What do people think about the braille note evolve?

This thing sounds like a beast. Not bad at all. I'm sure I'll never own one, as it is far above what I could ever afford, but if money were no objective, I'd be all over it. I've done something similar with my old ElBraille 40, but would love the keysoft apps for that too, as they would be even more well suited to a Braille display than a lot of standard apps.

First if money was no object I'd like a machine like this. Compact all in one solution. And running Windows should help with flexibility and using in a professional environment.
Where I get concerned is upgradability when pairing a Braille display to PC/computing hardware. Braille displays generally are more expensive, and also have a longer useful lifespan than your typical PC or laptop or tablet hardware. I have a display that is going strong at ten years old, for example. All my ten year old laptops are dead. It seems cost prohibitive to go through Braille displays as quickly as I go through laptops. Again though, I would like such a machine.

Better to get a laptop with better specs and a 40 cell brail display. The issue is binding two pieces of technology together; a brail display that will last for ten years, and a windows machine that will last for three. Better still, get a 20 cell display and have the advantage of something like a brail kindle you can tote around in a sling but link to your computer... Any computer, or your phone, or your watch, when ever you want.

I agree, an all in one sounds lovely, but having used Humanware products in the past, the build is cheap and they look like blocky pieces of accessibility equipment with zero style.

I think they're designed for schools, kids, and students where they are paid for by others and are made to be robust in a rather ugly way.

Subject says it all. Underpowered in 2035 maybe, but right now, thing sounds like a beast! After using the ElBraille though, my other concern in that kind of form factor would be over heating. If that could be taken care of and it didn't sound like a gaming computer, that would be awesome. lol

This is what Humanware should have done in 2016 rather than trying to work with Android. I'm a little disappointed it only includes 512 GB storage. We should be getting at least 1 or 2 TB given the price. I'm also very curious to know what specific Core Ultra model they're using.

I know I usually criticize Humanware for creating overpriced underpowered products, but it seems like they genuinely want to make a good product this time around. I won't be purchasing this, both because it's far too expensive and I don't need it, but this is a major step in the right direction. I have to give Humanware credit where credit is due. The BrailleNote mPower was the first computing device I used and was what got me started on this wonderful journey I'll be on for the rest of my life.

People saying that a laptop and a separate Braille display is better are saying the same thing that sighted creatives do about the iMac. The display is beautiful but they can't use it with a newer Mac down the line so it's probably better to get a Mac Mini or Studio and a good monitor. But then others do the math and say it's not and that Apple needs to make a 32" iMac because 24" is just too small. Clearly there's some market for an all-inOne, or they wouldn't update them, even if not as much.

I commented in another thread that it's interesting how long this idea of a blindness specific laptop/tablet running on mainstream hardware has been tried. I think there are 3 out right now that run Windows, the InsideOne+ tablet, the B. Book, and the Nortiq Note. Have any of them really caught on? Maybe more so in the parts of the world where those companies are based. Then there's the ElBraille, which I thought about getting at one point because it sounded awesome on paper. Seems like from what I've heard they had a lot of issues though.

It'll be interesting to see how the BNE, especially with its QWERTY version and the Optima compare, assuming they are both out by the end of next year.

Interesting if nothing else!

I have the last version of the ElBraille 40 they released. It's no powerhouse, and since I'm not a JAWS user, I had to do a decent bit of modification to make it work better with NVDA, and even then it's not perfect, as a lot of the ElBraille software was made to work specifically with JAWS. Only 8 gb ram. But with all that said, there have been times when I was between laptops, when I have used that as my one machine, whether by itself or paired with a bluetooth keyboard, and so long as I am not doing things that are super resource heavy, it's not a terrible experience. Since it's not being made anymore, I wish the group behind the device would release a modified version of their software that would open up better support for NVDA, maybe put some hooks in place to let NVDA do some of the functions on their hardware function buttons, like give time, battery, internet status, emergency NVDA restart, etc.

