Hobbyist makes detachable second screen for laptop

Hobbyist and DIY YouTube publicist Matthew Perks has posted a tutorial online for making a second screen for a laptop. The screen, which he has put together himself, can be folded and sits above the regular screen, which he believes is good for body posture.

Perks shows in the video how he attaches a separate LCD with homemade aluminum support to his laptop via 3D-printed hinges. Power for the screen, which requires 12V, comes from a power bank that can be removed from the back of the screen. That’s a good thing, because power banks run out and then it’s nice if you can ensure that your screen can still provide light. The second screen could also receive power from the laptop itself via USB-c, although that is of course not conducive to the battery life.

The screen is attached to the back of the laptop screen with Velcro, so that it is easy to remove. According to Perks, the screen above the regular display of the laptop has the advantage that the laptop is higher and users therefore do not have to look down while working with the device. It uses a 13.3″ AU Optronics display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels.

The instructional video focuses on the phenomenon of laptops with more than one screen. For example, Asus has the ZenBook Pro Duo with two screens and Razer showed a prototype of a laptop with three screens some time ago. Microsoft is also said to be working on a Surface device with two screens; whether there will be will probably be revealed on Wednesday when Microsoft holds its Surface event.