espresso 17 Pro review
MJ Jucutan Levi Verora Jr facebook.com
The espresso 17 Pro is dubbed as the world's thinnest portable touchscreen monitor and the best portable display we reviewed.
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Life took a big twist when I started living in a suitcase. For months, I’ve been traveling from one place to another, bringing only my MacBook Air and iPad Pro.

I’m not going to lie, I find it challenging to deliver my tasks when I’m always on the go. I find it hard to stay on my toes and on top of my business when a lot of variables pull my energy.

When everything’s uncertain and unpredictable, I crave some sort of control. Perhaps, the secret to working remotely is setting up a station akin to the ones I have at home.

I get to bring most peripherals and accessories, except one thing that I miss the most: My 34-inch monitor. With that in mind, I turned into the espresso 17 Pro.

Dubbed as the world’s thinnest portable touchscreen monitor, I brought it with me for nearly six months of traveling.

Best in portability

The espresso 17 Pro is a 17-inch 4K touch display with an ultra-thin and extra lightweight design. It works well with any laptop, particularly my MacBook Air.

I got to put it inside a dedicated Herschel briefcase that I bring along in my flights or in road trips. Along with its accessories such as a portable stand, a magnetic case, and a pen, I made any table my own remote working station.

So far, I brought it with me when I was living on the road for a few weeks — driving to different provinces mounting events while also doing my day job. I also took it to the skies — hopping off to China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.

While I cannot take out the display inside the planes and trains, I made sure to use it as an extra screen real estate when I’m settled in a hotel.

Made for creatives on the go

The espresso Display uses an aerospace aluminum with scratch-resistant glass, which enabled me to work even at the harshest conditions.

It has a 4K resolution display and even though it doesn’t use an OLED panel, it looks like it uses Apple’s displays.

I personally believe that one of its strength is replicating a professional-grade color similar to what my MacBook Air provides. The experience felt like my MacBook’s display really extended to a secondary monitor.

But if you use a different laptop, there are various display settings that you can choose from.

Though it uses a professional-grade color and screen calibration, the 450 nits brightness proved to be challenging for most creative professionals working outdoors.

I once worked inside a canopy tent during a Spartan Race when I was under duty at their media team. We were stationed in Areza, a vast estate in Lipa City, Batangas, where sandstorms whirled during the day.

Even when the sun was scorching hot and I was under the mercy of a small shade, I still managed to edit over a thousand photographs through Adobe Lightroom while using the espresso Display.

Although, I had to squint my eyes multiple times to do a quality assurance check for every photo we’ll be submitting.

Hungry for power

Regardless of the weather conditions, I get to show up through various work I need to do with its display’s capabilities.

Whether it’s writing a piece on the latest gadget, a review on the recent automobile I drove, drafting project proposals, editing short-form videos, or color-correcting photographs, the espresso 17 Pro allowed me to put my best work wherever I am.

My only gripe is how power-hungry the display is. My MacBook Air typically lasts a day in a single charge even with all the types of work that I do.

Connecting the espresso Display gave my machine around two hours of battery life, prompting me to charge my device for another hour or two.

Although, the espresso Display sports two (2) USB-C ports which you can use to power the device and connect the display. The espresso Display can transfer the power to the MacBook Air, albeit at a snail pace.

What I do instead is try to finish my work in batches, so I can take a pause and enjoy the outdoor while my devices charges.

An artist’s friend

Fun fact: the espresso Display acts like a 17-inch touchpad. I find it amusing that I have a 17-inch display that works like a tablet, a monitor, and a trackpad when I don’t feel like using a mouse.

It’s particularly helpful for illustrators, since you can pair the display with an espresso Pen. It made me remember my artist life from a decade ago, when I used to spend hours playing with my Wacom Interactive Displays just to draw and sketch my musings. But that’s not who I am anymore.

Of all the features of the espresso Display, I didn’t bother with the espresso Pen and its software such as Jot and espressoFlow. While it makes the experience more personalized, I revel in the fact that I have a secondary display that allows me to work whenever, wherever.

That alone is enough for me to consider the espresso Display. For its extra features, I’m sure artists would marvel at the display and its capabilities.

The price of an investment

The espresso 17 Pro retails at US$ 799. Though it’s quite expensive, the device is still a worthy investment. I swear, I’m never traveling for work again without this.

For the same bundle that I used, the Pro bundle retails at US$ 1016 and contains the espresso 17 Pro, a Stand Pro, a magnetic microfibre case, the espresso Pen, a paper-esque surface called Creator, and a USB-C to USB-C port.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

There’s a reason why the espresso 17 Pro buzzes among creators. It’s marked with freedom — enabling any professionals, creators, artists, or just any user to show up in their work in the best way possible.

Whatever type of work you do, the espresso 17 Pro is versatile enough to take on your demands. Calling it the world’s thinnest portable touchscreen monitor is an understatement.

With professional-grade resolution, extra-fine design, and interactive features, the espresso 17 Pro is no doubt the best portable display for the multi-passionate.

The espresso 17 Pro deserves the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.

Editor’s Note: This review was written while listening to Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song, ‘Espresso’.

In the era of content creation, storage is the first component that suffers when there are too many files archived.

Most people are fond of deleting their photos and videos once uploaded to their social media accounts. I’m not. I inherently believe that we’re only borrowing the space to upload our content. In a snap, our accounts might be taken away from us.

I take care of my possessions — memories included — which is why even if I have cloud storage, I’d still prefer having an external SSD.

In my quest to find the right external solid state drive (SSD) for me, I stumbled upon the Adata Elite SE880. And I think, it just ticks the right boxes.

Easy to store

The Adata Elite SE880 is unlike most external SSDs. It’s lightweight, compact, and easy to store — even inside your pocket. In comparison, the external display of the OPPO Find N3 Flip is still larger than the Adata Elite SE880.

When compared to usual hard drives, the Adata Elite SE880 is just a quarter of the Spider-Man Special Edition FireCuda External Hard Drive.

Its small size gives it an advantage, since it can fit on any type of pouch you use to organize your gadgets and accessories. And when in a hurry, you can put it inside your pocket or your sleeve — and it’s guaranteed you won’t lose it.

Looks durable without looking rugged

SSDs are naturally durable. Unlike HDDs, a solid state drive can withstand movement and accidental dropping. An SSD doesn’t have a lot of moving parts inside such as magnetic heads, spinning platters, and spindles.

It also uses less energy, so it would allow machines to run cooler — which is also helpful if you have a notebook like the MacBook Air that has few to no vents.

The Adata Elite SE880, even with its tiny frame, feels robust, thanks to its military-grade design. And even if you accidentally drop it, you’ll surely catch it with one hand.

Moreover, it doesn’t look rugged just to exhibit its strength and durability. It’s sleek, slim, and somewhat cute, thanks to its pocketable charm.

Reliable speed

One of the reasons why it’s better to have a portable SSD is its speed in reading and writing data. For someone who does content creation, it allows me to work anywhere even with a time crunch.

The Adata Elite SE880 writes up to maximum of 2,000mbps, maximized through a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port. While I don’t have the same port, I still managed to copy 40,600 photos I took from the last Spartan Race in about 53 minutes.

For a total of 280.33GB, I still find it quick enough as it finished copying while I was still preparing to go out for a night out.

It’s fast enough for most people’s needs, especially for something so small.

What to look for?

While there are a lot of factors to consider before getting an SSD, it’s still best to check your budget and how much you can shell out.

For instance, the Adata Elite SE880 — depending on its storage capacity — starts retailing at US$ 50.