Review: HP EliteDisplay S14 Is An Easy-To-Use, Highly Portable Display

With the EliteDisplay S14, HP Inc. says there are a couple of "firsts": the company says the device is the first 14-inch USB-C portable display on the market, as well as the company's first portable display with FHD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution.

But it's not just hype: in our tryout at the CRN Test Center, we found that both "firsts" are compelling reasons to consider the HP EliteDisplay S14.

[Related: Review: HP's EliteBook x360 1020 Redefines The Business Laptop As You Know It]

The idea here is that salespeople and other business travelers giving presentations may not always need to put on a big PowerPoint production to potential customers (such presentations are so often plagued by technical difficulties, of course).

Instead, having a portable display with a decent amount of screen space at 14 inches may be all that's required to make an impression on the customer. And they'll probably appreciate the much simpler setup involved with the EliteDisplay S14.

In our tryout, we found the ease of use to be the leading value of the EliteDisplay S14. The fact that it runs off USB-C meant that all we had to do was connect one end of a USB-C cable to a laptop and the other end into the display. The EliteDisplay S14 came right on. The display doesn't even need to plug into a power outlet since it's running off USB-C. Incredibly easy.

Another winning feature: the display is highly portable at just 2.2 pounds and 0.34 of an inch thick. The lightweight stand for the EliteDisplay S14 also folds up to double as a cover for the screen.

Also importantly, the display featured terrific responsiveness—there was no noticeable latency from what we were doing on the laptop and what was appearing on the display. That should translate to an ideal scenario for business presentations.

The biggest downside for the EliteDisplay S14, in our view, is that the brightness only reaches 200 nits. Even at full brightness, it's pretty dim compared to many new laptops nowadays.

But the FHD resolution means that everything looks pretty sharp on the display, so the brightness may or may not be a concern. There are also controls for adjusting the brightness, contrast and colors on the bottom left-hand side of the display.

The EliteDisplay S14 is priced at $219, which is above the pricing for many non-portable FHD displays. However, the easy USB-C connectivity and portability may be worth the price. Without a doubt, using the EliteDisplay S14 could be a better option for many presenters than turning to PowerPoint—or having a customer look over their shoulder at their laptop screen.