MSI PRO MP161 Series Portable Monitor Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The MSI PRO MP161 Series Portable Monitor is available on Amazon right now for just £159.79, which makes it about £50 more affordable than the ASUS ZenScreen, albeit it’s usually not hard to be cheaper than ASUS, who often have a premium price tag on their products regardless of what the competition is doing. I’d have loved the device to be touch compatible, but looking at it, that would double or triple the price, which is a shame.

Overview

The MSI PRO MP161 is actually the first portable monitor I’ve had in for review, so to some extent it’s a little tricky to draw much of a comparison. However, I have had a tinker with some of the ASUS stuff at events, and while they’re certainly more expensive, they’re a little more high-end in terms of design and build quality. That being said though, the MP161 offers all the features we see on rival products, but with a price that’s around 25% more affordable, making it very appealing indeed.

Admittedly, there are some that are priced about £50 cheaper again, but they’re from really generic import brands that I have never heard of, so how far your money goes, I simply do not know. MSI is a big-name global brand, and I think I’d rather put my money into something I recognise than one of those budget brands.

The build quality, design and features on offer here are excellent though. I was surprised to see three display inputs, and being full HD and with both HDMI and Type-C DisplayPort, you really have a plethora of devices that are compatible with this. An old DVD player, a games console, a phone, your PC, your tablet, and much more are all plug-and-play ready, which is fantastic.

The OSD is surprisingly comprehensive and on par with what MSI puts on their desktop monitors. I was expecting something more trimmed down but was pleasantly surprised to see a full suite of display controls. Plus, added features like response time, adaptive sync, and some built-in speakers certainly sweeten the deal.

Should I Buy One?

A portable and flexible display is a wonderful thing to have. It’s slim and weighs just 0.75kg, so it would comfortably live in most laptop bags so you can get your multi-screen game on when and where you need it. For presentations at work, meetings, working while you’re away from home, or just adding a secondary display to a particularly small workspace, it’s a great investment with plenty of uses.