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Ask Slashdot: Portable High-Resolution External Displays?
First time accepted submitter paragonc writes "I am a software engineer who works remotely. I'm amazingly lucky to live in Austin, Texas where I have access to multiple high quality co-working facilities within biking distance. While these places are great for networking and establishing a rhythm to daily life, not having a permanent desk forces me to pack my gear in and out each day. This means i pack light. My current Go Bag includes a 13.3 inch MacBook pro, and an iPad running avatron Air Display. This has worked well, but i'm sorely missing having a real high resolution external monitor. I've looked at a few of the USB powered external displays, but the resolution seems to only hit 1366 X 768. I'd be curious if slashdotters have any tricks up their sleeves on how to implement a high resolution portable external displays."
"This has worked well, but i'm sorely missing having a real high resolution external monitor. I've looked at a few of the USB powered external displays, but the resolution seems to only hit 1366 X 768."
WTF is a 'real high resolution' monitor for you and what do you consider 'portable'.
Your Mac and iPad are already pretty good, so what are you actually looking for?
There are USB2HDMI adapters that work up to 1080p so this must not be enough for you.
Buy a retina 15" macbook pro?
Buy a chromebook pixel?
Do you live under a rock?
I don't know about the ones in Austin, but some co-working facilities offer a little bit of lockable storage space. I've never used them but I've seen people stash docking bays and widescreen monitors (standing in portrait mode). I'd say the monitors were probably about 22".
If your preferred facility doesn't offer lockers, you might want to suggest it to them.
I have been facing the same problem, and have just accepted the fact I either will have to buy the "smallest" retail display that has at least 1080p (like a 19 or 20"), or custom make something. I have been looking at using an ipad 3/4 LCD connected to a small board and using the displayport on my Macbook air.
I bought a panel off ebay for around $60 USD and am looking at a either a pre-made board at http://dp2retina.rozsnyo.com/ or seeing if someone makes a board for less money. The ipad 3/4 display is eDP so the boards are pretty simple. Then its just making a case for it, which is the hardest part for me!
I keep the monitors in two oversized suite cases. The trick is to get foam padding that fits the suite case and the monitors.
I found a place that cuts the form. I went with my suite case and monitor and they cut everything just right.
The form cost me about $200. The suite case is about $300 (each).
I've been all of the world with the monitors. My only issue is that international airlines only allow one bag
and the cost of check a heavy second bag can be equal to the cost of flying business class. So my solution
is to fly business class.
I don't think you would be so crazy to travel with a 27" monitor but the short answer is you should get custom form made so you can travel with any monitor you like.
What do you need a high resolution monitor for? Are you doing graphics, or some other type of work where you need the highest resolution you can get because anything less makes it hard for you to get things done, or is it simply something you'd like to have but can live without? I'm asking because if your work actually requires that kind of high-end equipment, your company should be supplying it, even if you're bringing in your own computer. And, if you don't really need it, the question becomes how much are you willing to spend to satisfy your ego, because buying a fancy monitor you don't actually need is mostly a matter of status and showing off how much you make.
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How about a second notebook? It could have very low specs, just wlan and a good screen resolution. Of course it is a little less portable, but still cheap and a comfortable solution.... Maybe you even have one at home, or you could easily get one on ebay.
I can't really think of a *portable* monitor that would work. A mini-projector, and maybe a little screen to project on, would probably be your best bet.
Alternately, there's this. Someone's figured out how to drive an iPad display using DisplayPort. You'd need to do some difficult soldering, and you wouldn't end up with a very professional-looking product (no casing), but it would be portable, high-def and somewhat cheap.
I have a 13" Retina Display MacBook Pro using Retina DisplayMenu that gets me up to 2560x1600 plus AirDisplay streaming to my iPad as a second 2048x1536 monitor. While there is a slight delay when working on the iPad, it is a great place to put the extra windows that are not graphic intensive (terminal windows, word processors) or I need to see but not use regularly (control panels, toolbars). It is an incredible amount of screen real estate in such a small package.
there are some field monitors for video/film work out there that have fullhd resolution. you'd still need an external battery and they are probably way more expensive than anything you'd want to spend on a monitor (think 1-3 13inch MBPs), but still... maybe - with a little bit of hacking - you could get something like an ipad retina display and hook it up to your computer. have a look at this: http://emerythacks.blogspot.co.at/2013/04/connecting-ipad-retina-lcd-to-pc.html
A larger basket for the bike
Finally large format PC tablets have a use. Two of these placed on either side of your primary machine. Since they also have decent hardware there shouldn't be ay issue with dedicated a wireless link. Personally i can't stand OSX support for multiple monitors, and unfortunately portables are not made with more wireless capability. You will be limited to USB graphics adapters right now. For some reason there isn't short distance 5ghz video linking. And you a limited again by short sighted large format tablets, you cant just turn it into awesome 23" monitor, or can you...
