holy hell, what is the resolution of this thing? I can't believe you just laid out (and I clicked through!) a 3 page review of a thing supposed to extend your screen real estate and you never name the resolution!
Holy hell, I can't believe I'd make a mistake like that kind of omission.
Well, I can believe it, I just don't want to. Though to be fair, I get so used to small screens coming through here that unless it explicitly says otherwise, I just assume it's that dismal 1366x768 (which is less dismal when you're talking about a USB 2.0 powered screen).
I too find it hard to understand why a small inexpensive portable device powered by a USB cable can't perform as well as a high end monitor desktop monitor...
not, because it isn't cool in itself (i had some displaylink 7" mimo displays before, they're cool), but because it's not a touchscreen. with win8 right around the corner, i want to finally see tons of nice touchscreens in all sizes and with all sort of connectors, including that size and connection (including usb3).
Those figures were recorded at the wall, so the peak power increase of the whole system with the Toshiba display attached was only 20.3 watts. As was noted in the article, much of that was due to high CPU usage by DisplayLink.
For the Toshiba under load: 29.3 watts at 5 volts? It's pulling ~6 amps between 2 USB ports? Which computer (or common charger, even) lets you pull 3 amps/USB port?
Even the 20 watts for the GeChic 1301 OnLap is pushing it (would require the laptop to support 2 amps each on 2 USB ports), let alone the 1302...
Added to the USB 2.0 and 3.0 specs in December 2010:
Battery Charging Specification 1.2[12]: Released in December 2010. Several changes and increasing limits including allowing 1.5A on charging ports for unconfigured devices, allowing High Speed communication while having a current up to 1.5A and allowing a maximum current of 5A.
However, from a product review of this screen on the Toshiba website, it states you cannot use maximum brightness without the (optional) AC adaptor. Is this true?
Good catch. I've seen this standard, but not seen it (completely) implemented. 3 amps is the max I've seen, and that one doesn't use any real standard... just shorts the data pins and calls it a day.
Can anyone link me to a 5 amp USB charger? Or a desktop/laptop which puts out more than 2 amps/port?
It uses that much power from the wall, not the additional display itself. Considering the gap between no USB display and idle USB display, I think it's safe to assume the additional USB display added 6W to the power consumption (increased load being more due to heavier CPU load due to the display branching off the CPU and not the GPU). So your whole 30 Watts at 5V is nonsense. :-)
Completely my bad. I both misread the preceding paragraph and missed the "9 watts with NO USB DISPLAY". All I can offer in defence is that I'm not the only one to do so...
Back to power - the monitor + extra system load draws an extra 21 watts at the wall, call it 18 watts (~75% efficiency PSU). Subtract 6-10 watts for the monitor, leaving 8-12 watts for increased system load in a test bed with (assuming i7-2637m) a 17 watt TDP CPU?
I'd like to see CPU load figures while this is running, that's a pretty hefty hit. It's still 3 times the power consumption of a single monitor, which would be pretty detrimental to mobile computing.
Again I suggest my solution posted a few posts down - which is cheaper, lighter, won't load the CPU or run off of the laptop battery and doesn't need questionable drivers (HDMI input) at the cost of 2.5" less screen size.
For a cheapie laptop monitor with HDMI in, grab a Motorola Atrix Lapdock or Bionic Lapdock for ~$60, a Micro HDMI cable and a Micro HDMI female to female adapter (http://www.ebay.com/itm/280761232832) for $5... works great, and has lots of other uses!
AOC has had similar products on the market for a while now, for a decent price. How does this compare to it? Does it change orientation via accelerometer? Matte or Gloss?
Instead of spending $200 for a monitor, why not spend $79 for something that runs off AC power, and $20 for a power inverter, and $20 for a battery, and clump them all together.... lol seriously or just by a monitor that runs off DC. If you need a 2nd monitor that chances are you have either 120V AC or 12V DC power available.
This monitor seems to serve one purpose, a purpose which requires all of the following to be true:
a) you have no source of power for it other than your laptop computer
b) despite having no other source of power, you do have the space and a good reason to want to use a second display even though the laptop's battery will be drained rather more quickly
c) packing a short HDMI or VGA cable with your laptop and your additional display which you are already carrying with you, is impractical for some strange reason
d) you don't want to do anything particularly demanding with your second display, as doing so may well cause the system to crash or become unstable
I'm struggling to think of any scenario whatsoever which satisfies all of the above criteria.
Could you guys agree to not suck off Apple for just ONE article? In the first friggin' paragraph you wrote: "While notebook hardware has steadily improved over the years, outside of the recent MacBook Pro with Retina Display there haven't really been any moves forward in improving desktop real estate in some time."
and then: "This fact of life has resulted in a bit of a niche market in the form of small, USB-powered screens."
