Not-super-expensive portable monitor?
I'm in the market for an e-ink monitor that can sit on my laptop in front of its normal LED screen, and ideally just plug into the laptop without an external power source. Apparently some monitors are operating system-specific, which seems weird to me, and means i need one that works with Linux (and other GNU operating systems).
I'm not worried about a super high refresh rate or vibrant colors, tho those would be nice. I don't need a touch screen. I would like a manual refresh button, but that's not a deal breaker. Most of what i do on my computer is just text.
Does something like this currently exist for less than $400 US? Or is 400 really the low end?
- The Dasung Paperlike 103 specifically does not work with Linux, and seems to be the cheapest monitor they sell.
- Boox's two moniters are beyond my price range.
- Modos' stuff looks interesting but it's not available yet.
- TRMNL's screens are tiny. Their largest model is probably usable as a monitor, but it seems like it's meant to be a standalone device rather than video output for another computer.
Modos Flow was just launched, estimated shipping in December 2026.
You might want to consider the number-of-colors, too..
I've no idea which ones would be good, but may need to know in the future..
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Both E-ink devices i have now are black and white. That's good enough for me, any extra colors are a bonus. Resolution is a good point. I know text is pretty legible even at small sizes on my small ereader. I'm not sure how much better i'd need a monitor to be. Physical size is something i'm looking out for. I can handle a small screen (even if a big one is nicer), but not too small. I didn't know they don't like cold, but i don't see it being a big issue. And the refresh rate also isn't a big concern, since i could always switch back to my normal screen for games and video.
Someone did an experiment, some years ago:
they tried the same game, on 2 different devices ( Nintendo perhaps? ), 1 with cheap-color, the other with B&W LCD.
They discovered that their scores were consistently higher in the 64k-color version.
That changed my "knowing" to knowing: since then, I consider color a required-if-available dimension-of-communication.
I'm only adding this so you know.
Maybe it's irrelevant or wrong, for you..
But I don't want you kept-ignorant just because I wouldn't tell you.
1 single black-swan falsifies "all swans are white", exactly as that guy's 1 experiment falsified that color isn't significant.
There are multi-color e-ink screens..
( I wish they were doing much-higher-resolution, & many-more-colors, but black-white-red ones are most-common, of the multicolor screens, on Mouser )
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