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It’s never been easier–or less expensive–to build out a state-of-the art smart home. We have other roundups that name the best smart home components–everything from the best smart bulbs to the best smart speakers, but in this story, we name the best hubs–the central controllers–that make home living more convenient. While the lines are becoming increasingly blurred, we see two basic types of smart home systems: Those focused on convenience first–the hubs listed here–and those focused on home security first (and here are our top DIY home security system picks). Decide first what is your primary goal–convenience or security–and then shop accordingly. The best smart home systems Samsung SmartThings Station – Best DIY smart home hub for most people Pros Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Thread radios onboard Stuffed with bonus features, including a wireless phone charger Matter support adds immense flexibility Cons Won’t work without a broadband connection No Z-Wave radio No battery backup or cellular backup Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $94.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Samsung SmartThings Station While it has lost the ability to control Z-Wave devices, the Samsung SmartThings Station it has been transformed into a powerful Matter-certified smart home hub. It’s a big step up from the simpler Ikea Dirigera hub in that it will control virtually any Matter-certified product, and it’s very easy to use. If you already have a non-Matter SmartThings hub, such as the Aeotec Smart Home Hub, you can easily transition everything but your Z-Wave devices to this hub. Samsung SmartThings Station: Further considerations If you’re looking to build out a Matter-compatible smart home, the Samsung SmartThings Station is the smart home hub you’re looking for. While Samsung also integrates SmartThings hub features into its smart TVs, smart monitors, and even its high-end refrigerators, this stand-alone hub is at least as powerful as those, and it’s much easier to work with. It also features an integrated inductive charging pad for your smartphone and other compatible devices. If you do want to control Z-Wave devices, stick with Aeotec’s hub (see below). Read our full Samsung SmartThings Station review Amazon Echo Hub — Best smart home hub with a display Pros Supports Wi-Fi, Matter, Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth LE Mesh, and Sidewalk Easy to set up, customize, master, and use on an everyday basis Supports advanced connectivity options such as Power over Ethernet Cons No Z-Wave radio, battery backup, or cellular backup Only responds to Alexa voice commands Pricey overkill for those with just a few smart home devices to control Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $179.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Amazon Echo Hub A wall-mounted control panel is one of the characteristic features of a high-end smart home system. Most every professionally installed system–Vivint Smart Home, Crestron, Savant, etc.–has one, with a touchscreen that can display your security camera feeds, control your lights and other components, and arm/disarm your home security system. Amazon’s Echo Hub is an affordable panel that can do all that, and it’s especially great when paired with Alexa-compatible smart home devices, Ring security cameras and a Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro system. Amazon Echo Hub: Further considerations The Amazon Echo Hub will be of most interest to hardcore Alexa users–it’s also an Echo smart display–and people who use Ring home security products. While it’s functional right out of the box, you’ll want to spend time customizing its layout to take full advantage of everything it has to offer, including displaying feeds from your compatible security cameras (while you’re not limited to Ring cameras, they will deliver the best experience). The display is designed to be hung on the wall–there’s no desktop stand–but it supports Power over Ethernet (data, video, and power are carried over the same low-voltage cable). Run an ethernet cable through your wall, and you won’t have an unsightly power cord dangling from it. Read our full Amazon Echo Hub review Ikea Dirigera – Best DIY smart home hub for newbies Pros Inexpensive Easy to use Supports Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home Works as a Matter bridge and Thread border router (after a firmware update) Cons Must be hardwired to your router No Z-Wave radio, battery backup, or cellular backup Limited feature set Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Who should buy the Ikea Dirigera smart home hub The Ikea Dirigera is a great choice for newcomers to the smart home market who just want things to work without having to muck about. Ikea’s companion app is supremely easy to use and offers plenty of handholding to step you through getting it set up and adding smart home devices. A recent firmware update makes the hub a Matter bridge, meaning you’re no longer limited to controlling Ikea’s own products with it, and it activated the hub’s Thread radio as well, enabling it to perform as a Thread border router. It’s compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home, so you can use voice commands to control everything. Ikea Dirigera smart home hub: Further considerations The simplicity of the Ikea Dirigera smart home hub and the Ikea Home app makes for a great smart home onramp. Ikea has lots of its own smart home accessories–ranging from basic smart plugs to motorized window shades–and the recent activation of the hub’s Thread radio and Matter certification open the door to lots of third-party devices. Read our full Ikea Dirigera review Other notable smart home hubs we’ve tested We’ve evaluated lots of other DIY smart home systems. If none of our top picks check all the boxes for you, take a look at these other products. Aqara Hub E1 is very similar to Aqara’s Hub M3 system, except it plugs into a USB power adapter and doesn’t have its stablemate’s infrared blaster feature. And like the Hub M2, the Hub E1 controls only Aqara Zigbee devices. Aqara