Best travel laptop setup!
Today I’m trying the Xebec Snap, a modular multi-screen laptop attachment that lets you do more with your laptop if you travel for work, like a compact setup, or just want to free yourself from your desk. Xebec sponsored this video and sent me the Snap system.
The problem it solves
One of my biggest issues working away from my desk is screen space. Working from a single laptop display all day gets tedious when windows hide behind each other. The Snap lets me add one or two 1080p displays to my laptop, so there’s plenty of room to see, say, the timeline, the asset window and the full-screen video when I’m editing.
How it works
The system has two parts: the Snap screen and the Snap bracket. You can put one screen on either side, use two, or even go vertical.
- Extend the bracket and let it wrap around your laptop display.
- Unfold the kickstand for support.
- Take the USB-C cables from the built-in cable channels and plug them into the side of your computer.
- Unfold the display arms and snap the display into place.
Attach, plug, snap. Packing up is just as easy, and the displays fit in an optional Xebec Snap case. It works with Mac, Windows and Chromebooks from 13 to 17 inches. Even if your computer only supports a single display from the factory, like my M2 MacBook Air, the built-in DisplayLink chips make it work.
Details I liked
- The kickstand telescopes, so you can raise it for a larger laptop.
- Pass-through charging on each display, up to 100 W, keeps your laptop charged while it’s connected.
- A third mode: because the connector rotates at the back, you can fold a display around to the back to present or mirror for someone.
- Displays: 13.3-inch, 1080p, 60 Hz, up to 400 nits, bright enough almost anywhere you’d work, with aluminum backs that feel premium.
- Three connection points on the back of each display let you attach on either side of the bracket horizontally or vertically.
- The bracket fits snugly and feels solid, with a mosaic inside as a reminder that you can work anywhere. Xebec says an ecosystem is coming that can connect speakers, lights and chargers.
After a couple of weeks
I’ve used it around my house and definitely get more done and have an easier time than with just the laptop display. I can see taking it on a trip or vacation where I’ll work from a hotel, and it’d be great for dorm rooms or anywhere with limited desk space.
What a real traveler thinks
My wife travels about a dozen times a year for work, is a heavy spreadsheet user, bounces between web apps and CRM tools, and hates working from a laptop display alone. She’s not a technical person. I left the Snap and the setup guide on the kitchen counter and let her use it with her Windows laptop.
- Setup: about an 8 out of 10 for intuitiveness. She jumped in without even scanning the guide’s QR code and configured most of it herself.
- Power: the displays used quite a bit of battery on her two-year-old laptop, but she found pass-through charging by following the guide, and then had no power problems. She expects setup to be seamless from here, since she just used regular Windows display settings to arrange the screens.
- Usability: she likes being able to use vertical displays, though she prefers horizontal, and says it’s like having three laptop screens.
- Her words: “For me, having this for hotel or remote work where I can’t use desktop monitors, this will really help with efficiency, and I really want to try traveling with it.”
You can get the Snap in dual or triple display options, and I was really intrigued and impressed.
Links
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