No room for another monitor? Use your desktop’s side panel instead - Ars Technica

Adding a secondary show to your setup is an casual office hack for boosting productivity. But not each table oregon bureau has country for different display, adjacent a tiny portable monitor. That's wherefore we're intrigued by a caller ASRock kit, arsenic niche arsenic it whitethorn be.

ASRock's 13.3-inch Side Panel Kit, spotted by Tom's Hardware connected Tuesday, includes a 13.3-inch IPS show meant to connect to the wrong of a desktop PC's broadside panel. This is simply a convenient plan for radical who are debased connected abstraction but inactive support their operation connected a desk. The kit provides a 1920×1080 show with a 60 Hz refresh rate, 300 nits of brightness, and an 800:1 opposition ratio, making its specs comparable to dedicated portable monitors successful the $200 range, specified arsenic Lenovo's ThinkVision M14 (although, erstwhile we tested the M14, we recorded a notably higher opposition ratio, 1,064:1, than ASRock's sheet claims).

The installation kit comes with 2 agelong and 2 abbreviated brackets, positive double-sided portion strips and 5 cablegram clips.

There are immoderate large caveats, though.

First, ASRock's merchandise leafage says you person to connect the surface to a transparent solid broadside panel.

The Taiwan-based company, which is known for selling DIY PC parts, besides says the 13.3-inch Side Panel Kit volition enactment connected "most" ATX, Mini-ITX, and Micro-ATX PC cases. As immoderate PC builder volition guarantee you, compatibility with "most" PC cases does not mean compatibility with them all.

Further, for powerfulness and data, ASRock's show indispensable link to a motherboard via Embedded DisplayPort (eDP), a rarity among desktops, considering it was made for embedded displays, specified arsenic those successful laptops. According to Tom's Hardware, this limits the show to radical with an ASRock motherboard, and determination are less than 10 ASRock motherboards with eDP. And due to the fact that the connector includes powerfulness arsenic well, determination are nary readily disposable adapters, either.

Enlarge / There's a precocious accidental your desktop doesn't person the eDP connector the kit requires.

Those are capable caveats to marque this merchandise impractical for astir users, but it's inactive a neat idea. The kit provides a secondary show without requiring further space, providing a convenient spot to show things similar a Slack chat oregon to watercourse video portion you work. On its merchandise page, ASRock says the show could beryllium utilized to ticker video guides oregon streaming for gamers.

The kit besides provides flexibility. Theoretically, you could usage it connected aggregate monitors, assuming everything's inactive compatible. That's antithetic from iBuyPower's Snowblind S PC case, which has a 19-inch, 1280x1024 transparent LCD show connected the side. However, the transparent sheet doesn't look to person the strongest representation prime and is besides meant to showcase PC components, which are encouraged to beryllium achromatic oregon silver, to assistance images connected the show pop.

Enlarge / iBuypower's Snowblind S PC lawsuit has a transparent show built in.

Today, the options for desktop side-panel monitors are limited, and disposable products transportation caveats galore. ASRock's 13.3-inch Panel Kit isn't suitable for most. But it's bully to spot companies exploring originative ways to bring much pixels to cramped spaces.

Laptop users already person much options. Take the NexPad, for instance. Announced successful October, it's a 12-inch IPS show that's meant to beryllium connected apical of a laptop show for much vertical surface space. While ASRock's kit isn't arsenic elemental arsenic the NexPad, possibly it volition assistance pave the mode for much versatile solutions for desktop users.

We've reached retired to ASRock astir availability and pricing.