Luna Display Lets You Use an iPad as a Second Display

Luna Display 5.0 comes to Windows for the first time, letting you use your iPad as a second display. And guess what? It works great.

“[With] Luna Display 5.0, [you can] use an iPad as a second display for your PC,” Astropad, makers of Luna Display, announced. “We completely rearchitected the apps to support both PCs and Macs, and added a new Luna Display HDMI unit.”

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Previous versions of Luna Display worked only with the Mac, but the new version adds Windows 10/11 64-bit support, plus some significant setup improvements on M1-based Macs.

Luna Display 5.0 comes in three versions, USB-C, mini-DisplayPort, and HDMI. The USB-C and HDMI versions work with Windows PCs (and the USB-C version works across Macs and PCs). I’ve been testing the USB-C version of the dongle for the past month, and I will be discussing my experiences in my Premium series More Mobile. But I can say this for now: this solution works surprisingly well for productivity usage, with very little of the expected latency or lag issues.

Luna Display 5.0 costs $129.99 but it’s now 20 percent off if you buy directly from the firm.  More soon.

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Conversation 9 comments

  • RossNWirth

    Premium Member
    14 October, 2021 - 10:24 am

    <p>Duet Display in the app stores is another option that I’ve used for years, it works pretty well, but over Wi-Fi, so there is sometimes lag, or glitches with corporate Wi-Fi solutions when a personal device is in one network and corporate in another, but overall great (inexpensive) solution to utilize an ipad as an external monitor</p>

    • captobie

      14 October, 2021 - 7:24 pm

      <p>Extra emphasis on inexpensive. If you don’t need WiFi connectivity Duet is a one-time $9.99 purchase. </p>

  • digiguy

    Premium Member
    14 October, 2021 - 10:49 am

    <p>I bought the HDMI dongle in Spring (for my Windows desktop), but it’s shipping only now and I also just ordered the USB C one. So far I have been using Duet display pro, but over wifi it’s pretty laggy. Also I am curious to see how the magic keyboard works. With Sidecar only the keyboard, but not the trackpad, works. With duet the trackpad kinda works but pretty poorly (no gestures, not right click, nothing…). Hopefully it works better with Luna. </p>

  • covarr

    14 October, 2021 - 11:37 am

    <p>This almost makes me wish I’d bought an iPad instead of a Fire 10… but only almost. The price difference was impossible to ignore. But that’s okay, SpaceDesk seems to be doing the trick pretty well. The UI leaves a bit to be desired, but functionally the software has kept me pretty happy, and I really appreciate that it supports more devices than any of the competition. Seems like Luna Display might still be better, but I’m definitely preferring this to my experience with Duet.</p>

  • ebraiter

    14 October, 2021 - 4:03 pm

    <p>And if you go on the road and have no iPad, stick with a portable monitor. For not much more than this you can get a 15" screen.</p>

    • shark47

      15 October, 2021 - 12:26 pm

      <p>I was wondering what the advantages of this approach are. I guess it’s one less screen to carry if you already have an iPad.</p>

  • spullum

    Premium Member
    15 October, 2021 - 1:48 pm

    <p>I have one of these and they are awesome for turning old equipment into a great monitor. Note that if your old machine has video card issues Luna uses its video card vs. some where a cable can be plugged in and the newer device’s video card drives the old display.</p>

  • jra166

    15 October, 2021 - 7:44 pm

    <p>SpaceDesk is free and have been using it for years with Android tablets. </p>

  • zenith601

    17 October, 2021 - 2:54 am

    <p>I use since some time SuperDisplay on Android. Same features, let you connect both in wifi and USB for less lag, works absolutely great. And it costs only 14 euro or so, one time buy. It’s sad most people are unaware stuff like this exists for Android and Windows since some time. </p>

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