AOC e1649Fwu Portable USB Monitor: A good match for your MacBook

As many TUAW readers know, I have a serious love affair with my 11" MacBook Air. If there's one issue that I have with it, it's that sometimes that screen seems just a little too small. Now AOC has released the e1649Fwu 16" Portable USB Monitor ($139.99) that is perfect for those situations where you want a second monitor for your MacBook Air or any other Mac.

Design

For work with a laptop, the e1649Fwu is perfect. There's no power supply required; you just plug the monitor into a USB port, and you're ready to go. The screen measures 16" diagonally, and has a foldout stand that props the monitor up at a slight angle. The monitor can only be used in landscape (wide) mode on the Mac and has a fixed resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.

What would you use a portable monitor for? It's perfect for giving presentations to a small group seated at a conference table, and it's a great way to get additional screen real estate with any Mac. While it's larger than the 11" MacBook Air I tested it with, the e1649Fwu weighs 2.3 lbs and fits into a backpack or computer bag. It would be nice if AOC included a cheap bag of some sort to pack the monitor in to keep it scratch-free when mobile, but I'd rather have the low price tag than a bag.

Apple purists will note that the monitor isn't up to "Apple standards." I noticed that when you're looking at a white display (a blank page, for instance) you can almost see the individual pixels on the screen. But still, it's a very bright display. Colors seemed a bit more saturated on the AOC monitor than on the MacBook Air display, but that is a personal observation instead of a highly sophisticated fact.

AOC e1649Fwu 16" LCD Portable USB Monitor

The connection to your Mac is made through an included USB to mini-USB cable. The USB side has two connectors. If you happen to have an older Mac with low-power USB ports, you might need to plug both connectors into ports to get sufficient power for the monitor.

If I have one complaint with the e1649Fwu, it's the location of the mini-USB port. For some reason, AOC chose to put it on the inside wall of the cavity made when you pull out the fold-out stand. As a result, it's hard to get to -- a simple connector on the back side of the monitor would have been sufficient and much easier to plug into.

Oh, yeah. I do have one more complaint -- the name. Couldn't you give it a more memorable title than e1649Fwu?

Functionality

I'm quite impressed with the e1649Fwu. It's available online for about $130, there's no need to carry around a power brick or heavy cable, and it just works when plugged in. Mac users will need to download and install the monitor driver from the AOC website prior to plugging in the monitor, but you can do that before your monitor shows up on your doorstep. Once that's done, making the connection to the e1649Fwu with the cable gives you an instant second monitor.

Although I was unable to test the capability with a Mac, AOC says that multiple monitors can be attached to a single computer through multiple USB ports. That would be handy for gamers, day traders or anyone else who might want three or four monitors attached to their Mac.

The e1649Fwu doesn't seem to even get warm when it's on, and is completely silent. You would probably want to keep the host computer plugged in, as I'm sure that the load of the monitor would reduce battery life significantly.

Conclusion

The AOC e1649Fwu portable monitor is good-sized, reasonably priced and incredibly energy efficient. I can always tell if a product is a winner if I get the urge to buy it, and I'm seriously considering picking up one of these as a second monitor for my iMac and MacBook Air. It would be perfect for consultants who need to occasionally plug a monitor into a headless server and even makes a great primary screen for an 11" MacBook Air with its cover closed (think about using a Twelve South BookArc and external keyboard ...).

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Source: http://us.aoc.com/monitor_display/e1649fwu

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AOC has released the e1649Fwu 16" Portable USB Monitor that is perfect for those situations where you want a second monitor for your MacBook Air or any other Mac

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Paul Hughes

So I just did Yihans rotation hack.

The MBP went blue and aoc16 went black. Ugh.

Now I can't change the settings, because the screens are unusable. When I reboot without the aoc16 connected, MBP opens perfect... but if I connect aoc16- The MBP goes blue and aoc16 goes black.

Lol, I thought it was a great idea Yihan - But does anyone know how to edit or revert the settings to get my awesome aoc16 working again?! Ugh.

Also, if that rotation thing WILL work that would be great... wish it would have given me a revert option like when you do that with the main MBP screen, but alas...

Anyone with info, THANKS. Yihan - Reply. Lol.

I'll post the answer if I find it first... please help.

PAUL

February 02 2012 at 12:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Paul Hughes

February 02 2012 at 12:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Yihan Goh

This may help someone who is unable to (a) rotate the screen from landscape to portrait and/or (b) adjust the screen brightness in Mac OS X.