Geesh, still living with Mom eh? Ask her to get you a card table so you can get a big boys computer system with a couple of 24" 1920x1200 displays.
Snarky aside, I don't get why you don't have a home office? No wonder you can't get real work done, you're always wasting time setting up and breaking down at a coffee shop (or where ever it is you think you're doing work at). You don't need to network/confab/socialize/waste time every day of the week, you need to WORK at least 4-5 days - it's really not that novel of a concept.
At the co-working space I use in Mountain View, CA. every workspace has as ~23" monitor. Sure, many of them are only 1920x1080, but hey it's right there and the vending machine sells HDMI and DVI cables for $5-$20 depending on if you have a MacBook or not.
The non-technical solution is to simply inform the co-working space providers that this is something they could help with. Hopefully they'll be interested in the opportunity to make a few bucks for a service you'll find useful. Work with them -- if they say "no," ask what their concerns are and what it would take to get them interested.
Sounds like the AOC e2251Fwu is what he needs.
http://us.aoc.com/monitor_displays/e2251fwu
I use this laptop for work and while it's not marketed as a business machine, it does have a super bright, clear matte 15.4'' display 1920x1080. And it's fast. Only disadvantage is that linux support is poor (random freezes, not being able to use both graphics adapters reliably, keyboard backlight not working, wired network adapter not working, Fn keys not working) it does run windows 7 just fine, and I run an ubuntu on top of it in virtualbox without problems. Then at only 850 euro it's a bargain too.
Why exactly do you need this? This sounds like a waste. I work from home every single day of the week an have a nice Dell Ultra Sharp 27" display at 2556xwhatever. It's wonderful. And if I want to socialize, I go out with my friends. What does this co-working facility offer exactly?
If you're comfortable with hardware you could pick up an iPad LCD screen ( around $60 on ebay ) and add a display port connection to it, the only outstanding issue is an enclosure but access to a 3d printer could solve that.
http://hackaday.com/2013/04/22/connect-a-retina-display-to-a-regular-computer/
I'll take my guess at what the OP is asking. He refers to USB-powered displays, but complains that they are too low-res. They really are a great idea and I could see a bunch of uses for them.
Here is a 16" USB-powered display, which combines a DisplayLink USB display adapter with a flat-panel LCD display. The problem is that its pixel resolution is only 1366 x 768, which is pretty low density for that panel size. It's like a typical entry-level 15.6" laptop panel. If you look at 15.6" laptops, they start at 1366x768, then as you move up the model range, the pixel res goes up to 1600x900, then further up, 1920x1080 is about as high as it goes at this size.
I suspect that the OP would like a product just like this display, but with a 1600x900 or 1080P display panel like those used on higher-end laptops. This would totally make sense, but some quick searches didn't turn anything like this up on Amazon. So his real question is if anybody knows of one of these types of displays that has a higher-res panel. Personally, I'd consider one of these as well for on-site video editing.
There is a similar 21" USB-powered display which does run 1080P but it's up to the OP as to whether he still considers that portable or not.
Depending on the lighting in your office, you could use a portable projector. Very convenient and easy to read. Just have to make sure you have enough lumens to overcome the ambient light.
It's not exactly what I'd call "high resolution" (it's 1366x768 horizontal, 768x1366 vertical), but it is USB-powered and portable (15.6" diagonal, 3.4 pounds):
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/hp-u160-usb-monitor/
Which is one of the 1366x768 resolution monitors you said you didn't want: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/monitor/lt1421/. Given that portable productivity is my main concern though, I thought I'd share my experience with it. I use this display with a maxed-out i5 Lenovo x230 which itself is only 1366x768 - something that nearly put me off buying this brilliant little machine in the first place; but in the end I knew I'd be docking into a proper monitor for any serious work.
I take the display with me if I'm away for more than a day or two and expect to get some serious work hours in somewhere. It sits quite comfortably in my backpack which goes everywhere with me, next to the notebook. Setup is quick and painless, after some custom udev scripts at least, and in Linux also don't expect to (easily) have shared clipboard/window-dragging across screens: I've only ever been able to make this DisplayLink stuff work as a separate X11 server (with some extra bits like x2x to make it nicer).
Surprisingly, it's not the extra real-estate that I've come to appreciate most: it's the ergonomics. I position the USB display above my notebook, resting on whatever I can find up and away from the keyboard so I can look straight forward at it rather than spending hours hunched down over a little 12" notebook screen where the keyboard is.
At my home office I dock into a decent workstation setup with 27" WQHD 2560x1440 IPS display, as an almost-30-year-old I'm regretting all the terrible posture/ergonomics I've inflicted on myself over the years - so I make sure I'm setup properly for any work which stretches for more than an hour or so.