Having used the Monarch, I can't think of a good reason why I would want to buy another single-line braille display. For those who are in the market for such devices, though, it appears that the Evolve appears likely to be a good range of products. I hope and reasonably expect the x86-based design will enable the devices to be long-lasting, maintaining good performance across operating system upgrades over years of use.

I hope they decided to go with the newer Core Ultra processors that support an NPU and thus Copilot and other AI features. I have a nasty feeling these processors will be mandatory to run Windows in the not too distant future, particularly considering how aggressively Microsoft has been promoting these capabilities. I personally don't care about all these AI features, but it's not out of the realm of possibility to see yet another genuine hardware system requirement for Windows 12 or whatever that can't be bypassed with workarounds, similar to the 24H2 POPCNT cutoff. It would be a shame if they shot themselves in the foot? feet? by using the older Core Ultra CPUs that lack an NPU, but it wouldn't surprise me either.

I'm maybe a little surprised they are not making at least a three line display version but perhaps that'll come in five years. Due to cost, proven reliability and longevity I expect single line displays with the piezo-electric cells to be around for a long time to come. In addition, the screen readers still need a lot of optimization. And yes I am so eager for them to work the way I want. Three or four lines with a Perkins style keyboard should be able to be the same size as a QWERTY keyboard model? That said, I've used Windows wiht a Perkins-style keyboard e.g., via JAWS commands, and I do not find that an optimal experience. No one's fault, it just has limitations. Control-n even with an extra control key takes a lot of fingers.
As for the NPU comment, my own surprise is they didn't go Arm for battery life and minimizing heat. Intel/Xx86 is still number one in compatibility though which is probably the logic.

BrailleNote Evolve has additional keys for Alt, Ctrl, Windows and the NVDA modifier, as well as cursor movement if I remember the description correctly.

Also, the cells used in the DotPad and the Monarch are reputedly less expensive than piezoelectric technology, and there are other cell technologies available and in development.

Oh I expect that to be likely. I base my comment on using a QBraille which also has extra keys. It is doable, but QWERTY is easier. For me.

I should also note that it should work well with a USB or Bluetooth keyboard, and you can use its own Braille keyboard for ultimate portability.

The 40-cell version is also said to have a Qwerty keyboard.

My question is, how hard would it be to get these keysoft programs, once the device is released, and then throw them on to something like the ElBraille? We know all of them will be made to work incredibly well with NVDA, so for those of us who have those devices but aren't avid JAWS users, could make for a nice user experience. Pretty sure they won't be freely abailable, but wonder how hard it would be to extract them and port over to just a regular Windows device.
Also, back to the topic of keyboards, the Braille keyboard is great for portability, but yeah a usb or bluetooth keyboard works best for productivity.

Perhaps after they go to that much work they'll make Keysoft standalone for Windows available for purchase?
As for extracting it, if they have any plans to monotize or even just protect their software from copycats wiht a knockoff device I imagine they will lock it to the Evolv hardware. It is not difficult to do.

It is always good to have more choices to fit individual needs and work styles.

That being said, I would be skeptical of pourchasing a combine PC and built in braille device.

PC technolligies (both hardware and software) are often out of date in 3-5 years. sometimes one can go longer depending on one's needs. For example, I was prepared to stick with Windows 10 for about another year until Microsoft determined that they weren't supporting it any more and, worst yet, my Windows PC couldn't be upgraded to Windows 11.

On the other hand, I have had a braille display that has lasted for over 20 years and still works. Since braille displays are far from being inexpensive, it makes sense to jeep one's braile display for as long as possible. Except for 2D braille displays which are even more expensive, the technologies behind braille displays hasn't evolved much over that time.

Perhaps if the braille display associated with an "all in one device" could be removed and attached to a newer PC when the time comes, that would make me more comfortable purchasing an all in one device. But that would limit the PC that I could use to replace the original PC because I would have to purchase it from the original manufacturer of the all in one device.

