Can I Turn a Laptop LCD to a Desktop Monitor?
- Thursday, April 8, 2010, 21:19
- Hardware, How To?
- Views: 8,303
- 18 comments
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Most certainly you can, and that too without having to spend a fortune or two and without having to stress your grey cells. All you need to buy is the appropriate controller board kit from ebay. You would have to mention your LCD panel type (manufacturer name and model number and resolution) to the seller, remember this is not the brand name of your laptop. To find out the manufacturer and make of your LCD you would have to strip it down to reveal the skeleton of the LCD, the information should be imprinted on the back of the LCD, the one shown here is (LG Philips LCD LP150U1-A2 with 1600×1200 resolution).
Based on the LCD type this ebay seller would program the controller board, and choose inverter and LVDS cable for it. I just received the controller board listed on this page and it didn’t take me long to fire it up. All I need to do was to: connect the inverter power output to LCD panel, connect the LVDS cable to the back of LCD panel after I removed the previous LVDS cable. Please note, the male connector from the LCD connects to the inverter board in only one way to ensure the polarity, make sure you connect it properly and push it all the way in, else the screen wont brighten up. Do drop me a line if you have any question in this regard.
Here are a few images of my DIY homemade monitor built from a laptop LCD panel which has a resolution of 1600×1200. Total investment was $47. In time I intend to spice up the look of this monitor and build a DIY enclosure for it.
Here is an image depicting the connections for the board. Feel free to ask if the image is not clear enough!
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About the Author
lifehacker has written 1320 posts on this blog.
Meditating towards his "nerdvana", lifehacker is a teacher by the day and a nerdy blogger by the night. He lives to learn and yearns to learn living.
18 Comments on “Can I Turn a Laptop LCD to a Desktop Monitor?”
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Yes! You’ve made my day. I was looking for something like this and found your page. Can’t thank you enough!
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I genuinely liked reading through your web log content, and I’ve added you to my Yahoo RSS.
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I’m very happy to see this website! Thank you so much for your recommendation of our products on eBay! We really appreciate it! Wonderful transaction with you!
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Thanks to your helpful page I purchased the same item and used it right away. The ebay reseller was very helpful and quick at replying. The item arrived as scheduled and worked out of the box. Thanks to your helpful instructions I got it to work within seconds. I had looked for this for ages. Thanks mate!
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@ilpuco –
Most welcome, glad to spread the fun around..
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Where can i bought the circuit?
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lifehacker Reply:
May 16th, 2010 at 10:49 am
The link for ebay seller is given in the post.
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The link for ebay seller is given in the post.
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I found the link, luckily =). But i havent seen any controller board for Lg.Philips LP141WX1-(TL)(A2). So what can i do?
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@wasabi –
The controller boards are generic and are divided in different categories based on resolution, all you need is to find the resolution and make (which you already know) and contact the seller with the details (use email contact seller option). The he would tell you if your LCD is supported or not and you can also ask them which controller board should you buy. Hope this helps.
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THANKS!!
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I am planning to purchase this controller, my LCD model is supported as shown on ebay sellers page, It would be great help if you can help me with pictures of how to connect to the controller.
Thanks
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lifehacker Reply:
November 15th, 2010 at 11:54 am
@Madhu, Alright. I would post some pics tonight of the controller connection.
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lifehacker Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
@Madhu, I have uploaded the pic, let me know if it is any useful!
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Madhu Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 3:15 am
@lifehacker,
gr8, thanks a lot, i place my order, will contact if i need any help, again thanks a lot..
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