As I might have to start travelling for work and being used to working with two monitors at home, I needed one which I can carry on the go and not need any extra power brick to power it. This is the Cloudwalker CTM 15T Portable Touch Screen Monitor. I’ve only heard of CloudWalker in the TV space, but how good is their portable monitor, let’s check it out.
Today I have with me the CloudWalker CTM15T which is a 15.6-inch external monitor.
Opening it up we get an instruction manual. Under this protective foam here, we have the actual monitor.
Here we are, we have a rubberized cover on the screen.
A cloud walker logo is embossed on the bottom right. The rubberized cover is grippy and also tough, thick enough to protect the screen within.
On the back we have the model number and other info. Right above are speakers, which we will test in a bit. But it’s great they’re part of the monitor.
Behind on the right we have the power button, volume controls, a menu button, and a headphone jack.
On the left we have the HDMI port, type-c input and finally a power port.
Opening the cover we find the display and it is glossy.
It’s quite reflective and is also a fingerprint magnet, so make sure you carry a microfiber cloth with you, especially as this is a touch screen too.
We are provided a USB-A to USB-C cable which is basically used to power the monitor.
A HDMI to mini HDMI cable, if you don’t have a type c port on your device, maybe like a game console.
USB-C to USB-C cable, this is what i’ll be using as my laptops support type-c display output.
A stand is also provided, but you may not need to use it because the cover itself can fold into a stand.
On, my monitor is now set, let’s check the display quality. I’m connecting my Legion 5 laptop to the monitor with the USB-C to USB-C cable provided, and as soon as they are connected, we have an image.
USB-C also provides power from the laptop in addition to the display signal. Audio also comes through the same cable.
The touch screen also works. Nice.
The laptop is running Windows 11, and it detected the monitor instantly. Everything seems to be working as expected.
The monitor is super slim, and the bezels are quite thin. Thickness is 4mm. It’s an IPS panel with support for HDR.
Revolution is 1920x1080p which is full hd.
The viewing angle is 178 degrees, and it seems to not fade when viewed at extreme angles.
Refresh rate is 60hz and it supports 16.7 million colours. Text is clear and crisp.
Brightness can go upto 300 nits, which is fine if you’re using the screen mostly indoors.
Build feels like metal, and the monitor feels really well built.
At 0.75 kg, it’s not that heavy, but when you take into consideration the laptop and other items in your bag, it’s something to take note of, as i already have a 2.4 kilo laptop and a 1 kilo charging brick, I’ll effectively be carrying around a little over 4 kilos. That would be quite a workout. Thin and light laptops being much lighter, this would not affect the total weight much.
The display when connected to a laptop, the touch screen works even if your laptop doesn’t have one. 10-point responsive touch is available on this display.
Ok, now to check a thin and light laptop. I have the Hp Envy, and it has USB-C ports too.
Plug in the cable and as before we have an image on the display, as easy as that.
At present the display setting is to duplicate displays, we can also change to extend displays. And we can now move the mouse between screens. We have the external monitor as a secondary display.
You can run any other application on the second screen while working on the primary screen, for example if you are a game streamer, you can OBS on one screen and play on the primary screen. You don’t need to come out of the game to start/stop recording. You can see the status of the recording.
Now for the PS4, I have a ps4 pro, and I will need to use the HDMI to mini HDMI cable. Connect and nothing.
HDMI does not supply power, or enough power, so you will need to connect the USB-A to USB-C cable to provide power. No charging brick is provided, you can use the USB port on the ps4 to power the monitor, or even a power bank as it doesn’t need much power.
Ok, the display is now active. We can hear the audio through the inbuilt speakers too.
HDR was a surprise, and the PS4 did detect hdr and ask to run the hdr setup, before playing.
This is how the audio sounds. (View video for audio sample)
We can also use DEX on your Samsung phones, using just one cable to the monitor. The touch screen works directly, activate the onscreen keyboard and it works as a compact work system. But you need to have the USB-A to USB-C cable connected for external power.
Only If you have external power attached to the lower USB-C port you can raise the brightness and also the volume, else you would see this message.
The menu system is fine, takes a little getting used to, but works.
The cover can be folded into a stand, these slots here are where the screen would sit and you don’t need any external stand.
So, what are my thoughts on the cloud walker CTM15T, well, it solved my need for an external monitor while travelling. The brightness and colours via the display are quite good.
The build is solid, with no flexing or bowing. Worked with both my AMD and intel laptops with only one USB-C cable. PS4 of course needs mini-HDMI and also external power. Samsung DEX also worked well, with the touch screen working, making it a portable workstation. Inclusion of all the required cables is also a plus, but I feel they could have included a power brick.
It worked well, for my use case where I needed a secondary monitor for more desktop space to work. Touch screen function is a bonus. Speakers are not that loud, but they are fine for the size, and you have a 3.5 mm jack if you need to connect headphones. The screen is really glossy and a fingerprint magnet.
Overall, a good monitor, a bit expensive, but for the feature set, it is worth it. Being so slim, it’s easy to tuck into a bag with your laptop too.
