300ppi Eink vs 300ppi Pixel Qi?

brehon · 03-02-2025, 02:47 PM

Hello

I was wondering should I buy 10.1" 1024x600 Pixel Qi screen of EBay and make DIY tablet/2in1 laptop for reading as an E-Ink alternative. The upsides of this approach are price, OS/Software freedom, fast refresh LCD screen for apps and 3072x600 300ppi no-backlight BW LCD screen for book reading. Downsides? It takes time to build and BW 300ppi E-Ink readers are more and more common and also dropping in price.

So in the end the thing that matters most is quality of displayed text. Most of old sites and videos with comparisons are down and those that are up and incomplete. Old youtube videos with direct screen comparisons are useless these days due to fact that youtube changed video compression algorithms for low res videos and everything is blurred and filled with graphical artifacts.

Perhaps somebody who owns/owned devices with this 10.1" 1024x600 PQ3Qi screen and comparable E-Ink reader could tell difference?

Hellmark · 03-04-2025, 05:22 PM

I'd go eInk. The DPI difference will make a HUGE imact on text quality. In the normal orientation for reading with the Pixel Qi, you get no additional pixels, since it is still 600 regardless of mode, so not really 300 DPI. Also, as someone who has followed alternate display tech for a long time, displays have come a long way in the 10 years since Pixel Qi went out of business. Hell, even at the time, for text rendering, I'd place older eInk over Pixel Qi.

Quoth · 03-05-2025, 06:08 AM

There are plenty of LCD and OLED screens better than Pixel Qi. It's actually pretty poor.

Also 1024 x 600 on 10.1″ is about 125 dpi. All the ancient 6″ eink were 167 dpi. The original Aura H2O was abouut 267 dpi. The ancient 9.7″ eink is 1200 x 825 (Landscape) at 150 ppi.

Even if you address the pixels pretending it's mono (like Kaleido does) then it's still only 250 dpi. Also many modern screens have less shine/glare/reflectance.

Videos are generally useless for comparing screens compared with a close up still picture (png not jpg) and even then you are at the mercy of your own display.

A 300 dpi mono eink is far better, even an old Paperwhite 3. For colour and larger documents than work on an 8″ Kobo Sage or similar panel then Nxtpaper 2.0 (or later) is better. Only the 10.2″ Scribe is 300 dpi, the other 10.3″ eink are all 221 ppi/dpi approx. The Scribe is kind of crippled for annotation without at least four connections to an Amazon server.

03-02-2025, 02:47 PM	#1
brehon Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2025 Location: EU Device: none	300ppi Eink vs 300ppi Pixel Qi? Hello I was wondering should I buy 10.1" 1024x600 Pixel Qi screen of EBay and make DIY tablet/2in1 laptop for reading as an E-Ink alternative. The upsides of this approach are price, OS/Software freedom, fast refresh LCD screen for apps and 3072x600 300ppi no-backlight BW LCD screen for book reading. Downsides? It takes time to build and BW 300ppi E-Ink readers are more and more common and also dropping in price. So in the end the thing that matters most is quality of displayed text. Most of old sites and videos with comparisons are down and those that are up and incomplete. Old youtube videos with direct screen comparisons are useless these days due to fact that youtube changed video compression algorithms for low res videos and everything is blurred and filled with graphical artifacts. Perhaps somebody who owns/owned devices with this 10.1" 1024x600 PQ3Qi screen and comparable E-Ink reader could tell difference?

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03-04-2025, 05:22 PM	#2
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,592 Karma: 4290425 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Foristell, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3, Kobo Libra 2	I'd go eInk. The DPI difference will make a HUGE imact on text quality. In the normal orientation for reading with the Pixel Qi, you get no additional pixels, since it is still 600 regardless of mode, so not really 300 DPI. Also, as someone who has followed alternate display tech for a long time, displays have come a long way in the 10 years since Pixel Qi went out of business. Hell, even at the time, for text rendering, I'd place older eInk over Pixel Qi.

03-05-2025, 06:08 AM	#3
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,964 Karma: 103895653 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	There are plenty of LCD and OLED screens better than Pixel Qi. It's actually pretty poor. Also 1024 x 600 on 10.1″ is about 125 dpi. All the ancient 6″ eink were 167 dpi. The original Aura H2O was abouut 267 dpi. The ancient 9.7″ eink is 1200 x 825 (Landscape) at 150 ppi. Even if you address the pixels pretending it's mono (like Kaleido does) then it's still only 250 dpi. Also many modern screens have less shine/glare/reflectance. Videos are generally useless for comparing screens compared with a close up still picture (png not jpg) and even then you are at the mercy of your own display. A 300 dpi mono eink is far better, even an old Paperwhite 3. For colour and larger documents than work on an 8″ Kobo Sage or similar panel then Nxtpaper 2.0 (or later) is better. Only the 10.2″ Scribe is 300 dpi, the other 10.3″ eink are all 221 ppi/dpi approx. The Scribe is kind of crippled for annotation without at least four connections to an Amazon server.

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