I’ve been using a Bigme B251 [0] (likely the exact same panel) for about 9 months now. I recommend Amazon simply due to return policy; these can come with bad panels. They don’t notably fail early if the panel is fine when you get it.
Refresh is slow, colors are low saturation, and there is ghosting.
It’s also an absolute JOY to use for anything text related once you get past those differences.
For those on MacOS stillcolor [1] is an absolute MUST.
Curious, do you write code on it? I've heard the ghosting makes them nearly unusable for coding, but the concept of coding in e-ink is just so enticing to me!
tazjin · 1h ago
I have a Dasung monitor (black & white, not colour) and its reasonably good for coding. You need to use light themes on eink devices (I use the default Emacs theme), as using a dark theme does lead to unusable bad ghosting.
Mine is a few years old and newer panels are better, so I would expect this to be pretty good.
asadm · 1h ago
same! I am curious to know this as well.
malshe · 2h ago
The Bigme display is unavailable on Amazon.
"Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."
TrueGeek · 2h ago
Maybe a tariff thing? It’s available on amazon.nl, although it does say it’ll take 9 to 10 days to ship.
CobaltFire · 2h ago
Sorry about that! It must have been cached or something; I used my order history and it still showed a price when I grabbed that link.
seam_carver · 1h ago
I love eInk. It's so nice to look at compared to normal LCD screens. I got an eInk phone, which is much cheaper than these full sized monitors though.
Can you elaborate? All I see is a lot of ghosting of the home screen items still showing all around the text, eating up the contrast ratio so it's much worse than a cheap TN panel and visually distracting, and a lot of redraw delay. I'm not trying to be mean, I just wonder what could possibly be worth tolerating those deficiencies. Yes, e-ink is amazing for battery but you said "so nice to look at" so that's a completely different and unrelated metric.
Ghosted icons everywhere, extremely low contrast black-on-grey top bar.. it's like reading a bad fax in the 80s.
Funes- · 2h ago
E-ink technology is a godsend. Until refresh rate and image quality improve, though, it's great for many things other than a general-purpose monitor. For instance, I just ordered the Mudita Kompakt: I love how it's low-power and extremely minimal by default, but you can sideload apps if you so desire. With a regular smartphone, I have to traverse the opposite path, which is vastly more cumbersome and inefficient: root the phone, install GrapheneOS, take care of all the wasteful and unneeded "features" or functionalities, install and set up a minimalist launcher, install tools to get around bloat and other nuisances, etc. And there's no guarantee you'll end up with a satisfying result. I very much prefer starting from the ground up than trying to regain control over my phone and remove all the corporate and retarded shit. I'd even love the Kompakt more if it didn't come with a camera--I have dedicated cameras I use for pictures and video.
CommieBobDole · 2h ago
What exactly is the target market for a very expensive monitor with 4096 colors and an unspecified but almost certainly very slow refresh rate? I could see if they were marketing it as some sort of static display for advertising or similar, but it seems to be intended as a desktop monitor.
Is there some application that e-ink is so good at that it makes up for the multiple extremely serious disadvantages?
CobaltFire · 2h ago
I have migraines that can be triggered by eye strain. Using an eink monitor helps IMMENSELY.
mdip · 2h ago
Beat me to it -- completely relate, man. I wrote an entire Visual Studio extension just to let me set my monitor to extremely low brightness/contrast and still be able to read the text.
I've since discovered medication that has eliminated the brunt of Migraine, for me, but this would have been an easy purchase to make, for me.
jolmg · 1h ago
Being able to work while in the sun might be nice. Transflective LCDs would be better for this if they were as widely available and didn't likely suffer from lower pixel density.
pacaro · 2h ago
FWIW, the Next color machines had 12bit (4096) color and in practice it didn't make much of a difference. I was using one fairly extensively in the late 90s (by which time 24bit was the norm -- albeit not yet ubiquitous) and for anything other that photo/video work it was perfectly reasonable. It's amazing how far a good dithering algorithm can get you.
The refresh rate is, of course, a different issue
simulator5g · 2h ago
It's much easier on your eyes to read an e-ink display, I would buy this for the right price as a second monitor but if they ever put ads on it even only when its turned off that would be an instant dealbreaker.
CommieBobDole · 2h ago
Ok, 'second monitor for reading lots of text' makes sense. Shame about the price, though.
gibibit · 3h ago
I predict this won't be popular. E-ink is great for reading a book, especially on a portable battery-powered device, but on a large desk display connected to a general-purpose computer, it doesn't make sense at all.