Anyway, perhaps this works for some people and it is good that we do have choices. Just understand the trade-offs.

--Pete

Just over priced.

I just bought a handheld with better specks for £800 which I can also play games on.

It's a solution to a problem that I don't think most people can afford.

I'm not a fan of Humanware products in general. They are cheaply made, the customer service isn't great and, I just don't like being treated like a chump because we're a captive market which, I think, a lot of these specialists do.

I do have very high standards though. I'm an engineer too which doesn't help.

\Another thing to bear in mind, the landscape of compute is rapidly change, more so than in the last two decades. The devices that are being produced and will be produced over the next decade will be targetting local AI compute. This computer will be outdated quicker, not because of its specs now, but because of the improvements in machines that get released a short time after.

Its kinda over powered for a brail computer, and drastically under powered for future proofing for AI. A awkward position to be in.

Binding it to a device for which the technology hasn't changed significantly in the last 40 years and is unlikely to for the next ten, is a bit daft.

What they should have built, or someone should build, is a pure display, slim, angled, perfect for putting before a laptop, all processing done by the device it's connected to. Build it from aluminum, make it easily transportable, and they'd have a winner on their hands. This, I just don't see it.

I suppose it depends on what this is for. There was an interview on Double Tap about the Orbit laptop where they were talking about how pointless it was to have a braille note taker that had its entire own ecosystem and that you needed to learn skills that weren't really transferrable elsewhere. Whereas having a note taker built on Windows meant you could benefit from being able to use the same operating system that you would in the workplace.

So thinking purely in terms of a note taker, having an all in one braille thing based on Windows probably makes some sense if the alternative is some proprietary thing based on Android..

However, thinking about this as a mainstream computer that has braille feels more problematic given that you have two different expensive things in one and they will likely want to evolve independently. If my braille starts to develop a fault, I wouldn't want to have to give up my entire laptop for repair. And realistically I think the laptop will become out of date much more quickly than the braille part. I dont know if I could then start using it as a dumb braille display for anothe rlaptop, or if it works with my phone or something else.

I would prefer options to make braille displays more affordable instead of lumping in extra expense. It's a shame that the Orbit Reader does not have any competition in this area.

Handy Tech have something called the activator which, in principle, is a better product as it keeps the brail in the device and hands off everything else to IOS/windows/mac... Trouble is, it's also painfully expensive.

I do hope that with things like apple having that brail mode where we can have a pretty dumb brail display plugged into our phone and the phone does all the clever stuff, more manufacturers will step up. We've already got a bunch of brilliant silicon with us all the time and I think it's periferals we need, not more devices.

I can see this argument. It does make sense, as a device like my NLS E-Reader, that connects to both my Windows machines as well as my Android phones, is also quite handy. Same can be said of the Focus 40 currently sitting in my ElBraille. Agree though, that someone needs to make a display that is low profile enough that moving your hands from the laptop to the display doesn't feel awkward, but just a smooth transition, as right now, one of the biggest struggles for me is figuring out exactly how to place all the stuff on my desk, to be able to jump between the computer keyboard and the Braille display in a way that is quick and natural. Having said that, I remember the time of using a BrailleNote and later the BrailleNote mPower in college, quite fondly, so also understand why some people like the all in one devices. As a bit of a techy, though no engineer or software dev by any means, just a tinkerer, I often like to find ways of getting the absolute max out of my tech, and a device like the mPower today would be sadly under powered. The Evolve sounds incredibly cool. Sounds a lot like what I've managed to do with my ElBraille by putting NVDA on it and being very selective with the software installed, only with much much better specs than the ElBraille.
As I said in my very first reply to this thread, sounds like a device I would love to get my hands on, but probably never will.

