Mobile Pixels Duex Lite – A Portable Second Screen for Laptops and More

Sometimes when you think “external monitor” when using a laptop, you picture a docking station setup or simply an HDMI cable running to a normal desktop display. It’s bulky, it isn’t mobile, and it just isn’t efficient. This is where smaller mobile monitors became a thing and started to take off. Not only, but they started getting clever to make the experience even easier. An example would be Mobile Pixels, and today we get to talk about the company’s “Duex Lite 1080p portable monitor” that attaches directly to your laptop.

Mobile Pixels has a number of options, most of which do just that–attach to the back of the laptop. You can find many options that sit separately from your laptop, but this decreases that footprint even further. It can be easily slid open and closed to switch between usage and mobility.

The monitor we’ve been testing is just as thin as those other mobile options, and just as light (in weight) despite coming with a proprietary sliding frame that makes it all possible. Mostly because it’s made up of ABS plastic instead of heavy metals. It may not be as durable as its aluminum counterparts, but it sure is light. Making it less cumbersome to drag around with you.

Of course, the company also has more durable options “Plus” and “Max” models that are also available for a little more. They also get a bit larger in size (up to 14.1″), so the durability does help support everything, I’m sure.

For now, though, we are going to focus on the Duex Lite, which is the company’s entry-level model. It features a 12.5″ 1080p screen and works great for smaller laptops (or average 15.3″ laptops if you don’t mind the second screen being a little smaller). In our case, we no longer have anything smaller on-site than 15.3″ laptops, so this is what we pitted it against.

The only thing that you want to keep in mind for this model is to make sure your laptop supports video over USB-C (DisplayPort over USB-C). This is because this model has a unique USB-C connection on the side for just that.

Setup/Installation

The process in which everything comes together is relatively simple. It comes with a one-page/side instructional that shows how the monitor attaches to the laptop. Of course, you can find additional information via a QR code, but the diagram on the sheet is pretty straight forward.

Make sure to slide the magnets all the way towards the end that the screen slides out from (as seen here)

You clean the back of your laptop’s screen, slide the magnets towards the end that the Mobile Pixel monitor slides out from, remove the protective stickers covering the magnet’s double-stick tape, center it across the back of your laptop screen, and carefully apply the two together

In our case, we wound up offsetting it from the center of the laptop slightly since our laptop was bigger than the Mobile Pixel screen. Ideally, you’d want to buy into one of the larger models for a laptop of this size. However, if you had a smaller model (like a smaller Dell XPS), the center is your friend.

The end result is a second screen that you can now easily slide out from behind your laptop’s screen. The magnets also slide back and forth on their rail allowing it to reach far enough so that you can tilt the screen forward vs keeping them parallel to each other (flat).

Now, you simply plug in the included USB-C to USB/USB-C cable to your laptop (preferably to a USB-C port). If you go straight to USB-C, no drivers or fuss are required. You just have to make sure (as mentioned earlier) that your laptop supports DisplayPort (video) over USB-C. This should be mentioned within your laptop’s specs or you would know if you have ever tried connecting a monitor to the USB-C port of your laptop ever (and it worked).

Performance

Before we get into detail about what we saw (and what you can see from the images), it is very important to point out what this portable screen is pitted next to two. The Dell laptop we chose features a 4K UHD IPS touch-screen display. It’s glossy vs matte (the Mobile Pixel monitors are matte), incredibly bright (beyond average), and 4K/UHD. So it is sitting next to a monster of a display. Thus the laptop’s screen is going to look brighter and more vivid no matter what. We just didn’t have anything less than this that we could use (we could have chosen one of the OLED models we have lying around).

That being said, the Duex Lite proudly sits next to it with an impressive display of its own. Of course, it isn’t all of the things I just mentioned about the Dell’s internal screen. However, it doesn’t look bad nonetheless. It’s 1080p screen did a good job at keeping up with the laptop’s and should balance well with most average affordable/smaller consumer (1080p) models out there.

As you can see in this shot, the brightness of the Duex Lite isn’t quite as bright as the laptop. However, it still looks fantastic. It also has decent blacks, which we noticed while looking at some ray tracing demos (the above Epic Games video included). It doesn’t do too bad with color either.

To be transparent about any changes, we did bring the backlight of the Duex Lite all the way up. So you are seeing it at its maximum brightness. Again, more average consumer 1080p model, less comparable to the flagship ultra-bright screen next to it.

This is actually quite common with most of the portable monitors we have come across. We did find a single model once that was quite comparable to one of the Dells we use here, but it was also more than twice the price of this one.

It really does look good, although because of the brightness not being on par with some of your popular gaming options, it is best for productivity more than anything else. Making it well-suited for office space environments or working as you travel around (email, office apps, etc).

That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be used for gaming though. It still looks great in person and you can easily game for hours with it. In fact, it is less exhausting than the Dell screen since it isn’t glossy. Thus it isn’t reflecting all that light in the room back into your eyes.

Also, a benefit to not having the same brightness, is that it won’t run the battery down as quickly. Although, we’d recommend plugging your laptop in when you are using additional monitors like this that are powered via the laptop, the Dell’s own screen absolutely demolishes the battery at full brightness. So it doesn’t hurt to bring it down a little to match this screen instead.

There are three buttons along the back edge of the screen. These trigger the menus where you can control the various settings of the monitor. The single button acts as your menu/ok and the other two toggle between options or values.

For us, it defaulted to backlight brightness the first time we made use of them, which was quite convenient. We prefer to see the quick control (before you get to the main menu) default to brightness on portable screens since this is what you’ll likely be adjusting most often than anything else.

You can, of course, dig into some of the other settings, like contrast, and saturation. It even offers an Eye Care Mode that helps eliminate some of the blues, making it even more easier on your eyes during long use times.

A few final thoughts

Since it attaches to the back of your laptop’s screen via magnets, this means you can easily pop it on it off. This way you can quickly store it separately when you don’t need it and your laptop is back to its original form factor (outside of a few magnets stuck to the back of its screen).

While still holding strong enough that it won’t fall off on its own. Because you do need to apply a little pressure to pop it off, making it pretty dependable when installed. Even if you are shaking your laptop because you just lost an online match playing your favorite Call of Duty game.

In an alternative to normal landscape mode, you could pop it off the back of your laptop and use the slip out design to slide it out and swing it all the way to use the sliding mechanism as a stand. turning the monitor into a portrait view/mode. This would have limited purposes outside of productivity use, but the option is there if you need it. You just can’t have it installed on the back of your laptop when using it in this mode.

We also like the fact that portable USB-C monitors work well for connectivity to other devices that support video over USB-C. This includes certain mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. If you have a gaming system that supports video over USB-C, then it should work for that as well.

This is a neat idea and the company has a tri-screen model (called the Trio) as well, giving you an extra screen on both sides, which is exciting. I remember seeing that one when they first announced it. Thinking to myself, now that, is a good idea. I could easily see myself using this since I am a big fan of three-screen setups. I would just have to use a dock to pull it off, as I don’t have enough USB-C ports on my personal laptop to pull it off without one.

Our Conclusion

As mentioned, this makes for a great extended display for productivity purposes. Everything from office work, to communication, meetings, music editing, and more. For gaming, it would be nice if it was a little brighter. However, then again, this would noticeably affect the battery life of your laptop (if not plugged into the wall).

So looking at the pros, it’s user-friendly, making it easy to quickly expand your desktop space when traveling. It can easily be removed and stored separately when not needed. It seems to hold well to the back of the laptop without any concern. The menu is friendly and easy to get around and it only requires a single USB-C cable between it and your laptop (for laptops that support DisplayPort over USB-C).

As for some of the cons, it really isn’t as bright as we’d like. Sure brighter would be more stress on your battery, but chances are, you’d be plugged in while using it. So performance would be more important. Go single-monitor when on battery, and extended when plugged in. That would be the best scenario. It is also a little pricey for its size despite being on sale (nearly half of its MSRP) at the time of writing this. So you are paying for the ability to make use of that proprietary sliding design.

Some neutral points, since you do have the sliding design, it does help justify the current price. If this was a standalone model that didn’t attach directly to the back of the laptop screen, we’d say that there was too much competition out there for the price. However, with the sliding design, this is a unique option that adds convenience (and looks cool).

If the price went up any, we wouldn’t be able to brag as much. So at around $208 (current price as of writing this), it does seem a bit fitting.

Additional Images:

Specifications:

• Resolution: 1080p
• Screen Size: 12.5″
• Dimensions: 12.4″ x 8.45″ x 0.39″
• Weight: 1.3 lbs
• Connectivity: USB-C x 1
• Compatibility: Windows, macOS, Linux or anything else that supports video over USB-C

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