HP U160: Portable External Monitor Launched at CES 2013 [PICTURES]

HP has announced the HP U160, a portable external monitor for laptops. The concept sounds appealing - an external display that you can hook up to the laptop to give the users more viewing space.

However, HP emphasizes that the is designed for commercial use, for instance, sharing presentations, rather than as a consumer device.

U160 is USB powered, which will limit what the users can connect it to, as it needs a full-sized USB port, from which the monitor will not only draw the image feed but also the power, so it will drain the laptop's battery.

Because the power draw can be quite heavy, the U160 comes with a double USB lead (as many higher-power USB devices do), so in some cases it will occupy two USB ports on the device.

The display is a 15.6-inch backlit LED monitor with a resolution of 1366 x 768. The viewing angle is listed as 90-degrees, which is rather limited. For commercial application that's probably going to be fine. It weighs 1.5kg, so it's about the same weigh as an average laptop.

The HP U160 might not have much of an impact in the consumer space, but as more consumers choose a laptop as a main work device, portable external monitors might become the way of work in future.

HP has announced that U160 will be priced at $179 (approx. Rs 9,726) and that it will be available by the end of January 2013.

Have a look at the press shots of the portable external monitor in the slideshow below:

HP U160 Press Shots

HP U160 Press Shots

HP U160 Press Shots

HP U160 Press Shots

HP U160 Press Shots

HP U160 Press Shots

HP U160 Press Shots