It is about as good as the Universal Serial Bus allows

Jan 7, 2013 12:05 GMT  ·  By

DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA connectors allow for a lot of video data to be sent to a display, which is why they can handle resolutions like 1080p (Full HD) and above. USB monitors have to do with less though.

It isn't just the data limit. USB monitors also need to run on just the energy provided by the Universal Serial Bus cable.

That is why the U160 USB monitor from HP, which happens to be the company's very first USB monitor, has a native resolution of only 1366 x 768 pixels.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The U160 is a 15-inch liquid crystal display LCD) with a thickness of 1.2 inches (30.48 mm) and a weight of 3.4 pounds (1.54 kilograms).

HP made it for people that need a relatively easy way to carry a display for presentations and the like.

Sure enough, the LCD is a bit heavier than ultrabooks, but still easy enough to carry around, especially thanks to the leather case it ships in.

HP will sell the U160 from this month onwards (January 2013), for $179.