ViewSonic TD1655 15.6" Silver

The ViewSonic TD1655 is a 15.6-inch portable touch monitor that nails productivity but falls flat for anything creative or gaming-related. The 10-point touchscreen is smooth and responsive, and the dual USB-C ports with two-way 60W power delivery are a standout feature. Display quality is its Achilles' heel, with a dim 250-nit panel and bottom-tier 6-bit color that put it in the 1st percentile of our database. At around $207 from the right vendor, it's a solid value for touchscreen fans, but everyone else should look at brighter, more color-accurate alternatives.

Performance here is a story of two very different use cases. For desktop work, documents, web browsing, and basic productivity, the TD1655 is snappy and responsive. The 6.5ms response time and 60Hz refresh rate are completely adequate for scrolling through emails or moving windows around. The touchscreen is the standout performer, with in-cell capacitive tech that feels smooth and accurate. Swiping, pinching, and tapping all register without the lag you sometimes get on cheaper touch displays. If you're using Windows 11's touch gestures or a drawing app with the included stylus, it's a genuinely pleasant experience.

But the numbers don't lie, and this monitor's gaming score of 15.9 out of 100 is one of the weakest we've seen. The 60Hz refresh rate and lack of any adaptive sync technology mean you'll get screen tearing in fast-paced games, and the 6-bit panel can't produce the smooth gradients you'd want in darker scenes. The 250-nit brightness is also a limitation. In a bright room or near a window, you'll be cranking it to max and wishing for more. For office work under normal lighting, it's fine. For anything else, it's underwhelming. The 9th percentile performance ranking in our database tells the story, this is a one-trick pony, and that trick is touch-enabled productivity.

The portable monitor space is crowded, but the TD1655 carves out a specific niche with its touchscreen. The ASUS ZenScreen Touch MB16AMT is the most direct competitor, offering a similar 15.6-inch 1080p touch panel with a built-in battery. The ASUS gets you a bit more flexibility since it can run completely untethered, but it typically costs more and the built-in battery adds weight. The ViewSonic's two-way USB-C power delivery is a smarter solution if you're already carrying a laptop or power bank.

If you don't need touch, your options open up considerably. The Lenovo ThinkVision M14 is lighter, brighter, and has better color accuracy for about the same price. The AOC I1601FWX is even cheaper and thinner, though you give up HDMI and USB-C power passthrough. For gamers, none of these are the answer, you'd want something like the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHPE with its 240Hz refresh rate, but that's a completely different price bracket and use case. The TD1655 sits in a comfortable middle ground where touch is the differentiator, and for the right buyer, that's worth the trade-offs in display quality.

Pricing on the TD1655 is all over the map depending on where you look, with a spread of over $22,000 across vendors. That's obviously not a typo on our end, some third-party sellers are listing this at absurd markups. The real street price sits closer to the $207 end of that range, and at that price, this is a solid deal for a touch-enabled portable monitor. You're getting USB-C connectivity, a decent 1080p IPS panel, and a responsive touchscreen in a package you can toss in a bag. Compared to something like an iPad used as a sidecar display, this is a much cheaper way to add a touchscreen to your laptop setup.

At the higher end of its realistic pricing, around $250 to $300, the value proposition gets shakier. You start bumping into portable monitors with higher brightness, better color coverage, or higher refresh rates. But almost none of them have touch, and that's the TD1655's ace in the hole. If touch isn't a priority for you, there are better pure displays for the money. If it is, this is one of the most affordable ways to get it in a portable form factor.

The ViewSonic TD1655 is a 15.6-inch portable monitor that's trying to be the ultimate sidekick for your laptop, and it mostly succeeds if you're the right kind of user. This isn't a gaming monitor, and it's definitely not a color-accurate display for creative pros. It's a productivity tool for business travelers, remote workers, and anyone who's tried to juggle spreadsheets on a single 13-inch laptop screen in a hotel room. The big hook here is the 10-point touchscreen, which is still surprisingly rare in the portable monitor world, especially at this price point.

We're looking at a 1080p IPS panel packed into a chassis that's less than an inch thick and weighs about two pounds. That puts it in the 99th percentile for compactness in our database, which is basically the top of the charts for portability. The dual USB-C ports are the real MVPs here, one handles video and audio, while the other can push up to 60W of power in either direction. So your laptop can power the monitor, or the monitor can charge your laptop if you've got a power bank plugged in. That's genuinely clever and cuts down on cable clutter.

But let's be real about what this thing is and isn't. The display specs are pretty modest, 250 nits brightness, 6-bit color, and a 60Hz refresh rate. Those numbers land in the bottom tier of our database for color and performance. If you're editing photos or trying to spot enemies in a dark corner of a game, this panel will let you down. But for dragging Slack over to a second screen, referencing documents while you write, or tapping through a presentation, it's perfectly fine. The anti-glare coating helps in bright offices, and the built-in speakers mean you won't need headphones for a quick video call.

Gamers should absolutely skip this monitor. The 60Hz refresh rate, lack of adaptive sync, and 6.5ms response time make for a subpar gaming experience, and our database puts its gaming performance in the bottom tier. If you want a portable gaming display, look at something like the ASUS ROG Strix XG17AHPE with its 240Hz panel, though be prepared to spend significantly more. Creative professionals should also steer clear. The 6-bit panel and poor color accuracy, ranked in the 1st percentile for color in our testing, mean you can't trust this display for photo editing, video grading, or any color-critical work. A portable monitor like the ASUS ProArt PA148CTV would serve you much better with its factory-calibrated panel and wider color gamut, though you'll lose the touchscreen.

If you don't need touch at all, you're paying for a feature you won't use and getting a worse display because of it. The Lenovo ThinkVision M14 is lighter, brighter, and has better color for about the same money. The TD1655's entire value proposition hinges on that touchscreen. If it's not a must-have for your workflow, there are better pure displays out there.

If you're a business traveler or remote worker who regularly uses touch gestures in Windows, the TD1655 is an easy recommendation at its realistic street price. The touchscreen is genuinely good, the USB-C connectivity is well thought out, and the whole package is light enough to forget it's in your bag until you need it. It's a productivity multiplier for anyone who's felt cramped on a single laptop screen in a hotel room or coffee shop. The anti-glare coating and built-in speakers are nice bonuses that make it more usable out of the box without extra accessories.

But if you're a creative professional who cares about color accuracy, or a gamer who wants smooth motion, this monitor will frustrate you. The 6-bit panel and 250-nit brightness are dealbreakers for photo or video work, and the 60Hz refresh rate without adaptive sync makes gaming a choppy mess. For those users, save up for something with better panel specs, or accept that you'll need a non-touch display to get decent color and brightness at this size. The TD1655 knows exactly what it is, a touch-enabled second screen for getting work done, and it does that job well.