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More weird panels, please! I still want a bare-bones monochrome laptop.
by devindotcom 12y ago
More weird panels, please! I still want a bare-bones monochrome laptop.
- PhantomGremlin 12y ago> I still want a bare-bones monochrome laptop. That's not a bad idea, from both a cost and power standpoint. I wonder why nobody has done it? Same thing with digital cameras. There is a good use case for a grey scale image sensor. Higher sensitivity, fewer artifacts, lower power. But, sadly, nobody has built an affordable one yet. Sure it's not a large market, but there are hundreds of cameras that are almost identical, why doesn't somebody dare to do something different?
- copperx 12y agoI have always longed for an affordable BW digital camera. No Bayer filters!
- aeturnum 12y agoThere are various after-market places that will modify your camera to take black and white photos[0]. Considering how well loved black and white film is, and how many people running the industry have their roots in film, I am sure this idea has been looked at. However, the economics of camera making are really harsh. If you look at the numbers in the 'mirrorless' camera segment (a change from the SLR form-factor with wider appeal than a B&W-only camera), you can see how dangerous R&D spending can be.[1] [0] https://www.maxmax.com/b&w_conversion.htm https://www.maxmax.com/b&w_conversion.htm [1] http://www.43rumors.com/january-shipment-report-dslr-crash-mirrorless-doing-worse-in-japan/ http://www.43rumors.com/january-shipment-report-dslr-crash-m...
- devindotcom 12y agoLeica makes the M Monochrom: http://us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M-Monochrom http://us.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M-Monoc... There are a few good use cases, I think: http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/31/256-shades-of-grey/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/31/256-shades-of-grey/
- PhantomGremlin 12y agoSearching DP Review, I see I can buy that camera for $7,950 on Amazon. More recently Leica introduced the Leica M Edition 60 rangefinder with interchangeable lenses. It's on Amazon for $895. It's a somewhat apples-and-oranges comparison, but maybe that's the price you need to pay for such a niche camera.
- devindotcom 12y agoActually the Ed 60 costs even more than the Monochrom. You're not going to get a red dot on anything for less than a grand, though some of the ones that are rebadged Panasonics can be got cheap (though they're never worth the money). It's pretty much out of the question, alas....
- wtracy 12y agoHeh, the B&W RED camera costs more than the color version, and people still buy it. I've seen zilch available in the consumer space, though.
- DanBC 12y agoThere are greyscale monitors. These tend to be very expensive and used for medical imaging. I've never used one. http://www.necdisplay.com/category/medical-diagnostic-displays http://www.necdisplay.com/category/medical-diagnostic-displa... http://www.necdisplay.com/p/medical-diagnostic-displays/md215mg http://www.necdisplay.com/p/medical-diagnostic-displays/md21...
- acveilleux 12y agoWe have a workstation with 4 EIZO monochrome medical monitors at work (to test radiology software ofc) and the resolution is astounding as is the 10-bit greyscale image. The price tag however, well, it's the greater than the sum of all the other monitors we have...
- tgb 12y agoWhy are these so expensive? You could get a top-of-the-line new 5k iMac for that greyscale 2048 x 2560 monitor. Presumably it's all the calibration and certification that goes in, but wow those are pricey.
- seanp2k2 12y agoBecause insurance is paying for it anyway, so why not develop unnecessary specialty stuff that uses all proprietary connectors, power supplies, etc.
- thrownaway2424 12y agoThese typically have many bits of grey and a calibrated response curve that is stable over time. Specialty stuff.
- tgb 12y agoThe linked greyscale monitor above only had 8-bit greyscale, but describes it as "256 levels of gray out of a palette of 3826". Does that mean anything significant?
- 12y ago
- wtracy 12y agoIt's not quite what you're looking for, but the Kindle Paperwhite will apparently pair with a Bluetooth keyboard. EDIT: Better choice: The OLPC lets you turn off the screen backlight and that gets you a grayscale display that works even under direct sunlight.
- devindotcom 12y agoYeah, I thought about those. The OLPC is just too weird and outdated TBH, and e-paper devices (as much as I love them) are not reactive enough for active use like writing and editing. There's just no real option for now.
- Dylan16807 12y agoSo what exactly is your goal? If you don't want anything that has advantages over a typical color LCD, then use driver settings to make it grayscale. Is that a 'fake' option?
- devindotcom 12y agosorry, a little late to respond, but no, that doesn't quite fit the bill. A native-monochrome LCD would actually have advantages over color LCDs because you have reduced bits per pixel, need less power per pixel, and actually increase the number of addressable pixels. E-paper displays are great for reading from but not good for interacting with in any active way. Pixel Qi is an interesting medium but I'm not sure it's quite there yet?
- twic 12y agoI was discussing monitors with a colleague today, and we speculated that what we wanted was an e-ink monitor - not a laptop, just a monitor. Use a conventional flat panel for the main screen, but have one or two e-ink screens off to the side for documentation etc.
- ibrahima 12y agoI would love to have an e-ink whiteboard type thing that I could just leave up all the time without worrying about power consumption. I'd say maybe the top third would be for calendar events/digital todo lists that sync automatically, and the bottom 2/3 would be a writing surface that would capture and sync its contents as well. It'd be amazing. I have a 10" Android tablet with Wacom digitizer which I do use a lot for brainstorming so that I have everything digitized, but I'd really like a bigger surface that I can leave on all the time.
- 3rd3 12y agoThe SOL Vision monitor [1] is currently the only affordable screen in that regard (without hacking). It's specifically built for outdoor applications and has HDMI, VGA, and RCA/AV input, but unfortunately it’s limited to 1024 by 768 pixels. [1]: http://www.solcomputer.com/sunlight-readable/sol-vision-monitor.html http://www.solcomputer.com/sunlight-readable/sol-vision-moni...