Are portable air conditioners just those water cool things or the same as heat pump conditioners with real refrigeration ?

There are full-on refrigeration-type portable A/C units.    

As with so much else, though, 

you have to know the details of what you are buying. 

Any real A/C unit will have a BTU rating.  

It has two types run with either AC or DC power. The so called portable one using at home is the one has wheels, can be moving around to the room you want to cool off, power with the same AC  at home. The other type is designed to use in camping site where has no AC power. It runs with DC battery power and its fan and compressor are DC motor.