15.6-Inch, USB 3.0-Powered, Portable LCD / LED Monitor. $120

[rcjordan]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMKOVMO

Broke the screen on one of my laptops.  Had an hdmi->vga converter cable lying around, so I jacked in an old monitor ...yep, computer works fine.  Trouble is, even though the laptop is still good, the speed of hardware $depreciation makes it not worth repairing.  Went digging through AMZ to see what they had, was thinking hdmi monitor but that'd likely require a power cord.  Found the above. Works great. Only real negative is that its special cord takes up 2 usb ports, but I had them to spare in this case. Pretty cool.

Debbie says this has other convenience applications.  I hear her, but I don't see what she's so excited about, so I figured I'd post it here.

[littleman]

First thing that pops in my head is using it and a bluetooth mouse & keyboard to turn a tablet/smartphone into a low-power work station.

[rcjordan]

Yeah, I have a win8 media center I picked up for $180. It's about the size of a paperback book.  I could easily install the whole thing under a nightstand and have room to spare.

BTW, the special cable is about 3 ft long.

[rcjordan]

I'm going to try pairing it with a mini-keyboard that has an integral usb port for the trackball.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007LQN8UU

[rcjordan]

Turns out it's backwards compatible with usb2.  "Micro usb 3.0 on the device but comes with a combined usb 2.0/3.0 cable. The cable on the computer side has 2 heads, for 2.0 usage both need to be connected for 3.0 usage only the 3.0 head must be connected."  So if you have usb3, it doesn't take up but one port.

[rcjordan]

I'm in love. ...Until something else comes along, anyway.

I went with the W8.1, tiny media server on the nightstand. I have cat5 there, so no worries about crappy wifi reception.  This gets rid of what I DON'T like about laptops and/or desktops.

3 very light pieces of hardware on the bed; monitor, full-size keyboard WITH 10-key num, & trackball.  All supplied by 2 usb cables which are routed out of the headboard and not in my way.

[littleman]

Sounds like a nice setup, it would be great for a couch surfer too.

[Drastic]

Don't get too excited about usb2.0 for a video connection, unless you *really* like watching the screen draws in action.

[rcjordan]

>2.0

Yeah, I wouldn't plan on any serious gaming on 3.0, either. I can detect a whiff of a lag when moving the cursor on web pages but it's close enough that I can shrug it off   I don't think most would notice for surfing/work. (I keep the pointer track speed set to max on all my machines and I still think it's slow.)

[Drastic]

my fifth monitor on my desktop at home is on a standard pci card. I can't stand using it. I let music apps sit on it.