{"id":36701,"date":"2026-09-26T17:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=36701"},"modified":"2026-09-26T20:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T03:08:49","slug":"viewsonic-1457-dual-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/viewsonic-1457-dual-display\/","title":{"rendered":"ViewSonic VG1457 is Two 14&#8243; Displays in One"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m a big fan of portable USB-C displays. My current love is the $500 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/viewsonic-4k-oled\/\">ViewSonic VX1655-4K OLED portable display<\/a>. It\u2019s a 15\u201d display that\u2019s super thin and light, and it&#8217;s an essential tool when I record the podcast during the live show when I\u2019m on the road. A 4K display gives me the screen real estate I need for all of the tools I need to run.<\/p>\n<p>But maybe you have different problems to be solved. In small workplace brainstorming meetings, it\u2019s not uncommon to want to be able to show people what\u2019s on your screen. Maybe you conduct demonstrations to potential customers. If you\u2019re on a video call, it\u2019s simple to share your screen, but what if you\u2019re together in real life? Dragging out a projector can be a hassle, and constantly rotating your laptop screen around is clumsy. If you turn your laptop so they can see, then you can\u2019t see.<\/p>\n<p>A normal portable display is easier to move around than the laptop, but what if you could have an external USB-C display that was double-sided? People on both sides of the table (including you) could see the demonstration all at the same time, and you&#8217;d still have your internal display available for your notes.<\/p>\n<p>Or, what if you need a <em>lot<\/em> of screen real estate, or you like a vertical display for reading long documents?<\/p>\n<p>When ViewSonic offered to loan me their new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.viewsonic.com\/us\/vg1457.html\">ViewSonic VG1457 14&#8243; Foldable IPS WUXGA Dual-Screen Portable Monitor<\/a>, I thought this might solve a lot of those problems. This is the most flexible and interesting display I\u2019ve ever tested. It works with macOS, Windows, iOS, iPadOS, and Android.<\/p>\n<p>The VG1457 is made up of two hinged 14\u201d displays, each with a 16&#215;10 aspect ratio. When folded closed, it\u2019s around .6\u201d thick, which is surprising for two displays combined, and only weighs 2.6lbs. That\u2019s about the same weight as a 13\u201d MacBook Air. The VG1457 feels quite thin as you slip it into the included felt envelope.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MacBook-Air-compared-to-VG1457-top-down-on-a-table.jpeg\" alt=\"MacBook Air compared to VG1457 top down on a table.\"  title=\"MacBook Air compared to VG1457 top down on a table.jpeg\" width=\"600 \" height=\"800\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">13&#8243; MacBook Air compared to VG1457<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/13-inch-MacBook-Air-and-VG1457-closed-on-a-table.jpeg\" alt=\"13-inch MacBook Air and VG1457 closed on a table.\"  title=\"13-inch MacBook Air and VG1457 closed on a table.jpeg\" width=\"800 \" height=\"253\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">About the Same Thickness (not counting the kickstand)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the reasons I love ViewSonic portable displays so much is that they have a very sturdy kickstand in the back, and the USB-C cables plug into it flat against the back of the display. This makes cable management much easier than the other displays I\u2019ve tested, and it\u2019s not floopy like the ones that use their origami cases to stand up. The kickstand on the VG1457 can rotate continuously out to 90\u00b0, and it\u2019s got a rubbery surface on the bottom so it\u2019s very secure.<\/p>\n<p>When you open the dual-display VG1457, you have several configuration options available:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tent mode where one display faces you and the other away from you<\/li>\n<li>Two landscape displays, one above the other<\/li>\n<li>Two portrait displays side by side<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In all of these configurations, even the tallest, the displays feel very stable on the kickstand.<\/p>\n<p>In order to use the dual displays the way you want, you have to learn two things: how to plug them in, and how to use the physical controller. I guess it\u2019s three things; you also need to modify display settings on your Mac and PC.<\/p>\n<h2>3 USB-C Ports<\/h2>\n<p>On the side of the display\u2019s kickstand, you\u2019ll find three well-labeled USB-C ports.  The bottom one is for power. The VG1457 can be powered by your laptop, but brightness will be limited to only 70%. If you find on your current displays that you keep brightness at 100%, you may find the VG1457 a smidge dim at only 250 nits, but for most people that might be fine. If you plug in the included 65W power supply, you get 100% of those 250 nits.<\/p>\n<p>The spec sheet says the VG1457 supports Power Delivery, which means you should be able to charge your laptop with pass-through while getting full brightness. In my testing, though, with the included power supply plugged into the charging port, I did not get power pass-through to my MacBook Air.