A portable display for your PC or Mac, Lenovo's USB powered ThinkVision
Subject: Displays | January 24, 2012 - 02:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: thinkvision, portable, monitor, Lenovo, display
You may remember Matt's review of the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 portable monitor from back in November, but if not it is time for a refresher from Legit Reviews. It is a 14", 1366x768 display that uses a dual USB 2.0 connection, one for power and one to drive the display, so it gives you a very portable second screen for your laptop. One discovery that Legit Reviews happened upon was Apple support; by grabbing drivers from DisplayLink, the company which designed the ThinkVision, you can use the ThinkVision on your MacBook. Check out their full review here.
"The Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 portable monitor is a great solution for someone that needs an additional monitor on the go. With an online price of $190.67 shipped it is not something you go out and by on a whim, but is affordable for those that need it. After installing the drivers, using the the ThinkVision LT1421 was as simple as plugging the monitor into a laptop with the two USB 2.0 cables and propping it up with its photo frame stand. You can then dial-in the display to look the very best by tilting the display to the desired angle and picking the right brightness level of the 16 available..."
Here are some more Display articles from around the web:
- Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 Review @ TechReviewSource
- BenQ XL2420T Monitor Review @ Tech-Reviews UK
- Asus VE278Q 27 Inch Monitor @ Kitguru
- BenQ RL2240H Monitor Review @ Tech-Reviews.co.uk
- Vizio Razor M3D460SR Review @ TechReviewSource
AOC Will Show Off USB Powered 22 Inch LED Monitor At CES
Subject: Displays | January 5, 2012 - 10:49 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: monitor, led, display, CES, AOC, 1080p
CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, is not until next week, but the tsunami of information and products that is sure to ensue has already started to rise in the form of leaks and teaser announcements. First off today is an announcement by AOC on a product that they will be showing off at CES. According to Maximum PC, the monitor, dubbed the e2251Fwu, will be pretty impressive by USB monitor standards.
Specifically, the monitor will be a 22 inch, LED back-lit monitor powered and connected to the PC for video via USB. It is HDCP compatible, sports a 1920x1080 resolution, 5ms response time, and 250 cd/m2 (candela per square metre) brightness, The monitor claims a 20,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, though comparing contrast ratios isn't very reliable (but that's another story). Unfortuantely, I wasn't able to dig up much more information from around the web. It will be interesting to see just how much latency the USB connection will add and whether it will be close to the panel's 5ms response time.
Further, the monitor is slated to be available in February for just under 200 bucks. For those of you that have tried out USB connected displays, how well do they work as secondary monitors?
PC Perspective's CES 2012 coverage is sponsored by MSI Computer
Introduction, Design and Display Quality
I’m a multi-monitor addict.
My addiction started many years ago. I had a rather lame customer service job, and as part of my job I needed to manage spreadsheets with customer interactions while also filling in data on a separate, large window. To accomplish this, two monitors were required. I was amazed at the efficiency of the setup, and I bought a second monitor for home use within a few months. Now, I can’t imagine using my desktop with a single display.
Laptops, however, are a different story. Multiple displays can actually be even more useful for road warriors because of the limited resolution of many laptops, yet there are issues with using multiple monitors on the road. Carrying around even a relatively small desktop monitor is out of the question, leaving few options.
Enter the Lenovo LT1421. This unique mobile monitor has a 14” panel and, according to Lenovo, it’s portable enough to be carried about with minimal hassle. Has the company managed to create a unique, must-have product for mobile productivity, or is multi-monitor use with a laptop still a concept that’s better on paper than in reality?
Continue reading our review of the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 Portable Monitor!!
New Solar Cell Enhanced LCDs Could Improve Mobile Device Battery Life
Subject: Displays, Mobile | August 12, 2011 - 04:51 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: solar cell, mobile, lcd, display
According to Ars Technica, researchers at UCLA announced on Tuesday a new LCD screen containing photovoltaic cells that promises to reduce back-light energy waste and improve battery life on mobile devices.
My N900 eats up battery with an hour of Angry Birds, but can go for two days with the display off. Where's my happy medium?
The researchers have placed what they are calling polarizing organic photovoltaics inside the LCDs in such a way that light that is normally filtered out and blocked in areas to create the displayed images can now be (mostly) recovered. While the process does not result in 100% reclamation of energy due to energy loss during the conversion process(es) and heat given off by the back-light, in a mobile device any amount of energy that can be recovered is desirable. Ars Technica states that up to 90% of a battery’s power is used to power the back-light of the display. Further, of that percentage, up to 75% is lost to the polarizing layers. By infusing the polarizing layer with photovoltaic cells and reclaiming as much of the otherwise wasted light as possible, battery life could be dramatically extended.
Mobile devices are getting beefier multi-core processors and graphics chips, numerous wireless radio connections (4G, WiFi, Bluetooth), and large power hungry displays; however, battery technology advancements have been rather stagnant and flat. As a result of this, having to make processors, displays, and other components as efficient as possible to make up the difference of battery technology not keeping up with other advancements, interesting tweaks like the photovoltaic infused displays become that much more important.
Whether this particular technology will catch on and work as well as they claim remains to be seen; however it is nonetheless an interesting experiment. More data on the researchers’ project will be published in the Advanced Materials journal in September 2011. What are your thoughts on the idea?
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