I know that this solution doesn’t really suit your needs but for others who might be seriously considering an iPad with this as part of their use case, the iPad does support the pen functionality in sidecar. It also works for any of the iPads that support both pencil and sidecar not just the pro model. I know a few designers for whom the iPad has been good enough at this that they ditched their graphics tablets.

If you are not using it with a Mac then there are apps that give you sidecar like functionality including pen support with other devices. I’ve never tried them but I’d expect it would be more something to try if you already have an iPad or are mainly getting one for other reasons and would see it more as a bonus rather than a must have primary use case.

To return to your original question, I have never used this device but I have seen people at work recommend them when this question has been asked on slack channels so from what I have heard it is quite good if you are looking for a portable extra display. The conversations didn’t really touch on experiences using it in more specialised uses (colour accuracy or things like that) so that might still be something to consider, but in general it seems to work well and be well made etc.

That is unfortunate. There does seem to be similar devices from other manufacturers, maybe one of them has better suited connectivity options? I’d imagine unless you were looking for touch or pen support then most of them should be fairly simple to plug and play.

My laptop is from 2015. In new Thinkpad models will be easier to find compatible models with the Thinkvision monitor.

This monitor seems to match the quality of normal monitors while alternatives seem to fall very short on this regard. Regarding connectivity of alternatives is something I will need to do some research on, but the image quality being poor is something that puts me off of considering them.

No, not looking for touch or pen support. Just want a portable second monitor that offers the same image quality I have in the laptop monitor.