I run the USB display at 16 bit colour depth to improve responsiveness over the USB 2.0 connection. This is just fine for coding/browsing/email/project-management stuff but any full-screen multimedia (movies/games/etc) is going to happen on your main laptop screen, unless you find a USB 3.0 DisplayLink screen perhaps. The LT1421 also isn't IPS, so it's not quite as nice to look at but to be honest any time I find myself setting it up for a decent coding session it's in an appropriately lit/quiet area anyway.
It's not exactly what I'd call "high resolution" (it's 1366x768 horizontal, 768x1366 vertical), but it is USB-powered and portable (15.6" diagonal, 3.4 pounds):
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/hp-u160-usb-monitor/
Isn't this the one the OP was complaining about?
"I've looked at a few of the USB powered external displays, but the resolution seems to only hit 1366 X 768."
Sounds like they want more than that resolution. They must have implanted microscope lenses...
It looks like you now have a new company idea. Assuming the market for one of these is anything other than minuscule for whatever price point you are able to hit while building them in China or Japan, assuming you can drive something of that resolution from USB power in the first place. Personally, given the proce differential between "retina: and "non-retina" devices, all other things being equal, I think that these would be of limited use for everyone except professional video editors or the idle rich.
If you are actually serious about needing the external display space for something other than field video editing, then you have picked the wrong coworking space, since plenty of them have pluggable displays available, and some of them even have cable vending machines, in case you are lacking the necessary cable to hook up to your laptop.
For the Austin area, I know of at least Conjunctured is one company that has so-called "community monitors", but they are first come, first serve, so if you wanted one there, you'd need to get there pretty early to claim one before they were all spoken for already.
Ah yes. Missed that. Damn.
Don't any of these places have lockers where you could leave a monitor and any other misc equipment? 22 1920x1080 monitors are pretty damn cheap nowadays, you could probably afford to leave one at each site. Use it in portrait mode and you've got tons of lines of text visible at once.
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I had the same requirements as 'timothy' and there really is very little on the market that meets them. I suspect all the sufficiently small HD screens are being snapped up by tablet manufacturers. It's a shame Apple seems to have banished USB pass-through apps, or the iPad + AirDisplay would make a nice choice. I looked at the AOC E2251Fwu, a "semi portable" product. Bit large for me, and the build quality and design don't suit me. This HP-U160 seemed cute, but is not HD, so I ruled it out. I eventually settled on the Wacom Cintiq 13HD It is actually designed for pen input, and is rather expensive because of this. Since I have also the occasional need to use a graphics tablet, it works okay for me. The only issue is that there's no decent portrait-mode stand for it yet. Makes coding less pleasant. Over all I'm satisfied with it though.
If you've got the cash to spend, you could get a 1080p convertible notebook. I'm aware of two 1080p models below 13 inches, though the market may have expanded since I bought mine. Sony makes an 11.6-inch Vaio, and the Dell XPS 12 (which I have) is 12.5" and works pretty well. In addition to working as a standalone separate computer if desired (including running your OS of choice in a VM), you can flip it into tablet mode in your orientation of choice, and share the keyboard and mouse from your MBP using Synergy or something similar.
If you want it to work as an actual second monitor, this is somewhat more speculative, but might be worth experimenting with: build a dongle that tricks your MBP into thinking there's a second monitor attached with the resolution of your tablet, and configure it to run VNC as a server. Set up a full-screen VNC client on the tablet, and have it only view the (virtual) second monitor. There may be a more elegant way to attain this result, and I'd be interested as well.
Are you an Apple dev of some kind? If not, why not just get a windows laptop? There are tons of laptops out there with high resolution and much larger displays. Off the top of my head, I know that Toshiba and MSI both offer laptops with screens over 17". Toshiba's Satellite line hits 17.3, and it's still pretty damn light. It's not insanely powerful, but then again neither is an MBP. Though I like both companies, I think in this particular situation, going with a windows machine might serve your needs a little better.
DisplayLink sells ~$90 USB to HDMI/DVI 2048x1152 adapters.
So a usb display doesn't have the resolution you want? Use 2 of them.
Use 3, use 4. I don't care. Next time, think a little.
Be seeing you...
I've been using an iPad (2048x1536) with AirDisplay. It works just fine for your scenario. The frame rate is dependant on the connection speed, so it's not suitable for games and video, but there are other solutions for that.
you bought a laptop that doesnt suit your needs and now want to carry more crap to compensate it
dude, large screen laptop would weigh the same as carrying around all that crap
Not USB-powered, but could work:
http://www.amazon.com/Monitor2Go-15-6-HDMI-Portable-Monitor/dp/B00AYH7AIE
It's 15", has a 1600x900 resolution, and does everything else perfectly. I doubt it would be hard to get one of those portable battery extenders to interface with it and make it untethered as well as portable. Something like this, perhaps? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NGLTZQ
Aren't there all kinds of cheap 1080p projectors on the market? I got one from Costco a few years ago for about $900. Use it to play Xbox mostly, but somehow it's still working on the original bulb, and is still plenty bright when projecting onto a 9 foot wide screen.