<\/p>\n<p>I explained the situation to Claude, and asked whether it was possible I was doing something wrong. I&#8217;m not sure why this isn&#8217;t documented, but it explained that to get Power Delivery from the VG1457, you need to plug the USB-C power cable into whichever of the display ports you&#8217;re not using. By that I mean if you&#8217;re running dual displays, plug power into the single display port, not the power port. I gave it a try, and it worked.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VG1457-kickstand-showing-USB-C-ports-for-power-dual-display-and-single-display.jpeg\" alt=\"VG1457 kickstand showing USB-C ports for power, dual display and single display.\"  title=\"VG1457 kickstand showing USB-C ports for power, dual display and single display.jpeg\" width=\"600 \" height=\"800\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Sturdy, Rubberized Kickstand Showing 3 USB-C Ports:<\/br>Power, Dual Display, and Single Display<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The middle USB-C port is labeled with two overlapping display symbols, while the top one shows only one rectangle. If you plug your USB-C cable from your laptop into the top port (which they call port 1), only the shared display (the upper one) will be active. If you guessed that means that the middle port 2 will drive both displays,  you\u2019d be right. I think you could turn the tented display around so the shared display faced you if you just wanted to use it for yourself, but the cable management might get tricky.<\/p>\n<h2>Control Panel Keys<\/h2>\n<p>The hardest thing for me to get the hang of on the VG1457 was the physical controller.  On the back right of the kickstand, there are four indented buttons. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.viewsonicglobal.com\/public\/products_download\/user_guide\/display\/VG1457\/VG1457_UG_ENG.pdf?pass\">the user manual<\/a>, these four buttons are labeled numerically from top down as 1, 2, 3, and Power. I think they use numbers because they do different functions depending on the current state of the display.<\/p>\n<p>The top button, aka button 1, opens the screen brightness control.  While the screen brightness control is visible, the top button makes the brightness go up, while button 2 makes the brightness go down. Button 3 is Enter, which accepts your changes and closes the control.<\/p>\n<p>Button 2 brings up Volume controls, and the buttons in order from top to bottom are again up, down, and Enter.<\/p>\n<p>Button 3 brings up Display Settings, and I\u2019ll get into that in a bit. It\u2019s very confusing, but I think I cracked the code!<\/p>\n<p>Button 4 brings up an on-screen display menu that lets you navigate through brightness, volume, and display settings. I think that\u2019s the hard way to get to brightness, volume, and display settings, and I\u2019ll admit that until I read the manual, I thought it was the only way! You do get access to even more controls in the on-screen display menu, but I think the first three are the ones you\u2019ll be going into the most often.<\/p>\n<p>I find this physical control kind of janky and difficult to use, but once you get the hang of it, it\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n<h2>Display Options<\/h2>\n<p>Now let\u2019s get into the fun stuff: configuring the display settings when you use USB-C port 2 with the dual display symbol. I want to point out that the user manual refers to the ports as USB-C Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3, which is odd, since USB-C is officially called USB Type-C. I\u2019ll just call them port 1, port 2, etc.<\/p>\n<p>When I first plugged in the VG1457, it gave the expected macOS request for permission to connect. I was confused, though, because it asked for something in Chinese, followed by LDR2001. A quick trip to Siri AI to ask it what LDR2001 has to do with VG1457, and it explained that LDR2001 is the USB-C and DisplayPort controller chip.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Alert-asking-Ok-to-connect-LDR2001.png\" alt=\"Alert asking Ok to connect LDR2001.\"  title=\"Alert asking Ok to connect LDR2001.png\" width=\"520 \" height=\"436\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Ok to Connect?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The real fun begins when you\u2019re plugged into port 2, which sends the signal to both displays.  There are quite a few options for what you see on the displays, so let\u2019s go through them.  I\u2019ll refer to the displays as top and bottom, but as you\u2019ll learn in a bit, that will make less sense as I go along.<\/p>\n<p>To get to the options I\u2019m going to describe, you\u2019ll need to use those four buttons on the back of the kickstand to open Display settings and walk yourself through the four modes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mirror<\/li>\n<li>Extend<\/li>\n<li>Full Screen Mode<\/li>\n<li>Dual Source Mode<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Mirror-settings-using-onscreen-controls.jpeg\" alt=\"Mirror settings using onscreen controls.\"  title=\"Mirror settings using onscreen controls.jpeg\" width=\"564 \" height=\"800\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Mirror Settings in Onscreen controls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Mirror<\/h3>\n<p>To me, the most boring option is the one that lets you mirror your internal display to both of the external displays.   