Can I turn my lcd laptop monitor into a desktop monitor?

As I've posted previously and as others have also. Using a laptop LCD for a desktop monitor can be accomplished but the particulars will be different from one LCD manufacturers model to another just because the wiring is usually different, however the process is the same. And as for reasons, there are more than one. If you try to replace a sony motherboard it will cost you nearly as much as a new laptop, however, some repair facilities do a great job at a reasonable price. Then again it is not necessarily economical to spend several hundred dollars on repairing a laptop only worth a couple hundred when you can buy a nice refurb for a few hundred and get a warranty. So to put a 14" working LCD
on a 3GHz desktop is far superior economically to trying to repair an old 233MHz system that will probably have another failure. If you are adventurous there are ways of finding laptop screen wiring diagrams and if you are kind enough to ask courteously I'll search my archive for free as long as anyone who makes a request can be patient.

 

Well, what I wanted to do is either turn it into a monitor / TV, or a second screen for my computer wich only has a CRT, mainly so I can do certain mutli-tasks since I do media. However, I have a slightly newer model, a TP 770, which has a video MPEG 2 encoder with video-on/out which works and runs at full speed. However, I was updating the drivers and now windows won't boot. Lol, does anyone know of a good program to view video in from a capture card with? Needs to be a free one as well.

 

For Tex777.
I recomend you DScaler. http://www.google.com will help you get it.

 

This entire thread is a billion dollar idea. Furthermore it would be cool if you could also use your notebook keyboard on your desktop. You'd have a mobile processor to travel with and if you really needed the power you could just plug her into the desktop.

man what a wicked idea. I can't beleive this hasn't been implemented commerically yet.

 

TEX777 - I saw you post and wrote a Quick VB6 application to monitor the input from the card (or any input source) the install files are large only due to making sure all runetime moduals are included so it will work without problems, but the actual program is only 56k total and works well under windows XP pro(as tested with a Quick cam color). you can find it on my website at "http://www.angrykreyon.com/dload/cam_watch.zip" - let me know if this helped you.

MONCHAT - I have actually spoken to people in the computer manufacturing business about an Idea I had very similar to the one you spoke of, I thought how cool would it be to have a laptop that actaully slid into a pocket(not a docking station but similar) on the HOME Pc and doubled the proccessing power and also acted as a secondary monitor for the main unit as well, but I was told that the technology is not quite ready yet to try and mesh to chipsets together to make a "super-Computer" and then there are issues of Common types(or shapes) that would allow you to mix manufacturers. (at this time it would all be proprietary and you would have to get everything from one source. and as far as using the laptop keyboard on a desktop PC i think that most would agree with me when I say I dont like to use the laptop keyboard for the laptop, instead I almost always opt for the Full keyboard to be plugged in so I can use what feels more friendly. so I really don't think that would fly for most people and like I was once told if enough people wont buy it then we just wont make it.

now, the best reason I have heard so far for even consider doing this is that basically as far as television goes, anything with over 500 liines of resolution is ok to be considered HIGH DEFFINITION, therefor the tv you have at home basically putting out 300, by 490 lines is not high def. but a LCD monitor in 1024x768 or 1280x1024 is deffinately HIGH resolution. and is much more crisp and clear than a regular TV.
I have been watching TV on my CPU for 5 years since I found the All-in-wonder from ATI, it's a wicked good card and when watching the picture on the CPU and the TV at the same time you can see all the missing areas of the screen the TV conveniently leaves out for you. in other words I see an extra inch of picture at the bottom of the screen and about 1/2 on the sides and another 1/2 on the top, and words are easier to read and the list goes on, but you get the point. now I don't know if all the 500 and higher stuff is true but I do know that the picture is far better than the normal. so when looking at Monitors for the car I see that they run 400 by 200 (or something like that) and I wonder how crappy that will be to watch. my boss had a couple small 7" monitors and sold them recently to add a 15" monitor to the car( wow what a difference, not just size but color and clarity) but the Monitor was $1000 installed.(to much for me to spend)so if I can geta 14 inch laptop monitor to do the same for abotu $100 or $200 (for the conversion card) then I believe this to be totaly worth it!!!!!