A projector is often smaller than a monitor, and your screen size is only limited by your available wall dimensions.
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Get an inexpensive LCD screen (about $140 at Newegg), I have a slightly older version of this Asus 21" 1920 x 1080 LCD back-light monitor, works great and is fairly light weight:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236100
Make a case with some foam padding and cloth that won't scratch the screen. Maybe something like a Pelican case (the monitor above is about 15" x 20").
Looks like there is a Hackerspace in Austin. Go visit them and maybe they will be able to help you hack something together.
http://atxhs.org/wiki/Main_Page
This might be of interest. Unfortunately it is not a finished product. Also, it is probably too small to use as a "desktop".
http://emerythacks.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/connecting-ipad-retina-lcd-to-pc.html
TF700T tablet.
Strictly speaking not a monitor, lower dpi than retina display, but still an extremely nice display.
I've never tried to use it as a second screen, and neither do I dual-boot GNU/Linux on it, but I'm confident there are ways to (wifi + VNC for one, maybe through USB too ?).
You'll probably want a stand, and I don't know if any exists.
Get a Chromebook Pixel then. 2560x1700, 12.85", 3.3 lbs.
For the cost of the difference between business class and economy on most international flights you could outright purchase 2 27" monitors when you go there. Plus, if your presence is sufficiently valuable to be worth a business class flight then your employer should be more than happy to provide you with the screens. The only possible exception I can think of is if you need color calibrated displays, in which case you'd be better off carrying a 1kg calibrator instead.
Have a look at MetaAR, or the OculusVR!
well, I assume the point of his question was to have something that's a real display without the lag, since he is already using an ipad with air display.
there's kits now to attach those sceens as displayport monitors.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I can't figure out why [MacBook users would] want to lug around thunderbolt adapters and everything else to plug in multiple screens when they had a perfectly capable docking station with their Dell laptop previously. Why don't Macs have docking ports?
The MacBook has a docking port. It's called Thunderbolt. What's the difference between a "docking station" and a "Thunderbolt adapter"?
While their monitors are not quite HD they are close and may fit your need.
Www.mmt2g.com. look for their HD+ monitor. At $329 for a 15.6" display at 1600x900 not bad.
Because the user would need a magnifying glass to read text that small.
The amount of text that can fit on the screen is limited by the physical size of the display and the smallest physical size of text that the user can comfortably read. This remains true even as the display's resolution increases without bound because the eye's resolution cannot increase without bound in parallel. This means that for a given pair of eyes and a given monitor, there's a specific amount of text that will fit, and the only way to increase that is a physically larger monitor.
I'm heading out on a year trip to Latin America and have similar requirements. What I have found is Monitor2Go HD+ which is 1600x900 in a 15" screen and folds like a laptop, it's a few pounds. it also doubles as a presentation display for an iPad. The other option that I considered, but ultimately is to big for my use is the 1080p AOC USB monitor which eliminates the need for a power brick.
I'm planning to use the monitor2go with an iPad for a portable 3 monitor setup. Only thing I wish is that they would have 1080p, maybe next year.
A third option is to see if there is good software on the Mac that would allow you to use a second laptop as a second monitor.
Get a portable projector!
$500 for 1.8 lbs with SVGA, $850 for 2.5 lbs and WXGA
http://www.projectorcentral.com/portable-computer-projectors.htm
Resolution on these is not great, but perhaps you can find better?
Display size is very large, weight and size is pretty small, price is high compared to a monitor, but low compared to a laptop.
Other options to consider:
Buy an old 17" laptop on eBay, use network screen sharing to run it as a second display. Bonus, can run off battery.
Replace your MacBook with an iMac: 21.5" 1920x1080 and 12.5 lbs.
Have a look at http://dp2retina.rozsnyo.com/. A 10" addon display with 2048*1536 pixel. Works fine on a Mac.
I tweeted this to @AOCusa, so maybe if enough people get on their case about it, they will make a 1080P version: "@AOCusa Please make your 16" USB Display with a higher-res panel (1600x900 or 1080P). Great idea, but 1366x768 too low to add much value."
I just saw this article: http://blog.laptopmag.com/asus-mb168b-portable-monitor Looks like ASUS is coming out with a 2lb 15.6" 1080p monitor for ~$200. Comes with case that converts to stand, and monitor can be driven by a single USB 3.0 connection. Looks like a steal.
Samsung LD220g. Smaller than the AOC 22" , it very well might be the smallest full HD monitor.