Display from a laptop

[Nabukodonosor]

Hey guys. I'm about to start building my first bartop cabinet. So, I have two 17.3" 16:10 LCD monitors from some old laptops. Is it a good idea to use one of those, or is it a better idea to go and buy some used 17-19" desktop TFT/LCD? Has anyone tried using laptop display? Thanks

[grantspain]

i don't think you will be able to do that unless you installed a AD board on the laptop screen,otherwise there would be no way to interface the screen to a video source and power supply

[Phreakwars]

You could absolutely do it... although, if it was me personally doing it. I'd be tearing the laptop apart and mounting the guts (motherboard) somewhere proximate to the screen...like in the back, since the cable that runs between the base and screen on most laptops is pretty short, the LCD's ribbon might give you a bit more to play with, but highly doubtful, unless of course you use an adapter. Where you will run into trouble is powering it on. Some laptop motherboards have a daughter card that control the power button, some have it built onto the motherboard. If I had a preference, it would be for a laptop with the daughter card since I know I'd more then likely have to play with a soldering iron. Ruin the daughter card, no biggy, just snatch another off of eBay, ruin the motherboard, that might start to be a pain and be a bit pricey. But then, you didn't mention if you wanted to use JUST the screen and guts from another PC, or the entire laptop. Either way... anything is do-able if you set your mind to it and can find the right parts to help interface everything.