 

I have been looking for a good reason to take apart the LCD of my severed notebook computer. It is a DELL Inspiron 7500 and I now see it as spare parts. I dont mean to get into all the backround, but I trashed that computer and now LOVE this Mac OSX 12" Powerbook G4. I have lately had a lot of time on my hands and have a few other gadgets as well, sitting around that I don't really use any more and would love to take apart... like: playstation 2, the OLD NINTENDO, a P.O.S.-MP3 player(156mb or something), a couple of old USB video cameras, etc. . . . and even more JUNK (or so I keep hearing). Well, I wanted to mainly take the LCD and fabricate a casing, in some way, to make it portable. I was thinking that the most universal input is RCA (please tell me if you agree...), that way I could connect a DVD player or perhaps use it as a portable TV. Well here is where the "junk" parts come into play, I can only imagine how pissed my buddies would be if I had whipped up something cooler than his brand new PSP the hacks he finds out for them. Anyway, I have really been contemplating how many different systems I want to put into it (PS2, nintendo, camera...) I would put them all or really as much as I can fit. I now need to fabricate my own enclosure for this 'concoction' so I can make whatever work!! I would really appreciate your input I have been searching the web for days and also taking apart the "equipment" I have listed above. The information on this forum particularly have pushed me ahead in my goal to make: "AN ULTIMATE PORTABLE ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM" I would love to incorporate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and maybe a firewire output, as well as speakers, but we can get down to the details later!!!! Thank you all Very Much for your input and time I really appreciate it!!

 

ZaphodB - you are correct that an RCA connector would be the most "universal" for the monitor, but there-in lies the problem we are all facing, Exactly how do we get an RCA connector onto the Monitor and make it work. This is where the controller card comes in, it will give you a place to plug in the 40-pin connector from the monitor and then the other side will have an RCA input. the problem is these are not cheap. I have however been reading up on some of them and they seem pretty cool, some will send multiple output signals so that you can run a regular CRT monitor as well as the LCD (at the same time, much like a laptop controller). but when facing a purchase of a $250 PSP or a $350 controller card (and another month worth of tinkering) most will choose the easy ready to go option.

on another note, when I spoke to my boss about using old 15" monitors for the car he said "they will be too big and hard to see", he even told me that the 7" monitor in his sun visor seemed too close. but last week he traded in his car for a ford excursion and then went to have his system installed and ended up buying a new 15" monitor for the truck (cost $1000 installed), and he loves it. now he understands why I want to do this. (to be blunt I simply dont have $1000 to spend on this, but $300-$350 is a possibility)and I alreadey have about 4 monitors ready to go.

another issue I am finding is how to get a good power supply for the unit that will not be so big and bulky that it gets in the way. most of the laptop power supplies/inverters are on the cords and then piped in at levels ready to go. how can we make this tie into the system? (dont think we can) it would be nice to believe that these things ran off of standard 12 volt or something similar, but the sony's I use have 19 volt power supplies. so power is a issue here too. ( to have a ps2,nintendo,camera,etc... would have to have multiple power types and supplies, making the case bigger at ever step) and lets not forget amps. each unit will use a different amperage as well as voltage. all this must be considered to make an all-in-one unit.

too many questions and not enough money to throw at it!!!!! LOL

 

I have a spare TV/VCR that is ready to be trashed, do you think there are any 'spare' parts in there? I was thinking at least wires and other small things would be helpful. I don't have much time to talk and be very descriptive but I have asked others and they don't think I can make it all work, which pisses me off and makes me want to piss them off with a post of the final product! in short that describes how I like to get things done if i don't know what i am doing ill take the time to figure it out and make it work. . . and then some hopefuly. Thank you for your help!


the encouraging ones:
http://benheck.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=65479#65479

you all are a great help thank you very much!!!

