Astro HQ, the creators of Astropad and Luna Display, have just revealed plans to create Luna Display for Windows. This little hardware dongle, when paired with the Luna App on iPad, will be able to turn your iPad into a wireless, high-quality secondary display and graphics tablet for any PC.
For those who aren’t familiar, Luna Display is a hardware-and-software solution designed to turn an iPad into a secondary display for your Mac with full touchscreen and Apple pencil functionality, plus some really useful customization features. Luna Display for Windows wants to bring that same feature set to creatives who prefer to use a PC.
Like the Mac version, Luna Display for Windows will work over WiFi or USB, promises a “lag-free” experience (16ms response time), and offers full touch and keyboard support. Unlike the Mac version, the Windows version will come in both USB-C and HDMI variants, since PC makers haven’t been “brave enough” to get rid of that port just yet.
Here’s an overview of the included features:
And a helpful video intro from Astro HQ’s Kickstarter campaign:
As the video explains, it’s the hardware component that makes Luna Display unique.
iPad-as-display alternatives like Duet Display—which is has been compatible with PC for years—is software only, which runs the risk of breaking with future OS updates from Apple (at least according to Astro). Luna Display is recognized as a real, secondary display, bypassing this issue and, ideally, providing a reliable experience whether you’re using it as a secondary display for productivity work, or as a graphics tablet for creative work.
Astro HQ’s own Astropad is a lighter option, but it’s Mac only and does not let you use your iPad as a secondary display: only a graphics tablet. Plus, like the Duet Display app they like to criticize, there is no hardware component to Astropad.
As mentioned above, Luna Display for Windows is currently being funded on Kickstarter where they’ve raised over $105K in less than a day, on an original funding goal of just $30K. The hope is to finalize hardware and software by the beginning of 2021 and start shipping units to backers in May, with public availability in June.
When it launches to the public, Luna Display for Windows will cost $80, but you can still secure one for yourself at the Early Bird price of $59. To learn more or pledge your support head over to the Kickstarter campaign here. Just remember: no Kickstarter campaign is a “pre-order” so do your research and pledge responsibly.
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