Hub M3 is mostly about the convenience aspects of the smart home. It’s very easy to set up; it has Wi-Fi, Thread, and Zigbee radios; and it’s Matter-compatible. It can’t control third-party Zigbee directly, however; it can only control Aqara’s own Zigbee products. Homey Bridge is a SmartThings-like smart home hub that supports Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, 433MHz, and infrared devices. Like SmartThings, it’s focused primarily on convenience versus home security. But you’re limited to just five devices unless you pay for a subscription. Hubitat Elevation (model C7) is a powerful smart home hub favored by many hardcore enthusiasts. It supports Matter and has , and unlike the Aeotec Smart Home Hub we like so much, Hubitat’s product isn’t reliant on a connection to the internet. Less-experienced users, however, will encounter a steep learning curve. SwitchBot Hub 2 is primarily a gateway for other SwitchBot smart home products, but it can also serve as a Matter bridge for a host of third-party products. It has been replaced by the SwitchBot Hub 3, so look for our review soon. How we test smart home hubs PCWorld’s TechHive team reviews smart home hubs in real-world conditions by setting them up in our own homes. We connect them to our own routers and then link a variety of compatible smart home devices to them (lights, sensors, smart locks, and more, from disparate brands). We use every smart home technology the hub supports: Matter, Thread, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, et al). Why you should trust PCWorld’s TechHive for smart home hub reviews and buying advice TechHive’s staff editors and freelance contributors have decades of collective experience testing and living with smart home hubs and all the classes of devices that connect to them. But our enthusiasm is not unbridled, and we give no quarter to buggy products or anything that’s unnecessarily difficult. Every product listed above has been personally and rigorously tested and vetted by our experts. We won’t recommend anything that we wouldn’t be happy to have in our own homes. Who curates this article? Christopher Null is an award-winning tech journalist with more than 25 years of experience who frequently reviews the latest smart home products for TechHive. He’s a frequent contributor to Wired, This Old House, and AAA’s Via Magazine. Michael Brown, TechHive’s lead editor, has been writing about home technology for more than 30 years and built a custom smart home from the ground up in 2007. Following a relocation to the Pacific Northwest in 2023, he’s been busy converting an 1890 bungalow into a modern smart home. During his career, Michael has held staff editor positions at CNET, PCWorld, Electronic Musician, and Maximum PC, and he wrote a book about desktop video production. How to choose the best DIY smart home system As we mentioned earlier, smart home systems come in a dazzling array of shapes and sizes, from brain-dead simple to vastly complex. Features vary just as widely, so you’ll need to pay more attention than usual when you’re narrowing down the field to find the product that’s right for you. Here’s a look at some of those key decision factors. To see how each system on the market measures up to those promises, drill down into our reviews. Which smart home standards does the hub support? This might be your most important consideration, because it will dictate which smart home devices you can install in your home. Some security-focused smart home hubs, such as SimpliSafe, only work with their own accessories. Some others, such as the Ring Alarm series, have certification programs for third-party products. This is less of a problem with smart home hubs that focus on convenience. Matter has long promised to be the standard that will tie all the leading smart home ecosystems together: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and more. While it’s not quite there–principally because Matter doesn’t take every aspect of the smart home into account (e.g., security cameras), it continues to make solid progress toward that goal. While Matter puts an umbrella over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread, it ignores Z-Wave, a technology that offers some features none of those other platforms do. If your smart home is already filled with smart home devices, you won’t want to replace them for the sake of a new hub. Fortunately, Matter and Z-Wave are not mutually exclusive, and several smart home hubs support both standards, including Homey, Home Assistant, and Hubitat Elevation. If you already have, or you intend to buy smart speakers, make syre the hub you buy is compatible. Amazon Echo and Google Nest smart speakers are almost universally supported; Apple’s HomePod speakers much less so. Wired vs. wireless hub connection Many smart hubs must connect to your wireless router via an ethernet cable, which limits their placement and, of course, requires a free ethernet port on your router (if all your router ports are occupied, buy an inexpensive switch). A smaller number of hubs are wireless and can be placed anywhere in range of the router, increasing your flexibility. Local control vs. cloud dependent Some smart home hubs depend on a connection to the cloud (i.e., the internet) to operate. Even with a fast broadband connection, you might notice a delay as your commands go up to the internet, are processed by a server in the cloud, and then come back down to the hub and out to the device the command is intended for. And if your broadband connection should fail, your smart home instantly turns dumb. That won’t be a problem with a smart home hub that processes everything locally. Broadband backup Smart home hubs that are focused on home security should have a backup means of connecting to the internet should your regular broadband connection fail. This is typically handled by a cellular radio on the device. If it doesn’t have a backup, and you’re paying for professional monitoring that can dispatch first-responders in the event of a break-in or other emergency, the hub will have no way to reach that call center. The cost for this type of backup is usually