 

Hello ALL,
New here and just wanted some help! I have been reading so much about this and let me tell you I am so confused. well I am a contractor always going from place to place time is money. I have a Laptop mounted in my truck running delorme program. some time it can get a little distracting looking down at the screen to see where I need to go. I was thinking I have an old Toshiba 325cds lcd screen laying around . I want to some how mount it in to my dash reflecting up on to the window like H.U.D. I know it sounds crazy but it would be where I could keep an eye on it and not have my eyes off the road LOL also I have a small composit screen also but I found out you cant come out of the vga on the laptop to composit with out some kind of box any help here I am willing to take a challenge and not afraid of trying

 

hey guy_n_hsv - sounds like a good plan but the main issue is going to be Brightness (or lumens as they are called). while you may be able to seethe screen reflected in the winshield at night, daytime driving will not produce any usable effect (unless its cloudy and dark)due to the fact that the lumens of the sun will over power the lumens of the monitor. the best way to overcome this is to use a projector of some kind (which the monitor is Not) keeping this in mind, you may find that the night time screen does not show up so well either. (best thing to do is go and take a look at the cadillac that has this type of system built in and see how they did it and how well it works and then decide if it is worth the trouble.)

oh yea and I havent even mentioned the fact that you will have to have some type of conversion box or program to flip the picture in the monitor so it comes out looking the right direction on the windshield.

give me a wile and I will think of more issues you will have to face to make that work right.

 

I have a question and perhaps it has already been answered. I have an old compaq lte 5280 laptop, and i would like to use it as a seccond monitor for my main computer. a dell dimension 3000 with an nvidia mx4000 videocard and my onboard video that i rarly use.
The laptop has a video out that i can use to hook up a regular monitor. it there anything i can do to reverse that and use it as an input or do i have to get out the soldering iron and get creative? if so what do i do?

please help!

 

I would like to know how to do this too, i have an old IBM Thinkpad, 500mhz laptop, and i bring it on the road, but it is too old to play most games on. I have a Shuttle as my main computer, 3.2 ghz and the like, but the only thing stopping me from bringing it is a monitor. I dont have any flat panel monitors and i dont feel like spending much money on getting one. If there were some way to use my Thinkpad's monitor, and possibly keyboard, that would enable me to do much more with a desktop computer's power. This laptop has a VGA and S-Video port, and my Shuttle has a GeForce FX 5700, which has both also. Would there be some way to plug them into eachother and let the laptop accept the video instead of output it?

 

ok guys, you will need a controller to make any of this happen, and the laptop may not be useable as such afterwards.
see the only inputs on the LCD panel are the (internal)40-pin line inputs and the backlight inputs. in order to input to these you would have to remove it from its current location and attach it to a controller card that can translate the signal, then the controller card has multiple input types that it can translate signals from to the LCD for you.(as similar card is used in the laptop to send the signal to a monitoer or the LCD.)
(in this thread there is a link to a company which makes such a card, find it and check it out.)
problem with these cards is compatability with your monitors input plugs, make sure to check if your monitor is supported by the card you choose.
Ultimately this comes down to willingness to throw money at the project(or ability to create your own controller card) at least thats my take on the whole thing.

 

Well then, yes or no, is there anyway to just use the monitor of the laptop as is, on a working laptop, without ripping it off or anything? Some sort of software that would allow your video card to recieve through its VGA port?

 

Ok, so . . . ther'es no cheap way to re-use a LCD laptop screen ?

 

NOPE!
There's no way to turn VGA outputs into inputs.

The only cheap way to reuse a laptop screen is finding an LCD monitor mainboard from a dead monitor in a junkyard that maches your screen and put them together.
This is how I did it, and it works just fine. The only downside is that laptop screens are poor quality when compared to LCD monitors (low brightness, high response time, narrow viewing angle).

