Lenovo LT1421 Wide Mobile Monitor Review: Extra Space For Mobile Pros Discussion

[J.R. Nelson]

When it comes to getting work done on the road, it's hard to beat a great laptop  - but with the latest trend of ultralight ultraportables, many road warriors are aching for a solution to limited screen real estate. Can Lenovo's LT1421 fill that niche?

Read the full content of this Article: Lenovo LT1421 Wide Mobile Monitor Review: Extra Space For Mobile Pros

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[MidnightSun]

Pretty cool device, David Hill wrote about the design here.

Unfortunately, in the era where LED-backlit FHD displays are as cheap as $99, the $199 asking price is far too high, even given the portability and lack of an AC adapter. Another major pitfall of the display is the low resolution; it should be at least 1600x900 to be very useful for what it is designed for. At this low resolution, it has little benefit over a virtual desktop solution such as Dexpot (link in signature).

[J.R. Nelson]

Originally Posted by MidnightSun

Pretty cool device, David Hill wrote about the design here.

Unfortunately, in the era where LED-backlit FHD displays are as cheap as $99, the $199 asking price is far too high, even given the portability and lack of an AC adapter. Another major pitfall of the display is the low resolution; it should be at least 1600x900 to be very useful for what it is designed for. At this low resolution, it has little benefit over a virtual desktop solution such as Dexpot (link in signature).

That's largely true, but those $99 monitors don't travel with you - keep in mind that this isn't for people who'd use this device at home; it's explicitly for people who need a secondary display while travelling.

I do think the price is about $50 too high to sell a lot of units, though.

One issue I do have with your take is that this is a completely different solution to using a virtual desktop program - I use a MacBook Air currently, and OS X's Spaces is about the best integration of using a virtual desktop there is - just swipe back and forth. But the LT1421 offers something else...virtual desktops aren't nearly as helpful as having another display right in front of you for doing something like moving Photoshop toolbars around, or comparing two documents side-by-side, etc.

You could even watch video on your laptop, and use the extra display for browsing the web...though that seems like a silly purchase reason for most people.

[trwrt]

Does the stand work for propping it up in a portrait orientation also? That would make it more attractive for document-type jobs and give you something you can't easily get out of a regular laptop screen.

[J.R. Nelson]

No, it doesn't, unfortunately - that's a great point, though, and you should point it out to Lenovo.

There is a hilarious demo image printed on the inside of the cover, however, that shows you how the stand works. Unfortunately, someone failed Photoshop and it got printed on in a completely wrong aspect ratio...making it LOOK like it does a portrait mode.

[MidnightSun]

Originally Posted by J.R. Nelson

That's largely true, but those $99 monitors don't travel with you - keep in mind that this isn't for people who'd use this device at home; it's explicitly for people who need a secondary display while travelling.

I do think the price is about $50 too high to sell a lot of units, though.

Agreed, but then, at this price, it may even be better to simply buy two monitors, one for work and one for home

That said, a road warrior who needs a secondary display may still find a use for this.

Originally Posted by J.R. Nelson

One issue I do have with your take is that this is a completely different solution to using a virtual desktop program - I use a MacBook Air currently, and OS X's Spaces is about the best integration of using a virtual desktop there is - just swipe back and forth. But the LT1421 offers something else...virtual desktops aren't nearly as helpful as having another display right in front of you for doing something like moving Photoshop toolbars around, or comparing two documents side-by-side, etc.

You could even watch video on your laptop, and use the extra display for browsing the web...though that seems like a silly purchase reason for most people.

Agreed, although my point was that with a 1366x768 external monitor, the benefit to productivity wouldn't be all too great compared to a virtual desktop. Comparing documents side by side could be useful, though, if you have a laptop with a screen resolution below 1600x900.

[danenick1212]

Originally Posted by J.R. Nelson

That's largely true, but those $99 monitors don't travel with you - keep in mind that this isn't for people who'd use this device at home; it's explicitly for people who need a secondary display while travelling.

I do think the price is about $50 too high to sell a lot of units, though.

You could even watch video on your laptop, and use the extra display for browsing the web...though that seems like a silly purchase reason for most people.

You hit the nail on the head, so to speak, for my typical usage! I have a Precision M6600 that I have attached to an external 19" while at home for dual display use, and I really miss this feature when I'm on campus. The 1440x900 on the external LCD is perfect for watching videos or displaying websites/PDF's with text that is too small for me to read or that are not my priority or focus. Before I read your comment, I actually posted about this monitor on Facebook with a comment that basically said it would be prefect for me on campus to do work and watch tv/movies at the same time. I agree with the price, though. I won't be jumping on one until a few more are out and perhaps a higher quality LCD (viewing angles, mostly) is used.

Still, my anniversary is coming up in April. I would like to be the first kid on the block with one!

[J.R. Nelson]

Originally Posted by MidnightSun

Agreed, but then, at this price, it may even be better to simply buy two monitors, one for work and one for home

That said, a road warrior who needs a secondary display may still find a use for this.

That's who it's for, not really someone taking it to work.

Originally Posted by MidnightSun

Agreed, although my point was that with a 1366x768 external monitor, the benefit to productivity wouldn't be all too great compared to a virtual desktop. Comparing documents side by side could be useful, though, if you have a laptop with a screen resolution below 1600x900.

I get that you're a resolution junkie - and trust me, so am I - but I think you're missing the point. Just because it's less than 1600x900 doesn't mean it's barely useful; this resolution has 73% of the pixel space that the higher-resolution one does. Toolbars, webpages, PDFs, books, whatever. They're all made easier with this thing, even at this resolution. Yes, it's barely HD, but consider how much work people can get done on tablets these days (swear to god if someone starts talking about how tablets are just toys, I will ban them out of spite).

Originally Posted by danenick1212

You hit the nail on the head, so to speak, for my typical usage! I have a Precision M6600 that I have attached to an external 19" while at home for dual display use, and I really miss this feature when I'm on campus. The 1440x900 on the external LCD is perfect for watching videos or displaying websites/PDF's with text that is too small for me to read or that are not my priority or focus. Before I read your comment, I actually posted about this monitor on Facebook with a comment that basically said it would be prefect for me on campus to do work and watch tv/movies at the same time. I agree with the price, though. I won't be jumping on one until a few more are out and perhaps a higher quality LCD (viewing angles, mostly) is used.

Still, my anniversary is coming up in April. I would like to be the first kid on the block with one!

Yeah, I think this is probably an ideal situation. I will say that if you'll be doing this without any A/C whatsoever, be ready to charge your laptop after class.

[Jerry Jackson]

Like the Toshiba USB monitor that we previously reviewed, this Lenovo monitor is largely meant for sales execs who are constantly traveling and want to show presentations to clients but either don't want to setup a projector or are meeting in small rooms/offices where projectors can't be setup.

I'm sure there will be "some" traveling techies who will buy this because they love multitasking on multiple monitors, but I think there is a VERY targeted sales audience in mind for this product.

[John Ratsey]

When I got to the

Resolution: 1366x768

my interest waned. Someone with, say, a 12" 1366 x 768 might have a use for a portable screen that offered 1600 x 900.

John