OK, so your take is that Apple is (somehow out of the dozens of OEMs) the only company innovating in laptop displays. And yet this ENTIRE MARKET of USB-screens has somehow come to exist without Apple's blessing. Tip: not everything needs to be described in "Apples" guys, like some sort of ridiculous fantasy computing metric. Excellent laptop screens have existed since the beginning and are simply not advertised because manufacturers don't want to bind a panel to a model. This should change.
Oh, and one of you has got it right with that x120e I see pictured in the article (refered to a an Acer for some reason). THAT is a terrific computing value at under $400 (I paid $325 for mine) and yet you couldn't be bothered to give it a shout out. Apple's what gets the clicks, right?
I've been using the Toshiba usb monitor for a couple years, it is perfect for my needs. I'm a consultant and travel weekly, I just throw it in my laptop bag and take it everywhere I go. It works great as an extra screen to display my email or to compare documents side by side. I've had no issues with the DisplayLink software, just installed it on both XP and Windows 7 and it simply worked. Highly recommend this monitor if you only need it for office work.
Anyone know if anything like this is available with a Thunderbolt connection instead of USB? That'd be an ideal solution for me, and skirt some of the issues mentioned here - more power, and could run off the GPU...
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
34 Comments
Back to Article
tzhu07 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
That thing looks really plasticy. Like I could twist it with my hands.magreen - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
holy hell, what is the resolution of this thing? I can't believe you just laid out (and I clicked through!) a 3 page review of a thing supposed to extend your screen real estate and you never name the resolution!Zalcor - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
1366 x 768, according to Newegg.StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Shouldn't have to go to newegg to find out an important detail about a product in a product review. :PJarredWalton - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Article is now updated with a table for your reading pleasure.Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Holy hell, I can't believe I'd make a mistake like that kind of omission.Well, I can believe it, I just don't want to. Though to be fair, I get so used to small screens coming through here that unless it explicitly says otherwise, I just assume it's that dismal 1366x768 (which is less dismal when you're talking about a USB 2.0 powered screen).
magreen - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Thanks for the update. I do share your sentiment about the dismal 1366x768 standard.GTVic - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
I too find it hard to understand why a small inexpensive portable device powered by a USB cable can't perform as well as a high end monitor desktop monitor...davepermen - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
not, because it isn't cool in itself (i had some displaylink 7" mimo displays before, they're cool), but because it's not a touchscreen. with win8 right around the corner, i want to finally see tons of nice touchscreens in all sizes and with all sort of connectors, including that size and connection (including usb3).repoman27 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Those figures were recorded at the wall, so the peak power increase of the whole system with the Toshiba display attached was only 20.3 watts. As was noted in the article, much of that was due to high CPU usage by DisplayLink.repoman27 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Stupid phone, that was meant to be in response to the next comment.lead_org - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Okay so that power consumption figure would be different, if you used a different laptop with different CPU/GPU package.So you only tested this monitor on a X100e/120e ThinkPad?
Also, with my ThinkVision LT1421, i can power the entire monitor off a single USB port from the laptop. Can this Toshiba unit do the same?
lead_org - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
How did you arrive with the power consumption figures?what you stated sounded a bit high.
themossie - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Agreed.For the Toshiba under load: 29.3 watts at 5 volts?
It's pulling ~6 amps between 2 USB ports?
Which computer (or common charger, even) lets you pull 3 amps/USB port?
Even the 20 watts for the GeChic 1301 OnLap is pushing it (would require the laptop to support 2 amps each on 2 USB ports), let alone the 1302...
Something's very wrong here, Dustin.
silverblue - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
I'm not sure if this has any bearing on things...Added to the USB 2.0 and 3.0 specs in December 2010:
Battery Charging Specification 1.2[12]: Released in December 2010.
Several changes and increasing limits including allowing 1.5A on charging ports for unconfigured devices, allowing High Speed communication while having a current up to 1.5A and allowing a maximum current of 5A.
However, from a product review of this screen on the Toshiba website, it states you cannot use maximum brightness without the (optional) AC adaptor. Is this true?
themossie - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Good catch. I've seen this standard, but not seen it (completely) implemented.3 amps is the max I've seen, and that one doesn't use any real standard... just shorts the data pins and calls it a day.
Can anyone link me to a 5 amp USB charger? Or a desktop/laptop which puts out more than 2 amps/port?
Death666Angel - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
It uses that much power from the wall, not the additional display itself.Considering the gap between no USB display and idle USB display, I think it's safe to assume the additional USB display added 6W to the power consumption (increased load being more due to heavier CPU load due to the display branching off the CPU and not the GPU). So your whole 30 Watts at 5V is nonsense. :-)
themossie - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Completely my bad. I both misread the preceding paragraph and missed the "9 watts with NO USB DISPLAY". All I can offer in defence is that I'm not the only one to do so...Back to power - the monitor + extra system load draws an extra 21 watts at the wall, call it 18 watts (~75% efficiency PSU). Subtract 6-10 watts for the monitor, leaving 8-12 watts for increased system load in a test bed with (assuming i7-2637m) a 17 watt TDP CPU?
