The Plugable USB-C Portable Monitor (USBC-PDMON) is a relatively low-cost 15.6-inch full-HD display that differentiates itself by going all-in on USB-C and including both power and data pass-throughs to serve as a sort of hub for the connected computer. As useful as that may be for laptops with just one USB-C port, the Plugable display does very little else to prove itself a worthy product.
Its design, while simple, is uninspiring and feels cheap. Its capabilities are also quite simple, and while that means you won't have to fuss around with complex settings, you're also left with very little you can do to customize your experience. Round it all out with a display that is only modestly sharp and respectably bright but outright lacking in color gamut, and you get an underwhelming piece of tech. At $199, it's not overly expensive, and it can be found for less, but the $179 Innoview INVPM501 and $189 Arzopa Z1RC offer significantly better displays. Though neither is quite as bright, they're both much more colorful and almost always on sale.
Plugable USB-C Portable Monitor
| Price | $200 |
|---|---|
| Size (diagonal) | 15.6 inch (39.6 cm) |
| Panel and backlight | IPS, LED |
| Flat or curved | Flat |
| Resolution and pixel density | 1,920x1,080; 141 ppi |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 |
| Maximum gamut | 68% sRGB |
| Brightness (nits, peak/typical) | 300/300 |
| HDR | N/A |
| Adaptive sync | N/A |
| Max vertical refresh rate | 60Hz |
| Gray-to-gray response time | n/a |
| Connections | USB-C (x3, 75-watt PD) |
| Audio | N/A |
| VESA mountable | No |
| Panel warranty | Two-year limited warranty |
The Plugable USB-C Portable Monitor is rather basic-looking with little to spark visual interest. It's surrounded by rounded plastic bezels that, while not large, look rather dated. The rear casing is all plastic as well and feels quite flexible, which doesn't bode well for durability. And at 1.8 pounds, it doesn't even make the monitor terribly light. Around the back, the monitor takes a turn toward interesting. It has a stand that latches into a circular cutout in the back in much the same way a camera lens' cover latches in place.
The stand is a series of folding panels that can roll up to form a triangle and prop up the monitor from behind, or they can sit in front of the monitor and let its bottom edge sit in either of the two grooves they form for it. Unfortunately, this doesn't create a lot of different angle adjustments for the monitor, nor does it provide secure support. Vertical orientations also aren't really suited to the support structure, though it is possible with the monitor leaning back at almost 45 degrees.
When not in use, the stand's panels wrap around the front of the monitor, where they magnetically latch into place and double as a display cover. To be fair, we've come across portable display covers that were considerably more awkward to use. Plugable's is functional if inelegant -- a sentiment that largely applies to the monitor as a whole.
The right side of the monitor includes three buttons and three USB-C ports (no HDMI, mini or otherwise). Plugable keeps it really simple. One port is for auxiliary power input. One port is just for a connection to a computer, and this port also can provide 75-watt power delivery to that connected computer, though the monitor can also receive power over this connection allowing for a single-cable setup.
The third USB-C port serves as a simple hub, letting you connect peripherals to your PC through it or connect another hub. These ports are not mix-and-match, though. The only one that can serve two different purposes is the auxiliary power port, which can be used for data instead if you don't need pass-through power.
The display's three buttons are as simple as can be. One increases brightness, one decreases brightness, and the third cycles through the monitor's five color profiles. There are no additional settings, and even though there is a "user" color profile, there are no means of tailoring it to your tastes beyond simply changing the brightness level.
Color measurements
| Profile | Gamut (% coverage) | White point | Gamma | Typical brightness (nits) | Contrast | Accuracy (DE1976 average/max) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cool | 68% (sRGB); 52% (P3) | 7900K | 2.3 | 330.5 | 910:1 | 2.61/9.02 |
| Normal | 67% (sRGB); 51% (P3) | 6200K | 2.3 | 380.6 | 1050:1 | 1.72/7.77 |
| Warm | 66% (sRGB); 51% (P3) | 5700K | 2.3 | 356.7 | 990:1 | 1.5/7.46 |
| sRGB | 66% (sRGB); 51% (P3) | 6400K | 2.2 | 159.4 | 470:1 | 1.01/8.04 |
| User | 68% (sRGB); 52% (P3) | 7000K | 2.3 | 392.6 | 1160:1 | 2.78/7.79 |
Just as its hardware proved effective but inelegant, so did the Plugable's visuals. The IPS panel Plugable used here is quite basic, with a six-bit native color depth with dithering to achieve eight-bit-per-channel color. The result is thoroughly underwhelming, with the panel achieving just 68% coverage of the sRGB color space at its best and 66% at its worst. This leaves the display looking quite drab for all sorts of content. Even a spreadsheet can use a splash of vibrant color every now and then.
The display is bright at least, hitting nearly 400 nits at its brightest and generally exceeding 300 nits. Paired with an antiglare finish, that makes for high visibility in most environments. The contrast is also respectable for an IPS panel, managing to reach 1,160:1 in the User profile, so at the very least, black text on a white background does look decent.
The various picture profiles do at least provide some variation to the color temperature, providing a cooler 7900K in the Cool setting that's fine for daytime use and a more comfortable 5700K in the Warm profile for evening use. None of the settings are very color-accurate, though, with most offering an average dE1976 below 3 but with a few colors exceeding a dE1976 of 7.
At the end of the day, Plugable's first attempt at a portable monitor is a good one, and in a crowded market of no-name options, it has brand recognition in its favor. The extra USB-C port certainly earns it some additional consideration, and while not perfect, the display's stand cover gets the job done and doesn't easily fall off like others we've tested. If color performance is your primary concern, you'll want to keep looking, but if all you want is more room to work, the Plugable USB-C Portable Monitor does that at a fair price.
How we test monitors
Measurements for the Plugable USB-C Portable Monitor (USBC-PDMON) were taken using a Spyder X2 Ultra colorimeter using DataColor's Spyder X2 software for SDR. Color accuracy measurement results are reported in Delta E 1976 using Datacolor's 48-color patch test.
In addition, HDR results were gathered using the VESA DisplayHDR Test app's patterns to display 100% and 10% windows for brightness measurements as well as RGBW values, again measured using the Spyder X2 Ultra, to get CIE xyY color values and compared against the DCI-P3 color space's xyY color values to calculate HDR gamut coverage using this gamut calculator.
On the most basic monitors, we may stick with just brightness, contrast and color gamut, while on more capable displays, we may run tests of most user-selectable modes for gaming or color-critical usage, uniformity and so on. For the color work, we may also run tests to verify how white point accuracy varies with brightness. We also use Blur Busters' motion tests to judge motion artifacts (such as ghosting) or refresh rate-related problems that can affect gaming.
Keep in mind that individual results can vary from a manufacturer's reported results for a variety of reasons. For instance, you can be using a different set of color patches for the accuracy tests (as I do), a different colorimeter (as most individuals do), a different way of calculating (such as determining gamut using RGB and CMY primaries rather than the more common RGB only), monitor settings (manufacturers rarely provide the OSD settings used for its tests) and so on.
