One of the coolest new E Ink contraptions to be shown off at CES 2015 was a 13.3″ E Ink monitor that connects with computers and laptops via a USB cable to provide a secondary display.
The device is called the PaperLike and it’s being made by one of E Ink’s partners in China by the name of Dasung Tech.
The PaperLike uses a 13.3-inch E Ink Fina screen that has a resolution of 1600 x 1200 (150 ppi). Fina is E Ink’s glass-based display and is different from what’s on the 13.3-inch Sony DPT-S1 PDF Reader, which has a flexible plastic-based screen.
The interesting thing about the PaperLike is that it uses so little energy that it doesn’t even need to be plugged into its own power source. It connects to a laptop or desktop computer simply with a USB cable, and it gets enough power through the USB to refresh the screen.
The overall speed and refresh rate has been optimized and looks impressive. Check out these YouTube videos:
The Effect of Browser In PaperLike
Cursor Moving & Stock Software in PaperLike
The speed of Dasung’s secondary E Ink monitor is impressive. The monitor has several display modes. Like the A2 mode on Onyx’s Android ereaders, the faster modes show less detail but the faster refresh rate helps make things like scrolling and zooming much smoother.
Dasung just launched the PaperLike in China, but it’s unclear when it officially gets released. The price is somewhere between 3999 RMB and 5999 RMB ($645 – $970 US). It seems the former is a promotional first sale discount and the latter the regular price (it’s hard to make sense of Dasung’s website when you don’t read Chinese).
Any idea of the expected lifetime of these? Eink.com says “Over 90% of E Ink displays will last more than 10 years with typical usage”, but quick refresh monitor usage probably isn’t what they’d consider typical.
yes, from http://www.dasung.com.cn/index.php?controller=front&action=buygate
In the reservation period,
For individual, order within first 20 days is 3999, order within last 10 days is 4499.
For big clients (buying 2 or more), order within first 20 days is 3799, order within last 10 days is 4299.
For people who have eye disease/short sighted (with medical proof), order within first 20 days is 3599, order within last 10 days is 4099.
As someone who stares at multiple monitors for 8+ hours a day, I would really appreciate a 15″ or 17″ eInk monitor as a secondary. This appears to only be a clone of the primary monitor. It would be really nice to see an eInk monitor that could be set up as an extended desktop. Having one color and one eInk monitor would be ideal. If you need color, drag the window to the color monitor, if you don’t use the eInk monitor and save your eyes.
Is it possible for me in the Netherlands (Europe) to order such a monitor? It would be very helpful, because my eyes start to hurt when I work long times with a LCD screen.
You could try f.lux https://justgetflux.com/
Would love to have one. Make it Mac OS X and Linux compatible and please start shipping these to the Netherlands for a fair price!
nice but so expensive
I’ve always wanted one of these, but somehow always thought they would be cheaper than colour monitors.
When e-ink was first presented, pretty much all media said that it would be so much cheaper than liquid crystal displays… that thin e-ink displays could be inexpensively printed on flexible surfaces and that within a couple years we’d all have lots of super-cheap display estate everywhere: our big-ass foldable e-Newspaper reader, our desks, our wallpaper etc. all covered with cheap e-ink. At the time, all this media hype gave me hopes for a cheap keyboard with application-specific (via e-ink) adaptable keys etc.
Many more years have passed… and unlike other technology hypes that have kept their promise, the reality check for e-ink is a total disappointment: Except for 5- or 6-inch ebook readers, all e-ink displays are prohibitively expensive, much more expensive even than IPS displays.
What a bummer.
Nice article, and i want to try. Thank a lot 😀
Chinese product – and so expensive? Unbelievable! So how much would it cost, if being manufactured in Europe?
I would suggest that this heavy price is because of the low expected volumes. Typically when ever a technology isn’t highly in demand it is difficult to get the components at good prices and if the manufacturer doesn’t have orders of 50,000+ units then they will be very exposed to this problem.
I suspect that the general public wouldn’t want one of these so until we find a use case which creates a strong world demand the price will remain high.
i sure hope for this monitor techonology
but its yet too primitive atm
I agree the problem is most of people do not want this kind of screen: they are slow and do not show colors. What sort of people would buy them? A fan like us, a software engineer maybe…
This is ideal for people with certain handicaps, I tell you. Personally, I have a problem with all things backlit that makes everyday tasks a problem. Yes, yes yes to this one!
Anyone happen to know if there are any other products like this on the market? (E-ink computer monitors, that is).
There aren’t any other than this. Except for hacked ereaders and there was this secondary monitor that was on IndieGogo awhile back.
How can I buy ?
Who knows. Their website seems to offer it for sale but it makes no sense to someone who doesn’t read Chinese, especially with the “This website is under construction, will not be accepted for any auctions！” disclaimer at the top.
It’s now only available to Die hard fans and a few special groups only. 50 units limited in mainland. 30+ pre-ordered by early this month.RMb4999. Shippinng in June. I do hope there’r more cheaper paperlike available in near furture. Right now,i’m using onyx m96 as a 2nd monitor + wifi + VNC viewer + A2 fast mode on + chrome bold CSS style.
I like your M96 solution. I was thinking of trying it with Splashtop Remote Desktop but am skeptical how well it would work. I’ll have to try it out one of these days.
I would love to buy this. I can’t believe this technology isn’t on the International market yet. Bummer.
How do I buy one of these? I’m in the US. Perhaps something like Alibaba?
I think it was just sold from the Dasung website for a limited time. Last I heard it was sold out.
The product is on sales right now.
Follow their tweeters.
https://twitter.com/DasungTech
They recently had another limited order batch but it’s probably over by now. Who knows. Their website is crap and doesn’t make sense.
Dear all,
I ordered 5 pieces because I need it very quickly for my eye problems.
I paid them 800 USD each, I don’t want to earn money so I’ll resell at the same price… they are still inside the package.
Ciao,
Paul
Sorry but this isn’t a place you can advertise to sell things. Email address removed.
Has someone succeeded to make it work on a Mac? The result I get is 1/4 of the screen is displaying ( plus de desktop is flipped). Anyone experienced this issue?
Thats great monitor, but i dont have enough money for now. 🙁
I Own SOL Computer we are the only Authorized reseller of the Dasung Paperlike Monitor. After reading the comments on how the Dasung website is bad etc. you can go to my website to get more information. We are located in San Diego, Ca. Thanks
Thank for sharing it. I will bookmark this article, thank you again!