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Desklab Ultralight Portable 4K Touchscreen Monitor Review Ratings
generalize
The Desklab 4K is an excellent monitor with more features and wider compatibility than the portable monitors you usually find on Amazon.
advantage
- Best-in-class connectivity options
- touch screen display
- Excellent quality monitor (for portable monitors)
shortcoming
- Without case or stand
- Cases or stands are currently unavailable for purchase
- Laptop cannot drive monitor over USB-C
Desklab specializes in portable monitors, and its new 4K touchscreen monitor is designed to be the perfect general-purpose solution.
The monitor has a wide range of ports to ensure it is compatible with as many devices as possible. The large 15.6-inch display with 4K resolution and touchscreen capabilities is ideal for creative professionals as a secondary screen for their laptops.
Specification
| Screen Type: | IPS |
| weight: | 725 g |
| width: | 3.5 mm (0.14 in) |
| Resolution: | 1080p (Full HD)/4K (Ultra HD) |
| Panel size: | 15.6″ |
| Response time: | 20 ms |
| brightness: | 400 cd/m2 |
| port: | Type-C / mini HDMI / Micro-USB |
| Color range: | 167,000 |
| Viewing angle: | 178° |
| Contrast: | 1200:1 |
Settings/Compatibility/Touchscreen
The monitor has a lot of ports to ensure universal compatibility and I think it’s plug and play.
However, this is not the case, especially for the 4K model.
The 4K model requires a 5V, 4A (20W) input; your laptop is unlikely to output this power via USB-C. With my Matebook 14, the screen flickers as if trying to turn on and failing.
So I had to use an external power supply, but even then you need to make sure the plug can deliver 20W. The monitor does come with a power supply, but it’s two pin in the US and I’m in the UK.
In addition, for the touch screen, your device already needs to support the touch screen. If you connect HDMI, you also need to connect USB (HDMI can only be used for display signals).
With a 4K display, you’ll also need to reboot or log out and back in. This will allow Windows to detect the correct scaling of the display. When I first plugged it in, it was set to 100%, which isn’t ideal on a 15″ 4K monitor.
Other than that, this monitor comes with all the cables you need, especially the mini-HDMI which I don’t have.
Dual USB-C ports let you use pass-through charging, eliminating the need for any external hubs if you’re limited to laptop ports.
is using
The monitor doesn’t come with any stand, but Desklab claims the magnetic stand and screen protector are sold separately. However, the option to select this has no effect.
Mine didn’t have this, so I had to rely on the box to support the screen.
The display looks and feels great; it’s very thin and has edge-to-edge glass. It also makes it look fragile if you plan to use it for travel. I do take it with me, but only if I go somewhere in the car and know I can safely pack it.
The display quality is excellent, and the colors look great, it doesn’t have that washed-out look you can find on some cheap screens.
I also appreciate the larger display and increased screen real estate compared to other portable monitors.I would say the overall quality of the display is significantly better than Mobile Pixels Trio Portable Display I have reviewed this before, but these are completely different products.
This works great if your phone supports desktop mode via USB-C.I use Honor Magic4 Proand is immediately recognized.
In the display settings, you can see that this monitor supports FreeSync, but since I only use it on affordable laptops, I haven’t tested its capabilities.
Price and Alternatives
The Desklab 4K Touchscreen Monitor is $399 with free shipping on all orders. This is equivalent to £325.
For UK buyers, you should consider the cost of VAT and customs duties, but I don’t charge anything for customs clearance for my samples.
On Amazon, I’m always trying to find any similar products that are similar to this one.
The best option I could find was the UPERFECT 4K Portable Monitor for around £350. It has a touchscreen, lots of ports and a built-in kickstand, but it’s a bit small at 14 inches.
There are plenty of 15.6-inch 4K monitors, but most of them don’t have touchscreens.
overall
The Desklab 4K is an excellent monitor with more features and wider compatibility than the portable monitors you usually find on Amazon.
Due to the power requirements of a 4K monitor, it’s not as portable as I’d like it to be, and if you plan to travel with it a lot, I’d consider the 1080P model.
Pass-through charging alleviates some of the power-demand issues and is a nice inclusion that lets you avoid a hub.
Annoyingly, the Desklab website is a bit messy. You can only buy the 4K model, but you can also only buy the 1080P foldable stand and cover.
Since there’s no way to buy a 4K foldable stand and case, it’s a little hard to recommend for anyone planning to carry it around.
It’s a bit ugly to have to prop it up on my desk, but otherwise, it’s a great monitor.
