Setup and General Usage
When it comes to monitors, portable or not, this Lepow portable monitor was probably as easiest as it will get from unboxing it to using it. The Lepow monitor supports numerous electronic devices from laptops to smartphones to the latest gaming consoles, all by utilizing the included cables, power supply, and, if needed, the adapter for your device. Regarding laptops, as long as you have an HDMI or USB-C port, you are good to go. The moment you power on the monitor, your OS will detect it and make use of it right away. To make use of it with a smartphone or gaming console, you will need to ensure you have the proper adapter and ensure you are using the power supply that came with the Lepow monitor too.
We utilized a newer Dell XPS laptop with its USB-C port as the display output for our tests. The USB-C port on the laptop could also power the Lepow monitor, so that would be one less item you would have to pack if you were ever to take the monitor travelling. If we were to utilize the HDMI port, we would need to use the power supply that came with the Lepow monitor.
The testing done with the Lepow 15.6″ Z1-Gamut Portable Monitor was done while working from home and used as a secondary monitor.
When the Lepow monitor was plugged in and first turned on, its default colour leaned more toward a cooler, bluer temperature setting. In further detail, the background image was removed and replaced with a solid white background. As you can see in the above image, the Lepow on the left does have a more blue or cooler look. This colour discrepancy can be addressed with the on-screen menu controls of the Lepow and compensating with the RGB values that you can modify.
To dive a bit further down the correct colour path, we used the X-Rite ColorMonki display calibrator. Now, by no means is this monitor meant for professional photo editing. Still, it was an interesting exercise to get the Lepow monitor to match the Dell XPS laptop screen’s colouring. We did find that even after setting up a colour profile, the blue/cooler tint of the screen was still present.
Another twist in the test was more gear towards the work that is done while we’re working from home, and that is of an embedded Linux software developer. That means we stare at code on screens all day, lots and lots of code. So what does a developer do with a secondary monitor? They will rotate it to a portrait orientation so they can look at more code lines than one can when a monitor is in landscape orientation. The Lepow was not designed specifically to be used in a portrait orientation, well not out the box. The monitor has its video input on one side of the screen and its power input on the other side of the screen, so unless you can supply power via the USB-C port like we can with the Dell XPS, then you would require a stand that can lift the monitor up off the desktop to allow sufficient clearance for the power cable. How did the Lepow perform in portrait mode? It is not too shabby though it eventually did fall over as the cover/stand that it comes with cannot hold the shifting of the monitor’s weight. If one used a tablet mount or stand that can grip the sides of the monitor, it could work fine as a secondary monitor to read code this way or even be used to display chat during a gaming streaming session.
Gaming
When it comes to gaming, the Lepow Z1-Gamut Portable Monitor was not made specifically for gaming, but that does not mean you cannot use it to play games. You will not get a high-end gaming experience while using it, but it would work in a pinch with a console such as a PS4 or Xbox One. It could let you take your Android smartphone gaming to the next level by offering a larger screen to play on, though. We spun up the PS4 and loaded up Red Read Redemption 2. The Lepow Z1-Gamut Protable Monitor was able to showcase how beautiful a world Arthur lives in with clarity and crispness you would expect from an HD IPS LCD monitor. The overall feel of the Lepow was acceptable for being used as a temporary gaming or mobile monitor. Although not fantastic, the dual speakers would work too, though you would probably want to run a set of headphones via the 3.5mm audio jack.