Humanware are weird.
On one hand I think that they really try to do too much with too little resources so everything is half baked ish at the end of the day, while being still too expensive. From 3-4 different embossers to magnifiers to book players to... now this.
But when they do something right, it's honestly great, and I couldn't praise my bi 40x enough (aside for the horrible boot and shutdown time). But then the victor stream 3 is so bad software wise that macos ventura and voiceover brings good memories in compareason (yes, I said that). The stream 2 was good, reading texts with tts was very fun. Here I can't even read a 100k character without the little os crashing. This device makes me so furious that I often resist doing a big list of all the basics of stream 2 that just don't work at all in stream 3 or so bad that even voicedream with its current terrible quality and subscription seems a better deal.
I hate this with passion, humanware invest too little in copyright / pattents protection rather than actually making the software likable, which is isn't at all.........
I think the longer boot time for both the 40x and the stream3 is due to the dehashing and hashing of the software itself or something, and they put junk CPUs and flash in there unlike the orbit player, which as they say themselves proudly has a real processor.

But no I am not sure to like two devices in one where the laptop will age terribly. I think the best suite spot is something like the mentus q20/40, with display and keyboard attached, and that's it. Going beyond is both impossible and unpractical and will only drive the price up.

I myself have a braille sense 6 and I love it but I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a braille note evolve
There's the optima braille laptop which will also be coming out next year or the year after so it will be very interesting to see how well it compares with that.
In saying that from the description I have heard about the braille note evolve from David Woodbridge's podcast there doesn't seem to be any USBC ports just 2 usb thunderbolt ports, one USB a port and HDMI port.
Very interesting since people are switching over to USBC why wouldn't humanware include a USBC port?

So, in its modern configuration, thunderbolt uses the USB C connector, so anything you can connect to USB C, you can connect to Thunderbolt. So not an issue. In the first few versions of Thunderbolt that was not the case, but has been since around 2018 I think.

If you have thunderbolt you 101% have usb c too. The other way around is not true though. So we do have usb c / thunderbolt ports. 3 or 4 probably. I'd be very surprised if it's 5.

Else why bother?

They say they'll power mainstream apps. How? Is this going to be some massive Leasey-style macro environment, or what? That'll be very brittle. And not a pinch on the dear, dear KeySoft apps of the past, that ran (and still run) on Windows CE on my BrailleNote Apex.

I'd be for 40 cells, though. And I can recommend a Focus 40 (quick startup, Mac-compatible by way of mass storage and very low latency for the new Braille Access stuff) in front of a DAS keyboard. Lovely keyboard. The two might have been made for each other—you'd never know.

What did they do different with the apex? Last Braillenote I ever used was the mPower, and I loved that thing. Back in the days where wifi wasn't super common in all college buildings, yet I was able to backdoor bluetooth it with my phone and use the phone as a modem. Wouldn't want to have to go back to those days, but while they were happening, they were good, and that mPower was a pretty awesome device. At least my memories of it are good. And as someone who does use the ElBraille, I can see the appeal for this kind of all in one. But yeah, definitely makes me wonder how they will do everything, because if they don't make their own apps, just an additional accessibility layer, that could break when apps or even Windows decides to update. I would be for them building the keysoft suite from the ground up, letting people add the ones they want to the start menu, maybe making object nav with the Braille Display a bit easier, but not doing it like they did with the old Windows CE, where you ran Keysoft only and never even saw the underlying Windows CE.

I think the killer app for me on any of these things is a well matured EBook reader. I'll give it to Humanware for that part of it all, they have managed to make opening and closing books and tracking them down in online libraries, if not good, then not absolutely terrible.

I think all the ones I've looked at outside the Humanware family have basic note takers and word processors in which to read books which, from experience, is a horrible way to do things.

I realise the Evolve isn't for this... Not sure what it is for actually... So can't say it should be on there, but maybe it is back to just a solid wireless display and pairing it with kindle on iPhone and having all the smarts done on an other device which is constantly being updated.

