This is my review of the Mobile Pixels Duex Lite Laptop Monitor sponsored by Mott and Bow.
I love big screens. My current at home setup is the LG C1 48″ monitor and my previous setup to that was two 27″ IPS displays from LG as well. I really value screen real estate for my workflows. That makes working on a laptop a bit of a chore when you are used to having multiple windows open at once. And since I travel a lot…I have to deal with limited screen size on a regular basis.
When Mobile Pixels reached out to see if I wanted to review their Duex Light secondary screen for laptops, I was very interested to see if this would solve at least some of my issues while traveling. I have been using it for several weeks now so let’s jump into what I thought.
Mobile Pixels Duex Lite Specs
- 12.5″ FHD or 1080P IPS Display – 10.8”L x 6.1”W viewing area and a 16:9 aspect ratio
- Comes in Two Colors – Cool white or Deep grey
- Lightweight & Portable – Made with durable PC-ABS plastic (1.3 lbs / 0.39″ profile)
- Versatile Compatibility – Compatible with almost any laptop
- Hybrid-Signal Input – Quick connectivity with any laptop with a USB-C or USB-A port
- Current Price (Jan 2022) – $251.99 (30% off stated MSRP)
There is another product in their Duex line, the Plus, that is a 13.2″ display, has one additional USB-C port and offers compatibility with the Nintendo Switch and Samsung Dex (neither of which fit my use case).
Installation and Setup – Duex Lite Monitor
The install and setup of the display is very easy and straight forward. Mobile Pixels provides you with a template to attach the four round magnets to the back of your laptop monitor. Once those are installed, you basically just slap the monitor on and attach the cable.
The monitor then slides out of the side of its enclosure. Once the monitor is extended, you pull one more time for the enclosure to slide slightly on the magnets. The monitor then can angle towards your field of view for a more immersive experience. You then go into your settings and manage your multiple monitors within Windows or Mac just as you would any other display. The buttons to control the monitor itself are located on the back edge to cycle through their simple menu system to adjust things like contrast/brightness/etc.
I was up and running on my Microsoft Surface laptop within minutes.
The Good – Mobile Pixels Duex Lite Monitor
First let’s go over what this monitor does really well.
Extra Screen Real Estate for Multitasking
What this screen does best is exactly what it is designed to do. It creates much needed extra screen real estate for multitasking with a laptop. I work in a lot of excel spreadsheets and other applications that require me to have multiple screens open at once. Now when I am in a hotel room, I am not nearly as frustrated working on those tasks as I was before.
The 12.5″ screen is a nice size. It seems to be a quality display that matches up visually with my Surface laptop and 1080p is plenty of resolution for this size. The colors seem to be really accurate and that makes the overall experience using the display a seamless experience with high quality laptop screens.
Even when I am not working in tasks that require multiple screens to run efficiently, it is great to have side applications running such as Teams, Slack or Outlook readily available while working on something else. For those who have not worked on large format screens or multiple screen configurations, you really don’t realize how much more efficient it is until you go a single laptop screen again. This really did solve a lot of my issues while traveling.
There is also the added benefit of rotating the screen completely around to go into a “presenter mode” if you want to share with someone sitting right in front of you which is great for certain meeting settings.
Lightweight Construction and Thin Profile
The lightweight construction and thin profile of the Mobile Pixels Duex Lite accomplishes two main things that I was initially worried about.
- I was worried about having to carry one extra device while traveling.
- I didn’t want to increase the weight of my laptop or have the screen moving due to the extra weight added on the hinge.
Luckily, the lightweight and then profile of the screen make it so that neither of those are really a worry. The hinge of the laptop never had any issues with the extra weight and the then profile made it so that I really don’t notice it while carrying and traveling.
That said…there are times that if I am aggressively typing (a little heated email!) that the screen will shake some just as any device hanging off the side of another one would. It is minimal and the hinge of the laptop never moved.
Easy to Use Menus and Setup
Mobile Pixels did a great job of making this a simple install and plug and play option. Literally anyone can set this up easily and be up and running with it quickly.
The Bad – Mobile Pixels Duex Lite Monitor
As with all things, there were some things I did not like while using the monitor. They are pretty trivial but they are worth mentioning if you are looking at purchasing this monitor for yourself.
The Lightweight Construction
While being lightweight is a great plus as I mentioned above, that does come at the cost of a “premium feel”. Especially with the white version, the overall fit/finish does not match the laptop it will be connected to. It is my belief that this had to be done because of the materials Mobile Pixels has to use to keep weight and cost reasonable. Like they say, you can only have two of the three…light, cheap or reliable.
It’s not a deal breaker but you do notice it when you are handling your laptop with it attached.
The Magnets on the Back of Your Laptop Screen
There are times when I am going into a customer or using my laptop in public when I do not want to use the screen or have it attached. When it is not attached to the screen, there are four random magnets that everyone can see. Not only does that bug my OCD…but it creates questions and a conversation whenever anyone sees them. It’s a lot of “what are those for?” which can be kind of annoying.
I wish there was another way of attaching the screen (can’t think of any personally that would be this universal) or I wish the screen had a built in stand so it could sit by itself as an option. You can use the sliding mount as a vertical stand but there is no horizontal option built in. They do offer an accessory stand but that would just be one more thing to carry.
Overall Thoughts – Mobile Pixels Duex Lite Monitor
Overall…I’m really happy with the Mobile Pixels Duex Lite as a solution for the lack of screen real estate when I am using a laptop. The annoyance that I have been experiencing over the years because of how hard it is to work on one small screen is solved. Does the Duex Lite have a couple of little annoying quirks? Yes but those in no way beat the function of having and easy to use, setup, travel with second monitor for my laptop.
If you are looking to add a second monitor, this is a very viable solution that has gotten rid of a lot of my working on the road headaches for a reasonable price.