Um, am I reading this correctly? When the backlight is off it's monochrome? If so, how is this a "stunning screen", unless you mean "stunningly useless?"

Thats really cool. I could see this being used for all laptops one day.

Because you totally need colour to read...

What I wonder is what kind of response time it has in e-ink mode, having a laptop that sucks less to read stuff on sounds neat, but can I code on it without having huge lag while typing?

I'd guess you're not reading it correctly cause you obviously can't read...

"These screens will be available this fall in netbooks and ebook readers. Size: 10.1″ diagonal."

I don't own a netbook or ebook reader but I assume you would do a lot of reading on them, do you really need color to read?

What's stunning about this screen is the fact that you can actually see what's on it in the bright ass sunlight, do that with another screen and let me know how it works out for ya.

This looks fantastic. The ability to switch between the two modes would make it useful in any scenario. I think I'd spend most of my time coding / reading with it in e-ink mode. The percentage of time when I need color while using a computer is very small. Gaming, watching movies and video clips -- and I wouldn't be doing the first two on a 10" netbook.

The article doesn't say the screen is monochrome in epaper mode. Looks like its in color to me, albeit muted colors due to lack of backlight.

looks good!

Guess what - it's already commercially available, in its second generation even. And of course I mean Amazon's Kindle. Not to mention Sony's eReader...

e-ink in a laptop will provide big energy savings over LCD screens and being able to shutoff the backlight when not needed will save even more energy. This will mean longer battery life.

-

Amazon's Kindle II does not have color yet and there are a few big problems with the Kindle II that are show stoppers, preventing you from wanting to purchase one.

The following review is very informative on the Kindle II
BEWARE of the SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES between Kindle 1 and Kindle 2!

The Kindle DX though does have some improvements over the Kindle II

I was all set to purchase a Kindle II for my wife until I read the above review. So instead, I'll wait till the Kindle III comes out.

I need color. D=

This quote from the blog.
"These screens have a paper-white epaper look with very high resolution and contrast - and - video rate update to allow scrolling, looking at video clips and so forth. With the backlight on they sport full color saturation and video. "



E-paper display with video rate refresh is great for notebooks. I have a book reader with e-paper with 1sec refresh and it is no problem for reading, but it is not useful for anything else
I a big fan of this technology, great to see it is getting better every day

It says e-paper 'look' I don't think this is e-ink at all, rather it is LCD with a new better reflective backing. Fujitsu used to make 'tranflective' tablets in the 90s that could do this, but only in really muted colour. This looks great but it isn't e-ink is it? C'mon tom's, how about some clear reporting!

yeah, i doubt it has a monochrome mode.
imagine an lcd screen with a very unpredictable color saturation, brightness, and uniformity when not using the backlight.

if this works reliably and costs cheap, then i'm all for this technology since it allows very lower power consumption during browsing and reading. it's the lcd that needs huge improvement in power efficiency.
my prediction, the picture quality on its backlight "ON" mode might not be as good as normal lcd panels, yet, i have not used a laptop to view a full length film or edit high quality photos.