I’m in love with Ultrawide monitors. I even made the switch from 4K to 1440p Ultrawide simply because it’s less taxing on graphics cards, and provides what is in my opinion a more immersive experience for a broad genre of games. When it’s time to buckle down and get writing done, the extra screen width is pure joy for multitasking. But the problem is I’m frequently using my laptop to get work done, and am constantly craving more screen real estate with the deluge of research, email, social media notifications, press releases, and product galleries. Belgium-based Slidenjoy Limited may have solved that problem with their “Le Slide” gadget.
While I’m not wild about the name itself, its functionality is awesome. Le Slide started as a Kickstarter project, and they’re showing it off at CES this year since the product is now shipping globally for all consumers. What they’ve designed is a mountable plug-and-play device that adds two additional slide-out screens to either side of your Windows or Mac laptop (it’s not compatible with Linux or ChromeBooks). It’s powered by a single USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or USB-C port.
The screens themselves are 1080p (1920 x 1080) IPS with a 60Hz refresh rate, and come in three sizes to accommodate the majority of popular laptops : 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch.
The ability to transform your laptop into a triple-screen multitasking beast using a single USB port is awesome on its own, but where Le Slide gets my enthusiastic nod of approval is the flexibility of each screen. They can rotate 180-degrees which provides a variety of use-cases in a lot of different environments. Turn your three screens into a triangle for showing a presentation to colleagues at the office. Let your child watch some Netflix cartoons while you finish up a project on the patio.
Now, the only downside I foresee is battery life. Having two additional screens is sure to drain a charge considerably faster than normal, but the payoff in productivity could be well worth it. You can also opt for only using one of the additional screens at any given time. I wouldn’t use Le Slide 24/7, but whenever I can use multiple screens I wrap up tasks faster.
Le Slide is available to configure and ship now, comes with a 2-year warranty, and ships globally. It starts at around $418, and users can choose 9 different colors to wrap the panels in (including your laptop’s own back panel). From there, there are wood grain, aluminum, and even leather options.
