I tested this smart, portable AC to beat the summer heat and it kept me super cool — but it'll leave a dent in your wallet and  floorspace

Of all the annual chores I have to perform around my house, one of my least favorite is installing window AC units in the early summer, and taking them out in the fall. While most of the ones in my house are fairly small, the one we use to cool the first floor — the LG Dual Inverter window air conditioner — is a monster. I always feel like I’m going to either throw my back out or somehow drop the entire unit out the window.

That’s why Dreo’s new 740S Portable Air Conditioner looked so intriguing to me — I wasn’t going to risk a herniated disc trying to keep my house cool. And, because this unit uses inverter technology, it’s a lot more efficient than older portable ACs.

So, I set up the Dreo 740S in my house to see how it compared to the best smart air conditioners, and if it could genuinely replace my trusted — but heavy — window unit.

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Price and availability

Dreo has six portable air conditioners in its lineup; The 740S, which went on sale in the late spring of 2026, costs $699, and is the most expensive model. However, some of the other models in Dreo’s lineup are more powerful, have many of the same features, yet cost less. So why is that?

It’s because the 740S uses an inverter to cool air, whereas all of Dreo’s other models use older compressor technology. As a result, the 740S is far more efficient than Dreo’s other portable air conditioners.

While the 740S isn’t as efficient as, say, the Midea U or the LG Dual Inverter (15 and 14.7 EER, respectively), it’s pretty close.

Design

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The Dreo 740S air conditioner itself looks rather sleek. It’s about the size of a mini fridge and has curved edges that taper gently towards the top which has two louvers. The front of the AC is clean, except for a large circular display and some touch controls beneath. The controls were easy to read and use, as was the display.

Even more clever: On the top of the unit, just behind the louvers, is a small flat surface that’s magnetized; here, you can place the Dreo’s remote, which will remain securely in place.

As someone who’s heaved their share of air conditioners in and out of windows, I really appreciated the casters on the bottom of the Dreo, which let me roll it wherever I wanted, as well as the handles on the side of the unit.

It’s around the back of the Dreo where things get a little messy. There are two large circular vents — one for exhaust air intake, and one to expel the hot air. To these vents, you connect large accordion-style hoses, which attach to a plastic insert that goes in your window. The insert can expand or retract to fit windows from 20 to 53 inches wide, and can be mounted either vertically or horizontally. Each hose is about six inches in diameter.

If I lived in a modern house with windows that extended all the way to the floor, it would be easy to conceal these hoses and have the AC sit closer to the window. However, because my window sits about two feet above the floor, I have to extend the hoses up and out. Not only is it far less attractive, but it also means that the air conditioner sits about two feet into the room.

Of course, this is a problem endemic to all portable air conditioners, so perhaps I might be knocking Dreo a bit too hard, but it's still a major consideration if you're choosing

By comparison, the window unit I’ve used for the past few years extends less than a foot into the room, making it far less obtrusive.

Like most air conditioners, the Dreo also needs to expel condensation; it has a built-in evaporator, so it should be able to handle most water on its own, but it does have two drain plugs on the back: one at the bottom, and one in the middle of the unit. The company includes a small drain hose, so if you’re in a high humidity environment, you can let the Dreo drain itself.

However, as with the vent hoses, I had no easy way to route the drain hose outside of my house. Fortunately, even though I live in a pretty humid area, I have yet to need to drain the air conditioner myself.

Performance

The 740S did nearly as good a job cooling the bottom floor of my house as the 14,000-BTU LG Dual Inverter air conditioner that I’ve been using for nearly eight years. It was able to bring the temperature down on the ground level of my house in a relatively short amount of time, and keep it there. It took slightly longer than the LG unit, but that's to be expected given its smaller capacity.

At full power, I recorded a noise level of 54 dB from 10 feet away from the air conditioner; the ambient room noise was 33 dB. That’s a bit louder than I’d like, but once the temperature hit the right level, the AC ramped down, and was much quieter.

On one of the hotter days of the year, when the temperature reached the upper 90s, the Dreo kept the temperature on the ground floor of my house (a few hundred square feet) at around 79 degrees F. Over the course of seven and a half hours, it used 3.54 kWh of electricity, according to the Dreo app.

I also like that you can adjust the angle of the Dreo’s louvers (using either the app or the remote control) so you can better direct airflow throughout your room.

Smart Home and app

Dreo’s app is well-designed and easy to use. Devices are grouped by rooms, which gives you a quick overview of its status; a tap then brings you into the settings for that device. For example, tapping on the AC’s temperature opens a screen where you can adjust its temperature, cooling mode, fan speed, and more.

I also like that Dreo lets you turn off the AC’s display and sounds, so that it’s not distracting if you’re using it in the same room as the one in which you’re sleeping.

The Dreo works with both Alexa and Google Home, but surprisingly, is not Matter-compatible, which was a bit of a disappointment, considering some of Dreo’s other smart home devices use this new universal standard. Still, I was able to easily create a smart home routine that turned the Dreo on to a set temperature if another sensor noted that things were getting too hot.

Verdict

As far as portable air conditioners go, the Dreo does a good job at keeping things cool. I also liked that I could easily roll it around, and didn’t have to worry about draining it. However, the aesthetics of having two large tubes extending out your window isn’t great, nor is the fact that it takes up a lot more space than a window air conditioner.

And while it’s far more efficient than other portable air conditioners, you’ll pay for the privilege. A comparable LG 10,000 BTU dual-inverter window AC unit (with a higher SEER rating of 15) costs $499 at Amazon. Yes, it weighs 62 pounds, but my spouse is game to help me.

If you happen to have a window whose openings are closer to the floor, then you can better hide the Dreo’s large exhaust vents, and make the whole thing look more aesthetically pleasing — and take up less space in the process. Until I can remodel my house, though, I’ll have to remember to lift with my legs.