When you travel for work, you probably have relatively basic needs. But one luxury he misses while traveling is his second monitor for his laptop. Use it especially if you need to edit it. PetaPixel Podcast. But with the Espresso Display 17 Pro 4K, you can turn your hotel room into a workspace that's just as effective as your home office. This is a transformative product for my workflow on the go.
Announced last October, the $800 Espresso 17 Pro is a 17-inch ultra-thin 4K touch display designed to work with laptops (Apple MacBooks in particular). Gives traveling and remote creators the comfort of a second display. In the middle.
This is a goal that sounds simple enough, but the first intuitive thing you need to do to achieve it is to use your iPad as a second display. After using both solutions over the past few months, I've landed squarely in his Espresso Display camp. This is definitely my preferred option and I'll explain why.
Espresso Display 17 Pro: Quality of design and manufacturing
There's not much to say about the design of the Espresso Display itself, but that's a good thing. It's best described as a very thin, very light tablet with dual USB-C ports on one side and a built-in magnetic connection point on the back.
When I pulled out the scale, I found that the Display 17 Pro's display weighed 1,081 grams (2.3 pounds), and the stand weighed 849 grams (1.9 pounds). When I hold it in my hand, the stand feels much heavier than the display part, so I wonder if it has something to do with the weight distribution. For reference, my 16-inch MacBook Pro weighs 2,149 grams (4.74 pounds).
Display 17 Pro can be used on a flat surface, but it's designed to work with Espresso's Stand Pro. Stand Pro features an extremely strong magnetic platform attached to a dual-hinged base that allows you to set it up like a regular monitor, but with flexibility in low-profile layouts. You can also position it vertically or horizontally, and the display will recognize that orientation and adjust accordingly, at least if you have the free espressoFlow app installed.
Utilizing extremely strong magnets, this two-piece design allows the display to function as one standard monitor when unfolded, as well as easily disassemble into two pieces that fit into a modest-sized backpack. While using this display, I primarily used the Shimoda Urban Explore backpack. This backpack has a tablet sleeve on the main access panel door and a laptop sleeve on the other side that is accessed through the top hatch.
With this setup, I was able to stuff both the display and MacBook Pro into the laptop sleeve, the iPad Pro into the tablet sleeve, put the stand into the body of the backpack, and also attach a camera and lens pair to it. There is space at the top to store your tech pouch and other essentials.
I think this is a great example of how well designed the Espresso Display 17 Pro is. The company seems to really “get” Apple's “just works” mantra. Because that's just the user experience. I'm currently traveling interstate and internationally using this method, and the Display 17 Pro has performed great. It's sturdy, durable, easy to pack and set up, and connects instantly to his MacBook Pro via USB-C.
The display is optimized for the Apple experience (Espresso Display says it's designed to make the experience feel like an extension of your Apple laptop), but it's not limited to: Works with essentially any computer that supports USB-C displays.
Note that since this is a touch display, your MacBook will recognize it as a touchpad. You can also combine it with an espresso pen to make it act like a display tablet. I'm not a pen-editer, and I'm personally not a fan of the whole interface, so my testing was limited to “does it work?” To that end, yes, it absolutely is. I don't think it will match the drawing experience of the Wacom Cintiq, but it will get the job done when the time comes.
With both Jot and espressoFlow, Espresso has also designed software to make the tablet more customizable to your workflow and pen usage. This naturally improves the value proposition. However, I personally found this display to be valuable just for its basic premise of being a good monitor, so I didn't use it much beyond checking its functionality. However, if you are interested in these, you can see what the software does and how it works on his Espresso website via the link above.
Espresso Display 17 Pro: In use
For photographers and video editors, there are two big questions you'll need to answer regarding the Display 17 Pro. It's “Are the colors accurate?” “How bright is it?”
According to Espresso, the Display 17 Pro features 10-bit reproduction and can display 1 billion colors. This is done via FRC, so it is not a true reference display. However, given the intended use case and the $800 asking price, I don't think there's anything wrong with this implementation.
