Filed under: Hardware
Mimo 7" USB displays
I've been fascinated by these little 7" USB displays since they first started showing up on the gadget blogs a few weeks back. At first it didn't look like they were going to be available in the States, but now Mimo Monitors is preparing to ship a couple of models soon. These little displays connect to your Mac with just a USB cable and provide an extra 800 x 480 pixels worth of desktop space.Obviously, that's not really enough screen real estate for serious work, but it could be perfect for stashing away palettes or something like an iChat Buddy List. Mimo is offering two model: the plain vanilla 710 for $129.99 and the somewhat fancier 740 which adds a webcam, mic, and touchscreen for $199. Both include Mac display drivers, but if you want the 740 you'll annoyingly have to shell out an extra $30 for a third-party touchscreen driver. Both come with a detachable stand that allows the display to rotated.
Given that you can pick up a full sized 22" LCD for around $200 these days, I can't help thinking these Mimo's are over-priced. On the other hand, if you don't have another display output or if you want to turn your iMac into a replica of the Space Shuttle cockpit, these might be just the thing.
[via Macworld]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
granny said 9:06AM on 2-05-2009
looks like the wallpaper is this one from Interfacelift.com
http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/details/1232/lazy_days_ii.html
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Amit said 11:04AM on 2-05-2009
The wallpaper is fine...but the monitor display the wallpaper is not. It's just tooo small....
http://www.livbit.com
Nathan said 10:21PM on 2-05-2009
That's my wallpaper right now! Weeeeeeird!!!
ack154 said 9:10AM on 2-05-2009
Ya, would definitely pick up a new 19" for that $129 price before one of these. I can see the potential for these... but would see it better priced around $80-$90.
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+. said 9:27AM on 2-05-2009
but can you get a 22" LCD that hooks up via USB? i'm running an iMac with dual monitors already, & would *love* to have a 7" display mounted above my current setup. i could use it for iTunes &/or email. these are awesome.
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Yves said 10:02AM on 2-05-2009
May be perfect on a mac mini, to have a second display...
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Jack Swayze said 9:47AM on 2-05-2009
This thing is going to be perfect for my boat. I have a mini installed in my boat and have been looking for a USB touch screen solution. This solves all my issues. w00t. Now I can keep my 22 for video and have this for the controller.
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psilver said 9:52AM on 2-05-2009
The USB connection is great! I would love to get one of these for Twitter but unfortunately it is backordered from the main site.
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Paul Franz said 9:58AM on 2-05-2009
I think this little thing would be great for a laptop. It is small enough to fit in a laptop bag. It would be a nice way to add a little extra space to any laptop screen.
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sucks! said 10:03AM on 2-05-2009
I purchased a Mimo, and it's great. (it's really not that expensive compared to displays of similar size)
The key point is that it's USB only (power and data) so if you have other external monitors hogging your ports, this is perfect. It's also nice to have a little portable monitor when I need to work on my media server.
You can also purchase these from http://thegadgeteers.com/ - but they import in batches, so it's technically a pre-order.
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CVBruce said 9:12PM on 2-05-2009
This will be a big hit for installing in cars. MacMini+Mimo Monitor=easy car mod.
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Ben said 10:10AM on 2-05-2009
Hi Folks,
I work for mimomonitors.com and I'm an avid reader of TUAW. We have just put up an FAQ which answers some questions about using the Mimo with your Mac.
http://www.mimomonitors.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions-faq
If you have any other questions, you can post them here and I will try to answer them, or you can email info@mimomonitors.com and our customer support staff will try to answer them.
We are expecting a large shipment of 710s tomorrow. They are already here in the USA but clearing customs. Another shipment of 740's is expected around Feb 16th, but those have all been sold already. We have requested a large shipment of 740's but have not received a firm date for those yet.
~Ben
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psilver said 10:13AM on 2-05-2009
This is great to know. Yes, perfect not just for Tweetdeck but to Photoshop as well.
Raj Seshadri said 12:55PM on 2-05-2009
Ben,
Question about the 740... what are the specs on the webcam?
I think it might be great for my parents' mac mini or windows laptop but the webcam quality on a netbook I bought them was so bad my daughter didn't recognize them on a videocall.
obeserver_ said 6:19PM on 2-05-2009
Hey Ben,
Could this be used as the only display on a mac mini carputer setup? Or must it be a secondary display?
Thanks!
Ben said 2:27PM on 2-05-2009
@Raj
I'm researching the webcam specs now. There is nothing in the manual about it. We believe that it is a 1.3 megapixel camera. From the tests we did with it yesterday, the quality of video was slightly inferior to the quality in my built-in iSight camera on my Macbook Air.
~Ben
Ben said 2:34PM on 2-05-2009
@obeserver_
We've tested using the Mimo has the main and only display on a Mac Mini. It works, though you have to install the driver first using a regular video-card connected monitor. Please bear in mind that the driver software only works on Intel-based Macs, so this would not work on a PPC-based Mac mini.
~Ben
Ben said 5:19PM on 2-05-2009
@obeserver_
I think the Mimo would work in a car Mac mini setup, but again, you'd have to connect the Mac Mini to a standard display first to make sure the Mimo driver is installed before connecting it just to the Mimo. And again, it must be a Intel-based Mac Mini, not a PPC-based machine.
~Ben
Eric said 10:11AM on 2-05-2009
I dont understand why blogs are reporting these as just now coming to the states. I got one for Christmas from my fiance. She ordered it from thegadgeteers.com and it arrived a couple of days later. This thing is wonderful. I use mine at work as a Twhirl display and to hold different palettes from my Adobe software. I dont have the desk space to have another 19"+ monitor so this is perfect.
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brian said 10:57AM on 2-05-2009
Is it really possible to do good video over USB? Can I drag a DVD Player window or QuickTime Player window onto this screen and have it play flawlessly?
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