[pi]

Ok, first off, I know that it's far too expensive/difficult to salvage the LCD from a laptop to use as a monitor for a desktop PC (or even attached to another laptop as a second monitor) but what I'm wondering is this:

Can I purchase an extension cable for the lid so I can take it a longer distance from from the computer itself, shield those cables, and mount it on the wall or something near my desktop so I can store the computer itself on a shelf or something when it's not being used, but still have access to the monitor.

The model specifically is a Dell Inspiron 600m.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

__________________
3.141 < me < 3.142

Have a GPU or CPU that is sitting around that would be good for folding but you can't fold yourself for whatever reason? Or looking to adopt a component or full rig from someone that has one available? Check out my Adopt-a-Rig program and sign up!

Have an abit board that isn't working anymore and are sad that you can't RMA it? Dont' be sad, abit is still honoring RMAs! I know, I know, I was surprised too!

Swiftes

I dont see why it wouldnt work, perhaps if you wired it to use vga, then yeah?
It is worth a try.

__________________

The only real power comes out of a long rifle.

One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.

airplaneman

Wait, you want to cut your laptop in half basically and have the monitor on the wall, with the bottom half on a desk/shelf? Why..? Why not just buy a 17" LCD monitor?

__________________
Q9650 @ 4.5, 1.4 vCore (1.376 CPU-Z)

K092084

I'm going to agree with this. Why not just mount a normal monitor on the wall with a vga cable running to it.

Could also take the screen off the laptop if you are not wanting it on there for some reason.

But if you are wanting to use the screen already on the laptop, I don't see why you couldn't just splice the wires and make them longer on the screen connection.

__________________
For Sale 1, 2, 3

Time Waster

More Time Wasting

OCN City
OCN City Industry
OCN City Transport

[pi]

The signaling for the laptops LCD is different than the VGA line, so that wouldn't really work, otherwise it'd be easy to just detach the monitor and run a VGA cable to a desktop.

Yes, I want to take the laptop apart essentially into two halves so that I have more give with the monitor. I've taken them apart before to replace the LCDs or get to the motherboard, so that part is no issue at all.

I want to get use out of a laptop that is just sitting in a drawer anyway, and not go spend money on a separate monitor. If I wanted a separate monitor, I'd just go buy a second one, end of story.

__________________
3.141 < me < 3.142

Have a GPU or CPU that is sitting around that would be good for folding but you can't fold yourself for whatever reason? Or looking to adopt a component or full rig from someone that has one available? Check out my Adopt-a-Rig program and sign up!

Have an abit board that isn't working anymore and are sad that you can't RMA it? Dont' be sad, abit is still honoring RMAs! I know, I know, I was surprised too!

xXDarkenSoulXx

http://www.instructables.com/id/Lapt...o-2nd-Monitor/
Found it on lifehacker
Other projects if interested
http://lifehacker.com/359389/give-an...-free-projects

__________________

DuckieHo

You basically want a long ribbon cable?

Why not mod it and have the laptop body behind the LCD (like a tablet PC)? You can Remote Desktop to use it.

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

guyladouche

Yeah, I'm not really understanding the point of this idea. The laptop won't really be very "portable" anymore, so you might as well buy a smaller LCD if you want another display.

Regardless of logistics, I'm not sure that the cable interface for the display on the laptop will be simple to adapt to a VGA plug.

__________________

[pi]

Thanks for the resources I'll check them out.

Yes, a longer ribbon cable is exactly what I'm looking for. But modding it to put the body behind the LCD seems like a great idea. I thought about that initially... flip the LCD over so when it closes, the screen is facing out. Obviously I would have to make it so the lid close button doesn't do anything, and would buy an external keyboard/mouse (which I was going to do anyway).

The issue I ran into in my planning though, was how to bundle the two together. I don't think I would be able to mount the LCD backwards and have it close flush since the bezel/lid curves out a bit, so it may not close flush.

Also, the monitor would have to stay with the unit itself. While mounting the entire laptop wouldn't be that much of an issue, I would have been able to stick a couple of 3M hooks to the wall and slide the LCD into that. Since I live on a campus still, I can't really do any permanent things like drilling a swivel mount or something.

Although Remote Desktop would be quite the solution to that. I've never used it before, and I was always afraid being on the university network with other people being able to access the computer and stuff. So can I get some more direction on that front?

But I'm glad I got Duckie on the case now

Also, do you think it would be possible to extend the power switch to the LCD bezel, or would that be too difficult you think?

I could always just tuck the cables in somewhere (or leave them out even) and reattach the lid to the case if I felt the need to. But the laptop is quite old, and I have a replacement in terms of portable computing anyway with a tablet I picked up a few months ago.

__________________
3.141 < me < 3.142

Have a GPU or CPU that is sitting around that would be good for folding but you can't fold yourself for whatever reason? Or looking to adopt a component or full rig from someone that has one available? Check out my Adopt-a-Rig program and sign up!

Have an abit board that isn't working anymore and are sad that you can't RMA it? Dont' be sad, abit is still honoring RMAs! I know, I know, I was surprised too!

DuckieHo

Internal ribbon cables are pretty fragile and easily ripped. I wouldn't use one if it is exposed and more than 1ft.

Did you ever plan to use the laptop as a laptop again? If no, will this be a permanent case mod?


Remote desktop is encrypted and relatively secure. Also, the connection will be local (assuming you have a router).

__________________
To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular