The only thing I miss about my old Brooklyn apartment is my office. Big enough for two desks, my office fit for four — count ‘em, four — 27-inch monitors, enough for two dual-screen setups. It was glorious.
After our recent move to Manhattan, though, the office is gone, and those roomy 4K monitors are (sniff) history.
But even in my new downsized reality, I held fast to my dual-display aspirations.
Even as a veteran PCWorld writer, I’d only been dimly aware of portable monitors, which can connect to a laptop via a single cable and are slim and light enough to slip into a backpack. Given my newly cramped quarters, my interest in portable displays was suddenly piqued.
I eventually settled on this 16.1-inch portable display from Azropa, a manufacturer that, quite frankly, I’d never heard of. The price — $130 (or $109 for Amazon Prime members) — was certainly appealing, but I was concerned about image quality in a panel so cheap, not to mention the fact that its 1080p resolution was a far cry from the 4K picture I was used to.
I shouldn’t have been worried. The Arzopa Z1FC has been a champ: svelte, feather-weight, crisp, and bright (I generally only have it set to about 21-percent brightness).
The Arzopa Z1FC connects to a laptop via a single cable, and features two USB-C ports and a single mini-HDMI port.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
The Z1FC connects to my work laptop using a single USB-C cable, a setup that works even when the laptop is operating on battery power. (My 2020-era MacBook Pro does need to be plugged in for the Z2FC to work.) The Azopa display has a total of two USB-C ports on its left-edge, plus a mini-HDMI port for good measure.
Weighing in at 3.13 pounds and just 0.39 inches thick, the F1FC is pleasingly light and slim. If you want to tuck it into a knapsack, I recommend springing for this zippered pouch, which (as I can attest) fits the Z1FC perfectly.
The rear, rubber-tipped kickstand keeps the monitor stable on a flat surface, although its positioning near the right edge of the housing could be an issue with smaller tabletops.
I can’t speak for the Arzopa’s gaming performance, but our reviewer called it “solid” while giving a nod to its 144Hz refresh rate. There’s no Adaptive Sync support, though, if that matters.
In any event, I’d honestly call the Azropa Z1FC the best tech purchase I’ve made in the past year. I’ll probably wind up getting a second for my wife. Dual displays for the win!
Snag the Arzopa Z1FC portable monitor
