The Australian company espresso makes a range of portable displays designed for digital nomads and workers on the move.
ESPRESSO
A month ago, I bought my first laptop in years. I know it may sound shocking, but I’ve always used desktop Macs and never needed a laptop since I don’t travel much. However, when Apple launched the MacBook Neo, it was too tempting and offered such compelling value that I had to buy one. So far, so good, but I am finding the Neo’s 13-inch display a little cramped and limiting.
The problem with a 13-inch display is that while it’s just about large enough to run Word and check emails, it can feel cramped when working on anything else. I decided to research the market to see what kind of portable or secondary laptop displays might be available for MacBooks to give users a bit more room to breathe and = extra screen real estate.
The market for portable second displays for laptops appears to be booming right now as more of us choose to use multiple displays instead of a single large screen. Many of the 15-inch color portable displays on the market are made by China-based OEMs, but the only recognisable brands I’ve come across are Innocn, ASUS, Viewsonic and an Australian company called espresso.
The espresso displays are supplied with a folding magnetic stand that offers a variety of viewing angles and heights.
Lorenz Yatco
Founded in Sydney, espresso has established itself as a leader in the portable display market. For some reason, many of the big names in computer displays have shied away from making small secondary displays for laptops, preferring to concentrate on producing larger screens with 4K and 5K resolutions with calibrated color panels that better suit desktop users.
MORE FOR YOU
Known for its minimalist and Apple-friendly aesthetic, espresso focuses on displays made with premium materials. The displays are designed for digital nomads and professionals who need to work from anywhere but want a second screen that’s as good as the one on their laptop. Most MacBooks have excellent displays, so a cheap and nameless secondary display probably isn’t going to work for many Mac users.
The espresso brand is the brainchild of engineering students Will Scuderi and Scott McKeon, two friends who saw the dearth of high-quality, portable displays when they were working on their university projects. The average 13-inch laptop display is a bit too small for displaying finer details like engineering drawings or technical illustrations.
The espresso displays can also be used with iPads and smartphones with video output capability.
ESPRESSO
To remedy the situation, the two friends launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the establishment of the espresso display brand. That was in late 2019 and in the first round they managed to raise more than $400,000, proving there was a strong demand for high-quality secondary and portable displays designed for laptop users.
The espresso brand has a core product philosophy, which includes making displays that are ultra-thin. The company markets its products as some of the “world’s thinnest displays,” with screens measuring a mere 5.5mm thick in some cases; about the same as an Apple iPad. The displays are all manufactured with aeronautical-grade materials like anodized aluminum, which gives the displays a more rigid and premium feel.
Thanks to their single-cable connectivity, espresso’s displays support USB-C power delivery, which means the screens can draw their power and video signal from the host laptop with just one cable. There’s also a touch version of the company’s displays, which can turn a MacBook into a touch screen device more like an iPad, thanks to some clever driver software developed in-house by espresso.
A second display can be used in mirror or extended mode.
ESPRESSO
Unlike some displays from brands like Innocn, the espresso models don’t include a rechargeable battery. The brand’s entire lineup is marketed as “workspaces” rather than simple portable displays. The package also includes an ingenious magnetic and adjustable display stand and optional accessories like screen protectors and drawing pens.
For most people’s needs, the espresso product range offers two main choices; there’s the affordable HD espresso Lite display in touch and non-touch versions with sizes of 13- and 15-inches. There’s also the high-end espresso Pro model, which has 4K resolution as well as higher levels of color accuracy, a feature that’s useful for users of software packages like Photoshop or Da Vinci Resolution.
The secret sauce with the espresso is the company’s proprietary espressoFlow software, which improves the user experience by managing window snapping and enabling the touch functionality on macOS devices. Apple doesn’t yet support such functions natively. There’s also a software tool called Jot that espresso developed to facilitate digital note-taking and collaborative whiteboarding. That’s the student experience at work right there.
The new espresso Lite 15 display is availabe in Purple, Black, White, Orange and Mint colorways.
ESPRESSO
The espresso brand sits at the premium end of the portable display market and while there a few alternatives from brands like ASUS and ViewSonic, the espresso range is aimed at the prosumer and digital nomad who want design, thinness and a seamless magnetic-mounting system. The displays have won several prestigious design accolades, including the Red Dot Award and the Good Design Award.
