery of their smartphone or tablet).

   If you’re interested in the 4k portable touchscreen monitor by Desklab then you can grab yours today for just USD399 (Desklabmonitor.com) a price tag which when compared to similar products is actually better than expected. Of course, you can always find lower cost portable monitors in the market but as mentioned earlier not with this IPS panel and features. Overall, the Desklab 4k Portable Touchscreen Monitor may not be perfect but it performs as advertised and should cover pretty much every consumer and/or professional out there which is why it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality
- 3840x2160p 4k UHD Resolution
- LED Backlit Touchscreen IPS Panel
- Very Good Image Quality
- Features (HDR/FreeSync/DCR)
- 20ms GTG Response Time
- Available Ports (HDMI v2.0/3.5mm Mini Jack/2xUSB C)
- Stereo Speakers
- Compatibility (Smartphones/Tablets/Laptops/MacBooks/PCs)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Color Accuracy (For Some)
- Compatibility With Some Smartphones