Lepow 15.6-Inch USB-C Portable Monitor Review: Versatile, Value-Priced

For many years, I’ve used a portable monitor when traveling. It’s great to have a second monitor while covering a trade show so you can refer to datasheets and online pages (especially since almost all press materials are digital now). It allows me to work with more participants without using a projector when I’m teaching on safari. When I’m alone, having a second screen is still useful for photo and video editing, as well as coding. My current monitor is good, but it only works with PCs, so when Lepow asked if I wanted to evaluate their 15.6-inch 1080p LCD monitor ($184.99) that works with a range of devices, I was interested.

Lepow Portable Monitor by the Numbers

Features of the Lepow monitor The 15.6-inch Lepow LCD SEEAMAZON ET 135 is typical of most decent portable monitors. 1080p resolution is supported by Amazon ET commerce. It has an IPS technology LCD, which is impressive for the price. It also outperforms several of its competitors in terms of capability. To begin, you can connect to it via HDMI (via the mini-HDMI connector and HDMI cable included) or USB-C. (for which a cable is also provided). The USB-C option, of course, is limited to devices that enable video via USB-C connections. You can power the monitor with another USB-A to USB-C connection or the provided charger and cable if you connect through HDMI or an unpowered USB-C port. The combination of those options covers about every case I can think of.

None of that makes it any larger or heavier than necessary. It weighs in at 1.76 pounds, and measures .3-inches thick.

There’s an OSD menu that lets you adjust brightness, contrast, color, and a few other things, which is convenient for a portable monitor. For use in a daytime situation, I increased the brightness and contrast from their normal settings. My only criticism of the controls is that the brightness appears to be reset to 30 every time you turn it on. I wish it would stay in the position I’ve placed it. It contains two USB-C ports in addition to the mini-HDMI port to suit the scenario of powering the item from one USB port while feeding it video from another. A power switch and a headphone jack are also included. Lepow has also included speakers in the unit, making it an all-in-one media center.

Putting the Lepow to Use

Lepow makes it simple to stand up the monitor at various angles by employing a magnet-attached back cover. It comes with a small sticky strip at the top that holds a lightweight screen protector in place. It can be used with the screen protector on, which is definitely a good idea if you’ll be using it in a dusty environment or if you believe it might get scratched, but the display looks sharper without it.

I expected a lot of tweaking to get the display to work with different devices, but I was pleasantly pleased by how simple it was. I started by connecting it to a USB-C connection on my Pixel Slate. It showed as a second display as soon as I turned it on. I didn’t have to make any adjustments to the settings. The only thing that bothers me is that it’s tempting to touch the screen, but it isn’t a touch-friendly display.

With my Huawei Mate 20 Pro, I had a similar positive experience. The display instantly sprang to life, and the phone guided me through using it as a mirror, my phone, or with Huawei’s EMUI Desktop mode. You may use your phone as a touchpad in this mode, and optionally attach a keyboard or mouse, all of which drive the external display. It was enjoyable to use, and I could picture using it to do serious work if I didn’t have a laptop with me, once you got used to the notion that you can’t simply touch the display to interact with it.

Another good feature is that it charges your phone while you’re using it when you connect it to a phone through USB-C and then to a charger via its other USB-C connector. When you use your phone as a desktop, you won’t have to worry about running out of battery. When it comes to phones, the desktop mode is unfortunately device-dependent. It doesn’t appear to function with Google’s Pixel phones, but it claims to work with most modern Samsung and Huawei phones, as well as a few others.

With my Dell Precision 5540 laptop, I too had a straightforward experience utilizing the display. Over the USB-C cable, it received both video and power, and it operated well. If you don’t have a laptop with a powered USB-C port or if you need to utilize HDMI, you can simply use a second USB cable to charge. The display appeared to be sharp and vibrant, though no one would mistake it for the Dell’s high-end IPS 4K panel.

Although profiling helps, the Lepow is still no match for a high-end display. It’s fine for most applications, but because it only covers 65 percent of sRGB, you won’t want to use it for color-critical work.