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Ask Slashdot: Portable High-Resolution External Displays?

Posted by timothy on from the just-don't-get-mugged dept.

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."

4 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. I travel with 2 27" apple cinema displays... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  2. Re:Depends. by ranton · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WTF is a 'real high resolution' monitor for you and what do you consider 'portable'.

    While he should have been more explicit, it is obvious that what he wants is more vertical lines of text on screen and more characters per line. High resolution displays like retina screens are great for images and crisper text, but they don't actually help fit more text on a screen. The new MacBook Pro Retina may have 2880 x 1800 resolution, but for software enginers it isn't much better than a 1440x900 screen because it doesn't fit more text (at a readable size) than this smaller resolution.

    For someone like myself who is used to working on either two 27" 2560 x 1440 monitors at work or a 30" 2560x1600 + 24" 1920x1200 monitor at home, the removal of the macbook pro 17" laptop left a big hole in the marketplace for 'high text density' laptops. If someons starts making a 1920x1200 laptop again along with a 1200 vertical resolution portable external monitor, they would have my business.

    Since I won't need a new laptop for a couple years, I am really hoping that a 17" Retina display laptop comes out by 2015. That would be essentially the same thing as the old 17" macbook.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  3. Re:This is retarded by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Funny

    I took it to mean an "extra" external monitor.

    It is still a retarded question. He has a MacBook. MacBooks have Thunderbolt. There are adapters for Thunderbolt -> DVI, Thunderbolt ->VGA, Thunderbolt -> HDMI. Which means he can use pretty much any monitor in existence. The only thing that determines whether it is "portable" or not, is the size of his backpack. So basically his question is: "Can someone tell me how big my backpack is?"

  4. USB displays by Collin · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.