ASUS’s €280 9mm OLED Monitor Charges Your Laptop Back

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Portable monitors have quietly become one of the most appealing accessories for people who work on the go. Pack a slim second screen, connect it to your laptop, and you’ve doubled your workspace without lugging a desktop around. What nobody really advertises, though, is the trade-off: those displays almost always draw power from the laptop they’re attached to, cutting into the battery life you were counting on.

The ASUS ZenScreen OLED MQ16FC tries to fix that. It’s a 16-inch portable OLED display that launched in Europe in early May 2026 at around €280 to €300, measuring 9mm thin and weighing roughly 0.68 kilograms. Those are already respectable numbers for a display of this size, but what actually sets it apart is buried in the port specification: two USB-C connections that can send power in either direction.

Designer: ASUS

Here’s how that works in practice. Plug a USB-C charger into one port on the monitor, then run a single cable from the second port to your laptop. That cable carries both the video signal and up to 65 watts of power, so your notebook keeps charging while the display is running. No power brick plugged separately into the laptop, no second cable hunting for a free port.

It’s worth pausing on why that matters. Most portable monitors are passive in the power conversation; they take whatever the laptop offers and give nothing back. ASUS’s approach treats the power relationship between screen and computer as something the monitor has a responsibility to manage. That’s a small but meaningful shift in thinking, one that asks the accessory to do more work instead of quietly billing the host.

Beyond the power story, the MQ16FC has a display worth carrying. The OLED panel covers 95% of the DCI-P3 color gamut at a 1920 x 1200 WUXGA resolution in a 16:10 aspect ratio, which adds that extra vertical breathing room that widescreen layouts tend to cut off. Contrast is practically infinite by OLED standards, and a 1ms response time keeps things clean enough for video and everyday multitasking.

That said, the MQ16FC isn’t without its quiet losses. There’s no internal battery, so without a charger in the loop, the monitor can still draw from your laptop’s reserves. The 60Hz refresh rate and WUXGA resolution are competent but not particularly exciting for a display positioned as premium. The kickstand-only stand can be awkward on tray tables, and the glossy OLED panel isn’t always your friend in brighter environments.

None of those shortcomings cancels out what makes the MQ16FC interesting. Adding a second screen to a laptop has always been a negotiation between convenience and cable chaos, and for years, the hardware hasn’t done much to simplify that deal. A portable monitor that treats power routing as part of its job description is making a quiet argument about what the category should have been doing all along.

The post ASUS’s €280 9mm OLED Monitor Charges Your Laptop Back first appeared on Yanko Design.

Microsoft’s $1,950 Surface Pro 13 Gen 12 Got Smarter: Its Design Didn’t

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The 2-in-1 laptop has had an interesting run. What started as a novelty device that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be has gradually become a workplace staple. IT departments are increasingly looking for machines that can handle everything from a boardroom presentation to a cross-country flight without missing a beat, and the pressure to pack more intelligence into smaller form factors keeps growing.

The Surface Pro has been Microsoft’s answer to this for well over a decade, and the new Surface Pro for Business, 13-inch (12th Edition), largely keeps the formula intact. If you’re expecting a dramatic redesign, it isn’t coming. The magnesium chassis, adjustable kickstand, and detachable keyboard are all still here, which is either a testament to the original design or a sign of a very cautious product team.

Designer: Microsoft

That said, what’s happening inside tells a different story. Powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3, either the Core Ultra 5 335 or the Core Ultra 7 366H, this Surface Pro hits 50 TOPS through Intel AI Boost, qualifying it as a Copilot+ PC. That means on-device AI is fast enough for a consultant to summarize a contract or an analyst to run through data without needing a cloud connection.

And that AI work happens on a 13-inch PixelSense Flow display running at 2880 x 1920 pixels with a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120Hz, available in an optional OLED for deeper contrast and richer color. The anti-reflective coating is genuinely useful for anyone working in brightly lit offices or outdoor settings, giving this screen a practical advantage over glossier alternatives.

For workers who annotate more than they type, the 2-in-1 flexibility is still the Surface Pro’s most practical feature. Fold the keyboard flat, grab a Surface Slim Pen for Business, and the device shifts from laptop to inking tablet. It’s a workflow that makes sense during a client walkthrough or a field assessment, and one that doesn’t require any extra hardware to pull off.

Under the hood, memory goes up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM for anyone running virtual machines or demanding workloads. The removable Gen 4 SSD also matters to enterprise IT teams, who can swap drives without replacing the entire unit. Battery life is promised to reach up to 17 hours on the LCD model, enough for a full day of travel without hunting for a power outlet.

Starting at $1,949.99, this is firmly enterprise territory, especially since that doesn’t include the keyboard or pen, which still don’t come in the box. But for IT teams investing in devices that double as laptops, tablets, and mobile workstations, the math starts to make sense. The 12th Edition has a lot riding on what’s happening under its unchanged exterior, and perhaps hopes that its enterprise customers haven’t yet gotten bored with its looks.

The post Microsoft’s $1,950 Surface Pro 13 Gen 12 Got Smarter: Its Design Didn’t first appeared on Yanko Design.

