ViewSonic VA1655 15.6 Inch 1080p Portable IPS Monitor with a Built-in Stand, Mobile Ergonomics, USB C, Mini HDMI and Protective Case for Home and Office,Black

I've only had this monitor for about a week, but I've already used it in so many different ways....I primarily work from home and I like to move around the house throughout my workday. Unfortunately, to be efficient in what I do, I really need at least two screens most of the time. I have two large full-size monitors in my home offiice, but they're bulky and a pain to move around. I recently read an article saying that single-board computer maker OrangePi was releasing a portable monitor and I was intrigued. That lead me to start looking at options.As it turns out, there are a ton of portable monitors on the market, many cheaper than this one, but most of the ones I saw were from no-name manufacturers and I was concerned about their quality. In the end, I narrowed down my options to this one and one made by Asus. ViewSonic is a brand that I've know and trusted since the days of CRTs and, while I've never owned an Asus monitor before, I've been a big fan of their motherboards for many years. The Asus monitor, however, only had USB-C input, which made it a deal breaker, so I went with the ViewSonic.The monitor is roughly the size and thickness of a laptop screen. It has a kickstand on the back that allows it to be positioned at any viewing angle. There are two USB-C ports, one mini HDMI port, and an 1/8" audio jack on the left side, a status LED on the right side, and two small speakers and a single four-way rocker button to control the settings on the back. The package included a 3ft USB-C cable, a 4ft HDMI to mini HDMI cable, and a Neoprene storage sleeve.I bought this monitor mainly to use with my newer MacBook that I have for for work, but I also planned to use it with my older personal MacBook which only has a mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt connector on it, which is why the HDMI input was important to me. With USB-C the monitor can pull power from the device it's connected to, but it can also be powered on it's own with a simple phone charger via the second USB-C port. HDMI connections don't provide power, so a power adapter is needed when using the HDMI port. The power adapter is not included, but pretty much any recent phone charger will do.So, I said this thing has been extremely versatile, right? How have I been using it? Well...My initial plan was to use it to work from the kitchen table, which I've been doing. I usually start my day by looking over my email and Slack message while I eat breakfast and now I can do that more efficiently by not having to move windows around as I look up things to form my email replies.I've also found it useful to work from the couch in the evening. I set up the monitor on the end table and connect it to my laptop on my lap and I can easily take care of a bunch of the administrative busywork that I need to do while I watch TV. Doing this has let me stay more focused on meaningful work during the day.I can also connect my Samsung phone to this monitor and, with Samsung's DeX feature and a Bluetooth keyboard, I can use my phone as a full desktop. I admittedly don't have a ton of use for this, but it's still kind of cool. The phone's battery can power the screen if I want, but if I connect a charger to the second USB-C port on the screen will actually feed power back to my phone to keep it charged.During the winter, I have my bike set up on a trainer in my basement and I have a book holder that I attach to the handlebars to put my tablet on so I can stream TV while I ride. Well, now that I have this monitor, I can connect it to a Roku and have a much better view than I get from an 8" tablet screen. Unfortunately the trainer makes a lot of noise, so I have to use headphones in order to hear anything. On the tablet I use my Bluetooth headphones, but that's not an option with this, so I'm going to have to look for some kind of Bluetooth adapter.And finally, just yesterday one of my Raspberry Pis stopped responding. Rather than pulling the plug on it to reboot it and hope for the best, I connected this monitor and a keyboard to it and was able to diagnose the problem and do a safe reboot rather than a hard power down.So, as you can see, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. So far I've used the screen on my newer MacBook via USB-C directly, my older MacBook via a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter, a Windows laptop via HDMI, a Roku Express via HDMI, and a Raspberry Pi via HDMI. All have worked flawlessly and I haven't had to touch any settings (other than volume). Color and brightness are good and the screen seems pretty responsive, though I've only used it for web browsing, business apps, Zoom calls, and a little bit of Netflix.My only complaint is with the sound. The speakers are way too small to be very useful and the volume control, witch requires clicking through a couple of menus in the settings panel, is hard to access. It'd be nicer if the speakers were moved to the front or sides of the unit so that the sound would at least be projected toward you, and it would be nice to have dedicated volume control buttons to make adjusting easier, but I can't really complain given that 99% of the time I'll be using the speakers on whatever the monitor is connected to rather than the monitor itself.So, if you're looking for a second monitor for a laptop (or anything else for that matter), you can't go wrong with this one.

