Too big for me
I use a 43" 4K TV as my monitor and I can honestly say that I wouldn't like a personal monitor any larger.
Microsoft last night dropped the veil on a "new category of teamwork devices" – the not-quite-a-Surface-Hub Windows Collaboration Display (or Whopping Computer Display, judging by the size of it.) The device, which on first glance looks like a giant monitor, was shown off at Computex 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan, last eve, with …
I have just started using 43" 4K TV as well. It is cheap (compared to the Dell 30 incher I had before), works well, has better colour than the Dell (once it's set up - it's rubbish out of the box). It only really has one downside - it's a huge flat screen telly (37" x 21") being viewed from 2 feet away. What this means is that it is soooo big that I have to move (albeit it slightly) so that I can focus properly on the sides of the screen - me being a bit myopic and of the older persuasion.
I know ElReg has wondered what a curved screen telly might be for, but using one as monitor would definitely be a genuine use case. So I am waiting for the OLED curved TVs to come down in price, then I can retire this one to the living room for the occasional house guest that actually wants to watch live programming.
Have a look at this example. You can get a £10 cheaper version, with some legs at each end instead of the chunky central stand, from Amazon. You'll also need a modern graphics card that can do HDMI 2 @ 60hz to drive it.
Microsoft are making monitors! It probably slurps everything I do evaaaar, not that this my giving all my details away for "free stuff" to other companies showed Microsoft that this slurping is a viable business model! I must immediately migrate everything I have made projector displays! Never mind the Github thing, this is eeeeeevil!!!!
... just to get it in before someone whose head is still stuck in the 90s does. Possibly with the odd WORD in CAPITALS because they think it somehow makes their argument look better...
No, the joke is on the aforementioned people who fell for the lure of free stuff and handed over their data, thus ultimately leading Microsoft to the idea that here is a new viable business model - albeit several years after everyone else.
Incidentally, what browser/search engine/phone/social media do you use?
Why do people justify a wrong by pointing to something else that is also wrong? That does not make it right. I just makes you look like a fool. M$ spys and steals data from their users. That's fine because Facebook does the same? Please come up with an adult argument that makes data slurping OK.
That's fine because Facebook does the same?
Did I ever say it was fine? No. I just said that others were already doing it (quite successfully, too), and Microsoft - in typical Microsoft style - went "Oooh look, we need to get into that action".
Please come up with an adult argument that makes data slurping OK.
I'll let you know as soon as I have one. In the meantime, please try and read what I have written and not jump to conclusions or apply biases that are not there.
And as for my question regarding which browser, mobile etc - it's not about who started slurping data first, or whether it is right or wrong, it's about pointing out that this is not just a Microsoft thing. Personally, I would like to see tighter regulation and full user control of what data any of these companies can harvest, but I don't have the lobbying capital to go head-to-head against these corporate giants...
What's the difference between these "new" devices and smartboards, which have been in schools for a decade or two now? 75" touchscreen seemed pretty normal when I was a site admin for a school ~12 years ago, albeit not cheap.
Biggest pain was having to ensure that there weren't any normal whiteboards anywhere near them, as supply teachers had a nasty habit of using marker pens on them. The little pricks, er, students tended to wait until the sub at gone off hunting for a marker (as the one on the board "didn't work"), written some guff up there, and tried to wipe it off with the "eraser" before pointing out the potential issue.
@MonkeyCee
My thoughts too, I did a stint as a school IT Technician recently, in junior schools, and they had a mix of interactive whiteboards with projectors, and touch screen monitors. The latter usually had a NUC attached to the back, while the former, being older, were usually hooked up to a full sized PC. I quite liked the touch screen TVs, it was all a bit 'Minority Report' : -)
Apart from the inventory issue this "new class" of device raises, I'm not sure I'd want to swap out a 70" screen just to upgrade, change (or fix) an environmental sensor.
Presumably, there's a use case I'm missing (besides not being a multinational corporation with a budget to spend on that up-and-coming IoT thing).
I'm not sure about it being a new class of device
Yes, I'm struggling to see what the major innovation is, too. For example, Panasonic does a range of huge touchscreens with built-in intelligence, and NEC does a range of TVs with Raspberry Pis built-in.
M.
Definitely not new.
I'm sure any slurping is insignificant compared to Android TV.
I'd go for touch screen / interactive white board / Projector what ever depending on application connected to generic laptop/PC with choice of Mac OS, Windows and Linux and collaborative tools etc based on application.
I'd want to see proper version of Win10 before investing in this.
Refer to Dabbsy’s recent piece. Is this not just the latest incarnation of the unfathomable teleconferencing equipment with its six power sockets and Gordian knot of cables?
What I really want is a single monolithic piece of equipment that I can invite to my Skype4B meeting to project whatever is being shared and act as a speakerphone.
They have one in an office near us.
It's still in reception, as it's so heavy, it can't be put on the upstairs floors.
It's left on, even though it's not networked yet. It takes so much power, that if you get within a few inches of the screen you can feel the heat coming off it. Over the vast area of LCD!
So, too big, too hot, and as big a waste of Carbon as you could wish.