As a digital nomad fond of the dual-display lifestyle, I'm always searching for the best ways to extend my screen real estate on the go. At first, I used my iPad Pro to extend the screen of my MacBook Air with Sidecar. Eventually, that grew tiring, so I looked for other options. I've tested more than a handful of great portable monitors in the time since, but settled on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i as my dual-screen solution for the foreseeable future about a year ago. I had yet to see a portable monitor capable of topping the Yoga Book experience until the second-generation Lenovo ThinkVision M14t crossed my desk.

It's a $400 portable monitor that builds on the success of the original ThinkVision M14t in a few key ways. At that price point, it's not one of the cheapest monitors you can buy, nor is it one of the priciest ones you'll find. But with a touchscreen, excellent display quality, a great out-of-the-box experience, and included accessories, Lenovo more than justifies the price of the ThinkVision M14t. There isn't a single monitor that I'd want to buy for portable use besides this one.

5 It comes with a great sleeve

And a pen, and cables — sometimes the brilliance is in the details

It's always disappointing when you spend hundreds of dollars on a tech product, only for it to include the bare minimum of cables, chargers, and accessories in the box. In an age when the best phones don't ship with power bricks, and Apple stopped including stickers with new iPhones, it's refreshing to see what's in the box with the ThinkVision M14t. There's a pen compatible with the ThinVision M14t's touchscreen, and all the cables you need to connect to any device you wish.

But the true extra Lenovo includes in the box is a sweet soft-touch sleeve. It matches the exact proportions of the ThinkVision M14t; in fact, it's almost too snug, as it can be tough to insert and remove the portable monitor at times. Although there are plenty of great laptop sleeves out there, like the Incase Go, they're made for laptops — not portable monitors. It can be tough to find the perfect sleeve to protect your thin and somewhat brittle portable monitor from damage, and Lenovo removes the hassle by including one in the box.

4 This monitor plays nice with macOS

Apple's picky display scaling preferences cause problems with many portable monitors — not this one

The one true caveat that comes with the Lenovo ThinkVision M14t is that the touchscreen functionality won't work on every device. Windows 10 and 11 are the only operating systems officially supported for touch, and even compatible devices might not always work. My Yoga Book 9i, already having two touchscreens of its own, didn't seem to work well with touch on the ThinkVision M14t. It's a shame, because macOS and iPadOS support would've really cemented this monitor as the do-it-all pick for most users.

I'm a Mac user primarily, and I'd happily use the ThinkVision M14t even without touch support. That's because Lenovo's portable monitor is one of the few that has proper display scaling on macOS and iPadOS. I plugged the ThinkVision M14t into every device and operating system I could think of, and the monitor looked great on every one.

The 2240x1400 resolution is great for a monitor of this size and the color accuracy isn't bad, either. Many of the portable monitors I test, like the one from Acer below, don't look great when paired with a Mac. The fact that the ThinkVision M14t looks great when paired with anything is a huge plus.

3 The stand is excellent

It's sturdy, houses ports, and will work on just about any surface

I use portable monitors on the go, when I'm working from hotel rooms, coffee shops, or coworking spaces. The thing is, these places don't always have the most desk space. If a portable monitor doesn't have a great stand that can hang off the edge of your desk or table, it won't make for a good experience. For example, the Arzopa portable monitors I recently reviewed have long kickstands on the right side of the displays, which means no parts of the monitor can hang off the right side of a table.

The ThinkVision M14t's stand is flat, and thus is sturdy enough to hang off the edge of a table with no problem. I've worked with this portable monitor in tight spaces where as much as two-thirds of the monitor's stand is hanging off, and it was incredibly stable. The stand also stashes all the ports and buttons you need, enabling the actual display to be as thin as possible. These aren't problems that you think will be a big deal until you try to use a portable monitor in different spaces, but Lenovo manages to avoid them all.

2 As a bonus, have a touchscreen

I don't use it that often, but it's very nice to have

I consider the touchscreen to be a sweet bonus of using the ThinkVision M14t, not a primary feature. That's because I find myself preferring to use keyboard and mouse input more than touch for laptops and desktops, especially on secondary displays. It's a nice-to-have feature for me, and the pen support is neat too. If you also want a touchscreen-compatible monitor, the ThinkVision M14t checks that box. With that being said, Lenovo does offer similar ThinkVision portable monitors without touch functionality, so you may be able to save a few bucks by going that route.

1 Best of all, it's incredibly thin

Lenovo really put the portable in this portable monitor

If you use a thin-and-light laptop, you may find that portable monitors are as thick, or thicker, than your laptop. To me, that's unacceptable for a product category that has "portable" literally in the name. Well, Lenovo puts the "portable" in portable monitor with the ThinkVision M14t. It measures 12.39 x 3.8 x 9.26 inches in size, but the actual display is less than half that thickness. The bulk of the thickness is in the stand, which is hidden away while the monitor is in use.

Even with the stand, it's easy to stash the ThinkVision M14t in the laptop or tablet pocket of just about any bag. You can take this monitor anywhere you go without worrying about it, which means you'll always have it when you need it. With other portable monitors I've tried, it has been frustrating to lug around a thick and heavy portable monitor only to not need it. Or, to not bring one with me to save space, only to wish I had brought it. The thinness and 1.5-pound weight of the ThinkVision M14t eliminates all those concerns.

Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkVision M14t Gen 2?

The Lenovo ThinkVision M14t Gen 2 is so great that I think I can stop searching for the best portable monitor. I still love my Yoga Book 9i for seamless, built-in dual-display functionality. But when I need a portable monitor, I'll always reach for the ThinkVision M14t Gen 2. When I send this review loaner back to Lenovo, I might just buy one for myself. That's the highest praise I can give.