Between frequent work trips and a job that is entirely remote, I very regularly work off a laptop at coffee shops, hotel rooms, and airport lounges. My M2 Max MacBook Pro is powerful and efficient enough to handle all of my work, but working off just one laptop screen can feel limiting, not to mention put strain on my neck from looking downwards. So I often travel with a portable monitor. There is no shortage of them on Amazon, but my favorite one yet is the DuoOne, which is essentially two monitors connected by a clamshell hinge and shaped like laptop. When opened up, it resembles dual stacked monitors, and can be used with just about any modern device like MacBooks, iPads, Windows machines, and even most recent smartphones.

Unfortunately, the DuoOne is only a Kickstarter project for now, but it's from Shenzhen-based InnLead, which has years of experience making and selling portable displays, and the project has already reached its goal, so there is a good chance this product will see the light of day on store shelves.

But at $699 (this is the early bird Kickstarter price), the price may be a bit steep for an unproven product from a little-known brand. Still, for those like me who work off a laptop on the road often, this is a clever product that works really well. I'm certainly going to take it with me on all my work trips for the foreseeable future.

About this review: InnLead sent me a DuoOne to test. The company did not have input in this article.

Hardware and design

It's like a laptop without the guts

The DuoOne comes in two sizes: a high-end model with a pair of 17.3-inch 4K LCD displays, and a smaller 16-inch 2.5K model. I'm testing the latter. As you can see, the Duo One is shaped like a laptop, except instead of a keyboard at the bottom half, it has another screen, which resembles the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i. But because the DuoOne is just displays without a processor, storage, or even a battery, the weight is manageable, at a hair over 3 pounds (for my 16-inch model).

The outer casing material is aluminum, and the displays have a matte coating that is anti-glare and does not attract fingerprints as easily. The hinge connecting the two screens is solidly constructed, able to hold the upper screen at various angles without flopping around. The hinge also allows the screen to rotate back. Not quite all the way flat, but at a 270-degree angle, so it can sit in tent mode.

The unit I'm testing has 2.5k LCD panels, with a resolution of 2560x1600 on each screen. Refresh rate can reach up to 144Hz, but none of my source devices has a refresh rate that fast, so I have not been able to take advantage of it. The screens look fine; they're not going to beat the screens on my iPad Pro, MacBook Pro or flagship smartphones, but they're not low quality. The screens actually support 100% of the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut, and maximum brightness gets to around 400 nits, which is enough unless I am working directly under the sun.

I can adjust the color temperature and profiles and get them to look close enough to my MacBook screen that I wouldn't be afraid to edit videos on the DuoOne screens in a pinch, but just to be safe, I still use my MacBook screen as the display for previewing the video, and use the DuoOne screens to display other windows and material, like Final Cut Pro timeline and Slack.

Performance

Can be a bit messy, but otherwise does the job

DuoOne treats both screens as separate monitors with separate display input and audio output, which means there are a lot of ports: On the left side are three USB-C ports, one to power the monitor and two for connecting to source device. There are also two mini HDMI ports if you need them, but most modern devices can connect via USB-C. On the right side are two USB-A ports, two headphone jacks, and buttons for tweaking settings.

The DuoOne doesn't require additional software or drivers, just plug it into your laptop or smartphone with DisplayPort Alt and you can mirror or extend your device's screens. But since the DuoOne has no internal battery, it requires a power source, so to make use of the dual screens to their full potential, you need to plug it into a power source, and connect two USB-C (or HDMI) cables to your laptop. You also need something to prop the DuoOne up if you want to use it in an ergonomic manner (which for me is above the laptop). I use a small laptop stand to do the job.

This does, however, make the entire setup a bit messy looking, and if you're taking this out to coffee shops, you will have to bring several things: the DuoOne, a stand, and three USB-C cables with a wall plug or portable battery. It's manageable; I can still fit the entire DuoOne setup into a laptop sleeve or backpack. But this setup plus my 6-pound MacBook Pro does make my backpack very heavy.

One nice touch the company did was make the two bezels that are connected to the hinge thinner, so the gap between the two screens isn't gigantic. Obviously, you wouldn't want to play a video that stretches across the two screens, but for text-heavy pages, it's fine.

On lighter work days, I have used the DuoOne with just a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and a Bluetooth keyboard. Samsung DeX isn't the fastest UI, but paired with the DuoOne screen, it gives me a large enough canvas to multitask.

Should you buy the DuoOne?

You should buy the DuoOne if:

• You want a portable dual-screen setup and are OK with backing a Kickstarter project that isn't shipping until early 2024
• You are fine with the slightly higher price

You should not buy the DuoOne if:

• You are remotely risk averse with your purchases
• You don't want to wait months for it to arrive
• You don't really need three screens

If the DuoOne was a ready product in stores now with a proper warranty, I think it would have a lot of appeal for a generation of people who are doing more and more work off a laptop instead of a deskbound computer. But as a Kickstarter project by a smaller brand that isn't shipping until early 2024, the $699 starting price can be a bit steep.

I also think for many people, having one extra screen would already benefit their workflow enough, and there is no shortage of cheaper, easier-to-use single screen portable monitors on Amazon right now. The DuoOne does benefit someone like me, who edits videos, does a lot of photo comparisons, and writes a lot of words for a living. And as mentioned, the project is already more than fully backed, so there is definite interest, but for most people, I'd suggest waiting until next year to see if this product makes it to store shelves.