From personal experience, carrying around a portable E-Ink monitor, plugging in the cables, and the initial set-up gets tiring. Some tablets are a better choice, but they mainly use Android, which may or may not work for someone, depending on your workflow.
I see why people gravitate to a laptop, a portable form factor, or a secondary 'focus' machine; in the end, each option has certain advantages and drawbacks.
Yes, we are accounting for abuse and the daily wear and tear in our design.
Having used tablets with external keyboards (both integrated into cases and freestanding), as well as laptops, my on-the-go preference would be a flyweight laptop with integrated keyboard and e-ink screen. Low battery consumption, universally-readable screen, real keyboard, Linux, and low distractions.
Onyx BOOX + Bluetooth keyboard + Termux ... gets me some of the way there, but it's not quite the same, and it's cumbersome to set up. I'd avoid Android if I could.
Thing is that a freestanding (and lightweight) display is also quite useful on its own, for reading, and any hybrid design is going to bump weight up a lot, which starts negating comfort of holding that in your hands and reading.
Which is to say I'm validating your design and thinking here. Watching with interest.
Comments
From personal experience, carrying around a portable E-Ink monitor, plugging in the cables, and the initial set-up gets tiring. Some tablets are a better choice, but they mainly use Android, which may or may not work for someone, depending on your workflow.
I see why people gravitate to a laptop, a portable form factor, or a secondary 'focus' machine; in the end, each option has certain advantages and drawbacks.
Yes, we are accounting for abuse and the daily wear and tear in our design.
Having used tablets with external keyboards (both integrated into cases and freestanding), as well as laptops, my on-the-go preference would be a flyweight laptop with integrated keyboard and e-ink screen. Low battery consumption, universally-readable screen, real keyboard, Linux, and low distractions.
Onyx BOOX + Bluetooth keyboard + Termux ... gets me some of the way there, but it's not quite the same, and it's cumbersome to set up. I'd avoid Android if I could.
Thing is that a freestanding (and lightweight) display is also quite useful on its own, for reading, and any hybrid design is going to bump weight up a lot, which starts negating comfort of holding that in your hands and reading.
Which is to say I'm validating your design and thinking here. Watching with interest.
dredmorbius! Thank you! I'd love to chat over email. I enjoyed reading your post sometime ago about 'E Ink Design Principles'.
username at protonmail
I've just pinged you.