Raspberry Pi Monitor Review: Well-built portable monitor that works with any HDMI-capable device

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Raspberry Pi has long made accessories, like the official keyboard and mouse you can use with its single-board computers and now the company is adding a portable monitor to the mix. No this isn’t another tiny tablet-size screen like the Touch Display 2; instead it is a 15.6 inch 1080p 60Hz display, designed to match the Raspberry Pi 500, official Raspberry Pi 5 case, and official keyboard and mouse.

Though the $100 Raspberry Pi Monitor is built to work with Raspberry Pi computers, it uses a standard-size HDMI port to get video input so it can work with just about any type of device, including a laptop, a desktop or game console. Thanks to superior build quality, good image quality and fantastic built-in kickstand – a feature many competitors lack – this screen competes with the best portable monitors for any use case and is worth your money even if you don’t own or want a Raspberry Pi.

The only real catch for laptop users is that it requires an HDMI connection for video and a separate, USB-C connection for power. Its USB-C port can’t accept video signals. So if you want to hook it up to a laptop, you need a laptop with an HDMI port or you need a USB-C to HDMI adapter and then you need a second cable for USB-C power.

Raspberry Pi Monitor Technical Specifications

Raspberry Pi Monitor Design

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

My review unit came in on-brand red and white, matching the Raspberry Pi mouse and many official Raspberry Pi cases. The front of the monitor has a large bezel to the base, with a cut-out to route cables, and two front facing speakers. The three remaining bezels are 8mm thickness, enough to protect the screen without making the unit bulky. Apart from the Raspberry Pi logo, that’s it for the front. The controls are on the back, as is the power indicator. Around the back is a power button, and two rocker style switches for brightness and volume control. You’ll get the hang of using them soon enough.

So where do I plug in my HDMI cable? Underneath the hinged kickstand there are ports for full size HDMI, USB Type-C power and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The stand locks into place with a reassuring “click” when not in use. Pulling it out is easy enough, and the stand can be fully extended to become “a hook” on which we can hang the monitor. But it would be better practice to use the included VESA mount instead as they are designed for the job. The hinge itself is strong, and has plenty of friction to keep the monitor secure and upright.

The kickstand alone makes this monitor stand out against the sea of portable monitors in the same price range. Most portable monitors, even expensive ones, require you to use a folding “origami-style” case to prop them up and those cases are always flimsy, leading to your monitor flopping over if you brush against it. A built-in kickstand is a very welcome and important feature and this kickstand seems very sturdy and it’s even adjustable so you can get different angles.

Overall the design matches the Raspberry Pi brand aesthetic. It doesn’t look like it is made for children, nor does it look like a gaming monitor; it just looks like a good design that will work for most users.

Viewing Angles, Screen Brightness and Audio

Because it is an IPS panel, the viewing angles are great. Face on, the screen is sharp and bright. Moving our head to the side of the panel, and we can see it get duller, but the image never blanks out. I tested at full brightness and everything was great. At 60% brightness (the maximum when powering the unit from a Pi) the viewing angles were still great.

The screen has a typical brightness of 250cd/m2 according to Raspberry Pi’s product brief. In our tests we recorded 301 Nits at the center of the screen and 271 nits on average for all points on the screen. For daylight use, say near a window, you will need to crank the brightness up, but the monitor never felt dark during my testing.

Though colors looked pretty vibrant to the naked eye, the results from our colorimeter were mediocre, but keep in mind that this is a $100 portable monitor and not made for artwork. The standard Red, Green Blue (sRGB) color space test, which defines the range of colors that can be displayed on a monitor came back at 63.5%, less than the 75.1% that we recorded for the Elecrow CrowView portable monitor. The DCI-P3 test, another color space test, but for film industry and high end devices, came back at 45%. This is 30% lower than the Elecrow CrowView.

Technically, this puts the monitor firmly in the below average category for color space, but it looked more than excellent in anecdotal use and we would not expect to use it for photo editing. Putting aside all of the testing, and using my own eyes, the picture is clear and bright. I could happily use this as a second display, and as my primary means to hack around with a Raspberry Pi.

Audio playback is decent. We’re not going to play our favorite songs using this monitor, but for basic audio output it will do the job. The two front-facing speakers offer good separation, and audio recorded for a specific channel is reproduced well on that channel, with no interference on the other. Any sound which is “in front” of us (mixing both channels) was clear. Testing for buzzing / rattling we played a range of frequencies from 44Hz to 20KHz at full volume. There was no buzz or rattling to be heard.