To rotate the screen, hold down Command and Option while clicking on the 'Display' icon in System Preferences. You should find a rotation option for the e1649Fwu monitor.

To adjust the brightness, you will need to down ScreenShade. It allows you to dim your main monitor, external monitor, or both. A word of caution though - I'm no expert, but it seems the app simply places a layer of grey or tint over the monitor. Hence while this will undoubtedly dim the screen, it may also intervene with colours, etc. Another app known as Shades is slicker (imho) but doesn't work with the e1649Fwu.

So there you have it - the rotation and brightness problems solved for Mac users! For Windows users who may need a dimming solution, I suppose there will be similar software like the ones mentioned for Mac OS X.

January 16 2012 at 1:08 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Yihan Goh's comment

Paul Hughes

Hmmm... lol, I tried to use Yihan's rotation trick. Which sounded perfect, btw...

BUT - First, I rotated the wrong screen... I selected the MBP screen to 90degrees.. well, the screen changed and I just clicked revert. Because it was the wrong screen. So, I went over to the new 16" aoc settings and selected IT to switch 90degrees. Then all heck broke lose. UGH. The MBP's screen turned blue and the new 16" aoc turned black.

So, I know this is just a display settings issue... but, how can I revert back.

Right now, if I boot without the aoc 16" connected, the MBP starts fine and shows display. The display settings are all stock like they should be.

If I boot WITH the 16" aoc connected, it shows a flash of the login screen, but then the MBP display goes blue and the 16" aoc goes black... SO, how to revert these settings when the screens are unusable???

I am sure theres a safe mode or some way to break into those settings... but I don't know how to boot either way. LOL.

AND, I was about to post a bunch of info about the aoc... now I just want it ON again.

IF I connect the aoc AFTER boot up, while the MBP is looking fine, MBP goes blue and aoc goes black.

Ugh. Can someone, cough Yihan lol, chime in for me real quick? Thank you... LOVE the aoc.. just need it on again. :P

Paul

February 02 2012 at 12:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Paul Hughes

Ok, well I ordered this monitor tonight on TigerDirect. ($130 + cheap shipping!)

So, I will report back in two days and tell you MY experiences using the AOC USB with a MacBook Air & Pro. (And iMac even!)

I hope that this fits the bill, trying not to worry a lot about the few drawbacks I've heard here.... will report all to you guys ASAP!

January 04 2012 at 11:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Vic Kim

http://us.aoc.com/support/documents/pdf/documents/360

at the bottom of the spec sheet there is a...

"Note: Monitor cannot be used as your primary display."

Perhaps there is a win/osx hack that can change that

will someone please get ben heck on the phone and call that guy netkas too

January 04 2012 at 1:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Paul Hughes

Anyone own this? I was about to order and then read a couple comments about lag. I don't want that...

Can anyone speak from EXPERIENCE on the lag and the quality of the picture? If its not laggy I could live with less-than Apple monitor quality.

January 03 2012 at 11:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Paul Hughes's comment

Paul Hughes

Also, it won't work in up and down mode with a MacBook Air? Would be another let down... I saw that nice Facebook pic with a big ole timeline on it. :P That was another draw, iTunes, Facebook, etc on the portrait mode...

January 03 2012 at 11:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Trevor

I ordered one of these right before Christmas (TigerDirect; $129) and received it last Friday. I have a 2008 MBP and, fortunately, it was still able to push the monitor with one USB connection. I realized quickly that it doesn't support portrait mode with a Mac, but the price, brightness and overall image quality still makes it a great addition to my travel bag.
Regarding Ben's post about using it with the Mac Mini, that's interesting because I thought I'd read at some point that it could not be used as the only monitor on a system. A friend had an older laptop that the display was dead on and he only used at home anyway. Wish this had been available then!

January 03 2012 at 9:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jeff

How long can the USB connection be? My Mac Mini is in my living room connected to my 42" HDTV and I thought about buying one of these monitors for a second display in my office, but it's probably 50-75 feet away.

January 02 2012 at 1:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

thejokell

Seems like a neat idea. And cheap enough, too. Just bought two of them from Amazon to try to run a three monitor workstation from my MBP on the road.

January 02 2012 at 9:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Fanredwings

Air Display by Avatron Software is a great $9.99 solution. And when it's not connected to your Mac Mini for monitoring purposes you still get an iPad out of it.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-display/id368158927?ign-mpt=uo%3D6&mt=8

January 02 2012 at 8:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply