Philips DesXcape 150DM review

Broadband Internet connections and VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) have increased the capabilities for people to work away from the office. Not being bound to a specific location is appealing and encroaching into other areas too. For example, WLAN technology is one of the biggest growth markets for home users. Smart Displays expand on this by combining wireless technology and Windows CE with a TFT monitor, allowing you access to your computer without being tied to the desk.

The idea of being able to carry away your monitor while still retaining most of the functionality of the host computer is intriguing. To see how it works in practice, we tested the first two 15in models from Philips and ViewSonic.

The key requirement for a Smart Display is wireless connectivity and both have a wireless adaptor and antenna built in. Both also include a USB external adaptor, which can be plugged directly into a standalone PC if you don't already have a WLAN. Currently, the wireless specification is limited to 802.11b, although it should be possible to upgrade to faster speeds as they become available.

Another prerequisite is that your host computer be running Windows XP Professional. Smart Displays won't work with XP Home nor any other OS. To add fuel to this particular fire, you need to have XP Pro Service Pack 1 installed as well (Smart Displays require the Remote Desktop Protocol this provides), and both companies bundle the patch on a CD.

The subject of operating systems leads me to perhaps the most important and contentious issue relating to Smart Displays. Microsoft, in its wisdom, doesn't provide an additional XP Pro licence with the Windows CE for Smart Panels Operating System. This means that only one person can use the host machine at a time. In the real-world home environment for which Smart Displays are destined, nobody else can have access to the host computer if you're using the Smart Display in wireless mode. And if someone else is using the Smart Display and you log on to the host with administrator privileges, the panel will be deactivated.

For the sake of a measly licence, Microsoft is potentially crippling this new PC genre before it has a chance to grow. Who would blame a buyer for choosing a notebook PC instead?

During testing, we found that usability isn't as good as the initial hype suggested. The TFT displays are of high quality - although viewing angles aren't great - but the audio is well below par. Of the two, the Philips wins out thanks to its stereo speakers. Don't think about streaming video, playing games or attempting to run high-resolution graphics applications, though, as the 802.11b wireless links and 400MHz XScale processors aren't up to it. Inputting data can also be fiddly, because of the lack of Digital Ink support. This is an area where the Tablet PC really scores (see Smart Display vs Tablet PC).

Both are fairly weighty (2.7kg for the airpanel and 2.4kg for the DesXcape - the DesXcape is half the thickness of the airpanel) and neither is particularly comfortable to use. I also wasn't happy using the airpanel as my primary desktop display - changing the properties proved to be an interesting exercise in futility. There are none of the controls you'd expect on a desktop TFT and it betrays its Windows CE OS roots by only allowing a brightness adjustment via a slider in the Settings dialog. You could invest a further £169 in the optional desktop dock, which adds contrast and brightness controls, but this also disables the touchscreen functionality. I was happier using the DesXcape - at least it offers a brightness control on the side of the unit and includes a dock as standard.