included in the subscription fee for professional monitoring. Battery backup If the power goes out, your smart lights won’t be useful anyway; but other smart home features, such as security sensors, rely on a hub that’s always powered on. Some smart home hubs feature battery backups (thanks to rechargeable or disposable cells). Even a short power outage can cause a significant delay while the hub reconnects, so a battery backup makes sense in many home environments. If you like everything else about a particular hub that lacks a battery backup option, consider investing in an uninterruptible power supply to plug it into. Sensor range If your home is large or spread out, you’ll need to pay attention to the range that the hub’s sensors support. Hubs may support a wide array of connection protocols, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee, all of which have very different ranges. As with a wireless router, smart hub range can also be impacted by interference and device placement, and smart home devices themselves have different specs, as well. Take the time to look into the detailed specs to be sure sensors and third-party devices will work with your home’s infrastructure. Mobile app usability You’ll probably be interacting with your hub primarily through its mobile app, so you’ll want one that’s intuitive and powerful, with all the key features you use front and center. Our reviews cover this topic and include app screenshots to give you a sense of what you’ll be dealing with on the app side of things. Overall complexity This is a companion consideration to the mobile app, relating primarily to the audience for whom the smart home system was developed. Is the system geared toward everyday users with limited customization needs? Or is it built with extreme flexibility in mind, to the point where the configuration decisions might overwhelm a novice user? Again, close attention to our reviews can help you gauge how comfortable you’re likely to feel with any system. Subscription plan costs Subscription plan costs vary widely from system to system, and many vendors offer a range of plans to choose from. Some systems–particularly those that aren’t focused on home security–will work with no service plan at all. Study any subscription plan options carefully before you pull the trigger on a smart home hub. Frequently asked questions about smart home hubs and systems 1. What is a smart home hub? Strictly speaking, you don’t need a smart home hub if all your all smart home devices operate over Wi-Fi. But doing that will put a big load on your Wi-Fi router. You’ll have a better experience if you can offload that command and control work to a dedicated piece of hardware; namely, smart home hub that has at least a Zigbee radio. Also having Thread and Z-Wave radios onboard will give you additional flexibility, although the latter is not required for Matter support. 2. What are the most important smart home hub features? The smart home hub you choose should be compatible with whatever smart home devices you already own, including any existing smart speaker or smart display. A Matter-certified hub will be compatible with any of them–a later-model Amazon Echo, Google Nest, or an Apple HomePod, for example. A versatile smart home hub will have Bluetooth, Thread, Zigbee, and perhaps Z-Wave radios onboard (Z-Wave is not part of the Matter standard, but TechHive’s editors still value it). If you’re centralizing your smart home around Matter, you’ll want to make sure your hub has a Thread border router onboard (although you can also use a separate device for that purpose). A Thread border router coordinates all your smart home devices that communicate over Thread 3. Where should I install a smart home hub? A smart home hub will connect to your Wi-Fi router, either wirelessly or–more commonly–via an ethernet cable. Ideally, both those components will be in a central location inside your home, to provide the best coverage. The router will provide the broadband connection you’ll need to control your smart home devices, some of which will need to connect to servers in the cloud. Some smart home hubs, such as the security-focused Ring Alarm Pro, have a router integrated with the rest of their hardware. 4. How much do smart home hubs cost? You can buy a smart home hub for as little as $30 or as much as $300, depending on its processor power and feature set. The very basic Aqara M100 hub, plugs into a user-supplied USB power supply has Zigbee and Thread radios inside. It supports Matter and can perform as a Thread border router, but you can only connect Aqara’s own Zigbee devices (and you’re limited to 20 of these and 20 Thread devices). Moving up to something like Ikea’s Dirigera hub ($109) or 4th-generation Amazon Echo ($100) will give you all those features with fewer limitations as well as well as an integrated smart speaker. The Amazon Echo Hub and Google’s Nest Hub incorporate displays along with their smart speakers. If you can tolerate a learning curve in exchange for setting up an even more powerful smart home hub, consider something like the Hubitat Elevation or an even more DIY-oriented Home Assistant. Read...

Greetings from Maryland, where I’m currently visiting family and using one of the best impulse buys I’ve made in recent memory. I’m taking about those cheap portable monitors that go on sale for about $50 on Amazon, available under a variety of unrecognizable brand names. The one I got is made by BIGASUO (a name I can’t stop saying), but you can find seemingly identical models from the likes of FANGOR and MNN. They all serve the same basic purpose as a travel-friendly way to add an extra screen to your laptop, and they all have the same basic features: 15.6-inch 1080p display USB-C or Mini HDMI input Built-in speakers Audio jack for headphones or external speakers A detachable folio stand Some variants, such as this one by the unfortunately named Dopesplay, have actual built-in kickstands instead of folio cases that double as makeshift stands, but otherwise appear identical. Are these monitors great quality-wise? Of course not. But they’re cheap, light, and versatile. They’re also refreshingly free from a lot of modern tech baggage. I’ve had a great time finding ways to use mine. Allow me to convince you why you should get one of these, too. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. How does a portable monitor work? These portable screens work a little differently than full-sized monitors, mainly because they don’t have regular HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA inputs. To connect these monitors, you have a couple options: USB-C to USB-C data cable. This provides power and video to the portable monitor through a single cable, but requires your computer to support video output through a USB-C port. (Modern Macs can do this, and many recent Windows laptops are catching up.) Mini HDMI to HDMI. For computers with HDMI outputs, you can send video to the portable monitor via Mini HDMI, but you’ll need a separate USB-C cable to power the monitor as well. A single USB-C data cable can provide video and power, or you can use the Mini HDMI and USB-C power ports instead.Jared Newman / Foundry Note that these travel-friendly displays don’t have built-in batteries, so they must draw power from either your laptop or an outlet. The lack of a battery makes the monitor lighter, but if you’re using the USB-C to USB-C connector, you’ll likely want to keep your laptop plugged into its own power source for lengthy computing sessions. My BIGASUO monitor included all the necessary cables, but they’re on the short side. To lengthen the connection distance, you’ll either need an HDMI extender or a USB-C to USB-C cable with 10 Gbps transfer speeds. (A basic USB-C charging cable won’t suffice for video connections.) What is a portable monitor good for? The most obvious use for a portable monitor is the main one: while using a laptop on the go, you can attach the portable monitor, prop it up with a stand, and have two screens instead of one. If you’ve never used a dual monitor setup before, this can be a revelation in itself. It’s nice being able to reference a document on one screen while writing on the other, or use one screen just for things like email and Slack while freeing up the main screen for more important tasks. I’ve also managed to prop up my BIGASUO monitor in portrait mode, which can be a bit precarious at times but does make my mobile workspace a bit more compact. (You can rotate the monitor orientation in system settings on both Windows PC and Mac.) Beyond the dual-screen setup, I’ve also experimented with: Turning a phone into a computer: Paired with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, your phone can become a makeshift portable desktop. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are especially well-suited with Samsung DeX, which launches a desktop-like environment when the phone connects to an external display. (You can even use the phone screen as a touchpad.) Plugging a separate USB-C charging cable into the monitor will send a charge back to the phone so you don’t waste battery life. A Samsung Galaxy Fold7 running DeX mode on the monitor, with the phone as a touchpad.Jared Newman / Foundry An extra (or alternate) desktop display: You don’t have to use a portable monitor on the road. I’ve been plugging mine into my desktop gaming PC in the basement while my son occupies the TV with the PlayStation 5. (We have plans to play Fortnite together this way but haven’t gotten around to it yet.) A bigger portable video screen: I’ve connected the portable monitor to my Steam Deck for a bigger view of the action, and I can envision plugging it into a phone or tablet to watch movies in bed or on a plane. A portable monitor just works In the past, I’ve written about using a tablet as an external monitor—and that’s still a viable option. Portable monitors are larger than most tablets, though, and they’re also less finnicky to set up. Not to get overly philosophical here, but portable monitors also remind me why I get excited about technology to begin with. Unlike so many other tech products today, a portable monitor is a no-fuss device that just works when you plug it in, asking nothing of you in exchange. There’s no pairing process, no login procedure, and no privacy policy to accept. I often hear folks pining for a dumb alternative to modern smart TVs—if you ask me, that idea is alive and well in portable monitors. But the biggest endorsement I can offer is this: my wife, after borrowing my portable monitor a couple days ago, now wants one of her own. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Includes tripod, VESA mounts Includes a monitor sleeve with velcro Has two USB-C ports, both with Power Delivery High brightness for the price Cons Contrast performance doesn’t stand out Modest color performance and accuracy Limited menu and image quality options Our Verdict The MSI Pro MP165 E6 is a versatile option for shoppers who need a budget portable monitor that can be used with a VESA wall mount, a conventional monitor arm, or even a tripod. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: MSI Pro MP165 E6 Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Budget portable monitors are a dime a dozen, and to be frank, many are interchangeable. That’s because most use the same IPS-LCD display panel technology, offer the same or similar ports, and are similar in size. The MSI Pro MP165 E6 also follows these trends but stands out with tripod and VESA mount options. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best portable monitors for comparison. MSI Pro MP165 E6 specs and features The MSI Pro MP165 E6’s basic specifications are similar to most budget portable monitors. It has a 15.6-inch IPS-LCD display (despite the giant “16” badge on the box) with 1920×1080 resolution. This is standard for any sub-$100 portable monitor. Display size: 15.6-inch 16:9 aspect ratio Native resolution: 1920×1080 Panel type: IPS-LED Refresh rate: 60Hz Adaptive Sync: Yes HDR: None Ports: 1x HDMI 2.0b, 2x USB Type-C with 15 watts of Power Delivery Audio: 2x 1-watt speakers Additional features: Built-in kickstand, 1/4 in. standard tripod mount, 75x75mm VESA mount Dimensions: 14.04 x 8.28 x 0.55 inches Weight: 1.72 pounds Price: $89.99 MSRP However, the MSI offers a few extra features that are less common. It has a built-in kickstand, a 1/4-inch tripod mount, and a 75x75mm VESA mount. These extras are subtle but make the monitor more versatile. MSI Pro MP165 E6 design The MSI Pro MP165 E6’s design lives up to its “Pro” badging. At a glance, the portable monitor appears to be a slim plastic slab that’s similar to dozens of competitive portable monitors. It measures just 0.55 inches thick and weighs 1.72 pounds. Both figures are low but typical for a portable monitor. Flip it around, though, and you’ll find three important features. The monitor has a kickstand, a 1/4-inch tripod mount, and a 75mm VESA mount. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up, the kickstand, which is the most common of the MSI’s three extra features. Kickstands are often used by portable monitors, though most budget monitors instead have a fabric stand or cover. The kickstand is small but keeps the monitor firmly angled at the desired position and is aided by two small rubber feet, one on each side of the monitor, which keeps the monitor from moving when bumped. Its range of tilt is a bit limited, however, and portrait orientation is not possible. The monitor also has two mounting options: a 1/4-inch tripod mount and a 75mm VESA mount. Both are uncommon for a portable monitor and nice to see at this price. These mounts are useful for photographers, videographers, YouTubers, TikTokers, and anyone else who needs a low-cost display for monitoring their content. They also make it possible to use the display as digital signage, on a wall in your home, and in other less common situations. MSI ships the monitor with a cloth sleeve that closes with velcro. It’s not fancy but adds some protection against bumps and scratches. The inclusion of a velcro flap to secure the monitor is also appreciated. Budget monitors sometimes have a sleeve that does not include a flap, strap, or other physical way to keep the display secure when stowed. MSI Pro MP165 E6 connectivity Three ports line the MSI Pro MP165 E6’s left flank; one full-sized HDMI 2.0 and two USB-C. The USB-C ports both support DisplayPort and 15 watts of Power Delivery, so both can drive a single-cable connection to the monitor if you have a laptop, or other device, that can output both video and 15 watts of power over USB-C. The monitor also has a 3.5mm audio jack for audio pass-through. The location of the ports could be better. All three are on the left, which can be annoying if you intend to place the monitor to the right of your primary display. Matthew Smith / Foundry The portable monitor also lacks a power brick, which you’ll need if you send a video signal to the monitor over HDMI, or over USB-C from a device that can’t deliver power. This is common in the sub-$100 monitor arena, though. On the plus side, the monitor ships with both USB-C and HDMI cables, and the cables have a 90-degree connection on one side. That’s handy, as it reduces desk clutter and makes the cables easier to route if mounting the monitor to a wall mount or tripod mount. Cables with 90-degree connections are inexpensive, but they’re not free (typically $8 to $10 a cable, and a few bucks more than cables with a standard connector). Their inclusion is a nice bonus for a monitor that retails at an MSRP of just $89.99. The MSI Pro MP165 E6 is a budget portable monitor that stands out from most competitors with several features that are uncommon in the sub-$100 price bracket. MSI Pro MP165 E6 menus, audio While the MSI Pro MP165 E6 delivers on connectivity, the menu system is disappointing. The monitor provides a power button and toggle on the right flank. The power button works as expected. The toggle, meanwhile, is used for audio and brightness adjustment. And that’s it. Budget portable monitors are often slim on menu and image quality features, but the MSI is lacking even by the category’s low standards. Competitors like the InnoView Portable Monitor offer a wider range of features and image quality adjustments. Matthew Smith / Foundry The monitor is compatible with MSI’s Display Kit utility, which is available for Windows 11 and Windows 10. Display Kit offers a handful of additional features including preset color modes and RGB color adjustment. These features are not specific to the MSI Pro MP165 E6, however. They work with any monitor including those from other companies. Audio is provided by a pair of 1-watt speakers on the rear of the monitor. They deliver decent volume, which makes them usable for listening to podcasts or a video call, but they’re quickly overwhelmed by more complicated content like music, movies, or games. Many budget portable monitors have the same problem, though I found the speakers on the InnoView Portable Monitor more listenable. MSI Pro MP165 E6 SDR image quality The MSI Pro MP165 E6 has an MSRP below $100. Monitors in this price bracket universally compromise image quality to achieve attractive pricing, but some sacrifice more than others. MSI’s approach is practical, focusing on usability over image quality. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up is brightness, where the MSI Pro MP165 E6 achieves a solid 328 nits at its peak. That’s a good result for a portable monitor, and while not the best available, it’s superior to competitively priced alternatives like the Viewsonic VA1655 and InnoView Portable monitor. Brightness isn’t exciting, but it’s important. Many budget portable monitors are so dim that they can prove a bit frustrating to use in a brightly lit office or near sunlit windows. The MSI is still overwhelmed in very bright conditions, but handles harsh lighting better than most alternatives in this price bracket. Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast is typical for the category. MSI delivers a solid mid-pack result that slightly exceeds the price-comparable alternatives. Some IPS-LCD portable monitors, like the Lenovo M14t and Viewsonic TD1656-2K, can deliver much better contrast, but they’re also more expensive. It’s worth mention that all of these IPS-LCD portable monitors offer limited contrast if compared to OLED alternatives. IPS-LCD is noticeably dull and washed-out compared to OLED. However, OLED portable monitors are quite a bit more expensive, with the most affordable options starting around $200. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color gamut is where the MSI Pro MP165 E6 falls towards the bottom of the budget competition. It has a very limited color gamut that covers just 63 percent of sRGB and 47 percent of both DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB. This is average for a budget portable monitor, and far behind most expensive alternatives. The MSI’s poor color performance is less of an issue if you plan to view documents, browse the web, or use it in content creation roles where color is not as important (such as using the monitor as a teleprompter). Image and video editing, however, is a no-go, as the monitor lacks the range of color needed to display an image with accuracy. Matthew Smith / Foundry Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that color accuracy also falls short. The monitor’s average color error of 2.5 is towards the high end for a portable monitor. And the real-world result is worse than the average might suggest, as color accuracy spiked in both the blue and red hues. I found that red hues looked too brown or orange and that blue hues tended towards cyan. Sharpness, on the other hand, is a perk. A resolution of 1920×1080 isn’t news in 2025 but, spread across a 15.6-inch display, it results in a pixel density of about 141 pixels per inch. That’s better than a 27-inch 1440p display (about 109 pixels per inch). The image generally looks sharp and small text is rendered well. The MSI Pro MP165 E6’s overall image quality is tilted towards its professional marketing, though with some caveats. This is not a monitor for professional photo or video editing but, rather, a budget portable monitor for office productivity, digital signage, collaboration, and other tasks where color performance is less of a concern. MSI Pro MP165 E6 HDR image quality and motion The MSI Pro MP165 E6 doesn’t support HDR. That might seem like a negative, as many budget portable monitors claim HDR support. However, the truth is that while some competitors list HDR support, the quality of the HDR is extremely low. MSI’s decision not to support HDR is more honest, in my opinion. Motion clarity, meanwhile, is average for a modern IPS LCD display. The monitor has a refresh rate of 60Hz and doesn’t support Adaptive Sync, so while motion blur is tolerable overall, it’s nowhere near what monitors with a higher refresh rate or OLED panel can provide. Still, this is a budget monitor, so modest motion clarity is to be expected. Should you buy the MSI Pro MP165 E6? The MSI Pro MP165 E6 is a budget portable monitor that stands out from most competitors with several features that are uncommon in the sub-$100 price bracket. The monitor’s image quality is rather limited, but it has a tripod mount, a VESA mount, and a useful built-in kickstand, plus 90-degree cables for better cable management and a decent carrying case. While none of these extras will set your hair on fire, they’re handy and make MSI’s portable monitor more versatile than its competitors. Read...

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Imagine if that refrigerator you bought just five years ago suddenly up and died—and not because of some technical glitch, but because the manufacturer deliberately reached out and deactivated it, permanently. You’d be furious, right? And you’d probably want a refund, too.  As wild as that scenario sounds for a major appliance like a refrigerator or a TV, it happens more often than you’d think in the smart home world. From the doomed Dropcam to the abandoned Revolv smart hub, there’s a long, sad parade of smart home devices that have turned into paperweights.    We’ve compiled a list of 12 infamous examples of killer smart home products that—for one reason or another—were abandoned by their manufacturers.  These deactivated smart home gadgets have either mostly or completely ceased to function. In some cases, the makers of these bricked devices offered refunds, or a discount on an upgraded or replacement product. But in other instances, customers were left high and dry.  Read ‘em and weep.  12 stone-dead smart home gadgets Amazon Echo Look  Launched: 2017 Original list price: $200 Date deactivated: July 24, 2020  Amazon It was a heady concept: an Alexa-powered smart camera that could scan your daily outfits and give you fashion advice. Indeed, the Echo Look was one of the original “look what Alexa can do!” devices, predating such out-there Alexa gadgets as the Echo Loop (Alexa on a ring) and the Amazon Astro (Alexa on a robot).  But the Echo Look never really took off—in part, perhaps, because the Look’s camera lacked a privacy shutter, a minus for a device that’s supposed to sit on your bedroom dresser. In May 2020, Amazon announced that the 3-year-old Look would go dark just two months later.  Amazon did offer Echo Look owners a free Echo Show 5 in compensation, but still, the $90 smart display didn’t exactly cover the $200 asking price for the dead-as-a-doornail fashion camera.  Amazon Echo Connect  Launched: 2017 Original list price: $35 Date deactivated: February 29, 2024  Amazon Landing right around the same time as the doomed Echo Look, the Echo Connect unlocked a killer Alexa feature: the ability to make phone calls on your landline using voice commands. All you had to do was plug your landline cable into the back of the Connect box, no additional fees required.  But as landlines gave way to cell phones and Alexa gained the ability to place calls from mobile phone numbers, the Echo Connect began to look increasingly outdated, and some bad reviews didn’t help. Still, Echo Connect users were caught off guard when, in February 2024, Amazon gave them just a few weeks’ notice that the Connect would soon go dead. On the bright side, each Echo Connect owner got a $10 Amazon gift card for their trouble.  Revolv smart home hub  Launched: 2013 Original list price: $299 Date deactivated: May 15, 2016  YouTube One smart hub to rule them all? That was the idea behind Revolv, a fire engine-red gadget packed with seven wireless radios that allowed you to control smart products from different manufacturers, all from a single app.  