Portable ACs are the right tool for some people. Another thing to think about is noise - they're actually louder for you the consumer than window units, but in

Portable ACs are the right tool for some people. Another thing to think about is noise - they're actually louder for you the consumer than window units, but in some cases that's a good thing, because sometimes your neighbors start to complain about the noise to your landlord if you're renting. One more plus is that if you're in a climate that only gets that hot a handful of weeks a year, then for the sake of your window unit you should really take it out to prevent rust and other wear, but that's a huge hassle. You can just wheel the portable AC into the closet. --- tl;dr they do suck at cooling in comparison to window units, but they're probably the right thing to get if you're renting in a cool climate.