Where are all the monitor mods?

[Kordova]

Oh if ya got two monitors, why not try and make a dual sliding monitor similar to this...
When I first say this notebook, I couldn't believe my eyes.

[The_Crippler]

That's a pretty cool idea, Kordova. If you run with it, be sure to let us see.

Well, I have ordered my rather suspect board. I was able to contact some other customers that shopped through the supplier (hey, I'm super unsure about the product, but I'm a sneaky SOB) and they all had good things to say. One guy gave me very detailed talking points including - surprise - cheap construction, but serviceable with a few simple precautions. Should hopefully have it next weekend, and then I can find out if I wasted my money. If not, it's on.

[AmEv]

iAES.

Gutted a 17" Gateway monitor to put in one case.

Still in progress as of now....

[Kordova]

I just found a mod with a couple monitors and posted it to my blog, nothing tooo spectacular but might come as inspiration for someone. Still a awesome case!

[altec]

Well, there's always this mod. I'm not going to attempt it until my monitor craps out. I would hate to make a mistake.

Here is what I did to a lappy with a dead back light. Wish I had a better picture. It is 26 white LED's (I think it was 26). Split in the middle so it uses two resistors. It worked decent.

[The_Crippler]

Holy eff'n crap, it worked. (That should be my sig-line at this point.)

Okay, to spill the beans, here it is: I found the board on Ebay, from a seller in China...for $30 (plus $7.50 for the power adapter.) Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too - repeatedly. China? Ebay? That cheap? Gotta be a scam...but the seller was really helpful. Also, he had a lot of good feedback. Finally, I was able to contact some other people that bought from him, and they all had generally favorable things to say (one guy had a board short out, but it seems the seller replaced it without problem.)

The seller posts under the name 'njytouch.' I have no idea what the long-term quality of these boards are, but this one worked out of the box, plug n' play. At $38+shipping, it's not like it's an alternative to a brand new monitor...but for people like me with a number of spare panels? Seems to be the ticket.

This particular board has both VGA and DVI input, plus a separate board with all of the normal front-panel buttons.

So...now to fully plan what I'm going to do with it.

[x88x]

Nice! The cheapest I've seen anything like that before was about three times that price. Do you know what resolutions the board supports?

[The_Crippler]

Exactly! This is why I was so tight-lipped. Like I said above, I expected everyone to tell me that I was an idiot and it was a scam. Every fiber of my being railed against it, but I just had to know.

This board supports 1440*900, but that's the one that they reccomended for my panel, which supports 1366*768. One of their many helpful things was to check their stores of panels to match the board to panel, so they might have ones for other resolutions.

A note on shipping: China Post was $14 or so, but that can take up to 2 months. DHL was $28, but it got here in 4 days. (And is still cheaper than these boards normally are, as you point out.)

[x88x]

Hmmm....I wonder... *runs to ebay to search for 1080p/UXGA IPS laptop panels*

[The_Crippler]

I'd just contact the seller. Like I said, super responsive. Tell him what you're looking for, and he'll help from there. He (or one of his associates I dealt with) will ask for info about the panel (model number from the back, etc) and then let you know what they have.