Without hijacking the thread, any thoughts on the most pleasant and best built 20 cell? I still have the Vario Ultra which is a beautiful machine, all metal, slim, comfortable, but it's a fool! Unfortunately it's also a model which is about 11 years old now and, though the manufacturer keeps telling me they're going to update the firmware, I'm doubtful.

It seems like the days of aluminum cases for Braille displays are mostly over, I think only the Focus 5th Gen currently?... I didn't have the opportunity to see the Vario Ultra, but it sounds similarly built to the BrailleConnect 12. I would have loved if Humanware would have kept the BrailleConnect's form factor and just made it 20 cells for the Brailliant BI-20X. But alas, the Brailliant has went all plastic, and a bit more chunky.
You were asking about 20-cell displays, I would say the Brailliant Bi-20X is probably the best available right now even with its short-comings. Namely, the plastic and a bit chunkier than seems necessary, and the real one, a 30+ second boot-up time. I do give it to the Focus line on that score they boot up much faster, but no 20-cell model and the Focus 14 should have more cells.

I have a lot to say about braille displays in general, but that would highjack the thread which is straying from the original subject to some degree. I do agree with everything Travis said about current braille display selection and missing the ones that had a better build. I'm pretty sure that is gone forever, Baum made the BrailleConnect and HW rebranded it.

I hope they let you customize it when you buy it like you can with a lot of laptops, like choosing an Ultra 7 or Ultra 9 instead of the Ultra 5, or changing the RAM and SSD storage. An Ultra 7 or Ultra 9 option would make this even more appealing.

Regarding longevity, on every Braille display I've used either some of the dots stopped coming up or one or two keys stopped working within one to two years, so I'm not sure 5 years is that bad for how long a device like this could last. But I do think the Optima will be better for this when it comes out since you can upgrade the CPU and RAM when you need to, and even have the Braille display easily replaced.

But overall the BrailleNote Evolve seems like the only notetaker that I wouldn't soon be disappointed with after getting it, except for the BT Speak and the Optima when it comes out, and the only one that has hardware comparable to the latest mainstream computers.

Often when braille pins stop popping up reliably the problem can be fixed by wiping the display thoroughly with alcohol wet wipes. See the manufacturer's recommendations on cleaning the braille display to make sure you don't use any types of alcohol or other materials that might damage the display. I've been using wet wipes with alcohol for years to clean my display.

As I've indicated, I've had my braille display for over 20 years now, so there is some proof that they can last a very long time if taken care of properly.

Also, clean hands free of dirt or skin cream can minimize this problem.

Hope that helps.

--Pete

that braille displays and white canes are probably among the most unhygienic yet used daily objects a blind person could ever touch? And let's be honest, who really cleans his cane thoroughly? Food (questionable quality food) for your thoughts all :)

I usually take a disinfecting wipe and wipe down my cane a few times each week. Yes I know... I am strange. 🙄

While the specs for the device seem good for today, I am generally not a fan of note taker devices.

If this is using Windows, and is based on NVDA, then why not just sell a reasonably priced software version of Keysoft for people who want that functionality? You can get a Windows laptop with similar specs for way cheaper, well until the rampocalypse that is... Then people who already have a Windows laptop can also get Keysoft if they want it. The other advantage of getting something like a Mantis or Brailliant is that if one piece breaks, you can still use the other. If the Braille display breaks, you still have the computer. IF the computer breaks, you can still use your display with your phone. You can also choose to upgrade to a new computer at any time and bring your Braille display along.

I know selling cheaper software won't allow them to sell a device for thousands of dollars a pop, but I wish these options were also available. I'm not so sure about proprietary devices any more.

