Laptop with two foldable screens and a review from TheDigitalDigest
Introduction
Here's the digital rundown. And today I'm taking a look at the UPERFECT Delta Max 18.5-inch portable dual-stack monitor system. It retails for about $550. I'll include a link in the description and full disclosure, this was provided to me by the manufacturer for review purposes, but this is not a sponsored review.
Main Device Comparison
As you've already noted, I have the Lenovo Yoga Book Nine I to the right, arguably the best device of its type ever created. Great audio quality, great battery life, but two displays in a form factor that traditionally has been limited to one. Both of them support touch screen and pen input. You have, you know, a included mouse and keyboard which I'm using here for demonstration purposes. But the focus is on this, right?
Monitor Features and Specifications
Finally, we have a monitor to match, and for $550, or about £5, we get two 18.5-inch full HD displays at a 60 Hertz refresh rate. So not ideal for gaming. This is truly about productivity, 100% sRGB. If you need 100% DCI-P3, there is a Max Pro version with 1600P. I believe that also has a higher refresh rate than 60 Hertz. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring that to you for review sooner rather than later.
Display Quality and Portability
From a productivity standpoint, it truly checks all the boxes: matte finish on both displays, 300 nits of brightness, which for indoor use is perfectly fine. Outdoors, it's a bit more of a challenge. And yes, it is portable, but I have to say, in my opinion, it's great that it's portable, but I would use this more in a static or stationary configuration like you're looking at right now, because how much easier, less expensive, and more efficient could you get a quad display setup than the one you're looking at right here? Particularly one that's actually practical and usable.
Touchscreen and Inputs
Keep in mind, these are not touch screens. I wish they were, and hopefully that's another revision that we get from UPERFECT down the road. But this is a really good start. I found that the three hinges there are solid, they're stiff. No question about it. There's only three inputs on the back, which I'll show you after the demonstration: two type-C, one HDMI. It is a mini HDMI or micro.
DisplayPort Driver and Connectivity
And the beauty of this also is that once you install the DisplayPort driver, literally to drive this as I'm doing right now, which is going to take a minute. One USB-C cable drives those two displays. So only one cable is needed. From a power standpoint, I did have to hardwire this into the second type-C port. Some devices may be able to power it. But in my experience, at least specifically with the Yoga Book Nine I, we have to use a separate power source. And you can use this with a smartphone, a tablet, anything you want, just make sure you feed it with the power that it needs.
Audio Performance
So let's take a look at the audio performance because it does have built-in speakers. Now, of course, the Yoga Book 9 I has some of the best sound you're going to get out of an ultrabook on the market, any laptop on the market, save the other Yoga Books. But this portable dual-stack display has speakers. So here we go. Keep in mind, I'm using a condenser mic. It is pointed away from it. Let me try to reposition it.
Speaker Quality
So I'm going to end it with that. Also, keep in mind that the speakers are rear-facing. So using a condenser mic and them being rear-facing and being relatively low powered, they're not ideal. They're literally better than nothing. But the real beauty about this entire setup is just how easy I can do multiple things at the same time.
Multitasking
You can see if I want to switch back to the Yoga book. Easy peasy. Come back to the actual dual stack display, also easy peasy.
UPERFECT Portable Monitors
As far as specs go, I'm right on the UPERFECT website. So this is going to be as perfect as it can be. Let's take a look at their portable monitors. And I have another display, their 18.5-inch 4K portable monitor that supports 100% DCI-P3. I believe it's also a touch screen. That's going to be another really cool model that I'll be featuring shortly. That one, however, has been out, unlike this one, which again, is the first of its kind on the market.
Product Lineup
So if I go into working, and then I go into their Ustation line, you can see the Delta, which is $500. Again, those are 15.5-inch panels, and that is something that UPERFECT probably started marketing, I would say, 4-5 months ago. So you probably saw videos on that machine, but what you haven't seen, or the light you haven't seen, are the Max or the Max Pro.
Stand Design
So let's jump to the Max, which is the device you're looking at right now. The stand, by the way, is good. I do think that UPERFECT still needs to add some rubber feet, particularly if you can see my mouse in this area as opposed to just one position. Because while the stand is great and allows you to set it up how you want, it's basically lacking the rubber feet on the other sides, which I'll show at the end of the video, to really give it the grip that it needs to hold positions. So right now, it's fine.
Clamshell Design and Usability
It is a clamshell design. You can put it in tent mode, and you can pretty much do whatever you want with it.
