Dasung Paperlike E-ink Monitor Up for Pre-Order on Indiegogo, $799
With two limited production runs and a single retail partner, it’s not exactly easy to get your hands on a Paperlike E-ink monitor, but now is your chance to get in line to pre-order a Paperlike at a discount.
A few days back Dasung quietly launched an Indiegogo campaign for the Paperlike. (The launch was so quiet that they didn’t even tell me.) The campaign is three days old and has already achieved its goal of $10,000, and that means it is now on schedule to ship the monitors in August 2016.
The Paperlike is currently the world’s first and only E-ink monitor, and thus one of the few types of screen which sufferers of computer vision syndrome can use. (LCD screens give them migraines.)
It’s built around a 13.3″ E-ink screen, and connects to your PC via a USB cable which supplies both power and data. It has a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200, and supports two plus native display modes. The Paperlike can mirror your existing monitor or act as an external monitor at resolutions of 800 x 600 or 1600 x 1200. Also, the latest set of drivers will also let you mirror your existing monitor at its current resolution.
For example, my Dell laptop has a maximum screen resolution of 1366 x 768. The Paperlike can take that screen resolution and either stretch it to fit its 13″ screen or mirror my laptop’s screen in a window which measures 1366 x 768. It can also use one of the lower resolution screen settings, and display that on its E-ink screen.
The stretch mode doesn’t look great, but it is very, very usable.
You can find additional videos in the post I wrote last week.
I wouldn’t want to stick with the Paperlike for all my computer activity, but when it comes to basics like web browsing, writing, email, etc, it works surprisingly well. In fact, I am typing this post with the Paperlike.
Or at least I was until it fell over, which brings me to a problem.
The Paperlike ships with a wholly inadequate stand which isn’t really up to supporting the monitor properly. If you buy one you should also invest in a real monitor stand/arm to go with it.
Fortunately the Paperlike has the standard mounting points on the back so it should work with standard equipment.
I’ve been following the development of the Paperlike since I first discovered it at CES 2015 sixteen months ago, and I feel that today (for the first time) I can honestly say that the Paperlike is ready for consumers. Over the past couple weeks the software has lived up to the promise of E-ink screen.
Now would be a great time to get one.
P.S. Full disclosure: I bought a Paperlike in the pre-order last year. I was one of the owners' whose monitor died, and so this year Dasung sent me a free replacement. That replacement monitor is currently sitting on my desk.
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