I guess if you were trying to do a demo to two groups of people, you could have the tent pointed perpendicular to yourself so people to your left and right could all see what you were doing on your internal display. All three displays show the same thing when you&#8217;re in mirror mode.<\/p>\n<h3>Extend<\/h3>\n<p>Extend is where things get interesting. This is where your internal display, upper display, and lower display can be three independent screens. Unfortunately, this only works on Windows. iOS, Android, iPadOS, <em>and macOS<\/em> have operating system limitations that keep this from working. Only the lower display works in Extended mode for those operating systems.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Mac-not-able-to-extend-to-upper-display2.jpeg\" alt=\"Extend mode showing black upper display but functional lower display\"  title=\"Mac not able to extend to upper display.jpeg\" width=\"600 \" height=\"800\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Extend Mode Doesn&#8217;t Work on macOS or Mobile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This isn\u2019t without utility, though. Remember that with the single-mode USB-C port you only get the top display, and I said you\u2019d have to flip it around to see it as a secondary display? With macOS and mobile operating systems, Extend mode gives you only the lower display as a second view, which would work a bit better if you only want one display.<\/p>\n<p>I know, I\u2019m looking at the bright side; it&#8217;s a sad limitation but not ViewSonic&#8217;s fault.<\/p>\n<h3>Full Screen Mode<\/h3>\n<p>All is not lost, because Full Screen Mode is a very useful mode. With the displays opened with one above the other, you get one giant, tall display. The best resolution suggested for this massive display is 1600 pixels wide by 2000 pixels tall.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Vertical-displays-at-2000-x-1600-in-Displays-Settings-and-rotated-1.png\" alt=\"Vertical displays at 2000 x 1600 in Displays Settings and rotated.\"  title=\"Vertical displays at 2000 x 1600 in Displays Settings and rotated.png\" width=\"800 \" height=\"746\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">High Resolution on Full Screen Mode<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In full-screen mode, it has a ~1-inch gap in the middle because of the hinge and bezels, but with a bit of window positioning, you can have content filling two 14\u201d external displays. You can use it as one tall display, but it would take some time to stop noticing that 1-inch gap.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Landscape-displays-one-above-the-other-in-full-screen-mode-emphasizing-hinge-gap2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Landscape displays one above the other in full screen mode emphasizing hinge gap.\"  title=\"Landscape displays one above the other in full screen mode emphasizing hinge gap.jpeg\" width=\"600 \" height=\"800\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Letting Apps Go Across the Hinge Looks Terrible<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Landscape-displays-one-above-the-other-in-full-screen-mode-changing-app-dimensions-to-eliminate-annoying-hinge-gap2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Landscape displays one above the other in full screen mode changing app dimensions to eliminate annoying hinge gap.\"  title=\"Landscape displays one above the other in full screen mode changing app dimensions to eliminate annoying hinge gap.jpeg\" width=\"600 \" height=\"800\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Resize Windows and it Looks Great<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now here\u2019s where it gets crazy cool. If it hadn\u2019t been for reading the manual, I never would have thought to stand the displays turned 90\u00b0 so you have two portrait-mode displays. (I used System Settings > Displays to rotate the screens.) Two long documents or long web pages in addition to your laptop screen is pretty cool.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VG1457-two-displays-vertical-next-to-13-in-MacBook-Air-showing-podfeet-website2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"VG1457 two displays vertical next to 13-in MacBook Air showing podfeet website.\"  title=\"VG1457 two displays vertical next to 13-in MacBook Air showing podfeet website.jpeg\" width=\"800 \" height=\"600\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Vertical Orientation Might Be The Best Mode<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Back-view-of-MacBook-Air-and-vertical-VG1457.jpeg\" alt=\"Back view of MacBook Air and vertical VG1457.\"  title=\"Back view of MacBook Air and vertical VG1457.jpeg\" width=\"800 \" height=\"600\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Kickstand from the Back in Vertical Configuration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The vertical orientation looked crispest at the default resolution of 1200&#215;960, but I noticed Preview wouldn\u2019t shrink the width of the PDF manual to be narrow enough to fit on one screen at that resolution. I put it up to 1600&#215;1280 and that was a good compromise.