For many, gaming is about becoming immersed in the worlds that we are given. And one of the best ways to do just that is to plonk yourself down in front of a big screen, surrounded by the finest visuals and pounded with the greatest noise.
But whilst console gaming has tended to work the massive living room TV scene, leaving the PC brigade to make the most of monitors, those lines are continually being blurred. In fact, in recent times there have been an array of options open to gamers looking to take their playtime away from the communal area. We’ve had the likes of Project xCloud and Xbox Game Pass take Xbox gaming to our phones and laptops, whilst the still brilliant GAEM Sentinel Personal Gaming Environment is something we’ll never tire of using – if only we could fit our Series X lump in it.
There are however other ways to up sticks and game, and that’s where the Lumonitor comes in.
The Lumonitor is a monitor – the name more than suggests that. But this one is self-powered should the need arise, making the most of a built-in battery and lightweight, super-thin design to ensure it can be taken anywhere. And whilst you may not want to lug your heavy Xbox Series X around with it, if you’re looking for a screen to keep you gaming away from your normal comfortable place, this more than does the job. In fact, even if you’re not looking to use the Lumonitor for gaming purposes, it works brilliantly as a second screen when attached to a laptop too.
Lumonitor is a 4K touchscreen-enabled portable monitor, one that, frankly, looks absolutely brilliant. That’s not just in terms of the overall slab aesthetic either, although the well-designed, thin chassis is most certainly of appeal. Nope, the visuals that this thing emits are just as clear as the design itself, with the 15.6” screen pushing out some serious colour, clarity and brightness.
There are multiple display options to play around with – Standard, Game, Movie, Photo, Vivid and Custom – and so grabbing your visuals how you like them is a cinch. We’ve been extremely impressed with how gaming plays out on the Lumonitor and Xbox Series X optimised games like WRC 10 and The Ascent look especially stunning here. I’d go as far to say that even though my ageing eyes rarely let me get too worked up about 1080p this, 4k that and HDR whatever, I think that anyone other than the most hardened pixel peeper would crow about what this screen is able to deliver with absolute joy. In fact, for the everyday layperson who is looking for a screen to game or work from, it’s more than capable of delivering the options, promising anti-glare, anti blue-light and flicker free filtering. Honestly, we care little for stuff like that, but for those who are looking for it…
As gamers, it’s the opportunity to attach the Lumonitor to our Xbox consoles which is the biggest draw and thanks to a 10ms response time, gaming on this is absolutely fine. It connects via the usual HDMI leads that you would tie your console to your TV with, with a Mini-HDMI offering on the Lumonitor itself sitting with a couple of USB-C ports, Micro-USB port and 3.5mm audio jack all present along the sides of the Lumonitor. The options you need are all there. In fact, you can pretty much attach what the hell you want to this thing without any fuss, with the cables you require included in the box too. And should the device you connect allow touchscreen support, you’re covered there too.
A depressable, scrollable wheel button on the left side of the screen ensures that you can set this up how you wish fairly simply too. Admittedly the whole ‘scroll this, press that’ is a little confusing at first, but amending volumes, brightness and other settings through the one button/wheel soon becomes second nature.
The main talking point though is the fact that the Lumonitor is ready to roll whenever you need it. Whether that’s as a gaming screen or a secondary screen for mirroring or extending your work display, it’s up to the job required. Much of this is due to the fact that the Lumonitor comes with an internal power source thrown in. This means that if you don’t have a plug nearby, you’re still capable of rolling as required. Personally, other than to test for review purposes, through use of the Lumonitor attached to an Xbox Series X, an Xbox Series S and a Chromebook, I’ve ensured this thing has been plugged in and powered via USB-C the majority of the time, just because power sources are easily available. If you need to take advantage of internal power though, it’s nice to be able to do so.
The Lumonitor Monitor also comes with its own side-firing speakers built in and whilst these aren’t the finest, with distortion and a bit of a muddle heard at full max when all hell is breaking loose in your games, it’s absolutely passable for everyday use. Still, a good pair of cans on your ears will always be a preferable solution when in any gaming session so don’t ever let what’s included here put you off.
All this ensures that if you’re in the market for a portable monitor that can be easily flung into a backpack and taken with you on your travels, there is absolutely no debating the fact that the Lumonitor should be on your hit list. It’s thin enough and lightweight enough to ensure it can be chucked in a bag without any problem. It’s a shame however that the wraparound magnetic cover that doubles up as a stand requires an extra wad of cash – this should really be included with the Lumonitor as standard.
The only other real downside is that in a world in which travel is still fairly restricted, and life is most certainly different to how it was previously, use case scenarios could well have dropped massively. And besides that, who wants to pack up their Xbox Series X to go with it?! If you do find a need, perhaps hooking it up to an easy-to-pocket Chromecast for some Google Stadia play whilst away from home, you can’t go wrong with the Lumonitor 4K Touchscreen Portable Monitor.
Huge thanks go out to the Lumonitor team for hooking us up with their product for use and review. If you wish to pick up a Lumonitor for yourself, hit them up direct.
