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SideTrak Slide Portable 12.5" HD Monitor -- DEMO & REVIEW
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Jun 22, 2024
Ever wished that your computer screen was just a few inches wider? Or that you could just slide a second screen out and have two HD displays, whether you were at work, the local coffee shop or just sitting at your kitchen table? You can do just that with the SideTrak Slide Portable 12.5-inch HD Monitor. And it works with Windows, Mac or ChromeOS, so it's quite flexible, attaching neatly to any laptop 13" to 17". But there are some issues you'll want to know about before you purchase one, as tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ demonstrates and explains in this candid review video. Check the SideTrak Slide out at https://amzn.to/34PRk7Q
View Video Transcript
0:00
A second display that can hook to the back of your laptop? Let's check this out
0:12
Dave Taylor here and I'm checking out this. You're looking at it and you're going
0:16
that's a really weird configuration for your laptop to have the screen facing away from you
0:21
But that is the Sidetrack Slide portable 12.5 inch HD monitor and it's a really cool device
0:29
Now in a setup like this, it obviously is perfect for giving demos because right now I'm mirroring what's on my screen
0:37
So if I want to go and look at a different setting, like maybe my general setting, then you see that too
0:45
I can in fact close up some other windows and you can get a better sense of just what's going on here
0:51
I got a lot going on on my screen. There we go. So now you can see my general settings. Nice and simple and I can just move ahead without worrying about whether you're actually sitting over my shoulder
1:03
or whether we're socially distanced or whatever. But where this really shines is it really shines because I can flip it all around
1:12
and have it be a second display for myself for my own use. So I don't have to use it for mirroring
1:19
Let me show you how all that works. Now the thing is it's a little bit of sort of fiddling around and there's some slides and all sorts of stuff
1:28
There's a reason it's called the Sidetrack Slide. So let me close this. I'm going to unhook
1:35
It's always important to unhook before you do any of these sort of changes with this device
1:40
And now I'm going to actually lift it so it's hinged. So you can immediately see that number one, I can close it up like that and now it's protected and I can cruise around and take this with me
1:55
Not only that, but it uses these slick little device safe metal plate catches so I can actually take it off completely
2:03
And then all that's left on my laptop are these four little metal corners that you can hopefully see
2:09
Here's one. And all I have to do when I want to use it again is just make sure, oops, let's get that oriented correctly
2:17
Make sure that they all fit properly and you sort of slide it around until it's nice and tight
2:23
And then I will open it up again. And this time, since I want to use it as a second display for my own screen and my own usage
2:32
I pull it all the way out. There's little stops that you need to get to and that's important so that it's not loose
2:40
Then slide it in, tilt it, and I'm ready to go here with my second display, except for one thing
2:48
I need to plug it in. So I will do that carefully. And it comes with this cable. Oops, that's okay
2:56
So I'm going to do this in a more discreet way by having it behind my screen. I'm going to plug that in
3:02
Then I'll open it up. Then I will plug it in over here. And it doesn't always work 100% of the time, which is super frustrating
3:12
But this time it is and that's good. And now it will wake up and it's, you know, reasonably stable
3:21
It is still sticking off the side here, but now having, let's actually get out of mirroring mode
3:30
Because it doesn't really make sense to mirror what you're doing when you're looking at your screen
3:35
So instead of mirroring, I will turn that part off. And then I'm going to spin around in just a second and show you what I'm seeing on my screen
3:46
So here you go. So how cool is this? So now I have a dual screen MacBook Pro that's super portable
3:57
And at any point I can unplug it and then slide this back onto the back and then use it as a single screen or carry it around or take it to a client meeting or take it into the conference room, whatever
4:12
Or I could do something like have zoom on here and then be working over here
4:17
Or what I prefer is having like a sporting event on this display while I'm doing work here
4:24
So let me get that set up and I'll show you that the monitor itself has plenty of resolution and it's nice and fast
4:32
So that works just fine. And it will just take me a moment to bring something up
4:39
Hopefully we'll see. You never know how the Internet is working right now
4:43
But as you can see, overall, the setup is actually really slick. It's a really cool idea
4:50
And here we go. Let's find some sports of some sort. Hmm. All right. Let's try this and see what that does
5:02
