Bigme B251 Color E Ink Monitor Review: Dreams Don’t Always Come True

E Ink has come a good distance. There are actually a number of cool functions of it, from pocketable e-readers just like the Boox Palma 2 to completely fledged Android tablets with colour layers just like the Boox Note Air 4C. There’s loads of attraction in a show that does not require a glowing backlight. There’s much less eye pressure, no blue gentle issues and straightforward viewing, even in direct daylight.

The Bigme B251 monitor performs into that attraction with a 25.3-inch colour E Ink show. It sounds and appears promising, however at $1,499, it must ship on that promise. Sadly, I am unable to say it does. 

Not the show you are hoping for

Testing the Bigme B251 could also be my first time utilizing an E Ink monitor, however it’s removed from my first time testing an E Ink gadget. I’ve seen the black-and-white distinction enhance significantly through the years, however E Ink shows with a colour layer lag behind. The B251 is certainly one of these, placing a colour LCD layer over an E Ink layer. This negatively impacts the brightness because of this. 

One of many key guarantees of E Ink is that you would be able to depend on ambient gentle to light up the show, so you do not want a built-in backlight like a standard monitor. The issue is that the colour layer dims the show a lot that you simply want lighting except you’ve got received your again to a wall of sunlit home windows.  

For me, even in a comfortably lit room close to a sunny window, the Bigme B251 was too dim with out its lighting. That lighting is mild on the eyes and has an adjustable colour temperature. 

Whereas 3,200×1,800 decision on a 25.3-inch show needs to be first rate, readability nonetheless finally ends up a difficulty due to the colour layer and ghosting. Even the textual content readability of black-and-white content material is not as much as snuff, with textual content exhibiting noticeable pixelation. 

Black textual content on a white background is the best-case situation, however white textual content on a black background is barely legible. Bigme claims a 300ppi E Ink decision and a 150ppi colour decision, however I am skeptical. This needs to be as sharp as a 15.3-inch show at 1200p, however I am utilizing one side-by-side with the Bigme, and the latter does not look as sharp.

The B251 gives a number of completely different picture modes to assist nudge it in the fitting course when viewing various kinds of content material. For internet shopping, there’s the aptly named “internet” mode. There are additionally modes for textual content, pictures, and video. Every has some customization obtainable for distinction and saturation, however they’ve locked refresh charges. 

The “picture” mode gives one of the best readability, however it has a really gradual refresh price, possibly about 1Hz. Mousing round is nearly unattainable. Although “video” mode is smoother, it is extremely blotchy. The movies themselves seem considerably fluid, however the remainder of the show turns into largely unusable, particularly as ghosting artifacts persist completely if a pixel is not refreshed with new content material. 

The “textual content” and “internet” modes provide a pleasant center floor, however nonetheless aren’t fully satisfying. Outdoors of the “picture” mode, the others have a heavy reliance on dithering, making for a messy, grainy-looking display for lots of content material. That is not a terrific search for such an expensive gadget. 

An in any other case combined bag

Past the display itself, the Bigme B251 monitor is middling. It has an affordable number of ports: HDMI, Mini HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C, plus some USB hub capabilities. Wi-fi streaming to the monitor can be doable, although I did not discover it fairly as compelling as Bigme’s promotional content material advised. As an example, I could not get my telephone to fill all the top of the monitor when it was in vertical orientation.

The B251 comes with a small distant for shortly adjusting settings. Regardless that it is a primary distant, it is fairly helpful for the reason that monitor’s built-in controls really feel low-cost and have hard-to-read labels. 

The monitor {hardware} seems to be fairly sufficient, with a easy white-and-silver colour scheme that harks again to some previous all-in-one Mac methods. At over an inch thick, the white bezels are undeniably massive for 2026, however they’re pleasantly curved and uniform. Sadly, these bezels and the entire again case of the monitor really feel like they’re constructed from far too low-cost a plastic for a $1,500 monitor. 

The stand has some precise steel, one of many solely elements that’s, however that is offset by the neck portion having a plastic plate painted silver to appear to be steel. On the intense facet, the stand gives loads of place flexibility with tilt, pivot, top and rotation changes. 

The B251 contains audio system, however they do not sound nice. There’s some obnoxious resonance within the case, even at medium volumes, which is tough to just accept for a monitor at this worth. 

Only one extra nail within the coffin: the B251 makes use of an exterior energy brick. The monitor is not small total, nor skinny by any means, and it solely wants 60 watts. Counting on a desk-cluttering exterior energy brick feels completely pointless.

Remaining ideas

The dream of a great-looking E Ink monitor that may be lit just by room lighting, exhibiting sharp, easy-on-the-eyes content material, is not useless, however the Bigme B251 does not accomplish it. Whereas this monitor offers you much more display area than you would possibly get from E Ink tablets, it is an all-too-compromised expertise for a tool with a substantial worth premium. 

I did discover it mild to take a look at, however that was offset by the additional pressure on my eyes to parse the rough-edged textual content. I had to determine the place my mouse cursor was, because of the low refresh price, and attempt to make out no matter was happening in areas the place any colour is concerned. 

If you need easy-on-the-eyes E Ink, I’ve spent days writing and shopping the net on a black-and-white Boox Note Air and colour Boox Tab Ultra C. Whereas a lot smaller than the B251, the expertise was altogether higher. Plus, their portability means you’ll be able to simply deliver them proper out into the sunshine and keep away from backlighting altogether.