Inspired by a recent posting on mini servers, I bought a MinisForum GK41 ($170) to learn on. Today, I discovered I no longer have monitor to set it up with. Bummer! 
So I want to purchase a cheap and light weight monitor 17" or so diagonal: something easy to place in a spot where Iāve pushed papers aside.
Anybody have a favorite to recommend?
I have not used a square monitor in YEARS but my brother who tinkers around on older devices and with older software had to get a new one recently. It is a ārenewedā screen and works just fine for him but I really donāt know if it would be any good or not. It weighs about 5 pounds or so.
Nice, and the page has the āalso bought with this itemā vga port adaptor. That looks like the monitor I thought I had stashed away in my lab.
Edit: Wow! I didnāt know āportable monitorsā was a thing, but I do now. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction @Falkon
Portable monitors have been around for a bit. I had one before. They are great in a pinch and tend to cost a bit less but it really depends on the brand. If you still are considering an older monitor, it might be worth getting it secondhand. I have found some really good deals on Craigslist, at the local Good Will, and even at some garage sales.
I forgot about Goodwill though, good idea for other purchases (like a mouse). I normally buy one notch shy of best, but I am building this learner system from whatās handy as a challenge. Goodwill (and similar) fits.
I wound up buying a 13" portable for about $90, and other than the size, itās just what I wanted. Some of the portables looked really nice, but so expensive. And, I hope to be logging in remote soon, so I wonāt be using the monitor at that point.
Iāve considered setting up pikvm for this reason. I got tired of not having a small enough monitor to drag around. I also have a small square monitor tho, from Dell 
. But look into pikvm, cheap and easy with a $5 HDMI to USB dongle.
Cool. I think. Iāve been searching and reading, but Iām struggling to visualize the setup. An old school KVM was a switch you would plug keyboard monitor and mouse (kvm) into on one side, and, on the other side you would plug the kvm cables to one or more computers on the other.
Is kvm over IP like this:
remote comp > kvm cables > kvmOverIPBox > Internet > kvOverIPBox > kvm cables > The PC Iām sitting in front of?
Some of the reading Iāve done makes it seem like there arenāt any kvm cables on my side (local) of the connection and it shows up as a window on my local PC.
Count me as confused. But, I suspect/hope itās better than Iām imagining.
For cheap monitors, always ebay. I usually go used but new are probably cheap for older models. For example @ $50 or for 1920x1080 something like this or this.
Check out their link
Yes, that link has a lot of info, but I (being new to this idea) was missing the point: how one uses it. Last night I was confused and tired. I just finished watching a Level1Techs video that cleared a up fair bit of my confusion. It goes into a lot of detail on the connections to the remote system. It also shows the Pi-kvm software running, which looks like it might be a program you run on a PC in a window on the desktop, but Iām not sure. Anyway, Iām less confused now, and I appreciate your mentioning it, as it looks like a great way to access a remote system.
Itās truly the future, only if people can get their hands on a PI. 
Cheapest monitors I have found are the ones at yard sales or craigslist. Its yard sale āseasonā in the North East.
Never rule out eBay for a good find. I get a lot of older computer parts and such on there and it is seldom overpriced. I find better prices than Amazon even for cheaper parts as well.
Let us know what you end up getting and how it works out for you!
I wound up buying a Kenowa from Amazon, mostly because it would arrive next morning. Itās smaller than I wanted, but itās not too small, and itās been working great as a console in the tiny space available. Iāve been using it every day since to work through various challenges I run into as I (re)learn about Linux.
Thatās a nice one.
I would also check marketplace. I keep seeing the portable monitors for under $100.
I would say you should get an AOC l1601PW Portable Monitor. I think it is a perfect fit for your need of a light monitor as it just weighs 1.5 pounds with a compact nature. Its set up is really easy with only a USB cable. It delivers picture quality at full HD. The only downside is that the screen is small at 15.6 inches.