GeChic On-Lap 1301 review

We’ve seen USB-powered monitors before, but little-known GeChic has produced something a bit different. The On-Lap 1301 is a 13.3in screen with a 1,366 x 768 resolution, and comes with its own captive USB cable to take juice directly from a laptop. In the box are both D-SUB and HDMI cables, with mini-connectors on one end to match the On-Lap’s two available video inputs.

But the key is its clever hinging design: four suction pads stick its frame securely to the back of a laptop lid, before the screen itself swings out to extend your main desktop widthways. Alternatively, it can be folded back to create a double-sided screen for showing off presentations.

Bear in mind it will thicken your laptop by a good 14mm, and add 865g to the weight, so it’s certainly not one for leaving on there permanently. If you’d prefer to leave it on a desk you can take it off the laptop and open the hinge vertically, giving you an extra upright screen to use for email or Twitter. GeChic even suggests sticking it to a surface above your laptop to create a dual-height screen.

The screen itself won’t win any image quality awards. It has a reasonable (for a laptop at least) maximum brightness of 171cd/m², but that combines with a measured contrast ratio of only 150:1 and a high average Delta E of 9.7. The figures aren’t great, and there's a yellow tinge to the screen to the naked eye, but it’s a perfectly usable screen for basic everyday applications.

As a mobile presentation tool the On-Lap may have some niche appeal, but at £121 it’s unlikely to spread any wider than that. It’s unwieldy and makes your laptop much less portable – and we’re not convinced an extra screen needs to be physically attached to the laptop to be useful. For the same money you can get a better quality, albeit standalone, USB monitor.

Author: David Bayon