Summary

• Uperfect UGame K118 offers a high resolution and smooth refresh rate for gaming on the go.
• Despite some flaws like portability and speaker quality, K118 is great for multitasking.
• The monitor's professional design and impressive color coverage make it a solid choice.

When you think about high-end monitors with larger-than-life resolutions, mouth-watering refresh rates, and gorgeous display panels, portable screens are the last things that come to mind, mostly because of their small sizes and lack of features. But if you delve a little deeper into the monitor rabbit hole, you might come across a portable display that’s not only great for on-the-move computing but also serves as an amazing secondary display.

Uperfect’s UGame K118 is one such gaming monitor that packs enough features to make it a worthy addition to your tech setup. It’s not perfect by any means, especially with its lanky 18-inch size and $300+ price tag. But having used it extensively over the past two weeks for everything, I can handily recommend the UGame K118 to anyone who needs an all-rounder portable display and is willing to handle some of its quirks.

About this review: Uperfect sent me the UGame K118 for review, but the company had no input into the contents of this article.

Pricing, specs, and availability

The Uperfect UGame K118 is available in two models with slight differences, with the A variant (which I’ve reviewed) packing a mini-HDMI port. Meanwhile, the B version of the K118 comes with a full-sized HDMI connection and includes a slightly different port placement. Unless you specify the model in your order details, Uperfect ships one at random. You can grab the K118 from either Amazon or Uperfect’s website for a relatively steep price of $370. Thankfully, it’s frequently discounted to under $300 at both retailers.

What I like

The resolution and refresh rate are perfect for a gaming display of its size

Going with the specs first, the UGame K118 is an 18-inch gaming monitor that combines a 2560x1600 IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. Interestingly, the K118 bears a taller 16:10 aspect ratio instead of the classic 16:9 counterpart you’d find on most gaming displays. But besides this quirk, it bears most of the features you’d find in a typical gaming monitor, including FreeSync support and HDR. The only options available for HDR are auto and 2084, and setting it to the latter results in an overly saturated image.

While we’re on the subject of colors, Uperfect claims the monitor supports 100% coverage of the DCI-P3, though my tests revealed it’s actually closer to 96%. While the AdobeRGB and NTSC coverage left something to be desired, the colors are still impressive for a portable monitor that's designed for gamers instead of creative professionals. So, if your workload involves dealing with color-sensitive projects, the K118 can also serve as a decent creativity-oriented travel companion.

The color coverage is still impressive for a portable monitor that's designed for gamers instead of creative professionals.

Its professional design is a breath of fresh air

If you've ever bought a gaming monitor in the past, you might be familiar with their over-the-top logos and blinding RGB backlighting. However, the K118 has a more minimalist aesthetic with zero branding, and its professional design grants it some extra brownie points in my book. The bezels on the UGame K118 are thin on all sides except the bottom, though it’s not big enough to be considered a dealbreaker by any means.

The K118 has a more minimalist aesthetic with zero branding, and its professional design grants it some extra brownie points in my book.

The right side of the monitor houses two USB Type-C ports and a mini-HDMI socket. While the Type-C ports can supply both power and video to the display, the mini-HDMI connection needs another Type-C cable to be plugged into the monitor for power delivery.

On the left side, you’ll find a 3.5mm AUX port alongside a scroll wheel and the power button. Pressing the scroll wheel will open up the monitor settings, where you can modify the HDR, color, brightness, contrast, aspect ratio, and other common options. If you’re in a hurry, you can scroll down on the wheel to immediately tweak the brightness, while scrolling up will let you change the volume of the speakers.

Flipping the monitor on its back reveals four 75x75mm VESA mounting sockets, which let you fix the K118 to a mounting arm if you want to use it as a desktop monitor. While not every user may want to mount their portable display on a monitor arm, I really appreciate that Uperfect decided to include this feature in the gaming monitor.

