Toshiba 14in USB LCD Mobile Monitor It sounds like a great idea: a 14in LCD monitor that connects using USB. Perfect for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones, right? Well no, because it doesn’t work with them. That’s not to say Toshiba’s Monitor is entirely without merit. It’s a neat looking device, similar in size to a slim laptop and weighing the same as a …
after all, Toshiba is not a consumer electronics company, nosir. They make, oh, I don't know... bicycles, tin openers, books, fluffy toys, etc. You can't expect them to come up with an ITC product to "meet and exceed customers' expectations", relevant in 2011/2012, thus producing a healthy revenue for the said company, right?
Right?
I take an Acer w500 out on business trips and it works great at the client site as long as they have a spare monitor I can plug into. However back at the hotel the 10" screen is a bit small so an add on screen would be great to decrease me reliance on that spare desk and to help working from the hotel.
That said I'm not going to bother if it's only 14" and anyway the w500 has a res of 1,280 x 800 !
Nice idea but not big enough screen or res to help me
Android support is likely to be very difficult. From what I've seen, the architecture of Android dcoesn't lend itself to changing hardware very well. Although the undelying Linux system may support them, many parts including interfaces to the display & audio are hard-coded for their particular hardware.
People may correct me if I am wrong, I'm certainly no expert on this.
so you're relying on there being no ambiguities in the standard and no possibility at all of the first person to try this particular bit of hardware running into a bug, then?
you must be new here. =)
me, i've been doing this a while. 'probably' is about as categorical as I'm willing to get when it comes to hardware support.
MacOS drivers are available, and as previous comments have suggested, the standard DisplayLink framebuffer driver distributed with modern versions of linux works too - surgery needs to be made to X to enable to work in a friendly manner - it's a bit tough to blame Toshiba for this - it doesn't work very well for multiple graphics cards in any case.
Also, as had also been said in the comments, if you don't want your laptop battery to drain, it is generally easier to plug your laptop into the mains than the attached monitor, and more useful (i.e. the laptop battery can actually charge up rather than not just discharge slightly slower). And the brightness is not an awful lot different to be honest.
Even in hotel rooms I find a device like this (or one the ever spawning equivalents) easier use for productivity enhancement than trying to use the TV and craning my neck halfway around the room rather than just next to the laptop screen..
I swear, Toshiba has to be the most frustratingly inept technology company out there.
Is there a product that they produce these days that doesn't suck in the sort of way that makes you think "that device is a neat idea and has potential, it's a pity about <deal breaking idiocy> though"
Do they still make telly's? Maybe they are OK.
Include a D-PORT ( and therefore capability to connect via D-PORT, DVI or HDMI) and up the resolution to something usable - like 1680x1050 (or higher) and you are onto a winner.
When you're sat in a datacentre with 6 putty sessions, 2 asdm windows, 2 checkpoint dashboards plus browsers etc - you'd kill for more screen space. Having something like this tucked in your laptop bag would be a winner, but USB only?
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
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