Design

We dare you to game on this tiny 32:9 ultrawide monitor

Lukos' unholy 14-inch monitor is a miniature ultrawide you might actually be able to afford.

We’ve seen some pretty creative cyberdeck designs recently, including a fun DIY kit and even one built for surviving an apocalypse. While those builds are more for novelty, a new entrant can sit just below our monitor and be used for multitasking, music controls, or editing. We’re talking about Lukos’ tiny 32:9 aspect ratio monitor which is being Kickstarted right now.

The Lukos Kickstarter video says that the ultrawide 4K monitor can act as the “visual centerpiece of your desktop,” by acting as a hub for running video games, watching movies, and editing media. It’s a pretty small display, but it could be the perfect complement to your main monitor by displaying additional info like hardware performance, trading charts, or spreadsheets. The Kickstarter has already raised more than $161,000 through 351 backers, at the time of this article’s publishing, far surpassing its initial $2,000 goal.

Lukos

A tiny ultrawide — According to Lukos, the 14-inch IPS panel has a 4K UHD resolution of 3840 x 1100, 2ms response time and a 60Hz refresh rate. The ultrawide monitor can act as a central hub of sorts, since it can connect four devices and display four split-screen signals at the same time. Lukos will have a bunch of ports on its top plate, including three HDMI, two DP 1.4, one DP 1.2, and one USB-C port. The monitor will also be built with a cooling fan and remote control.

Lukos

But, one of the major letdowns of the Lukos is that it will be only have 220V compatibility, according to comments made by the company on Kickstarter. Many of those who backed the project were disappointed to hear that the Lukos will need an adapter to be used for 110V, while others had canceled their pledge altogether.

It’s also worth noting that there are some strange discrepancies with Lukos Kickstarter product. Some comments pointed out that an almost identical product was being listed on AliExpress for $500, to which Lukos responded in comments on its Kickstarter page that that listing was a scam. Take from that what you will, but our advice is to proceed with caution if you plan on throwing money at the campaign or a mysterious AliExpress merchant.

Lukos

Fingers crossed — The super early bird special for the monitor was set at $379 and is no longer available, but the early bird pledge currently runs $419. For an extra $10, you can instead sign onto the Lukos Plus pledge that includes the monitor and a carbon fiber protective case. It looks like once the early bird pledges are no longer offered, the base pledge that gets you just the monitor will be set at $479.

We’re not absolutely sure if this product will come to market, but its design could be a big step towards incorporating modern cyberdecks into our setups. If you’d prefer not to take a chance on a Kickstarter product, the much more reputable Asus offers a monitor with a similar form factor called the ProArt Display PA147CDV.