You may remember a time not too long ago when a 19″ monitor was quite adequate, and anything larger than 21″ was considered absolutely luxurious. Those days are clearly gone; the advent of widescreen laptops changed our expectations forever. And now it’s frankly getting a little out of hand. I can understand an extra monitor if you’re a music producer, movie maker, or designer that uses more than two or three applications at once, but personally, I think going beyond that is simply engaging in a sort of high tech display behaviour. I mean c’mon. Does anyone really need a 42″ wide monitor? Well if they do, they’re in luck. Although Alienware debuted the monstrosity at a trade show back in early 2008, the version that’s actually now available is made by Ostendo , and and is also being sold by NEC. If these numbers mean anything to you, it has a 32:10 aspect ratio, 2880 x 900 pixel native resolution, and for you gamers: yes, it’s fairly fast with 0.02 millisecond refresh rate. For the rest of you, that means it’s BIG. See the comparison images below. Of course, this already wasn’t big enough for some nerd, so you can always string three of them together (YouTube clip, also embedded below) for the ultimate pretend driving experience. And if you need this kind of silliness on the go, there are also dual screen laptops available. The Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds is probably not the way to go; at around 12 lbs, 2 inches thick, and a battery life of about an hour and forty-five minutes (if you’re using its crappy second screen), it’s hardly what you’d call “portable”. It also costs almost five grand. Perhaps a bit more on the mark is the Kohjinsha dual-screen netbook. You’ll have to pay for it in Yen for now though; it’s only available in Japan as of this writing. But if you’re still intrigued, Engadget has a hands-on look here. At least it actually exists; its only competitors are stylish pre-production concepts. One is the GScreen SpaceBook , the other is the Estari Canova. Of course, too much is never enough for some people, so if you’re looking for that “Dr Evil” impact try an industrial vendor like CGM, and if you need to run The Matrix or something, there are modular solutions.

If a 42″ monitor isn’t enough for you, just string three together:

The Kohjinsha Dual-screen Netbook

The Estari Canova

GScreen SpaceBook

The NEC/Ostendo CRV

Ratio Comparison:

For the “Dr Evil” effect you’ll have to go with an industrial vendor like CGM:

I don’t know why I’m so impatient. I mean, it was just a few thousand years ago that we were still picking bugs off of each other’s heads and grunting, but for some reason I expect the personal computer to be the size of a small legal pad, talk, accept voice commands, and have a holographic keyboard in the first thirty years of its evolution. But in my heart of hearts, I know that’s unreasonable, so I’ll settle for a decent tablet PC with a touch screen. And whine about it ’til I get one. Preferably a Mac, as I’ve said before, but recently I’ve considered lowering my standards. Especially after the last couple of weeks of hoopla about the mystery tablet that NVIDIA’s CEO used to taunt the tech press. In spite of a short-lived flurry of rumors that it had something to do with a Mac Tablet, it’s now pretty clear that it was an IDC Vega 15 inch tablet. And if it was, I’ll add this to the list of devices I’d consider buying, along with the the CrunchPad. I just want to get rid of my cellphone and laptop, and do it for less than a couple grand. Take your time, Apple. As much as I love you, personally I’ll probably settle for a tablet that actually exists in physical reality.

The mystery tablet that NVIDIA’s CEO was teasing everyone with:

Turned out to be an IDC Vega 15 inch tablet:

And this is the CrunchPad mentioned above:

Microsoft Courier
One of the coolest things ever from Microsoft. Too bad it doesn’t exist.

Apple’s 1988 Knowledge Navigator
With a bowtie-wearing helper that’s more annoying than clippy.

So far, the only source for images is Gizmodo. Are these genuine exlusives, or do they just make these products up, forcing the vendors to actually make them?