So now you're thinking, all right, well, why do you need to actually turn everything around when you can just flip the screen around
5:11
And the answer is I can do that. But since I plugged it into this side so I don't have to see the wire
5:18
The downside of that is that I can't actually rotate this without breaking that connection
5:25
And some people have done that and then they complain about the design. And it's just like you plug it in on the side that's not at the hinge unless you are remembering to unplug it before you move it
5:35
So, in fact, I will just stick with what I got. And you can see
5:42
This has plenty of resolution and it's nice and fast, so it looks just great
5:48
This is a great way for a soccer fan to work. Right
5:52
So you're busy telling your boss that you're really focused. But in fact, you have this second screen giving you all these capabilities
6:00
Now, here's another thing to think about. This doesn't have to be connected to the computer
6:06
So it's also the case that you can use this by plugging it in and having this as a completely independent standalone unit, which then gives you another interesting capability
6:18
So let me unplug it and let me pop it off of the back of my computer
6:23
And then because it's hinged, I can do it like this. Now, the only downside is that you do have to, especially on a Macintosh, you have to go in
6:34
It doesn't auto sense this. So I will have to go back into the device
6:40
Assuming this works. Yeah, there we go. So I would have to go back onto my Mac and change the orientation so that it's in portrait, not landscape mode
6:50
But you can see that it definitely works disconnected. And I can also just do this
6:56
Now you can watch this soccer match while I'm working. Wait, that's not fair
7:01
All right. Forget that. So it's a really slick idea. The whole slide out and everything is really nice because that gives you compatibility with a wide variety of laptop sizes
7:14
So, in fact, this is compatible with laptops from 13 inch to 17 inches
7:20
It is heavy. So if you want to have your laptop at a weird angle, if I let go, it will fall
7:27
This is enough weight that the hinge just can't handle it. That's not a design problem. That's just the reality of this technology
7:34
So I've done this. Obviously, it's disconnected. And now I have it where the screen is out
7:39
I wouldn't travel with it that way, because what I would do instead is, let's see, I think, lift, lift this side
7:48
Here we go. So could do it a little bit more visual indication and then slide this in
7:54
And then either just travel with this separately and you can go and buy yourself a little laptop sleeve that'll work perfectly for this
8:02
Or the company sells one or you can just leave it attached to your computer
8:07
And as you can see, with it attached, it stays attached. It's not falling off
8:12
So, you know, some of the complaints people have with this unit, I feel like, are just that they haven't spent the time trying to understand how it works
8:21
But there are legitimately some issues. I will say that the cable seems to work pretty well
8:26
But I think that there are some computers that need a shorter cable because this also has to carry power
8:33
And yes, it's USB-C to USB-C, but you might not have USB-C on your computer
8:39
So you might have USB-3, which doesn't push out as much power, which means it might be insufficient power for this to actually light up at all, which is going to be really frustrating
8:51
So let me tell you some specs and then I'll just sort of give you that sort of down low on everything else going on here
8:57
So it's 1080p, so it's 1920 by 1080, and you do have to install the sidetrack driver, whether you're on a Mac or a PC or a Chromebook
9:09
It works with all of them. I tried it without it and didn't have any luck
9:13
Some people report that they've had it working without that driver. I don't know. I've never really had to download a driver for a Mac peripheral before, but it does work
9:22
I will warn you that the very first time you plug this in, it takes a couple of minutes, literally a couple of minutes before the screen lights up
9:32
So don't lose hope if you're 15 seconds in and nothing happens
9:37
Once you've done that the first time, as you saw with my demo, it does brighten up and go nice and fast
9:43
So it's that very first setup and initialization. So don't be too disheartened
9:49
Works with 13 to 17 inch laptops. And as I said, it does include this sort of magnetic mount, which is great
9:59
And it even includes a removal tool. So if you decide it's not for you or you want to put it on a different computer or you want to remember, it doesn't have to be on a laptop
10:08
You can put this on something like a desktop monitor and just have a little sort of wing monitor there with more data that you can display
10:16
So you can take these off. It even includes a removal tool, which is great
10:21
So, you know, all of that. I really like it. It's bright enough. You can't adjust the brightness, but it does seem to be bright enough for all my use cases, which is great
10:32
If you're going to use it late at night, it's going to be a lot brighter than your computer screen, probably
10:37