I mean, you can already do that, with the exception of KeySoft... I think the idea in large part is to get something portable and easy to manage. Let's face it, a laptop and 40 cell display on one's lap, airplane tray table, little school-style desk, just doesn't work.
I hate to think about how much of the money I paid for the laptop I am thyping this on went to this screen I cannot use...
Otherwise, I share a lot of the concerns, especially for upgrading and longevity. I noticed on the HumanWare page they are primarily marketting it to schools as a transition device that will help the student now in education as well as develop PC (Windows) skills for the future job market. I'm sure that is part for funding purposes. I can see both points. I'm from the era where proprietary notetakers were the option for school, after leaving school I've not used one in a professional setting. Not that I couldn't but it'd honestly make me a lot of redundant work... I could see value in this for myself but I'll have to weigh the productivity advantages against the disadvantages and decide if it is a worthwhile expense. I'm not making a final decision today or likely anytime soon. <smile>

Does anyone remember the Nintendo Power Glove? It was awesome in concept, terribad in execution. For those who do not know what I am referring to; let me explain. The Power Glove was this glove device that plugged into an original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The Glove had a bunch of controls on it, along the forearm, and if I recall, even a D-pad on top of the hand.

Why am I talking about the Power Glove?

Because I would one day love to see a vanilla braille display that was maybe 40cells, that one could wear on their arm. It would have to be lightweight of course, but I think it could be done.

Thank you, that is all. 😇

Another option besides a laptop and a Braille display is a mini PC, such as the ones that Geekom sells, and then getting a USB power bank that has enough capacity and enough current/voltage for it. Then you could just connect the mini PC to a power bank, headphones, optionally a keyboard, and a Braille display. Then you would have the portability of a laptop but without a screen, and if you just use a Braille display without a keyboard (or a Mantis) it would be even more portable than a laptop, and you would not have to pay for the screen. Everything in one device like the Evolve still sounds appealing though because its easier than carrying a mini PC and a bunch of accessories around and connecting them together whenever you want to use it.

That is certainly a creative idea. Seems like a lot going on though as you point out.
I have mentioned this before, to me this is all being over-complicated. Make me a case that can hold a tablet and Braille display together in a tidy fashion. We could put in an iPad, a Microsoft Surface Pro, etc., of our choosing. And the case would make it very close to an all in one. HumanWare, essentially give me the iPad Magic Keyboard case with the Mantis as the keyboard please. If I was any good at leather working I'd give it a try.

Hey, now there's an idea. Something like that does sound pretty sweet.

There was an episode on the Verge's Version History podcast a couple of weeks ago about the power glove if anyone is interested. It's not something I really knew about before that.

Ha ha, 1980s technology for the win! 😆

Doesn't seem like something HumanWare would do, but I was thinking something like an iPad case. You would put your iPad in it in landscape mode, and it would have a 32 or 40 cell display along the bottom edge that would get power through the smart connector and you would control the iPad through BSI in tabletop mode. I haven't played with an iPad in a while, but BSI in tabletop seems like it would be easier on those since the screen is much bigger.

In theory, this sounds awesome, especially with Braille Access mode which Apple will probably keep improving in new versions of iOS.

I've heard that the HelpTech Activator has a dock for an iPad or iPhone where it attaches to the display, although I'm not sure if it’s more like a case or just attached on the side. The Activator also has both a Perkins and QWERTY keyboard that you can switch between, and I think a 40 cell display.

The dock is a little plastic thing that attaches magnetically to the right-hand side of the activator. Then you place your iPhone in the dock, which has a sort of spring arm to adjust to different sizes. Then you must attach a short USB-C cable to the iPhone and to the corner of the dock. The magnet is not strong enough to support the dock and iPhone like if you lift it up, it needs to be sitting on a stable surface like a desk. I think the USB interface is needed to get some of the Help Tech Companion app features to work, otherwise the dock is more clunky than nice in my opinion and just attaching the two devices via USB cable would be just as practical... Or setting a magnet to use the iPhone's magsafe... But no one asked me.
The Activator itself is a nice display and currently the only real competition to the Mantis for getting a QWERTY keyboard on a display which is the best way to use a display in terminal mode with a PC, in my opinion.