I'd like to see CPU load figures while this is running, that's a pretty hefty hit. It's still 3 times the power consumption of a single monitor, which would be pretty detrimental to mobile computing.
Again I suggest my solution posted a few posts down - which is cheaper, lighter, won't load the CPU or run off of the laptop battery and doesn't need questionable drivers (HDMI input) at the cost of 2.5" less screen size.
Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, June 28, 2012 - link
CPU load runs between 10% and 40% on the 17W i7.lead_org - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
You do know how much power a standard USB 2.0 can put out right?For comparison purpose a Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 can draw a maximum of 5 watts under full load.
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/...
themossie - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
For a cheapie laptop monitor with HDMI in, grab a Motorola Atrix Lapdock or Bionic Lapdock for ~$60, a Micro HDMI cable and a Micro HDMI female to female adapter (http://www.ebay.com/itm/280761232832) for $5... works great, and has lots of other uses!Only downside is weight, ~2.5 lbs.
More details at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1...
jacobdrj - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
AOC has had similar products on the market for a while now, for a decent price. How does this compare to it? Does it change orientation via accelerometer? Matte or Gloss?Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Instead of spending $200 for a monitor, why not spend $79 for something that runs off AC power, and $20 for a power inverter, and $20 for a battery, and clump them all together.... lol seriously or just by a monitor that runs off DC. If you need a 2nd monitor that chances are you have either 120V AC or 12V DC power available.PrinceGaz - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
My thoughts exactly.This monitor seems to serve one purpose, a purpose which requires all of the following to be true:
a) you have no source of power for it other than your laptop computer
b) despite having no other source of power, you do have the space and a good reason to want to use a second display even though the laptop's battery will be drained rather more quickly
c) packing a short HDMI or VGA cable with your laptop and your additional display which you are already carrying with you, is impractical for some strange reason
d) you don't want to do anything particularly demanding with your second display, as doing so may well cause the system to crash or become unstable
I'm struggling to think of any scenario whatsoever which satisfies all of the above criteria.
euler007 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Looks like a good idea, Apple should patent it.Display Alliance - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
http://www.displayalliance.com/news-categories/201...Einy0 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Just a word USB - VGA Trigger devices suck crap. I can tell you from experience the are awful to deal with.anac6767 - Thursday, June 28, 2012 - link
Could you guys agree to not suck off Apple for just ONE article? In the first friggin' paragraph you wrote:"While notebook hardware has steadily improved over the years, outside of the recent MacBook Pro with Retina Display there haven't really been any moves forward in improving desktop real estate in some time."
and then:
"This fact of life has resulted in a bit of a niche market in the form of small, USB-powered screens."
OK, so your take is that Apple is (somehow out of the dozens of OEMs) the only company innovating in laptop displays. And yet this ENTIRE MARKET of USB-screens has somehow come to exist without Apple's blessing. Tip: not everything needs to be described in "Apples" guys, like some sort of ridiculous fantasy computing metric. Excellent laptop screens have existed since the beginning and are simply not advertised because manufacturers don't want to bind a panel to a model. This should change.
Oh, and one of you has got it right with that x120e I see pictured in the article (refered to a an Acer for some reason). THAT is a terrific computing value at under $400 (I paid $325 for mine) and yet you couldn't be bothered to give it a shout out. Apple's what gets the clicks, right?
killerb255 - Thursday, June 28, 2012 - link
Server troubleshooting, especially one that doesn't have a monitor....still not sure if that would justify the price tag of one of these things, though...
abirdie4me - Friday, June 29, 2012 - link
I've been using the Toshiba usb monitor for a couple years, it is perfect for my needs. I'm a consultant and travel weekly, I just throw it in my laptop bag and take it everywhere I go. It works great as an extra screen to display my email or to compare documents side by side. I've had no issues with the DisplayLink software, just installed it on both XP and Windows 7 and it simply worked. Highly recommend this monitor if you only need it for office work.dicobalt - Saturday, June 30, 2012 - link
Still waiting for someone to put a battery in an external screen.crs1982 - Monday, July 2, 2012 - link
Anyone know if anything like this is available with a Thunderbolt connection instead of USB? That'd be an ideal solution for me, and skirt some of the issues mentioned here - more power, and could run off the GPU...AnnonymousCoward - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
10W still ain't much....Kakureru - Friday, July 20, 2012 - link
I got a lapdock for 50$ and it is far better than this screen. (smaller yes, but much better in terms of usability)