Electronic Silk Road Corp ESR 15.6" 1080P Portable Electronic Monitor USB C HDMI Portable Monitor with Adjustable Stand External Laptop Monitor and Travel Laptop Monitor for Mac/Tablet/Phone/Switch Silver
First let me say that with TL:DR you are only good at getting a 1080p monitor that works best in low to moderate light and may not perform as well in bright light, get that monitor! Stay tuned for more details.
There are three things ESR has done well that really make me want to keep this thing. One of them is a pane of glass. Yes, it gets fingerprints easily, but after cleaning it looks great. It's very easy to see and is reminiscent of Apple's Clean Screen. It's elegant. The other is the predicate! Why can't other manufacturers do this? ! ? Honestly, that's what sold me on this screen. All other portable monitor mounts are rubbish and I honestly don't trust them to protect my screen. But they do a pretty good job in this area. Not only does it come with a sturdy, stable, and connected stand, but ESR also integrates all I/O cables into the stand instead of on the monitor side! It's incredible! I hate portable monitors with wires sticking out the side. Not only are they more vulnerable to shocks, but it also means you can't place the screens next to each other. So getting the cables out of the way is really a clever and useful design feature and I don't see why anyone else making monitors would get this right.
But then I opened it and realized my mistake and why I couldn't keep it. SEE IT'S ONLY 1080P - BRIEF STORY RUMAGE: I bought this monitor to replace a 15.6" 4K KYY portable monitor I bought because it was stuck in a situation that required no entry here. In the middle of the night I jumped onto Amazon with a severe stomach ache and saw this ESR deal. It has great features and is for sale. I have to replace but in my partial madness from fatigue and stomachache, I forgot the KYY monitor was 4k - so I put this one on and immediately realized I could basically see individual pixels. Like looking at a 2005 LCD. My eyes hurt. Compared to Thinkbooks and Acer monitors, my work has been published, but it's a tough transition from my MacBook to the ESR and back again. While it's not entirely fair to compare it to Apple's Retina display with barely noticeable pixels, I do use a 9 year old MacBook Pro (as of October 2022) which still has a much better screen. Using them together, even remotely, can be challenging. Unfortunately I decided to return it.
Another major complaint I only had marginally was the brightness, though I've heard others say that. At just 250 nits, that's almost criminally low. Since glass is more susceptible to glare and reflections, you need brighter screens to combat glare. It's amazing how much brighter screens can be found on similar products, and that glass front desperately needs a bright screen in low light. This is so low - and that's it - that's a huge black flag for this product, and quite honestly the main reason I'm only giving it 4 stars.
Another catch is mini-HDMI. It's kind of a bad driver and I don't see any reason to use mini ESR instead of standard ESR. Not only does it require a special cable or adapter (so you can use a standard HDMI cable anywhere), but the mini connector isn't as robust as a standard HDMI connector. Stop using HDMI mini. to stop.
I did not test the speakers when I picked them up due to screen issues. But I bet they are not that good. However, it's hard to say anything negative about this tiny amplifier that isn't a selling point. On the rare occasions that I need it, I'm happy to have it. Also, one of the issues I've had with other monitors is that I haven't tested it on this device to see if it works perfectly with a USB-C connection. That's probably not an issue with this monitor, since it's 1080p, not 4K. But I mention this because two 4K monitors I've tried say they can be powered via a single USB-C cable, which isn't true at all. This is my complaint with my KYY 4k (RIP) monitor. Whether you connect it to your computer via HDMI or USB-C, you always need another USB-C. So I don't know if this is a problem.
- Crisp Colors See stunning detail across the entire picture at ultra-smooth 60 frames per second with Full HD 1080p and HDR10.
- Slim and Portable: Thanks to the slim design, you can enjoy the convenience of a secondary screen anytime, anywhere.
- GET ON YOUR WAY: Fully adjustable mount with full 180 degrees of motion for optimal viewing on any terrain.
- CONNECT MORE, PLAY MORE: Choose from many different devices for instant play including PC, Mac, MacBook, Tablet, Android Phone, Xbox, PS5/4, Switch and more.