There's another super-thin secondary PC monitor out now

[Daniel Sims]

WTF?! Months after English-language media started reporting about a Japanese company’s super-thin, super-tall secondary PC monitor for social media feeds, another Japanese company has unveiled one. The first one seemed like a joke, but now it looks like it could be a trend.

Thanko recently unveiled the TL (Timeline) Portrait Display. At ￥11,200 (about $100), it’s a 7.9” 70 x 208mm screen that connects to a PC or laptop through HDMI and gets power through micro USB.

In November, Elsonic’s EK-MD088 appeared with a similar shape and purpose—shifting social media feeds to a cheap second screen. According to those reports, Elsonic’s screen should be going on sale right around now, just as a competitor appears.

Thanko’s screen is 480 x 1280 pixels, slightly lower resolution than Elsonic’s 420 x 1920, but the Elsonic is a bit more expensive at 14,800円 ($130). Nothing seems to indicate the Elsonic can’t be used in horizontal orientation, but Thanko’s product page advertises this for displaying system metrics.

The only potentially significant downsides of the Thanko are that it doesn’t officially support Mac, and there’s no information on its display technology. It also doesn’t come with a stand, but a phone or tablet stand will probably work.

The advantages of these odd-shaped screens are price and portability. They’re a bit cheaper than the cheapest new 1080p monitors on Newegg and PCPartPicker and can be easily carried along with a laptop.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93275-there-another-super-thin-secondary-pc-monitor-out.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I always thought that the reason why people were buying these vertical monitors was for discord?

I barely ever use Twitter and I hate its user interface.

 

[Dimitriid]

You know what's even more portable to "easily be carried with a laptop" and can be propped up with a 2 bucks stand to also display your social media? Your phone.

Honestly I don't know why this thing is considered "portable" it's not a plank of wood: you can't just shove it anywhere and leave unless you want it to be scratched or smashed. It needs to be placed on a similar space you would place your laptop....Except is made for well, use with your laptop meaning 99.99% of laptop bags just won't have a good, safe spot for it anyway.

Honestly this is just a stupid product: someone decided on the form factor first and worried about how to use it second and that's obvious.

 

[StupidPeopleSuk]

gets power through micro USB

This alone makes it an automatic NO BUY IMHO (and will probably be banned/DOA in the EU, due to their recent USB-C mandates), in addition the high price.....

 

[Avro Arrow]

If you need a separate display to monitor Twitter, you should really be spending your money on a padded room.

 

[Lazerballz]

How's this a joke??? Coders and sim racers will be eating these up!!! No more having to buy Dell monitors with swivel mounts!

 

[Lazerballz]

This alone makes it an automatic NO BUY IMHO (and will probably be banned/DOA in the EU, due to their recent USB-C mandates), in addition the high price.....

High price? It's like $100USD, or did I read the blog wrong?

 

[Lazerballz]

You know what's even more portable to "easily be carried with a laptop" and can be propped up with a 2 bucks stand to also display your social media? Your phone.

Honestly I don't know why this thing is considered "portable" it's not a plank of wood: you can't just shove it anywhere and leave unless you want it to be scratched or smashed. It needs to be placed on a similar space you would place your laptop....Except is made for well, use with your laptop meaning 99.99% of laptop bags just won't have a good, safe spot for it anyway.

Honestly this is just a stupid product: someone decided on the form factor first and worried about how to use it second and that's obvious.

I can find several meaningful uses of this. Just forget who they're advertising it for use with and imagine what you could do with it ...

 

[Dimitriid]

I can find several meaningful uses of this. Just forget who they're advertising it for use with and imagine what you could do with it ...

You still have the order backwards: I am of the opinion that you should figure out what you want to do first and then find a tool to do it instead of buying a tool first and trying to find a use for it.

I've got enough things already, don't need solutions in search of problems to solve.

 

[theruck]

Noted: another side monitor I cannot buy

 

[Avro Arrow]

I can find several meaningful uses of this. Just forget who they're advertising it for use with and imagine what you could do with it ...

Maybe, but the fact is that there really isn't a software application that makes use of this. Hardware can do nothing without the software telling it what to do.