The best portable air conditioners in Australia

A portable air conditioner is a refrigerated air conditioner on wheels: a compressor inside the cabinet cools the room air, and a hose carries the heat out a window. It costs less than a split system and needs no installer, but it is louder and less efficient, and it only works if the hose can get outside. Prices below are from Bunnings, Appliances Online and The Good Guys on 18 October 2026; for models also on Amazon Australia, check the current price on Amazon. We compared maker specifications and retailer listings; we have not run these units in our own home. Buy before the first December heatwave rather than during it.

Kilowatts, watts and the ratio between them

Three numbers do most of the work.

Cooling capacity in kilowatts (kW) is how much heat it removes. Many listings also give BTU: 7,000 BTU is about 2 kW, 12,000 BTU about 3.5 kW.

Power input in watts is what it draws from the wall, and what you pay for. Only some listings publish it: Bunnings gives 800 W for the Click 2.05 kW and 1,300 W for the Arlec 3.5 kW, and De’Longhi’s Amazon listings give 1,100 W for the 2.6 kW PACEM93 and 1,115 W for the 2.9 kW PAC EL110.

Divide the first by the second and you get the energy efficiency ratio, which energyrating.gov.au defines as cooling capacity divided by power input. Higher is better:

The TCL, Omega Altise, Kogan and De’Longhi AP130I listings we read gave no power input. Ask the retailer or read the rating plate before buying if running cost matters to you.

How big a room

Room ratings vary as much as they do on air purifiers. On the listings we read, the Click 2.05 kW is rated for 8 to 15 m², the Arlec 3.5 kW for 20 m², the Kogan 3.5 kW for up to 26 m², and the Olimpia Splendid 2.6 kW at Bunnings for up to 15 m². De’Longhi rates by volume instead: 90 m³ for the 2.6 kW PACEM93, 110 m³ for the 2.9 kW PAC EL110 and 130 m³ for the 3.3 kW AP130I. At a 2.4 m ceiling, 90 m³ is about 37 m², which is a far more generous claim than Olimpia makes for the same 2.6 kW.

A sensible reading: a 2 kW unit for a small bedroom or study, 2.6 to 3.5 kW for a main bedroom or small living room, and 4 kW or more for an open area. Go up a size for a west-facing room, an upstairs bedroom under a hot roof, or a room with big windows.

The picks

The De’Longhi Pinguino PACEM93 is the bedroom pick. The Good Guys lists 50 dBA in Silent mode (Appliances Online lists 60 for normal running), it uses R290 refrigerant, comes with a window kit, and Appliances Online lists a five-year compressor warranty on top of the standard two years. At $899 it is dear for 2.6 kW, so it is the pick for sleeping, not for cooling per dollar.

For cooling per dollar, the TCL 3.5 kW is $599 at Appliances Online with a three-year warranty, window slider kit, sleep mode and a single exhaust hose. Its listing gives no power or noise figure. The Arlec 3.5 kW ($489 at Bunnings) is the one where you can do the sums: 1,300 W in, about 2.7 kW of cooling per kW drawn, rated for 20 m², 65 dBA on both speeds and not inverter.

The Click 2.05 kW is the cheapest refrigerated unit Bunnings sells itself, at $279: 800 W, a 15 m² rating, window kit and remote, but no sleep mode and 64 dBA on low. The De’Longhi PAC EL110 ($1,099 at The Good Guys) adds Wi-Fi and voice control; its noise figure is 64 dB on Amazon and 50 dBA at The Good Guys, so ask which mode each figure refers to.

The De’Longhi AP130I GentleJet (3.3 kW, $1,199) carries the largest room rating here, 130 m³. De’Longhi’s Amazon listing describes inverter technology, while The Good Guys’ specification lists no inverter compressor, so confirm before paying the premium for it. The Omega Altise 4.1 kW ($825) is the most cooling in this guide for a large room, and the Kogan 3.5 kW is sold and shipped by Kogan through Amazon.

Hose, window kit and drainage

All of these exhaust hot air through a hose, and the hose is the weak point. Keep it short and straight, and seal the window kit well, because any gap lets hot air back in. A single-hose unit sends room air outside through that hose, so replacement air comes in through gaps around the house. Several run as dehumidifiers too (De’Longhi lists up to 50 L a day for the PACEM93 in dry mode), though in damp, mild weather a dedicated dehumidifier uses a fraction of the power: 208 to 485 W for the compressor dehumidifiers we list, against 1,100 W for the PACEM93.

What to avoid

Listings titled “portable air conditioner” that are really evaporative coolers or misting fans. Amazon’s results for the term mix refrigerated units with desk fans that have a water tank and “spray modes”. A real portable air conditioner has a compressor, a kW cooling rating, an exhaust hose and a window kit; if it has a water tank you fill and no hose, it is an evaporative cooler. NSW Health also advises against evaporative coolers during bushfire smoke, because they bring outdoor air inside.

The one trap

Buying on room size alone. Two 2.6 kW units on the listings we read are rated for 15 m² and for about 37 m². Compare kilowatts first, then the power input, then noise, and treat the room rating as the maker’s opinion. If the listing has no power input, you cannot estimate the running cost until you see the rating plate.