"being only able to perceive 3D?" I have heard other people use this phrase before, and it always strikes me as meaningless. I have memories of things I witnessed in the past, which is presumably the fourth dimension. I can perceive what events are most likely to occur in the near future (each moment has many possible outcomes so I only get a sense of what is probable). On the other hand, I have very little idea of what the interior of my neighbor's house contains. I think phrases like "we live in the third dimension" are generally meaningless.

Ha, well to be fair to the moderators, I posted rather late. I believe another poster already pointed out there is a solution for "makers" that is about a tenth as costly as my Cintiq. If I had more free time(or better hardware chops) I'd try to make one.

I had the same requirements as 'timothy' and there really is very little on the market that meets them. I suspect all the sufficiently small HD screens are being snapped up by tablet manufacturers. It's a shame Apple seems to have banished USB pass-through apps, or the iPad + AirDisplay would make a nice choice. I looked at the AOC E2251Fwu, a "semi portable" product. Bit large for me, and the build quality and design don't suit me. This HP-U160 seemed cute, but is not HD, so I ruled it out. I eventually settled on the Wacom Cintiq 13HD It is actually designed for pen input, and is rather expensive because of this. Since I have also the occasional need to use a graphics tablet, it works okay for me. The only issue is that there's no decent portrait-mode stand for it yet. Makes coding less pleasant. Over all I'm satisfied with it though.