For daily productivity, work, web browsing, and entertainment, eReaders can't compete with the crisp colors and high refresh rates of LCD displays. LCDs (and increasingly OLEDs) have and will be center stage for monitors and laptops. But that doesn't mean LCDs can't share some of the spotlight. There have been various attempts to unite LCD and E Ink technology for computer users over the years. But with limited selection and the offerings typically involving sacrifice in other parts of the product, this hybrid display category hasn't become mainstream.

Even as the iPad and other tablets have become common household gadgets, eReaders have maintained value among certain technologists. Analysts say the market's declining, with Statista showing an expected fall from $396.4 million in 2021 to $204.7 million by 2027. But there are still exciting eReader releases, like the Kindle Scribe that came out in November. And as people grow increasingly concerned about preventing eye strain from screens, some are turning to E Ink for reading sessions over bright LCD screens.

But as stated, there are plenty of experiences that suffer on an eReader compared to a traditional computer display. And that's why some products try to offer both.

For example, in October, Philips started selling an ultrawide desktop monitor that has an IPS section and an E Ink section. The 24B1D5600's left side is a 23.8-inch LCD with 2560×1440 resolution, a 75 Hz refresh rate, 99.8 percent sRGB coverage, and up to 250 nits, according to Philips. Attached by a hinge is a 13.3-inch Carta E Ink display with 1200×1600 pixels (no other specs provided).

The 24B1D5600 stands out by letting users access a typical PC screen and eReader simultaneously. Different screens can prioritize different types of tasks, and you don't have to pick one technology over the other.

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Philips' monitor is just one example from the past few years of a company trying to merge LCD and eReader experiences into a single product.

Since 2018, Lenovo has been steadily trying to sneak E Ink into laptops alongside integrated LCD displays with the expected specs and capabilities. Its Yoga Book C930 replaced a traditional keyboard and touchpad for an E Ink screen that, with help from haptic feedback, surprised me when it came to typing accuracy but was an overall downgrade from the tactility and reliability of a "real" keyboard and touchpad.

Lenovo has since focused on making E Ink an amendment to the traditional laptop design, rather than a replacement part. It has been pushing ThinkBook Plus laptops since 2020 with an eReader on the back of the traditional display. The idea is to give people a regular laptop that can pull double-duty as an eReader. In 2023, it announced an upcoming update on the idea with the ThinkBook Plus Twist, which allows users to swivel their LCD-E Ink hybrid screen, à la 2005.

And in 2019, BenQ started selling 24- and 27-inch LCD monitors with an "ePaper mode" accessible via the on-screen display menu. You can still buy the FHD monitors for under $200 each.

OEMs like Philips, Lenovo, and BenQ have been looking to expand the use of E Ink in a way that still lets people use LCD for, likely, the majority of the time. At first blush, that seems like a reasonable approach; however, there have been other attempts at uniting LCD and E Ink that were met with failure.