Espresso Display 15 reviewed: a must have

A second screen anywhere you go? The Espresso Display 15 fulfils a work-from-anywhere dream that raises productivity in the best way.

Taking your with you has never been easier thanks to just how good laptops are these days, but taking a dual screen experience with you? That’s a little more difficult.

You can opt to use Apple’s Sidecar if you have an iPad and a Mac signed in under the same account, or you can hope that the desk you’re temporarily migrating to has a nice screen on it.

There are laptops with rollable screens on the way, and while that’ll probably be an expensive option, there are even screens you can mount to the back of your current laptop to expand your screen real estate.

And then there’s another gadget altogether: a truly portable screen.

It’s an area Australia’s Espresso has been working in for a while, following crowdfunding back in 2019 on Indiegogo, with the original intent being “the thinnest portable monitor”. Keeping that focus up is the latest model, the Espresso Display 15, a USB-C monitor designed to be as easy and as portable as it gets.

What is the Espresso Display 15?

Espresso tends to keep its model names pretty direct — there’s the 4K “Pro”, the touch-capable equivalent in the “Touch”, and then just the standard non-touch “Display”, which is what we’re checking out in the Espresso Display 15.

If the name and design isn’t a dead giveaway, the function sure will be: it’s a screen made to be portable, delivering Full HD resolution in a 15 inch screen, all in a design that feels as premium as it gets.

You know that feeling when you see a properly premium alloy laptop, like the kind Apple makes? That is exactly what Espresso is channeling with its display.

Measuring 5.3mm thin, it’s only 0.2mm thicker than the super thin iPad Pro 13, making it thinner than most laptops, tablets, and even the 7.8mm iPhone 16. Yes, it’s thinner than the iPhone.

It’s so thin, you won’t believe it.

The weight is a little easier to believe at 765 grams, but it feels excellent, with an aerospace-grade aluminium body, nice piece of glass, and an LED backlit screen running 1920×1080, also known as Full HD.

Two USB-C ports can be found on the side — the only connections, pick one for the display connection while the other is handy for keeping your phone’s power topped up — and it’s pretty clear what the Display 15 does the moment you plug something in: it’s a screen.

What does it do?

Not just another screen for your desk, the Espresso Display 15 is a portable screen you can take with you, thanks in part to another part of the package: the Stand+.

Collapsed down, the Espresso’s Stand+ is a series of metal panels held together with tight hinges and a magnetic base.

You can pull the thing out, flexing it so that it looks like the stand on an iMac, ready for you to attach the 15 inch Display with magnets built directly into the Stand. There’s the option to even extend a section out and raise the Stand+ higher, almost as if it were standing on two legs like a mini-tripod, handy if you want the screen to be taller than your laptop can provide.

It’s about as easy as it gets — unfold and attach — and the screen is ready for your laptop. Plug it in and it switches on, giving your laptop a second display in something not much bigger than your laptop itself.

Espresso also makes a driver called “Flow”, and while you don’t need it to use the screen, arming yourself with it gives you some shortcuts to rotate the display, change the picture quality, or so you can snap application windows to the display, handy when you go to work or are at home.

Does it do the job?

As a screen, the Display 15 is excellent. It’s bright, colourful, and offers great clarity in a beautiful design.

In terms of WFH necessities, the Display 15 is a must have if you’re travelling into the office one or two days a week. It lets you bring your screen with ease, expanding your screen real estate in about the most reliable way possible.

What we love about this screen is that it works with just about anything. If you have a device with USB-C that can use an external screen, the Espresso Display 15 is can expand your options.

Plug it into an iPhone and get your screen mirrored on a larger display. Plug it into a desktop and you can forgo the standard HDMI display.

Plug it into a Steam Deck and all of a sudden, your gaming system is that little bit bigger again. Plug the USB-C cable into a Mac Mini and you might just have an equally clever screen to go with that clever mini Mac.

You have options, and the Espresso Display 15 can expand them. It’s not just your laptop. It can be so much more.

What does it need?

But the Espresso 15 should come with a case. It should be in the box, but it’s not: it’s an optional $69 extra that works as a stand.

A case as a stand is a nice optional extra, but a simple case really should be in the box for this thing. Moving it without just doesn’t feel as safe.

We travelled into the office collapsing the 15 inch Espresso Display without a case, pushing the aluminium encased screen against our also aluminium encased laptop, and the sound of alloy against alloy as they sat together produced the sort of feeling of scratching on a chalkboard or wool against teeth.

I guess what we’re trying to say is the case is a prerequisite, and if Espresso isn’t including something simple in the box, you definitely need to step up if this sort of thing bothers you.

One other point: the extra USB-C port on the side wasn’t a totally perfect port replicator for the screen. One device charged from it, but not every device. Just be aware that not every gadget is going to like being run from that extra USB port.

Is it worth your money?

Priced at $499 without the optional $69 case, the Espresso 15 is still a better bargain than you may expect. Sure, it’s $500, but it’s also technically not.

For the $499 price, Espresso includes one of its magnetic Stand+ stands. Granted, you need the stand to hoist the display up, and yet these are also $99 by themselves, handy to know if you want one for the office and one at home.

Is the Espresso 15 a better bargain than say a stationary monitor that doesn’t leave your desk? No, because you can get much larger screens for less. But for someone who wants to take a high quality second screen anywhere, the Espresso Display 15 is excellent.

And it’s priced quite well against competitors such as the Mobile Pixels Duex range, which when we reviewed back in 2023 was $499, and these days is $549. Espresso’s option isn’t rear mountable like what’s from Mobile Pixels, but that may not matter. The quality and ease of use in setting it up from anywhere more than makes up for that in the first place.

Yay or nay?

If you’re one of those digital nomads working from more places than just the office or just home, the Espresso Display 15 is a must have and a total necessity.

Almost everything about this package is perfect. It’s almost as if Apple had designed and crafted the picture perfect essence of portability. Highly recommended.