Asus introduces a 13.3 inch ePaper color display

Asus has a habit of introducing unusual displays at trade shows like CES and Computex. In recent years we’ve seen the company unveil ZenScreen-branded monitors with foldable or dual-screen designs, wireless connectivity and pen input, and other uncommon features.

And at Computex 2026, Asus is showing off a new monitor that’s not exactly unique, but it is definitely aimed at a niche audience. The Asus ZenScreen Color ePaper MP13UC is a 13.3 inch E Ink color display with a 35 Hz refresh rate.

Asus says the new screen features a 13.3 inch, 3200 x 2400 display with 300 pixels per inch and support for up to 4096 colors.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the “4,069” listed in the Asus press release is a typo, because everything else about this unspecified “ePaper” display leads me to believe it’s an E Ink Kaleido 3 screen.

While most eReaders and other devices have low paper-like displays with refresh rates that emphasize visual clarity over speed, Asus says its screen supports “smoother scrolling and dynamic content, and includes ASUS Ghosting-Free technology for crisp text and vivid visuals.”

I’d take that claim with a grain of salt though – we’ve seen plenty of other companies release E Ink monitors and tablets with support for 30 Hz or higher refresh rates, and the tra de-off is usually that imagery looks work at higher refresh rates, although there are a number of software solutions designed to somewhat alleviate those issues.

A bigger concerns I have is that E Ink Kaleido 3 displays come with two other significant trade-offs. One is that the 300 pixels per inch Asus promises? That’s only for grayscale content. You’ll only get 150 ppi when viewing color materials. The other is that since these screens are basically gresycale E Ink displays with a color filter on top, they tend to be a littler darker than black and white screens that don’t have that filter.

Still, if you’re in the market for a small monitor that won’t strain your eyes while reading, and which offers wide viewing angles and high visibility using nothing but ambient light (with no need for its own light source in a brightly lit room), it might be nice to have a new option from a major PC maker. So far most of the companies offering devices in this category ha ve been smaller brands like Dasung, Modos, and BigMe.

Asus hasn’t announced how much the ZenScreen Color ePaper MP13UC will cost or when it will be available. But the company has introduced a ZenScreen AT201D stand for the display. It’s a lightweight, foldable stand that allows you to position the E Ink monitor or other VESA mount-compatible screens up to 16 inches in size in horizontal or vertical orientations.

via NotebookCheck