On Display: The New Breed of Monitors

and laptop and tablet displays offer clearer daylight and nighttime viewability, greater durability, increased energy savings and wider--or narrower--angle viewing. Yes, the narrow-angle view screen is now a solution, not a problem. As more of us do our computing on crowded airplanes, the problem of shoulder surfing, or just plain busybodies, necessitates narrower viewing angles on our laptops.

A demand for private data viewing in public settings has driven the development of narrow-angle view displays. The "privacy screen" (from display custom integrator Richardson Electronics Display Systems Group) is an LCD display integrated with Micro Louver technology.

The result is an extremely thin panel screen that prevents second-party viewing from side angles.

"Move 25 degrees off center and your screen view disappears or blurs," says Mike Lesko, director of marketing at Richardson Electronics, which delivers privacy-screen monitors for branding and sells them through its VAR channel.

Applications abound. Financial traders need to view transaction figures privately, hospital administrators need to access patient records confidentially, and consumers need to interface with ATMs confidently. These and similar scenarios are driving the narrow-view display. The privacy screen offers VARs an integrated product for private-label branding and bundling with value-added PCs and other hardware.

The privacy screen entered the market seven months ago. "Growth hasn't ramped up as fast as we were hoping, but it's still early," says Mike Ryan, business unit manager of custom displays at Richardson Electronics. However, the market is curious.

"We've put the product in front of the customer, and once they see it, their eyes light up and their brains start rolling," Lesko says. Once the screen gets traction, the company expects a sales explosion, which is a reasonable response to increasing identity theft, hacking and other rampant privacy breaches.

Richardson partners with NEC, which enables it to offer VARs additional warranty coverage. However, the company is currently the only distributor of its privacy screens. Demos of the product are available to VARs through display.rell.com. The screen is available in 15-, 17- and 20-inch displays.

Wide View, Low Power
But narrower isn't the only option. There is also movement in the other direction, toward bigger, brighter and less power-hungry displays. Toshiba Matsushita Display (TMD) Technology's new 14.1-inch display is the lowest power consumption screen for mobile PCs. At less than 2.5 inches wide, the XGA screen sports a 1,024-x-768 resolution. The display is formed using the low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) process.

TMD's advances in LTPS technology have resulted in larger, thinner and more compact displays that are lightweight and low-power.

"We recognize the importance of expanding our displays' viewing angles, as well as keeping them thin and reducing their power consumption," says Steve Vrablik, director of business development, LCDs, for Toshiba America Electronic Components. Competitor Hewlett-Packard's HP Compaq Tablet PC TC1100 offers a bright, 100-degree wide-angle view display, which increases to 160 degrees on available Pentium-M SKUs of the tablet, the widest-angle view of any of these displays.

VARs' insurance, medical and CAD/CAM clients will find the TC1100's scratch-resistant screen and high resolution (1,024-x-768) appealing. VARs also will be pleased to discover a generous trade-in program whereby clients can replace first-generation tablets with the TC1100 while remaining budget-conscious, says Anirban Chakravartti, business manager of commercial notebooks North America, HP.

Besides the larger-sized displays, another direction is toward more durable ones. JLT Mobile Computing provides private-label hardware to John Deere, Northrop-Grummon and Raytheon, and sells through its VAR channel. JLT's first ruggedized tablet PC will soon enter that channel, led by a display with firsts of its own. The G-Force 850 Tablet PC offers a resistive five-wire SVGA touch-screen with one-touch switching from portrait to landscape view. The PC supports external CRT and flat-panel (TFT/DSTN) displays as well.

JLT Mobile Computing's G-Force 850 is ideal for utility workers, delivery, emergency and military personnel, airline mechanics, baggage handlers and construction professionals. It is rated for shock and vibration against the toughest onboard conditions, including those of motorcycles, yachts, helicopters and tanks.

This display offers twice the backlit brightness of laptops. Though not viewable in direct sunlight, the screen offers clear viewing in daylight and a 120-degree wide-angle view. Current resellers of JLT products will be pleased to complement their offerings with the new tablet. JLT has a history of offering fixed-mount mobile computers. The tablet will open new markets for VARs while satisfying their current markets' new applications. A second G-Force model, the 840, offering a 8.4-inch (diagonal) display also will be available with onboard keypad; both are scheduled to ship this spring.

Pricing And Contacts
HP
Product: Compaq Tablet PC TC1100
Price: $2,299 for 1.0-GHz Intel Pentium M processor; $1,849 for Intel Celeron 800 MHz
Contact: h18000.www1.hp.com/products/tabletpc

JLT Mobile Computing
Product: G-Force 850; G-Force 840
Price: Varies
Contact: www.jltmobilecomputers.com/product/all\_products/72/overview;all\_products/1/overview

Richardson Electronics
Product: Privacy displays
Price: $751 for 15-inch display;
$1,064 for 17-inch display
Contact: display.rell.com

Toshiba
Product: 14.1-inch low-power displays
Price: Not yet available commercially
Contact: [email protected]

David Geer ([email protected]) is a freelance writer in Ashtabula, Ohio.