<\/p>\n<p>One of the reasons you can safely put the VG1457 into all of these different positions is that they\u2019ve put little rubber feet on the sides of the displays and on the sides of the kickstand. Even in that crazy 90\u00b0 position with two vertical displays, I had no concern about stability, as long as I had the kickstand all the way out at 90\u00b0. I might not leave it unattended with my cats around, but for supervised work I had no concerns.<\/p>\n<h2>Mobile<\/h2>\n<p>I tested an iPhone connected to the VG1457, and it connected immediately. The iPhone screen will rotate on the display when you rotate the phone in your hand, and it mirrors nicely to both displays in tent mode. Holding the iPhone in portrait mode while the screens were in landscape wasn&#8217;t great; the iPhone screen gets mirrored across that hinge gap and doesn&#8217;t fill the screen. In landscape, though, it worked well.<\/p>\n<p>I had mixed results using a 13\u201d iPad Pro with the VG1457. Firstly, Tent Mode worked beautifully.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/View-of-iPad-and-tent-mode-display-from-above-showing-both-sides2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"View of iPad and tent mode display from above showing both sides.\"  title=\"View of iPad and tent mode display from above showing both sides.jpeg\" width=\"799 \" height=\"456\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Tent Mode Works Well with iPad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In full-screen mode with Photos looking at thumbnails, the screen of the iPad was centered above and below the hinge, with black bars above and below. But if I switched to an individual photo in full screen on the iPad, the image stretched from top to bottom on the dual displays. I&#8217;m not sure why there was different behavior depending on the app views.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Photos-goes-full-screen-from-iPad-only-with-single-photo2.jpeg\" alt=\"Photos goes full screen from iPad only with single photo.\"  title=\"Photos goes full screen from iPad only with single photo.jpeg\" width=\"800 \" height=\"600\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Full Screen in Photos on iPad Works Great<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Photos-centers-with-black-bars-from-iPad-with-thumbnails2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Photos centers with black bars from iPad with thumbnails.\"  title=\"Photos centers with black bars from iPad with thumbnails.jpeg\" width=\"800 \" height=\"600\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Full Screen in Thumbnail View on iPad Looks Awful<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With a full-screen app like Bear where I\u2019m writing these notes, and the VG 1457 in tent mode, both displays were nearly full screen in mirror mode.<\/p>\n<h2>Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p>I buried part of the lede on this display. The VG1457 is only $350. With the flexibility of mirrored in tent mode to the utility of full-screen mode in landscape or portrait, all in a 2.6-pound dual display, that\u2019s an amazing price. I had trouble finding fault with this product, other than not being able to get Power Delivery to work, but I thought of one. The button on the felt envelope they give you is too hard to fit through the buttonhole!<\/p>\n<figure style=\"float: center; margin: 10px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VG1457-in-its-felt-envelope-with-button.jpeg\" alt=\"Felt envelope with button but the flap is open with the VG1457 slid out a little bit\"  title=\"VG1457 in it's felt envelope with button.jpeg\" width=\"799 \" height=\"358\"><figcaption style=\"text-align:center\">Can&#8217;t Close this Button<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you\u2019re a road warrior who conducts demos for close-up audiences, or you just want lots of screen real estate in a very portable form factor, I think the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.viewsonic.com\/us\/vg1457.html\">ViewSonic VG1457 14\u201d Foldable Dual-screen Portable Monitor<\/a> is a great product at a very reasonable price.<\/p>\n<p>I put the link in the shownotes to it on ViewSonic\u2019s site, but it\u2019s also available for the same price at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bhphotovideo.com\/c\/product\/1970082-REG\/viewsonic_vg1457_14_foldable_ips_1200p.html\/\">www.bhphotovideo.com\/\u2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m a big fan of portable USB-C displays. My current love is the $500 ViewSonic VX1655-4K OLED portable display. It\u2019s a 15\u201d display that\u2019s super thin and light, and it&#8217;s an essential tool when I record the podcast during the live show when I\u2019m on the road. A 4K display gives me the screen real [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[147],"tags":[8411,3210,329,4464],"class_list":["post-36701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-dual-display","tag-power-delivery","tag-usb-c","tag-viewsonic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/VG1457-two-displays-vertical-next-to-13-in-MacBook-Air-showing-podfeet-website.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36701"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36726,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36701\/revisions\/36726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}