Best portable monitor 2020: top USB screens for working from home and remote working

With the continuing spread of the coronavirus (aka COVID-19) across the world, many companies are seeking to accommodate remote working for all employees to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus while also limiting any impact on productivity.  

Here we feature the best in portable monitors to spruce up your new home office - but also check out our feature on the best office chairs around today.

Buying a portable monitor is a great way of easily expanding your workspace – especially if you use a laptop or work from home.

Rather than having to plug in a big and unwieldy monitor, which often need their own stands and power supplies, the best portable monitors can quickly and easily plug into your laptop or PC using a USB cable, quickly and easily giving you more room to work on.

This gives you the benefit of having a secondary monitor, and can really improve your productivity. Having more desktop to work on means you can have more windows and apps open at once. 

You could also use one monitor to display a single program full screen, like your email client.

The best portable monitors also allow you to take this multi-screen setup out and about with you, and many monitor manufacturers are putting out thin and light models that are just as good as their full-sized brethren. Apple even lets you use an iPad as a portable monitor these days. 

No matter if you're writing, doing graphic design work, coding or working as a call center assistant, having a secondary monitor can let your desktop have some breathing room, spreading apps out in a more natural way. 

So, we went ahead and picked out the best portable monitors on the market right now, all using the latest display technology. And, because we've included our exclusive price comparison tool, you can find the best deal quick, because we know it's a busy world out there. 

The Asus ZenScreen MB16A Portable Monitor is one of the nicest-looking USB monitors we’ve seen, and it comes with a number of features and design considerations that make it an incredibly handy device, and one of the best portable monitors. However, it comes at a price, with the ZenScreen proving to be more expensive than many of the other portable monitors on this list. However, the build and image quality of this screen makes it well worth the extra money. Fans of Asus' ZenBook laptops should be particularly interested in this device, as it has a design that compliments Asus' high-end laptops nicely.

The Asus MB169C+ isn’t quite as portable as Packed Pixels, but its 15.6-inch size makes using it feel more like using a regular monitor. It has a healthy pixel-resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, which is perfect for streaming full HD video, working with two applications side-by-side and even gaming if you have a sufficiently powerful laptop.

The MB169C+ is incredibly simple to use thanks to its USB-C connection, which uses a single cable to transmit video, sound and power. It also comes in a handy protective sleeve that doubles up as a carrying case. Asus’ portable monitor uses an in-plane switching (IPS) display, which brings decent viewing angles making it perfect for watching video with a friend.

Aimed at photographers who need a monitor to take on shoots, the Gechic 1101P features an IPS display like the Asus MB169C+. However, this one is smaller at 11.6 inches and more portable, allowing to be easily attached to a tripod or SLR camera while out in the field.

This full HD display supports 16.7 million colors which can easily be tweaked using the monitor’s onboard color temperature settings, allowing you to get it as close to your camera’s display as possible

The 1101P is also well-connected, featuring support for VGA, micro HDMI and mini DisplayPort. These make it suitable for a number of different use cases – from previewing photos and videos shot on a camera to being used as a normal portable monitor with your laptop.

If you like the sound of the Asus MB169C+ but don’t have a laptop with a USB-C connection, then the Asus MB169B+ is what you need.

This one also connects to your laptop with a single cable, except it uses a regular USB-A port instead. It works with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, though you’ll experience noticeably more latency with the former due to its slower data transfer rate.

Still, it features the same alluring slim and lightweight design. Thanks to Asus EzLink tech, which offloads the graphics processing from the PC to dedicated hardware in the monitor, you can even hook up five of them if your laptop has enough USB ports.

This portable monitor from AOC isn’t going to beat either of the Asus models on our list due to its comparatively lower pixel-resolution of 1,600 x 900.

However, its lower resolution means that it’s going to be less taxing on your laptop’s battery life. Taking that into account, and the fact that it’s the largest portable monitor on our list at 17.3 inches, and the E1759Fwu suddenly becomes an interesting option if you’re into streaming video on the move.

And, because it’s a few years old, you’ll pick it up for much less than competing portable monitors. With its thin and light dimensions and glossy black frame, it doesn’t exactly look archaic – it just isn’t as multi-talented as newer and flashier alternatives.

• Also check out our 10 best full-sized monitors