I wanted to test how it handled music, so I played Charlotte de Witte’s Tomorrowland Brazil set. This is a mix of orchestral and deep bass techno which should tax the speakers. It did indeed. The deep rich bass notes were gone, the mids and highs were there, but the speakers lacked the punch to deliver what the set deserved. But, we have to state that these are not audiophile grade speakers, but they do a decent job for most audio requirements. If you are worried about the audio quality, the 3.5mm audio jack can be used with your choice of speaker.

Power Consumption

The Raspberry Pi Monitor is powered via USB Type-C. This can be in the form of an official Raspberry Pi PSU, or we can power the monitor from the Pi itself using a spare USB port. But as you will later find out, this didn’t go to plan.
With a dedicated PSU, the monitor can use 100% brightness and volume, unlike powering from the Pi. That limits the brightness to 60% and volume to 50%. For this test I kept the volume at 50% and while playing a video on my Raspberry Pi 500 I changed the brightness levels and recorded the voltage and current. A little math and we can calculate the power consumption.

At 100% brightness, only the PSU powered monitor could provide a test result. It pulled 5.11W from the PSU, a low amount considering the brightness.The first comparable test between PSU and Raspberry Pi power sources is at 60%. The PSU pulled 3.96W, and interestingly the Raspberry Pi powered monitor only pulled 2.10. This is a trend that we would see repeated at 50% (3.71W for PSU, 2W for Pi) and 25% (3.16W PSU and 1.62W for Pi) brightness levels. Interestingly, when powered from one of the Raspberry Pi’s USB 3 ports, the voltage was much lower, around 4.88V. The dedicated PSU which supplied 5.01V. Playing audio at any volume had no measurable impact on power consumption.

It seems that when connected to a dedicated PSU, the Raspberry Pi Monitor is a little more greedy. Powering from the Raspberry Pi is useful, and 60% brightness is plenty for most users. The monitor's power draw will add to the power draw of the Raspberry Pi, but if you are using the official power supply, all is good!

Can I use the Raspberry Pi Monitor with Older Raspberry Pi?

The short answer is yes, but we found that powering the monitor from USB required the Raspberry Pi 5. I tried a Raspberry Pi 4, powering the Pi 4 using the official 27W USB Type-C PSU for the Pi 5, which outputs 5V at a maximum current of 5A, and the official Raspberry Pi 4 PSU which outputs 5.1V at 3A. Both should have ample power for the Pi 4 and the monitor. Despite working once, then powering off, I couldn’t get the monitor to power reliably from the Pi 4. I managed to get to the BIOS / POST screen, but the image was corrupted and the Pi put itself into a boot loop. This did not happen for any of our Raspberry Pi 5 or Pi 500 tests, so it seems that despite the Raspberry Pi 4 being able to deliver 1.2A (set by default now) via USB, the monitor was not playing ball.
So our recommendation is to always power your monitor from an external power source.

Who is the Raspberry Pi Monitor For?

The obvious answer is those who want a dedicated Raspberry Pi battlestation. But we can see this being used in bedrooms, makerspaces and schools all over the world. It's light and thin enough to be portable and we can guess that an enterprising company will make a case to protect it on the go.

The not-as-obvious but still valid answer is “anyone who needs a portable monitor.” The build quality and kickstand and overall image quality make this a great choice for use with a laptop so you can have a second screen while you’re on a trip. Yes, you’ll have to plug in two cables – one for HDMI and one for USB-C power – but this is a very minor trade-off.

Bottom Line

Whether you need a dedicated Raspberry Pi battlestation, or you are a parent who wants their child to have a Raspberry Pi as their first computer, this monitor will be the one to go for. There are many portable monitor alternatives, but if you’ve bought into the Raspberry Pi brand, you are going to want one of these.

Personally I like the monitor, it is bright and portable. Audio playback isn’t the greatest, but I don’t really use my “work” Pi for music. The screen is bright, and powering from the Raspberry Pi’s USB is a useful feature. I quite like this little monitor, and I’ll be using it with my many Raspberry Pis for the foreseeable future.

If you are a Pi user, but you also need a second screen to use with your laptop when you’re traveling, this is an excellent choice. The same image quality, fantastic kickstand and lightweight convenience apply whether the monitor is plugged into a single-board computer or a full-fledged PC or Mac.

• TheBeastFromOz

  Here in Australia it appears to only be available from Cytron for US$110, but shipping is a ridiculous US$95, so completely pointless. None of the Oz RasPi resellers have it available, so I guess we don't get to buy it unless we are willing to get ripped off with shipping...

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