The display (which reaches 4K resolution at 60 frames per second) is, most importantly, very accurate in color. When tested out of the box without calibration, the Display 17 Pro covers 100% of sRGB, 99.6% of DCI-P3, and 84.2% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, with an average Delta E of 0.48. I understand.That is exceptional It performs well on any monitor, including monitors made to fit in backpacks. After several months of use, the display did not deviate from this measurement and no calibration was required.
If the Display 17 Pro has an Achilles heel, it's its peak brightness of 450 nits. It's not as bright as Apple's new MacBook Pro or iPad Pro. That said, if you're using it with a laptop, you'll notice the difference. However, it's not very bright and it's not technically an HDR display.
We spoke to Espresso to clarify this point, and the short answer is that while the company was delivering quality that adhered to the HDR400 standard, Espresso didn't like the quality of the contrast when adhering to it. There wasn't. Additionally, the company believes that HDR won't start until it gets to HDR500 or 600 (I actually agree with this stance), and the Display 17 Pro doesn't have enough brightness to achieve them. there is not. Espresso ultimately decided it was better to go with better colors and drop HDR support.
Espresso does not use an OLED panel (it is IPS). It's behind glass and mimics the look of Apple's display. Honestly, it feels like you're using a mini Studio Display, from the dimensions and the way the content looks to the small bezel and button-less design.
The Display 17 Pro does not have a built-in battery and instead runs on bus power. When you connect it to your computer, you'll see the Espresso logo, turn it on after a few seconds, and it will function like any other HDMI, DisplayPort, or USB-C connected monitor. However, the Espresso has kindly included two USB-C ports so you can connect a power source to power a connected laptop.
In this regard, using the second USB-C port to connect a second power source will make the Display 17 Pro a little brighter. In one of my photos of him below, you can just barely see his MacBook Pro USB-C charger connected to the display next to the cable that goes into the computer. Using both ports like this (one to the laptop and one to the wall charger) will make the display brighter.
That last note is important, however, because the tradeoff between performance and resolution is battery drain. M3 Max MacBook Pro battery life typically lasts all day. If you're editing in Photoshop or Premiere, you'll get at least a full day's worth of battery life. However, if you turn off the laptop battery by itself while the Espresso Display is connected, it will completely drain in 2-3 hours. This display consumes a lot of power, so if you use it for a long time, you will need to use more power.
But Espresso thought about this and created Charge. It's a 32,000 mAh, 118.4Wh battery designed to attach magnetically just below the base of the Pro Stand. That's more power than the company originally targeted, and promises to provide enough power to power the display and connected computer for an entire day. Power management and analysis of its usage can be managed through espressoFlow.
I haven't used the Charge, but I think it's worth adding because you don't always have access to a power source when you're on the go, and the last thing you want to worry about is running out of power.
Never leave home without Espresso Display 17 Pro again
Multiple colleagues, friends, and acquaintances have seen me use the $800 Display 17 Pro over the past few months, and without exception, they all said the same thing when they saw it. . ”
We all have to travel for work for one reason or another, so perhaps that's why espresso made here is so instantly appealing. At home, he works with two or more laptop displays and feels constrained and limited to work with one laptop display. We all wish we had more screen space when working in a hotel room. Display 17 Pro fills that gap perfectly.
This is a great display in itself, but it's even better because it's so versatile and travel-friendly. From design to resolution, it's a huge step up from the company's original He HD display, and it's one of my favorite pieces of technology from last year.
Are there alternatives?
If you're an Apple user, the most obvious choice is the iPad Pro. I've used this as a second monitor, and while it gets the job done (I'd say the experience is “good”), it's not perfect. The Display 17 Pro does a great job as a monitor, although its use case is more specific since it's not a standalone tablet.
Although I haven't personally used it, ViewSonic's VX1655 4K OLED monitor is well-reviewed and cheaper than the Espresso, but it's much thicker and lacks the stand system that makes the Display 17 Pro so popular. If Espresso's touch interface appeals to you, the Asus ZenScreen is a good option, but it operates like a tablet and is smaller. None of these alternatives have as much standing as Espresso.
Should I buy it?
yes. Although more expensive than other options on the market, it's hard to argue with the user experience and quality of the Espresso Display 17 Pro. He combines many aspects of other portable displays into one unit that is not only well made, but also beautiful to look at and feel great to use.