So that might bug some people. If you're a little OCD about that and you want them both the same luminous or luminosity, whatever, then that's going to be a little problematic
10:46
But for most people, not being able to adjust the brightness is probably not a big deal
10:50
The bigger issue was that when I connected this to my computer, it only seems to work somewhere about 75 or 80 percent of the time
11:00
And sometimes I'd sit there and nothing would happen. Nothing would happen. I'd unplug both wires, plug them both in again, and then it would work
11:08
So I'm not exactly sure what's going on there. It might be something to do with my laptop, frankly
11:14
Although I've plugged in lots of external monitors to test them, and I've never seen that issue before
11:19
But who knows? It could also be this is very sensitive to how that connection initially sort of initiates. I don't know
11:29
But that is something worth knowing, is that when you plug this in, if nothing happens, just unplug, count to 10, and try plugging it in again, and you'll be fine
11:40
The other thing is, from a design perspective, as I said, it does work in a certain way
11:47
So if you're going to have it plugged in here, and then you're going to do this, then you know what's going to happen to that plug
11:59
You're going to break it, probably in the display unit, probably breaking the display
12:04
So the moral is really easy. If you're using it like this, and you want to just swing it around to show someone else what you're doing, take a deep breath
12:14
Make sure you're not plugged in there, or you will be a very unhappy camper
12:19
Unplug it, or even just plug it into the further cable, because it is actually a pretty long cable
12:26
So if you have to, you can definitely go all this distance, although obviously it's easier to have it on the closer side, if your computer has that configuration
12:35
And that way, when you do sort of flip it around, you don't end up creating any sort of disaster or anything
12:44
Having said that, this is a functional design, but it doesn't feel like something like Apple would ship or Dell would ship
12:53
It's a little clumsy, it's a little first-gen in terms of its design, so this is a really great solution to adding a second screen, but it's also a little spendy for what it is
13:05
So I'm not entirely sold on this. So having said that, let me give you just a couple more specs here
13:12
It's 12 1⁄4 inches by 8 1⁄2 inches by 1⁄2 inch thick, including this sort of mount piece
13:20
And it's 1.6 pounds, so it almost can double the weight of your computer
13:27
If you have something like a MacBook Air or similar, or one of those really slim Chromebooks that are so sweet, then this could be just as heavy as your computer
13:36
Now, it might well be worth it, because having that second screen is pretty glorious, right
13:42
But there's a lot of other solutions for that. Apple supports Sidecar. If you have an iPad and a MacBook, you can just use those and have that work, right
13:52
There are also independent, free-standing LCD screens. These guys even make some, and those are less expensive and bigger
14:02
So the downside is it's a separate device you have to carry. It doesn't just neatly clip onto the back of your computer
14:09
The upside is that it's a bigger display and it costs less. So this is a fairly specific use case. It is super convenient
14:18
I would love to see a day when we have such thin screens that literally it's just like something you pull out and just angle wherever you want, and maybe pull one out of the other side
14:30
Even if they were just a couple inches wide, wouldn't that be cool? This is sort of a mock-up of that. It's a big gizmo, but it's really cool
14:40
So let's talk about the price. But before we get to the price, let me ask if you can subscribe to my channel, please
14:46
As you can tell, I'm really honest and straightforward with things. I am not going to just shill a product. I'm going to tell you the good and the bad and let you make up your mind based on having that knowledge
14:58
So with that in mind, click on that subscribe button. It's the little red gizmo or whatever graphic on the lower right
15:07
Click on that and you can subscribe and I appreciate it. Great. All right. Now, this is the Sidetrack Slide portable 12.5 inch HD monitor
15:20
Let me go ahead and plug it in and get it working while we're talking
15:24
And you're probably wondering, all right, Dave, that's all very cool. But how much does it cost
15:33
All right. Well, the Sidetrack Slide portable monitor is $299.99 at Amazon.com
15:42
They are running a small promo, so it's a little bit less expensive than that
15:47
But generally speaking, that's about the price you're going to pay. So is it worth $300 to add a second screen to your computer? Maybe. That's up to you
15:58
But for me, I think I'm going to stick with independent detached second screens because I feel like they are better bang for the buck
16:06
That's what I got. I hope this was helpful. I hope it was informative
16:10
And I hope to catch you in my next video. And I hope to see you in my next video
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