For entry-level use, the espresso Lite 15 was launched at CES 2026 and is a new generation portable monitor that combines high-quality design with a selection of vibrant color options, ergonomic viewing, high-quality panel performance, as well as value for money.
The espresso Lite 15 is an affordable starting point for anyone who wants a dual-screen setup for travel or working on the go. The Lite 15 is lightweight, durable and works with almost any device, from laptops and iPads, through to compatible smartphones. The display is powered by a single USB-C cable and offers up to 400 nits of brightness, a little less than the MacBook Neo at the maximum setting of 500 nits.
The espresso Pro display is available in 15 and 17 inches and offers a touch surface, 4K resolution and support for one billion colors.
ESPRESSO
As well as the affordable espresso Lite, the company also makes the Display 15, Touch 15 and the Pro 15 and 17 models. Each display in the company’s portfolio is designed to cater to a different segment of the market.
The espresso Lite is manufactured with ABS Plastic and weighs around 700g. It comes with the lightweight magnetic Stand+ which is quick and easy to setup and provides comfortable viewing angles. The screen’s brightness tops out at 400 nits and there are dual centrally positioned USB-C ports with power passthrough capability.
The Lite’s screen measures 15.6-inches diagonally and offers full HD 1080p resolution with 100% coverage of the sRGB color space. Drawing just 5W of power, the espresso Lite doesn’t make excessive demands on its host laptop’s battery and can even be driven by a MacBook Neo. The Lite comes in a choice of colorways, including White, Black, Mint, Orange and Purple, although it would be nice to see the espresso Lite available in the four MacBook Neo colors of Blush, Indigo, Citrus and Silver.
The espresso displays can be used in portrait and landscape mode.
ESPRESSO
The second display I looked at was the espresso Pro 15, which was launched at CES 2025. The 15-inch display is designed to take performance and productivity to higher levels by delivering a brighter and more compact display that’s energy-efficient and designed for professionals and business travelers who want a premium display for working on the go.
Delivering 550 nits of brightness and full 4K resolution at 60Hz, the espresso Pro is capable of displaying more than a billion colors. The screen can be powered through a single USB-C cable from the host computer and has a touchscreen surface when used with MacOS and Windows devices. It also works with iPhones, iPads and Samsung Galaxy devices running DeX. When used with the espresso Pen, the 15 Pro can be used for notetaking, sketching, markups and interactive tasks using the free espresso Jot software.
The espresso 15 Pro features a minimalist matte-black aluminum chassis produced from aerospace-grade materials, which makes it durable. The display is easy to set up and attaches magnetically to the supplied stand that offers comfortable viewing angles and is fully adjustable for a better posture when using a dual-screen setup.
Every espresso display ships with a Stand+ which holds the display magnetically and offers plenty of viewing angle adjustments.
ESPRESSO
Setting up the Pro display takes a matter of seconds thanks to its single cable connection and the ergonomic espresso Stand+. However, when I tested the screen with my MacBook Neo, there wasn’t quite enough juice to power the laptop, so if you are using a Neo you’ll neeed to plug in a second USB-C cable attached to a power supply. However, the single cable function will work with laptops with a higher output like the MacBook Pro.
The espresso Stand+ can be used in both portrait and landscape orientations and has the option to be positioned high on its stand so that it sits directly above the host laptop’s screen. The display automatically switches orientation when it’s turned through 90 degrees using a built-in motion sensor.
The 15 Pro display supports the intuitive features of the espressoFlow software, which is available as a free download and provides extra features like the Glide feature and touch gestures when used with macOS or Windows. The Glide feature adjusts the user’s digital display arrangement to match the physical location of the screen, whether it’s positioned to the left, right, above or below the host laptop’s screen. The user simply pushes a cursor to the side of their screen to adjust the arrangement.
The overall resolution of the Pro display is crisp, bright and certainly comparable to the MacBook Air display and possibly not far off that of the MacBook Pro. Color accuracy matches Apple displays, although espresso recommends users calibrate their display when working on mission-critical video editing or photographic projects.
The espresso Lite 15 display is available now and priced at $249. The espresso 15 Pro is also available now and priced at $699.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。