The Field Monitor Pro Accounting -
The FMP is a slim device that feels light enough to be made of plastic. It is coated with a rubberized surface that resists most incidental scratches and all but the greasiest finger prints. This coating also makes the FMP much easier to grip when pulling it out of your laptop bag.
Kicking off our walk around with what is obviously the front we find a small silver colored (it is actually brushed aluminum) latch that keeps everything closed. Opening the FMP up we find that it has a center hinge that allows for the screen to be rotated at least 180 degrees. We also see a 10 key number pad (hence the accounting name). Also of note in this image is the DisplayLink logo, this is there because the FMP uses DisplayLink’s USB Monitor technology to deliver an image to the screen. We had the chance to sit down and talk with someone from DisplayLink and were told to expect some very impressive items from them in the near future. Of course we will be covering as many of these products as we can.
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Moving on from that, interesting as it is, we take a look at the left hand side of the “base” we find two USB 2.0 ports and a brightness control. The extra ports are nice as using this with any system will take up one of your existing USB ports. So MMT gives you two USB ports at the cost of one, not a bad deal really. On the other side of the base we find the USB B port, this is the connection that allows the FMP to work. You plug the A side of a typical USB cable into this port and the A side into your system and you are off and running, well after a driver install you are off and running. The power button also graces this side of the FMP along with the port for wall power. This was something of a letdown; I was hoping that the FMP had an internal battery or could be run on USB power alone, sadly this was not the case. I asked MMT if they had plans for making an FMP with an internal battery and they replied that the market the FMP was being sold to do not want this. I found this odd, but was also told that there are plans for a USB 3.0 version from DisplayLink that will not require external power. At least this last bit is good news.
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We have already mentioned that the FMP has a swivel hinge that allows you to rotate the screen around. This hinge also allows you to lay the screen down flat and use the FMP without the base sticking out. To get the FMP standing up there is a kick stand of sorts on the back. If you look closely you can also see small mounting holes. This means that you could mount this on the wall (if you really wanted to).
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The LCD panel is a low power 15.4-inch display that has a resolution of 1280x800. This is not a bad resolution and is actually one that works great with spread sheets or other documents. The back lighting is LED which should offer low power and good color saturation. The FMPs weight is something of a benefit at only 4 pounds it is not a lot extra to lug around with you when you are on the go.
The Software and Extras -
The software is provided by DisplayLink and provides a link to the display properties already built into windows. There are a couple of other check boxes you get that allow you to optimize the display for video or TV. We tried both of them and did not notice any difference. We are sure there is something in the way the driver processes the display data but there is nothing observable when using any of these settings.