The leather cover is in a league of its own

Typically, portable displays include a kickstand or a small case that covers the front of the monitor. The UGame K118 does things quite differently. Rather, the display comes with a full-size magnetic leather cover that’s more reminiscent of the cases you’d find on high-end tablets. Not only does it look extremely classy, but just like the monitor, the case doesn’t include a single branding element or logo, making it even better if you like minimalist designs as much as I do. After the high resolution and solid color coverage, the leather cover is my next favorite thing about the K118.

After the high resolution and solid color coverage, the leather cover is my next favorite thing about the K118.

For some reason, Uperfect attached the monitor to the wrong side of the case, which resulted in it toppling over randomly on my first day of testing. However, after flipping the orientation of the cover, I never encountered this issue again. Trust me, I set the monitor in a lot of weird positions, but it still managed to work perfectly without falling over even once.

What I don’t like about the Uperfect UGame K118

You can’t achieve a 144Hz refresh rate with the mini-HDMI port

Although the UGame K118 can display games at 2K at 144Hz, you’ll need to use the USB Type-C connection to experience the buttery-smooth refresh rate of 144Hz. That’s because the mini-HDMI port can only show visuals at a maximum of 120Hz. For the average desktop user whose GPUs only feature HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, you won’t be able to game at 144Hz, and will instead have to make do with a slightly lower refresh rate. But there’s an interesting aspect to this: in my own set of tests, the monitor managed to run some games at 130Hz instead of the advertised 120Hz. Nevertheless, it’s still 10Hz less than what you’re paying for, and since I’m mostly a PC gamer, the lower refresh rate is definitely bothersome.

The monitor isn't very portable and has lackluster speakers

If the AUX port didn’t give it away, the K118 also features built-in speakers on either side. Unfortunately, like the majority of monitors out there, the speakers deliver subpar audio quality and aren’t worth writing home about.

Plus, the screen size of 18-inches can be a double-edged sword if you're looking for an ultraportable display. Not only is it difficult to shove such a huge monitor into the average backpack that’s built to house 15.6-inch, or at most, 16-inch laptops. Its 2.71-pound weight doesn’t help much in this regard either, as it’s easily the heaviest portable display we’ve covered in a long time.

The brightness settings are lost every time you disconnect the monitor

Another issue I noticed after my extensive usage is that any changes made to the brightness settings are reset when I unplug the monitor. Again, it might not be a big deal for the average monitor that remains affixed to your desk, but losing the settings every time you disconnect the K118 is a major annoyance for a portable monitor that’s built for outdoor usage. If you’re someone who works in short bursts, you should be prepared to spend a lot of time in the OSD.

Should you buy the Uperfect UGame K118?

The Uperfect UGame K118 is worth your money if:

• You don’t mind paying a huge premium for a slightly large portable display.
• You need a FreeSync-compatible monitor that can run at ultra-smooth refresh rates on your gaming laptop.
• You’re in the market for a jack-of-all-trades portable screen that bears a professional design, has decent color coverage, and can be mounted on a monitor arm.

You should steer clear of the Uperfect UGame K118 if:

• You want a small and lightweight display and are unwilling to deal with the K118’s brightness issues.
• You’re not fond of spending $300 on a mere portable monitor.
• You need amazing built-in speakers on your travel companion.

When I initially received the monitor, I was a bit on the fence when the box housing the K118 looked as generic as possible. But everything changed once I finally got down to reviewing it. In the span of nearly two weeks, I’ve used this monitor for almost all of my daily tasks, including setting up new operating systems on my secondary machines, excessive gaming on my daily driver, testing whacky projects on my Raspberry Pi 5, and even light Photoshop and After Effects usage.

Apart from the mini-HDMI port being unable to hit 144Hz, I don’t have too many major complaints with the K118. As someone who primarily uses a desktop, the larger screen size and extra weight don’t matter a lot to me, but even with the gorgeous case, you might encounter some trouble if you decide to bring it along for your next trip. I’ll admit, the K118 definitely has its flaws, and it isn’t the most cost-effective solution out there. But if you’re a hardcore gamer who needs extra screen estate for their top-of-the-line gaming laptop, you won’t be disappointed with the Uperfect UGame K118.