Village Tronic has announced ViBook which now makes it very easy and inexpensive to run several screens from one computer using just standard USB.
Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Research, explained, “Having several screens can dramatically increase productivity for almost any computer user. Now that the costs of displays and the multi-screen technology have dropped significantly, we are forecasting a market growth for multi-screen solutions of between 25% and 50% in 2009 as people realize just how much better and productive their working environment becomes.”
Up to six displays can be driven by one Windows based computer and up to four for a Mac OS one. This gives a huge amount of screen area that can significantly increase productivity as many different programs can be open and visible at the same time. Each display is driven by an ultra compact ViBook that plugs into the DVI socket of the display and the other end of the cable goes to the USB port of the desktop or notebook.
“Using USB means that it is extremely easy to set up multiple displays,” said Ascanio Orlandini, Village Tronic’s CTO. “ViBook’s unique plug to display makes it easy to add an extra monitor -“ it is just like plugging in a USB to DVI cable. Our multi-screen software is just as easy to set up taking only a few minutes to initially configure. Now everyone can surround themselves with an extended desktop of independent applications running on their own dedicated screen or one huge desktop spanning across several screens.”
Technical details
Designed and manufactured in Italy, ViBook is extremely small at only 4.3cm by 7cm by 2.4cm (1.7 in by 2.8 in by 0.9in) and has a three year warrantee. It is supplied as a complete USB Graphics System that includes a DVI to VGA cable for high quality analog output to displays, a VESA mounting cradle and Village Tronic’s sophisticated multi-screen software for an enhanced user experience – VT MultiDisplay software for Windows and VT Voil for Mac. Other cable options are available as optional extras.
The ViBook Graphics USB-DVI Cable is compatible with any computer system with an USB 2.0 port running Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5; and Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64-bit). It can support displays up to 22″ in size, with a resolution of 1680×1050 (widescreen) and 1600×1200 (standard) in 16 and 32 bit color. As it draws its power from the USB within the specified power rating, no additional power adapters are required and it can even work via a USB hub. It can be used with or independently of the video card already installed in the computer and can even drive projectors and HDTV displays.
Pricing and availability
ViBook is priced at $129 and is available now.