Specs Overview
Let's get into the specifications. And they also show how they think you would be using it. If you want to edit video, as you see here, you have your video up top, your timeline, you know, linear editing software down below, easy peasy. But you also have to keep in mind here that this is not a color-accurate display. So I think for quick edits on the go, it's perfectly fine. At home, I really look at this as a portable productivity monitor, as they show right here. I think that makes absolute sense. And again, at $550, the fact that you can lift it up and move it around with ease, I think is tremendous. If you're comparing it to what it would potentially replace, which is a traditional monitor, you'll see all the different poses it can get into, as they show. And then, of course, the various applications.
Gaming Recommendation
Now, would I recommend this for gaming? With console rather than PC. Absolutely. But as a productivity display, as an extension of what you can get done, it's truly quite amazing.
Connectivity Ports
These are the three ports on the back. And they are, as you can see, right above where the stand houses, or rather, where it rests or lies. And I have to say, that's one design area that I'm not thrilled about, but I'm being a little nitpicky because I feel like once you set it up, you know exactly how you want to have it. But with the ports being in the back, which I think aesthetically looks good, we don't have any cables showing on either side. Plugging it in is a little tricky when it's open, because it's on the back of the bottom panel, which means when it's open, it's almost impossible to get to. So you obviously close it, and then you have easy access to those three ports.
On-Screen Display and Driver Installation
Now, on the software side, I believe this is a pre-production unit. There's not a lot of on-screen display to show, but I will do that in a second. But again, everything works as it should, and that's the most important thing. But when you get it and you try to just plug it in and you're waiting for it to drive both monitors, I'm telling you right now, if you do not install that driver, you know, the DisplayPort driver, you're not going to have a screen on both. What you plug in is only going to show up on the bottom display, and that's what I experienced when I first got it and tried to use it.
Stand and Rubber Feet
But the stand is solid metal, and I think it's got a really good tension to it. We just need rubber feet in more than one position, which I'll show you that as well. You don't need to see the difference between 720P and 1080P. We all learned that about 20 years ago. But there's no question there's a difference, it absolutely works well. One of the things I really like about this is you can VESA mount it, and you'll see that at the end of the video. When I take this apart and we just do a walkthrough of the casing of the device itself.
Rear-Facing Speakers
It does have those rear-facing speakers. And for me personally, I think this is the way to go. If you're going to get one of these, there's nothing wrong with the 15.5-inch models. But for me personally, I prefer these larger form factor displays, because if you're looking to enhance your productivity or your gaming, I think these larger panels allow you to take much more advantage.
Display Quality and Cost
Also keep in mind that the 15.5-inch model, from what I understand, is going to be the same brightness, but not the same contrast ratio. So as you go up, it's going to be, at least as far as I can tell, better, and it's only a $50 upcharge. So it's truly a matter of whether or not that's just too much for you. The Delta Max Pro is 18 inches, not 18.5 like this. So it's actually smaller. But again, it has higher resolution, as I mentioned, as well as higher refresh rate.
Aspect Ratio
And there are the specs: 60 Hertz, you can see 16 millisecond response time, 25 in the 15.5 inch, which is another reason why I prefer this build. The nice thing about the pro aspect ratio is 16 x 10 rather than 16 x 9. So here you're going to get a 21:9 experience when you combine this with a traditional 16 x 9 display. So, nothing to worry about there. I think, you know, there's nothing but potential to add this to your desktop experience or your mobile experience, depending on your budget and your needs.
Hinge and Flexibility
You'll see that the hinge is not rotatable, nor is it going to be rotatable. It is solid. And another thing, I wish that they had actually given the ability to rotate the displays. I know that may be too much to ask, but it would just be a little bit more flexibility. But other than that, it does exactly what you want it to do. You can see that it's not perfect as far as the seams, but again, it is a pre-production model.
Rubber Feet for Stand
Let's jump down because I want to show the rubber feet that I was talking about. And here we go. See those two rubber feet on the right and left side of the stand? They keep you from sliding if you have it in landscape mode. But if you choose to go into portrait mode, you're going to slide around. And that's where you would want to have more rubber feet. And I think that's something that UPERFECT is going to add on the next revision.
Conclusion
Other than that, we are wrapping up this review. So let's take a look at the back of the device, so you can get a better idea as far as how it's constructed. So again, one connection powering the entire thing, two monitors. The fact that UPERFECT was able to pull that off is just amazing. And I think they deserve all the credit for bringing a new product to market, the first of its kind that literally does exactly what it says it's going to do. And that is to be a great portable companion for your productivity device like the Yoga book.
Thank you for reading this blog, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Visit Delta Monitor: https://uperfect.de/products/stacked-monitor-delta-max.
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