When will e-ink or Pixel Qi 15" or 17" laptop displays be available?

[nicciglen]

Hello,

Does anyone know when e-ink or Pixel Qi type technology be available for 15" or 17" laptop displays?

My eyes are very light sensitive and I generally find the prevalent LCD transmissive screen technology (has to have a back light) uncomfortable to use.

I've asked Pixel Qi but haven't been able to get a response on this matter.

I will celebrate the day when I can buy a 17" laptop with an e-ink or Pixel Qi type display - which is so much easier on the eyes as it works with reflected light like paper does.

Thanks

Glen

 

[AntiZig]

you sir bring up an excellent topic for discussion.

in terms of Pixel Qi:

A list of laptops known to accommodate the DIY 10.1" Pixel Qi screen [5]
Lenovo S10-2
Acer Aspire One
Samsung NB30, N130, N220, NF210
Notion Ink (Tablet)

This tech is very interesting, but there's little info on it (I imagine due to it being still in development and there's pending patents). From what I can gather it's still an LCD but it tries to use the principles incorporated into e-paper to make it better on the eyes. The problem with pixel qi for now is the ability to support larger resolutions, but I'm sure they are working on resolving it. Strange that you couldn't get any response from the company, maybe they are actually close to releasing a product that you're looking for or in middle of patenting it, so they don't want to jinx it. According to this article we might see devices featuring this tech fairly soon, maybe this year or next.

as for e-ink, I don't think it will make it to laptops any time soon, it's got amazing advantages due to power saving, but they are inferior to LCDs in refresh rate and quality (e-ink is not as crisp as lcd). The only advantage of e-ink displays is that they are better for reading or prolonged staring at small fonts due to reflective nature of the image. However, the refresh rate that e-ink can handle, as you imagine, well below 60Hz and the computer industry doesn't like that (especially considering the increasing popularity of 120 and 240Hz displays). Also, there's ghosting problems, so having that on a laptop when watching a movie would be very strange.


References:
e-ink disadvantages
Pixel Qi