Cheap $10 display reviewed: Perfect for Raspberry Pi 5?
Almost couldn't be cheaper.
A 7-inch HDMI display for a bargain price of around $10 tested: fast delivery, easy setup, and surprisingly usable with a Raspberry Pi or as a third display. Why makers may want to buy it, and why image quality, brightness, and viewing angles remain clear compromises.Silvio Werner (translated by Enrico Frahn) Published 🇩🇪
This display is a bargain, but not for everyone
A display for $10? It does exist, can be shipped quickly, works and could be the perfect choice for makers. Still, viewing angle stability, color accuracy and brightness are not things to worry about here. If that does not matter, the rule is: grab one at the next opportunity if a compact display is needed for something like a single-board computer, or as a third display for showing Discord messages, notifications or a cheat sheet for the next video conference.
Pros
Cons
Price and availability
The display we reviewed has been purchased from AliExpress for just under $10. The display is still available at this price, although it is only offered to new customers. We also want to point out here: AliExpress does not thoroughly check how many roommates with the same last name live at one address, nor does it check for identical payment methods.
The tested display measures 7 inches diagonally, has a resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels, accepts video input via HDMI and uses a TN panel. Power is supplied to the device via Micro-USB, and the model variant we purchased does not offer touch support.
Specifications
| Type | Display |
| Panel | TN |
| Screen size | 7 inches |
| Resolution | 1024 x 600 pixel |
| Refresh rate | 60Hz |
| Ports | Micro USB, HDMI |
Fast delivery, good packaging
First of all, this is not a display review backed by exact measurements. Instead, we wanted to find out if a $10 monitor can actually be usable. Does the product arrive undamaged, and are there unexpected import duties after all? Shipping to Germany was completely trouble-free. Around one week passed between ordering on the evening of May 26 and DHL delivery on June 4. That can happen in German online retail as well. The display is well packaged. The protective film was visibly dirty, but the display itself was clean. Individual controllers are visible on the back. Four screws for mounting are also included. Depending on the application, some kind of enclosure should be built or, for example, 3D-printed.
Picture quality from the past decade
Power can be supplied via either of the two micro USB ports, and a cable for this outdated standard should hopefully still be found in any well-stocked cable box. Video signals are sent to the device via HDMI. A USB-C port would have enabled the transmission of both power and video signals over a single connection. However, single-board computers rarely offer video output via USB-C, so that would have required either an additional port on the display, which would have increased costs, or an adapter on the single-board computer, which would have been inconvenient. Subjectively, the image quality is clearly far below the standard of modern monitors, whether in terms of color reproduction, brightness or viewing angle stability. In the pictures, the display can be seen in comparison with a BOE NE160QDM-NY1 V8.2 in a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16.
Transparency
The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was freely purchased by the author at his/her own expense. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.
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