Microsoft’s $1,950 Surface Pro 13 Gen 12 Got Smarter: Its Design Didn’t

Posted on by

The 2-in-1 laptop has had an interesting run. What started as a novelty device that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be has gradually become a workplace staple. IT departments are increasingly looking for machines that can handle everything from a boardroom presentation to a cross-country flight without missing a beat, and the pressure to pack more intelligence into smaller form factors keeps growing.

The Surface Pro has been Microsoft’s answer to this for well over a decade, and the new Surface Pro for Business, 13-inch (12th Edition), largely keeps the formula intact. If you’re expecting a dramatic redesign, it isn’t coming. The magnesium chassis, adjustable kickstand, and detachable keyboard are all still here, which is either a testament to the original design or a sign of a very cautious product team.

Designer: Microsoft

That said, what’s happening inside tells a different story. Powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3, either the Core Ultra 5 335 or the Core Ultra 7 366H, this Surface Pro hits 50 TOPS through Intel AI Boost, qualifying it as a Copilot+ PC. That means on-device AI is fast enough for a consultant to summarize a contract or an analyst to run through data without needing a cloud connection.

And that AI work happens on a 13-inch PixelSense Flow display running at 2880 x 1920 pixels with a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120Hz, available in an optional OLED for deeper contrast and richer color. The anti-reflective coating is genuinely useful for anyone working in brightly lit offices or outdoor settings, giving this screen a practical advantage over glossier alternatives.

For workers who annotate more than they type, the 2-in-1 flexibility is still the Surface Pro’s most practical feature. Fold the keyboard flat, grab a Surface Slim Pen for Business, and the device shifts from laptop to inking tablet. It’s a workflow that makes sense during a client walkthrough or a field assessment, and one that doesn’t require any extra hardware to pull off.

Under the hood, memory goes up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM for anyone running virtual machines or demanding workloads. The removable Gen 4 SSD also matters to enterprise IT teams, who can swap drives without replacing the entire unit. Battery life is promised to reach up to 17 hours on the LCD model, enough for a full day of travel without hunting for a power outlet.

Starting at $1,949.99, this is firmly enterprise territory, especially since that doesn’t include the keyboard or pen, which still don’t come in the box. But for IT teams investing in devices that double as laptops, tablets, and mobile workstations, the math starts to make sense. The 12th Edition has a lot riding on what’s happening under its unchanged exterior, and perhaps hopes that its enterprise customers haven’t yet gotten bored with its looks.

The post Microsoft’s $1,950 Surface Pro 13 Gen 12 Got Smarter: Its Design Didn’t first appeared on Yanko Design.

Microsoft’s $1,950 Surface Pro 13 Gen 12 Got Smarter: Its Design Didn’t

Posted on by

The 2-in-1 laptop has had an interesting run. What started as a novelty device that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be has gradually become a workplace staple. IT departments are increasingly looking for machines that can handle everything from a boardroom presentation to a cross-country flight without missing a beat, and the pressure to pack more intelligence into smaller form factors keeps growing.

The Surface Pro has been Microsoft’s answer to this for well over a decade, and the new Surface Pro for Business, 13-inch (12th Edition), largely keeps the formula intact. If you’re expecting a dramatic redesign, it isn’t coming. The magnesium chassis, adjustable kickstand, and detachable keyboard are all still here, which is either a testament to the original design or a sign of a very cautious product team.

Designer: Microsoft

That said, what’s happening inside tells a different story. Powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3, either the Core Ultra 5 335 or the Core Ultra 7 366H, this Surface Pro hits 50 TOPS through Intel AI Boost, qualifying it as a Copilot+ PC. That means on-device AI is fast enough for a consultant to summarize a contract or an analyst to run through data without needing a cloud connection.

And that AI work happens on a 13-inch PixelSense Flow display running at 2880 x 1920 pixels with a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120Hz, available in an optional OLED for deeper contrast and richer color. The anti-reflective coating is genuinely useful for anyone working in brightly lit offices or outdoor settings, giving this screen a practical advantage over glossier alternatives.

For workers who annotate more than they type, the 2-in-1 flexibility is still the Surface Pro’s most practical feature. Fold the keyboard flat, grab a Surface Slim Pen for Business, and the device shifts from laptop to inking tablet. It’s a workflow that makes sense during a client walkthrough or a field assessment, and one that doesn’t require any extra hardware to pull off.

Under the hood, memory goes up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM for anyone running virtual machines or demanding workloads. The removable Gen 4 SSD also matters to enterprise IT teams, who can swap drives without replacing the entire unit. Battery life is promised to reach up to 17 hours on the LCD model, enough for a full day of travel without hunting for a power outlet.

Starting at $1,949.99, this is firmly enterprise territory, especially since that doesn’t include the keyboard or pen, which still don’t come in the box. But for IT teams investing in devices that double as laptops, tablets, and mobile workstations, the math starts to make sense. The 12th Edition has a lot riding on what’s happening under its unchanged exterior, and perhaps hopes that its enterprise customers haven’t yet gotten bored with its looks.

The post Microsoft’s $1,950 Surface Pro 13 Gen 12 Got Smarter: Its Design Didn’t first appeared on Yanko Design.