I bought the ViewSonic VA1655 last week and received it a few days ago. Here is an early review after connecting it to my stuff.Sharpness:The display is full HD, so it looks fairly sharp. It won't be as sharp as the retina displays of my 14-inch MacBook Pro M! or my 11-inch iPad Pro M2. But I think trying to retina on this portable monitor would be overkill.Brightness:At work, I use a Chromebook that is rated 220 nits. Its display is bright enough, even in the cubical/office space where many big windows expose lots of sunlight. Since the Viwwsonic VA1655 is rated 250 nits, I expected it would be bright enough. It is. I would not expect to be able to use it if I had a huge beam of direct sunlight on the screen, but frankly, I think I'd have some trouble using my iPad or MacBook that way.Colors:I connected the Viewsonic to my MacBook Pro M1, duplicated a photo, and displayed it on the Viewsonic and the MacBook. I did not see a difference. Granted, I am not a photographer, and I am a little colorblind. But I read reviews claiming the colors on the Viewsonic looked washed out, and I did see that. But those with higher standards than mine might want to put in the proper research, since I have read that the Viewsonic color gamut is not real high. Your milage may vary.Gaming:I do not play video games, so I cannot judge how well the Viewsonic handles that. I rated gaming at 3 stars to try to be neutral. And I know that not paying video games might damage my geek cred. I still read comic books.MacBook Pro:The USB-C cable connects to my MacBook Pro and the display and the display instantly shows up. It looks decent side-by-side. Not bad!iPad Pro:The USB-C connection works fine, although I had to find the right Settings and turn on Stage Manager to make the Viewsonic show as an external display without mirroring. I use a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The mouse is needed to navigate the Viewsonic display (I doubt that a touchscreen portable monitor would have touchscreen functionality with the iPad). But it does drain the iPad battery faster. I can plug power into the extra USB-C port on the monitor to charge the iPad, that works fine.iPad Pro and USB hub:I have a USB hub that I use to plug stuff into my iPad (like flash drives and external hard drives or SD drives). When I connected the hub to the iPad Pro, and then connected the USB-C data port on the hub to the Viewsonic, it did not carry a video signal. So I connect the Viewsonic display to the USB hub like this:1. Bluetooth-connect my external keyboard and mouse to the iPad.2. To power the Viewsonic, connect a USB-A-to-USB-C cable to a USB 3.0 port on the hub, then to the USB-C port on the Viewsonic.3. To carry the video signal, connect the Viewsonic HDMI cable to the hub, and then to the Viewsonic mini HDMI port.4. Optional: Plug power into the USB-C PD (power delivery) port on the hub to supply power to the iPad.5. Connect the hub to the iPad USB-C port.From this experience, my advice is if you buy a portable monitor, buy one with an HDMI port, two USB-C ports, and an audio port. I have used them on my Viewsonic VA1655. (Except the audio port, but I am sure it works.)Audio:The speakers sound tinny, but I did not expect good sound from them anyhow.When I connect the Viewsonic to my MacBook Pro, I select the MacBook Pro speakers for better sound.When I plug the Viewsonic into the iPad, the iPad audio automatically switches to the Viewsonic speakers with no option to switch back to the iPad speakers. (I believe this would happen with any portable monitor.) If I want better sound, I can connect to one of my Bluetooth speakers and switch to it. Or I could plug a speaker or headphones into the Viewsonic audio port.The little kickstand:Some reviews comment that the kickstand can break easily. I take that into account when I pull the kickstand out, I open it with care. I get my fingers in underneath, close to the hinge, to avoid stress on that hinge. The kickstand works well, the little rubber feet grip smooth surfaces well (in landscape orientation). The Viewsonic is steady enough on a flat surface in landscape orientation, but portrait is kinda tippy (I am unlikely to use portrait anyhow).Weight and Sturdiness:The Viewsonic VA1655 display is lightweight, which feels nice. It makes my old 22-inch display (lower resolution, so iPad would only allow mirrored display) feel like a boat anchor (I will donate it somewhere). The Viewsonic does feel plasticy, because it is made of plastic. No metal frame to sturdy it up. However, It does not feel flimsy. I keep it in the included pouch when not in use.iPad as a MacBook:The Viewsonic monitor and the USB hub will let me use the iPad more like a MacBook, which I am likely to do if I have to take my MacBook Pro into the shop. I can plug other devices into the hub, like a USB flash drive or an external hard drive or SD drive, but I have read that it is best to not plug too much into the hub at once. I have read that can overwork the iPad USB-C port and give the iPad a heart attack.Price:I bought the Viewsonic VA1655 for about about $100 (normally $140), so it was a very good deal. I am happy with it.

If you want a small second monitor for things like reading Discord, managing your Twitch stream, or anything else, this is a really good one for the price. Its size makes it stow away easily when you're not using it.