And here today is an article on The Verge about HP cramming a PC into a keyboard, similar to the Raspberry PI except it is a real PC. It seems a Braille display company should partner with something like this instead of trying to invent/build things they don't have manufacturing expertise in. Hopefully someone can. (Not clear to me if HP is shipping this or just showing proof of concept.)
https://www.theverge.com/news/851965/hp-crammed-an-entire-desktop-computer-into-this-keyboard

Love the idea for a case that blends the more common devices. It would probably have to be a modular case for each device and a universal connector to avoid limitting combinations. Or even a case for a brail display with a magsafe attachment?

The power glove... That takes me back. There was a film, I think it was called The Wiz, with a very young Christian Slator in it about a kid going to play the, at the time, unreleased Mario 3. He had The Glove. It was made out to be totally bad ass and, as I was a child, I refuse to have my view changed on it. I'm going to get one... No.. I'm going to get two! ... No! I"m going to get two and write to Nintendo and ask for a Power Sock too.

And finally the HP computer in a keyboard... It sounds good, if it wasn't so expensive. They are looking to come in under the $1000 which I think is kinda insane. Much better to pick up a laptop which will last the whole day, have better speakers, more ports... etc and so on. The formfactor is right for us, maybe, but we'd also be paying more for less, plus the headache of trying to get it to work headless. AFter smashing my head against a brick wall with an Asus XBox Ally for the last couple of weeks, I've realised just how touchy Windows is. I complain, quietly I might add, about mac sometimes, you may have missed it... But it is the worst of both worlds. Mac, great OS, god awful screen reader. Windows, great screen readers, in a bucket of good ideas fighting to the death.

It would be cool if this formfactor did take off though. There were rumours of Apple exploring this a few years ago though, I don't see them bringing it to market. Better off getting an old M1 or even intel MBA with a busted screen, ripping the screen off and getting someone to design you a tasty little case for it.

There is also the image to consider—I'm vane. Sitting in a coffee shop with no little wall of intent between myself and the other slurpers seems weird. I don't like looking blind and am happy to affect a focus. No screen either highlights my disability or makes me look bonkers.. Or both.

I wish I knew what everyone's obsession was with going, "headless", with their computers. What's wrong with just using a laptop? Personally, I love the idea of being able to blank out my screen, close my lid when I'm not using it to keep dust out of the keys, and also the ability to show the screen to sighted friends, should the need arise.

Disclaimer, like my subject line? Hey, me too !!

Screens are very expensive. The Geekom A9 Max Mini PC with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, 32 GB of RAM, and a 2 TB SSD costs $1199, while the Framework Laptop 13, in the same configuration but with 1 TB of storage instead of 2, costs $2099. The Mac Studio with the M4 Max highest core version, 64 GB of RAM, and 2 TB of storage costs $3199, while the MacBook Pro in the same configuration costs $1000 more than that. You can get a very good keyboard, a power bank to power the Geekom mini PC on the go, and a capture card and HDMI cable to display the video output to another device for around $300, if you get the Logitech MX Keys S for your keyboard and there are cheaper options. Basically there are apps for Android and iPad (iPhones don't support this for some reason), where you can plug an HDMI to USB capture card into the USB C port of your phone or iPad, and it will turn it into an HDMI monitor for your computer. On my Android phone, I was able to use that to go into the boot menu by taking screenshots of the app and sending them to Be My AI.

Also the extra portability of being without a screen is nice. My new mini PC and keyboard and power bank take up less space in my backpack than my laptop did, and my BT Speak (although pretty expensive) is the most portable all-in-one computer (no other accessories needed), where you can run full desktop programs, that I've ever heard of. The BrailleNote Evolve will be the same way, being smaller and more portable than a Braille display plus a laptop but offering the same capabilities and without the screen taking up space for no reason, although of course the BT Speak is significantly smaller.