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1 I’ve always wondered about portable monitors and how they would actually work in the real world. With my work having me travel all over the country, often staying in hotel rooms with locked TVs, the appeal was intriguing. Queue the Verbatim PMT-17.
More Than Meets The Eye
When we were contacted and asked if we wanted to give the Verbatim PMT-17 Portable Monitor a test, I raised my hand. So sit back and relax as I try and portray how amazing an experience this was for me.
Design
In a very unassuming box, with just the image of the contents and a few details about the monitor. The Verbatim PMT-17 sits a bit like a spider, waiting for you to get too close before sinking its teeth into you. Okay, maybe not like a spider, but as soon as I opened the box I was drawn in by the large 17.3 inch screen surrounded by an exquisite and cold metal housing. Yes, it was probably all metal to dissipate the heat from its IPS 1080p screen but I digress.
Pulling the monitor out of the box allowed me to hold it in all its glory. Shiney on one side and matte on the other. We had a fingerprint magnet, and with the weather like it’s been in the UK recently, I was leaving prints. On the side you have a few buttons, one for accessing the menu’s and one for navigating the menus. It is such an easy monitor to adjust the settings, with it all being at your fingertip, quite literally with the touch screen. I was flying around the menu system, adjusting the contrast and brightness as well as a couple of other settings that I honestly didn’t think much about at the time.
There is a small kickstand on the rear of the monitor to allow multiple angles of display and not once did I ever feel that it wasn’t bright enough… well there was one instance, but that was easily rectified.
Weighing in at 1630g it can easily be packed away safely and even comes with it’s own travel bag to keep it nice and safe. The monitor also comes in 2 smaller sizes, the 14″ and a 15.6″ offering plenty of variety if you want something even more discreet.
Compatibility
My favourite bit about the Verbatim PMT-17 is it’s ability to plug into anything that has a USB-C or a HDMI port. Whilst using the monitor during my playtest, I used it with a multitude of devices. From my Ipad, to my PS5 and each experience was a delight in it’s own way. Just being able to plug a USB cable in to get the monitor up and running made it an easy setup. Granted in some instances you needed to have a USB capable of power delivery to get it up to full brightness, but that was quickly resolved with the included USB-C Power Cable.
Performance
Being able to just plug and play made the following setup a relatively easy experience to achieve.
You may be wondering what is going on in that picture. I set up the portable monitor to be powered by the iPad at first. However this gave a pretty muted brightness to the screen so the USB-C power cable was swiftly introduced. With an HDMI that runs from my front room into our outside bar showing the F1 at a recent house party that was hosted. It was amazing being able to prop the bar up and listen to Max winning yet another race.
So what we established was the iPad alone couldn’t power the Verbatim PMT-17 alone with the extra power source. On to the next test. Plugging straight into a PC, well into a laptop.
PC Setup
This setup was easily achieved by using the USB-C to C cable included with the Verbatim PMT-17. A simple plug-and-play approach saw me extending my desktop to have 3 screens. I was over the moon with all the screen space. So much easier to see Thumb Culture content in all it’s glory! Pretty neat huh? With the kickstand on the monitor, it was able to be positioned wherever I needed. And with its lightweight frame, I could quite easily see myself taking this in to meetings for a second monitor.
Console Setup
Thankfully the console setup for the Verbatim PMT-17 was just as straightforward as the PC Setup. Plugging in the HDMI cable led to the monitor being fed its output, and then the USB-C power cable illuminating the screen. All in all made out for a great way to play some Gran Turismo 7.
The console set-up actually led to my favourite use of this portable monitor during my test. My partner and I decided to have a Disney Day. We took the PS5 into the kitchen, plugged in the Verbatim PMT-17 and loaded up Disney+. We then got to enjoy Disney films, whilst building the LEGO Disney Castle. Something we could not have done in our living room as easily.
Final Thoughts
The Verbatim PMT-17 blew me away with how it performed at every opportunity and at every turn. With its incredible response time of less than 10ms and over 16.7m colours, its a little powerhouse. As long as you have the option to power it I think you will have a great time. I imagine if you combined this with the Eco Flow Delta 2 Max you could quite easily play off the grid for a while!
This is quite easily my easiest decision to make. The Verbatim PMT-17 gets the Thumb Culture Platinum Award!
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
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