E Ink has come a great distance. There at the moment are a whole lot of cool functions of it, from pocketable e-readers just like the Boox Palma 2 to completely fledged Android tablets with coloration layers just like the Boox Note Air 4C. There’s loads of enchantment in a show that does not require a glowing backlight. There’s much less eye pressure, no blue mild considerations and straightforward viewing, even in direct daylight.

The Bigme B251 monitor performs into that enchantment with a 25.3-inch coloration E Ink show. It sounds and appears promising, however at $1,499, it must ship on that promise. Sadly, I am unable to say it does. 

Not the show you are hoping for

Testing the Bigme B251 could also be my first time utilizing an E Ink monitor, however it’s removed from my first time testing an E Ink machine. I’ve seen the black-and-white distinction enhance significantly over time, however E Ink shows with a coloration layer lag behind. The B251 is one among these, placing a coloration LCD layer over an E Ink layer. This negatively impacts the brightness in consequence. 

One of many key guarantees of E Ink is that you may depend on ambient mild to light up the show, so you do not want a built-in backlight like a standard monitor. The issue is that the colour layer dims the show a lot that you simply want lighting except you have received your again to a wall of sunlit home windows.  

For me, even in a comfortably lit room close to a sunny window, the Bigme B251 was too dim with out its lighting. That lighting is light on the eyes and has an adjustable coloration temperature. 

Whereas 3,200×1,800 decision on a 25.3-inch show needs to be first rate, readability nonetheless finally ends up a difficulty due to the colour layer and ghosting. Even the textual content readability of black-and-white content material is not as much as snuff, with textual content exhibiting noticeable pixelation. 

Black textual content on a white background is the best-case situation, however white textual content on a black background is barely legible. Bigme claims a 300ppi E Ink decision and a 150ppi coloration decision, however I am skeptical. This needs to be as sharp as a 15.3-inch show at 1200p, however I am utilizing one side-by-side with the Bigme, and the latter does not look as sharp.

The B251 gives a couple of completely different picture modes to assist nudge it in the precise route when viewing several types of content material. For net searching, there’s the aptly named “net” mode. There are additionally modes for textual content, pictures, and video. Every has some customization accessible for distinction and saturation, however they’ve locked refresh charges. 

The “picture” mode gives one of the best readability, nevertheless it has a really gradual refresh fee, possibly about 1Hz. Mousing round is just about inconceivable. Although “video” mode is smoother, it is extremely blotchy. The movies themselves seem considerably fluid, however the remainder of the show turns into largely unusable, particularly as ghosting artifacts persist completely if a pixel is not refreshed with new content material. 

The “textual content” and “net” modes provide a pleasant center floor, however nonetheless aren’t fully satisfying. Exterior of the “picture” mode, the others have a heavy reliance on dithering, making for a messy, grainy-looking display screen for lots of content material. That is not an ideal search for such a dear gadget. 

An in any other case blended bag

Past the display screen itself, the Bigme B251 monitor is middling. It has an inexpensive number of ports: HDMI, Mini HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C, plus some USB hub capabilities. Wi-fi streaming to the monitor can be attainable, although I did not discover it fairly as compelling as Bigme’s promotional content material prompt. As an illustration, I could not get my telephone to fill your entire peak of the monitor when it was in vertical orientation.

The B251 comes with a small distant for shortly adjusting settings. Though it is a primary distant, it is fairly helpful for the reason that monitor’s built-in controls really feel low cost and have hard-to-read labels. 

The monitor {hardware} appears to be like fairly sufficient, with a easy white-and-silver coloration scheme that harks again to some previous all-in-one Mac methods. At over an inch thick, the white bezels are undeniably giant for 2026, however they’re pleasantly curved and uniform. Sadly, these bezels and the entire again case of the monitor really feel like they’re constructed from far too low cost a plastic for a $1,500 monitor. 

The stand has some precise steel, one of many solely elements that’s, however that is offset by the neck portion having a plastic plate painted silver to seem like steel. On the intense facet, the stand gives loads of place flexibility with tilt, pivot, peak and rotation changes. 

The B251 contains audio system, however they do not sound nice. There’s some obnoxious resonance within the case, even at medium volumes, which is tough to simply accept for a monitor at this worth. 

Only one extra nail within the coffin: the B251 makes use of an exterior energy brick. The monitor is not small general, nor skinny by any means, and it solely wants 60 watts. Counting on a desk-cluttering exterior energy brick feels completely pointless.

Ultimate ideas

The dream of a great-looking E Ink monitor that may be lit just by room lighting, exhibiting sharp, easy-on-the-eyes content material, is not useless, however the Bigme B251 does not accomplish it. Whereas this monitor provides you much more display screen area than you may get from E Ink tablets, it is an all-too-compromised expertise for a tool with a substantial worth premium. 

I did discover it light to take a look at, however that was offset by the additional pressure on my eyes to parse the rough-edged textual content. I had to determine the place my mouse cursor was, due to the low refresh fee, and attempt to make out no matter was occurring in areas the place any coloration is concerned. 

If you would like easy-on-the-eyes E Ink, I’ve spent days writing and searching the net on a black-and-white Boox Note Air and coloration Boox Tab Ultra C. Whereas a lot smaller than the B251, the expertise was altogether higher. Plus, their portability means you’ll be able to simply carry them proper out into the sunshine and keep away from backlighting altogether.