The KYY 15.6-inch Portable Monitor is a classy and functional portable monitor that works well as a permanent second monitor while traveling or for home and office use.
This portable display panel is lightweight and sturdy, making it a solid accessory for playing games. This greatly expands the field of view when using mobile phones or game consoles with smaller screens.
The large screen easily adapts to landscape or portrait orientation. Its multi-mode viewing feature offers built-in flexibility to improve work productivity as well as make leisure time fun and hassle-free.
Switching between modes depends on the performance features of the host computer. If provided, you use the computer’s display and orientation settings for Scene Mode, HDR Mode, and Three-in-One Display Mode view. The combination of Duplicate Mode/Extension Mode/Second Screen Mode makes this model quite suitable for meeting sharing scenarios.
Overall, this KYY portable monitor packs an impressive list of features at a low cost purchase. It’s currently available on Amazon in gray (pictured above) for a list price of $199.99, or in black for $219.99. At the time of this writing, Amazon has a “deal with” price for both colors at $161.49.
hands-on impressions
The brightness rating of this unit is 300 nits. By most standards, 300 nits is the mid-point for bright and clear visual acuity. Most low-end devices display at 250 nits.
Color saturation is slightly below the industry standard because this unit lacks Adobe RBG. But unless you intend to do a lot of graphic work and demand the best visual experience for gameplay and video viewing, not having Adobe RBG in the mix shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.
Despite these two factors, I was very satisfied with the 300-nit display’s sharpness and brightness. It was as good or better as my laptop and larger screen desktop monitor.
Overall, this portable monitor works with Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, and Mac Gear. It also plays well with game consoles including PS3, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
objective test
To evaluate portable monitors, I focus on one unit’s performance as another display. It is important to make sure that you make a suitable selection.
Portable monitors attached to computers and game consoles differ from a full desktop monitor. Portable monitors are convenient. But they may not be suitable enough to meet all your expectations.
For example, I often drag windows to another screen to expand screen real estate when working on various documents or video presentations. They come in handy when working on content creation or research.
Simultaneous: The 14″ x 8″ viewing screen at 16:9 aspect ratio offers a fine-tuned second viewing panel next to a large-screen portable laptop.
This is an easy way to cut down on always navigating around multiple windows spread across multiple virtual workspaces, all of which share a single monitor. Keeping track of two side-by-side screens with different objects is a new habit for me.
This KYY portable display did its job well for graphics editing as well. It performed as well as the more expensive units I used with my office laptop and desktop.
My only complaint with this unit is a finicky toggle on the left vertical edge that wasn’t always responsive enough to access the panel’s menus for brightness settings.
what’s inside
The 15.6-inch unit sports a 1080p FHD IPS USB-C display. This is not a touch screen. But its performance and price offer a good collection of features.
Its slim profile of 0.3 inches is pretty standard for a portable monitor. The right vertical edge houses two USB Type-C full function ports and a mini-HDMI port. On the left vertical edge are an on/off button for settings and a toggle wheel for audio and video functions.
The first USB-C port is used for power supply. The second USB-C port is used for video transmission and power supply. Mini-HDMI port is used for video transmission but does not support power supply.
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This is an important distinction. Portable monitors do not require a wall socket if the host computer or game console supports power through its Type-C USB port. But if you connect both the devices with HDMI cable, then you should use power plug for AC.
The KYY monitor comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable that can be connected to the included power plug as well as other devices. Two USB-C cables are also included.
The assortment of included cables and plugs is compatible with most laptops, smartphones, and PCs. However, not all smartphones are compatible.
You can plug a 3.5mm headphone into a port on the bottom left vertical edge of the panel. Two one-watt speakers are built into the middle of the left and right outer edges.
final thoughts
The KYY 15.6-inch Portable Monitor is an affordable solution for accessing your computing time for working, watching videos and gaming. It does not require any additional software and requires only minimal setup.
Once connected to the computer by cable, the host machine’s display settings will automatically detect the second monitor. You just select the options it provides for how you want it to work with your main display.