Slow and inconsistent refresh rate, limited lifetime cycles that you could wear it out in a year or 2 with frequent use.
bityard · 2h ago
If you work mainly in text (reading, writing, programming), then e-ink makes a ton of sense over LCD. Low power, easier to read.
For those who use their computers mainly to watch movies and play video games, e-ink would not be ideal.
enescakir · 3h ago
I wish Daylight team would make a monitor. Mira Pro is cool, but it screams "first-gen."
izzydata · 3h ago
I recently acquired a Kobo Clara Color and love the way it looks. It would be neat to have a monitor with the same look, but I would want the refresh rate to be at least a bit faster before I would find it acceptable in a monitor.
Also the price tag is a non-starter. Maybe it will be cheaper and faster some day.
mystified5016 · 1h ago
You know, given the very limited refresh rate of e-ink, you could probably get a full resolution picture at full refresh rate over some wet string.
There's no reason you couldn't do a wireless battery powered full-size display. You could get the image over WiFi, maybe Bluetooth, or a custom USB dongle like Logitech.
It would be absolutely killer to have a portable wireless second display with my laptop. E-ink is perfect for that
throwaway74354 · 4h ago
Regular reminder that Boox is notorious for their constant GPL violations.
eltondegeneres · 3h ago
Constant violations that they refuse to address. afaik they've never released any of the GPL code they use.
simulator5g · 2h ago
How does this rule get enforced?
rwmj · 2h ago
Hopefully someone takes them to court one day.
techpineapple · 4h ago
Ugh, Want... $1,899.99... Pause...
jerrysievert · 4h ago
plus $2753.55 of tariffs if you live in the United States, makes it even more insane.
Our_Benefactors · 4h ago
Seriously, that price is insane for what you get. That costs more than what gets you a top tier 32” 4K OLED screen with a high refresh rate.
karmakaze · 3h ago
> its slow refresh rate makes it problematic for desktop computing tasks like browsing the web.
Hmm, I'm not sure what I'd use something like this for. Might be better as a phone as a follow up to their phone-size Palma e-reader.
Pet_Ant · 2h ago
> Seriously, that price is insane for what you get.
Sorry, but how are you evaluating that? You'd get this because you want a non-emissive display, so what other non-emissive displays are you comparing it against?
Yes, if you want better color acuity, refresh rates, or cost-per-inch, you don't want eInk.
I don't think that is news.
Otherwise you are a motorcycle rider calling cars too expensive.
techpineapple · 3h ago
Hopefully it's just a start? I would probably love to replace my displays with a high fidelity e-paper, I think it would make working much more enjoyable.
Refresh is slow, colors are low saturation, and there is ghosting.
It’s also an absolute JOY to use for anything text related once you get past those differences.
For those on MacOS stillcolor [1] is an absolute MUST.
I’m open to any questions!
0: https://www.amazon.com/-/he/B251PC/dp/B0CYYWZ9M9
1: https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor
Mine is a few years old and newer panels are better, so I would expect this to be pretty good.
"Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."
Here's a video of me reading Hacker News on an eInk phone: https://youtu.be/dvO9ScTdwz8?si=VSjo84qywuq8KHps&t=133
E.g. shortly after your timestamp, https://i.imgur.com/LEl1IHt.png
Ghosted icons everywhere, extremely low contrast black-on-grey top bar.. it's like reading a bad fax in the 80s.
Is there some application that e-ink is so good at that it makes up for the multiple extremely serious disadvantages?
I've since discovered medication that has eliminated the brunt of Migraine, for me, but this would have been an easy purchase to make, for me.
The refresh rate is, of course, a different issue
Slow and inconsistent refresh rate, limited lifetime cycles that you could wear it out in a year or 2 with frequent use.
For those who use their computers mainly to watch movies and play video games, e-ink would not be ideal.
Also the price tag is a non-starter. Maybe it will be cheaper and faster some day.
There's no reason you couldn't do a wireless battery powered full-size display. You could get the image over WiFi, maybe Bluetooth, or a custom USB dongle like Logitech.
It would be absolutely killer to have a portable wireless second display with my laptop. E-ink is perfect for that
Hmm, I'm not sure what I'd use something like this for. Might be better as a phone as a follow up to their phone-size Palma e-reader.
Sorry, but how are you evaluating that? You'd get this because you want a non-emissive display, so what other non-emissive displays are you comparing it against?
Yes, if you want better color acuity, refresh rates, or cost-per-inch, you don't want eInk.
I don't think that is news.
Otherwise you are a motorcycle rider calling cars too expensive.