Product Review: Toshiba 14” USB Mobile LCD Monitor is Excellent

Using multiple monitors on a day to day basis has become the norm for most computer users today.

For laptop users that dock their laptops it was not too much of a step to get into a couple of monitors plugged into the docking station. But, once they headed out on the road they were stuck with the one screen on the laptop which may be a low resolution HD (1366x768) panel.

Some laptop models have an HD+ LCD panel with a 1600x900 resolution. These may be a bit more bearable to work with but in the end working with only one monitor is almost always a step backwards in productivity.

Enter the Toshiba 14” USB Mobile LCD Monitor.

• Canada: PA3923C-1LC3 (CA site link)
• USA: PA3923U-1LC3 (US site link)

The unit itself is exactly the same size as a leather billfold that holds 8.5” x 11” paper:

The unit is not that heavy and packs away quite easily in the laptop bag.

The Toshiba Tecra S10 that we use here in the shop has four USB ports on it. So, we can connect two of these Toshiba USB LCD monitors without any issue. If we had a powered USB hub we could plug in more of the monitors.

The maximum number of monitors that one can plug into a laptop using powered USB is 6.

We see this product as extremely useful for those that do spot presentations with a couple or three people at a time.

We also see this product as being very useful for our accounting firm clients for on-site audits and other off-site type work where they would be a lot more productive with at least one extra monitor.

Now that we have started to use it here in the shop and while on-site there is no going back. We carry at least one or two of them with us wherever we go.

One more thing. There is an external A/C adapter available for the product to bring up the brightness of the panel. So far, we have not found a need to go beyond the brightness that the monitor provides while being powered via USB port.

If sales are really good hopefully we will be seeing larger versions of the monitor! It is a big hit wherever we go with it. And at $200 it is a phenomenal deal!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.