Toshiba lines up a USB LCD monitor

TARGETING A MARKET THAT we cannot picture, Toshiba has launched a USB LCD monitor that can plug into portable devices on the move.

The monitor is a companion piece of kit and can be used to extend your tablet or laptop desktop to your neighbour while you are on the train. Although this is likely to really annoy your neighbour it should make working on large documents or a couple of applications easier and quicker, thanks to the ability to view them side by side.

Being powered by a laptop means that the screen does have some constraints. Brightness is said to be up to 220 nits, it has a 400:1 contrast ratio and a 16ms response rate.

The display has a 14inch HD display with 1366x768-pixel resolution. Toshiba said it is as crisp as a laptop display and because it is USB-connected it needs no external power supply.

It is one inch thick, which is handy since the idea seems to be that you will carry it around, and weighs 795g. Toshiba said that it comes in a carrying case that doubles as a stand.

What else can we tell you. Well, it has a brightness control button that "allows users to set display brightness to suit a given environment", a power saving button that we hope you can work out for yourselves, and an on/off button that we probably didn't need to mention.

Toshiba told us that the monitor will cost £150. µ