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Portable monitors, unlike laptop displays, don’t all have built-in protection. When you travel with your laptop, you close it, in turn protecting the display. The rest of the laptop covers the display and adds some structural rigidity to it. Portable monitors don’t have these benefits. So, if you take a portable monitor with you, it’s a good idea to have a sleeve or cover for the screen itself to protect it from scratching, and you’ll want to ensure it won’t get bent in your bag. Thankfully, many portable monitors come with covers and sleeves. Most also include some sort of stand, so you can p

Portable monitors don’t have any inherent advantages for gaming. Many are built with lower-quality display panels and have low refresh rates. Many I’ve tested suffer from some ghosting, which doesn’t impact day-to-day use heavily but negatively affects gaming. Low refresh rates also keep games from looking as smooth. That said, plenty of portable monitors have special gaming optimizations. You can find models with fast 120Hz and higher refresh rates, and some even offer OLED panels, which exhibit almost no ghosting. That said, most portable monitors are larger than the screens on mobile gaming

If you own a tablet, there’s a good chance you can use it as a portable monitor. Many iPads work with more recent Macs as extra monitors. Some Android tablets will work similarly with Windows PCs, either with their own tools or with third-party software, like SuperDisplay, an app I’ve used to run a Galaxy Tab S7 Plus as a portable monitor for my Windows laptops. Many tablets have high-quality displays that rival portable monitors. They also offer touch controls and are also tablets when not connected to a computer. There can be drawbacks, though. Wireless connections aren’t always reliable. Pl

The 16-inch Arzopa Z1RC is the best portable monitor I’ve tested, checking off almost every box for what makes a good everyday portable monitor. It's got slim bezels and a lightweight design, so you don’t have too much extra to carry. I don't just rank the Z1RC at the top of the pack for its design, though: It has good technical specifications and delivers on performance, too. Around $100, it’s also one of the most affordable options I've tested. Read more: Best Gaming Monitors If you need advice on whether a particular type of monitor is right for you, there are some answers to common questio