 

can u elaborate on this a lil more? ie. how do i kno if this lcd i found in the junk yard is compatible etc. how did u do it. alss has any1 tried this with an active matrix lcd out of an apple 520c powerbook.
my lcd has several circuit boards on/behind it but im thinking those are the inverter boards etc. am i right?
neway if ne1 thinks of nething dnt hesitate 2 reply!!!

also wot about connecting this straight to the gfx card?

 

ceteras??? What???
" NOPE!
There's no way to turn VGA outputs into inputs."

An output is an input to something!!!!! The input to an LCD is the output from a decoder!!!

"The only cheap way to reuse a laptop screen is finding an LCD monitor mainboard from a dead monitor in a junkyard that maches your screen and put them together."

WHAT!!!! Why look in a junk yard, That's the last place I'd go, especially when you can purchase good working ones for a few dollars or even get them for free!!!
Real Stupidity there!!! And it gets worse with the next statement!!!

"This is how I did it, and it works just fine. The only downside is that laptop screens are poor quality when compared to LCD monitors (low brightness, high response time, narrow viewing angle)."

I don't think you did anything, 'cause so far you haven't said anything intelligent. In a lot of cases laptop screens are LCD's, especioally the newer ones.
They have decent Brightness, a SLOW response time but adequate, and yes not a great viewing angle but I usually am near my computer. And I have actually done it. I repair laptops and know what it takes and a junk yard is not on my list and shouldn't be on anyones. And if you read my posts you'd know that you can find documentation on almost any LCD to decipher the wiring necessary to attach an LCD and even build a decoder.

 

hey, bytedawg, chill out!

I meant there's no way to turn a laptop's VGA output into VGA input for it's LCD screen. Read carefully before posting, that's what people asked about. Or maybe my english is that bad.

Find your dead or working old LCD monitor from wherever you want. I got mine from a service company. Junk yard, scrap-heap, schrott, I didn't mean to offend anybody; just get your desktop LCD monitor. If it works, use it; if it's broken, fix it; if you can't, check it's mainboard, and if that works, connect it to a proper laptop LCD screen. I just imagined that it will be obvious for everybody what to do; the details would take too much space to post here, but are all-over the internet.

It's true that you can find documentation on almost everything, and people should search and study before coming here with questions.
I haven't wrote too much so far because I don't have time to do so. I intend to make a small website where to post the details.

I use a 14" TFT panel from an one-year-old (but broken) Clevo laptop. The image on screen is as good as it can be, but doesn't satisifies my requirements, because I need my monitor to be high brightness and wide viewing angle. And for me, this is a downside.

Of course laptop screens are LCD's, but we're not talking about new laptop's screens, but screens from dead (and often older) laptops.
I was referring to laptop screens being lower performers than desktop LCD monitor screens, regarding speed, brightness and viewing angle.

I came here to try to help people, not bragg about how smart I am.
I'm sorry if I wasted everybody's time with my posts. It's all I could do so far; if I can't be of any more help, I won't bother you anymore.
I'll put my web site up, including schematics, datasheets, pictures and all it takes to get someone to achieve what I've did so far.
It will take me about a month to do it.
I wish you all the best!

 

Whoa, whoa , whoa , Boys, lets all try and get along here. first of all bytedawg that was a harsh reply, after all, ceteras only stated a Fact, No you cannot reverse the signal on the lines of an output and make it magicaly become an input. without some solldering and reworking of the board it would blow out as soon as the voltage hit it. sure an output is an input to something but that is not the point. the point is if I try to hook up the monitor backwards it will not work. you are talking about 15 pin input and 40 pin output, switched to 40 pin input and 15 pin output, Don't Think so, oh and the Controller card, it's never gonna be able to figure out how to get the signal in backwards, before it blows up!

and those of us who are paying attention understand that a junk yard can be any source of Used, Cheap Equipment, I don't see why that was worth the Lashing you gave him.

You know this is supposed to be a helpful place, and Ideas and suggestions as well as opinions are as important to share as facts, because it helps everyone learn and grow, but bashing each other when we don't understand is NOT COOL! so lets all try and get along and maybe we can solve some of the issues we find and who knows someday we may actually make something real cool!