That was, at the time, a killer concept—so killer that Nest, which had itself just been acquired by Google, snapped up Revolv’s parent company in 2014 and promptly yanked the hub from store shelves.  Initially, Nest promised to keep existing Revolv smart hubs up and running. But by early 2016, Revolv owners learned that their hubs would stop working entirely by May of the same year, leaving them stuck with $300 paperweights while scrambling for alternatives.  Iris by Lowe’s Home Automation platform  Launched: 2012 Original list price: $50 hub, $99 Security Pack (with various contact and motion sensors, plus a keypad), $129 Automation Pack (contained Security Pack components plus a smart plug and button) Date deactivated: March 31, 2019  Lowe’s Lowe’s jumped into the smart home market early, going all-in with a hub (a second-generation hub landed in 2015 as a free upgrade for original hub owners) and a variety of sensors, security cameras, smoke detectors, and other smart components.  But from the start, Lowe’s Iris platform was beset with problems, from a lengthy and bug-ridden setup process to promised features that were slow to materialize (such as professional home monitoring), while support for third-party smart brands arrived only in dribs and drabs. Lowe’s eventually rolled out a raft of welcome updates to address the lengthy list of customer complaints, but the Iris platform never truly recovered from its rocky launch.  By 2019, Lowe’s finally threw in the towel, announcing that its Iris products would stop working by March 31 of that year. While Iris users were faced with the prospect of rebuilding their smart home setups, Lowe’s at least offered to refund customers for any Iris products that wouldn’t work on any other platforms, while Samsung SmartThings stepped up to help Iris users migrate to its own smart platform.  Hive home security products  Launched: 2017 Original list price: Various Date deactivated: September 1, 2023 (Hive Leak sensor), August 1, 2025 (all other Hive security products)  Amazon UK-based Hive had big plans for the smart home back in 2017. Originally focused on smart heating and thermostats, the brand was poised to branch out into home security with the Hive HomeShield alarm and the Hive View indoor and outdoor cameras (pictured above), while the Hive Leak Sensor would keep its wireless-enabled feelers out for water leaks.  But by 2019, Hive began dialing down its smart home ambitions, first withdrawing from the U.S. and Canadian markets (Hive gave instructions to users in North America on how to dispose of its useless smart gadgets on a support page) and then announcing it would exit the home security market altogether, with its portfolio of camera and security devices slated to go dead by August 1, 2025. (The Hive Leak lost support and connectivity in 2023.) As for refunds, the options aren’t great.  Hive chose to chop the products because “as a smart technology brand in the middle of a climate crisis, we know our focus needs to change,” according to a company statement.  Samsung SmartThings first-generation Hub, ADT SmartThings Home Security & Safety System, SmartThings Link   Launched: 2014 (first-gen Hub), 2017 (ADT SmartThings Home Security & Safety System), 2018 (Samsung Link) Original list price: $99 (hub), $550 and up (ADT SmartThings Home Security kits), $40 (SmartThings Link) Date deactivated: June 20, 2021  Jared Newman / Foundry One of the biggest and most stalwart of smart home brands, Samsung SmartThings has nonetheless seen fit to turn some of its older products into paperweights.  Back in 2021, Samsung pulled support for the original SmartThings Hub from 2014—not a huge shock, given that the hub was seven years old at the time. Still, due to compatibility issues, first-generation Hub owners were faced with the prospect of recreating their smart home setups from scratch.  More vexing was the decision to axe the much newer Samsung Link (a dongle that allowed the Nvidia Shield to perform double duty as a SmartThings hub, pictured above) and the pricey ADT SmartThings Home Security system, which were (respectively) only three and four years old.  Samsung and partner ADT offered owners of their dead products a combination of refunds and discounts on newer hardware, and the SmartThings ecosystem itself lives on, centered around the SmartThings Station, Aeotec’s Smart Home Hub, and Smart Home Hub 2 (just announced at IFA in September) .  Phillips Hue Bridge (first-generation)  Launched: 2012 Original list price: Included in a $199 Hue starter kit  Date deactivated: April 2022  Signify Signify-owned Philips Hue first began selling its industry-leading smart lights way back in 2012, and the first Hue Bridge (pictured above on the right, with a big red slash through it) came bundled with three Hue bulbs. Hue discontinued the original Bridge in 2015 in favor of an upgraded (and now square) model with more robust processing power and Apple HomeKit support, but continued to keep the older Bridge operating with frequent software updates.  By 2020, however, Philips Hue announced that first-gen Bridge “no longer has the resources to guarantee the evolution of the Hue system.” While owners of the outdated Bridge could still use it locally with the Hue app (so strictly speaking, it’s not stone dead), the device lost all online services after April 2020, including out-of-home control and voice commands.  Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight  Launched: 2014 Original list price: $99 Date deactivated: Late 2019  Best Buy Released back in 2014, the Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight was a simple connected device that could listen for smoke, carbon dioxide, and water leak detectors going off. Doubling as a night light, the Leeo Smart Alert could warn you via mobile alert if it heard any home alarms blaring—and best of all, the monthly service charge was zip, a rarity in the smart home world.  Sadly, the no-cost service (meaning no recurring income for Leeo) may have sealed the fate of the Smart Alert Nightlight. After notifying customers in August 2019 that it was facing choppy financial waters (the company said it explored the possibility of imposing monthly fees, but never followed through), Leeo announced two months later that it was “unable to keep the network on.” Its internet connection gone, the Smart Alert lost all its smarts, although it could still work as a nightlight. (The color-capable light turned white once the network support shut down).  Logitech Harmony universal remotes (first-generation models)  Launched: Various dates Original list price: Various price points  Dave deactivated: March 2025  Amazon Ever since 2021, when Logitech first announced it would stop making Harmony remotes, users knew their beloved devices were living on borrowed time.  While Harmony remotes were never widely popular, they were cherished by home theater enthusiasts with multiple A/V devices to juggle. Rather than dealing with a pile of remotes on their coffee tables, they could use a single Harmony remote to control all their components.  The most powerful—and expensive—Harmony remotes could be programmed using an online database of tens of thousands of home theater products, while a Harmony desktop application allowed you to set up elaborate automations that would power up your TV, your A/V receiver, and other components in the right order, and with the correct inputs selected.  When it first announced it was discontinuing the Harmony line, Logitech (which acquired the Harmony brand in 2004) promised to keep the Harmony servers up and running for “as long as customers are using [them].”   To date, Harmony’s servers are still running, but Logitech did go ahead and cut support for two dozen of its first-generation Harmony remotes, including the Harmony 670, 720, 880 and 880 Pro, 1100i, and the Harmony for Xbox 360, while also killing off the legacy desktop app that those older remotes relied on. (Newer Harmony remotes that work with the MyHarmony website and Harmony mobile app are still functional.)  With their support cut off, older Harmony remotes can’t be reprogrammed anymore, nor can users add new devices to them or configure new automations. The remotes will still work with their last programmed configurations, but without online Harmony support, their smarts are effectively gone.  Nest Learning Thermostats (first and second generations)  Launched: 2011 (first generation), 2012 (second generation) Original list price: $250  Date deactivated: October 25, 2025  Walmart The 2011 arrival of the first Nest Learning Thermostat arguably kicked off the smart home era—and indeed, if you asked a random person on the street back then to name a smart device, the Nest thermostat would probably be the one they’d say. There have been several iterations of the Nest thermostat over the years, including new and improved Nest Learning Thermostat versions (the fourth generation is the most recent), along with a couple of budget-priced versions: the Nest Thermostat E from 2017, and the plain-old Nest Thermostat in 2020. Through it all, plenty of loyal Nest users kept using their older Nest thermostats—why fix what ain’t broke, right? But in April 2025, Google delivered a hammer blow, announcing that it would drop support for the first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats on October 25, 2025. Not only would the devices stop getting software updates, they would also no longer connect to the Google Home app, nor would they be controllable remotely or by Google Assistant.   The two oldest Nest Learning Thermostats won’t go completely dead on October 25, 2025; you’ll still be able to adjust the temperature, mode, schedules, and other settings manually on the device itself, just as you would on any other dumb thermostat. But once Google cuts off support for the devices, the very quality that made those aging Nest thermostats so special—their smarts—will vanish.  It’s not all bad news for owners of the first- and second-gen Nest Learning Thermostats, however; Google has said it offer those users $130 off the purchase of a fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat (which is currently selling for $280). Dropcam HD and Dropcam Pro  Launched: 2012 (Dropcam HD), Dropcam Pro (2013) Original list price: $149 (Dropcam HD), $199 (Dropcam Pro) Date deactivated: April 8, 2024  Amazon Two of the original smart security cameras, the Dropcam HD and Dropcam Pro revolutionized the DIY home security market with their handsome designs, top-notch (for the time) video quality, and affordable price tags.  None of this escaped the notice of Nest, which scooped up Dropcam in 2014, just prior to Google’s acquisition of Nest.   Unlike what happened with the Revolv smart hub, Nest kept both Dropcam units operational for a decade before finally cutting off online support for both models in early April, 2024. Nest even offered the last remaining Dropcam users a free Nest Cam, provided they were Nest Aware subscribers.  Nest Secure  Launched: 2017 Original list price: $499 Date deactivated: April 8, 2024  Google The Dropcam HD and Dropcam Pro weren’t the only products that Nest reached out and killed on April 8, 2024. On the same day, the Google-owned brand also pulled the plug on Nest Secure, its DIY home security system.  Released in 2017, the Nest Secure bundle includes the central Nest Guard component, which offers an integrated keypad, siren, and motion sensor, plus two contact sensors and a pair of NFC-equipped Nest “Tags” that can arm or disarm the system with a tap.  Nest Secure garnered some admiring notices for its attractive industrial design, as well as the tight integration with Nest’s other smart home devices. But the hefty $500 price tag for just two contact sensors and an alarm was a major turnoff, and Nest discontinued Secure in 2020…right around the time that Google sunk $450 million in ADT.  As with the Dropcams, Nest Secure stopped working in April 2024, rendering its alarm and window/door sensors useless. That said, Google did offer Nest Secure users a new ADT security system worth up to $485—either that or a $200 Google Store credit. Read...