Use your iPad as second Monitor – Luna Display Review

The Luna Display ist the first and only gadget that lets you turn your iPad into a fully functional low latency monitor with touch support for Mac OS. With it’s help road warriors finally can work on complex projects, that consume a huge amount of screen real estate with ease. As of late you are now even able to turn your iPad into the primary Monitor of the new Mac Mini

The obstacles of working on the road

I’m pretty sure everybody has been there. You are on the road for a couple of days, sitting in a hotel. Your work is piling up and you need to finish a project for your customer ASAP. In the office you have a multi monitor setup that helps you to get your work done more efficiently. Finishing certain projects on a Laptop screen can be challenging and I’m sure none of us want to carry around a second monitor.

Luna Display is coming to your aid

That’s where Luna comes in. Luna Display is the latest product of Astro HQ and has such a low profile that you can take it with you all the time. It’s so small that I carry it around in its original packaging since I’m afraid to lose it.  The Luna Display basically is a combination of a dongle and an app. 

What makes Luna so special?

This hardware solution is superior in many ways compared to the software based ones. You get 16ms response time compared to AirPlay which comes with 64ms. You can operate either SD or Retina Desktop Resolution on your iPad through an existing Wifi connection. If you ever find yourself without a local Wifi, you even can use your lightning cable and in case of the new iPad Pro a USB-C cable. The Displayed content also benefits from the Hardware Acceleration of your Macbook. 

Did you say Touch for MacOS?

Yes you heard right. With the help of Luna Display you even get touch support in Mac OS. You can click, pinch, zoom and scroll through everything you see. If you want you even can use your Apple Pencil. Unfortunately the pressure sensitive part of the Pencil is still reserved for the Astro HQ’s Astrostudio. It would be an incredible improvement if they made it also available on the Luna.

You don’t own a primary monitor?

No Problem! Luna Display can also be used as a primary monitor for a Mac Mini or your Macbook If you use it in Clamshell Mode. Especially with the release of the new Mac Mini this is an incredible feature. You just fire up the Luna Display App and plug in the Dongle into your Mac. It’ll automatically establish a connection within seconds.

Resolution is key

Depending on the size of your iPad the available resolutions can make a huge difference in terms of screen real estate. 1112×834 and 2224×1668 offer you Fullscreen Support so you don’t have black bars on your iPad. Granted if you go for the highest resolution on the 10.5″ iPad Pro it can get hard to read small fonts.

The new Member in my Travel Gear

I was one the early kickstarter backers for the Luna Display, so I had plenty of time to put it to use by now and I must admit I don’t want to miss it anymore. My first Real World experience was at the IFA this year and it was helping me a lot to finish Video Edits in the Hotel. If you work with the Luna Display you won’t notice much of a difference to a regular monitor. For Office and Creative Work it’s a huge help. Feel free to check out the Luna Display here.