Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tablet mod: 12" Powerbook

emotion said:
The above display is a widescreen.
Click to expand...


it is wide, you're right. what screens would work then? anyone know? id like to get an idea of howmuch it would cost, and if it's techincally feasable.

So what's going in the case to make it so cramped?
Click to expand...

the keyboard is going out the window too
 
Alright, so i found a 1400 X 1050 resolution 12.1" screen. i think its the highest available. The one i found is made for a toshiba portable: LTD121KM1K . Its SXGA vs. the current screens XGA. Any idea if it'll work?

Better start a new thread for this...
 
So here's the thing, and I don't mean to be rude in saying this but I think it is pretty lame for you to be secretive about a mod in which you are trying to profit from, but want others to figure out how to make it work for you. I mean I am all for mods and I hope that yours works out great, I just think it is not right for you to take other peoples ideas and make them your own - then sell them! I know another guy whom did that... good ol' Billy Gates.

Look if you want to do this mod go for it, want peoples assistance, ask away. DO NOT try to hide what you are doing so others cant steal it. If you want to sell it there are heaps of people out there whom would like to have a moddified machine that have no inclination to do it themselves.

Sorry to sound like an ass but it just didn't sit right with me.

Moving along, I have been working on this one for a while but have come to a pretty solid conclusion that it needs to be driven by an active digitizer rather than a passive one. Passive is OK for PDA's and cameras but for computers they are simply too inaccurate. Also they tend to develop weak spots across the middle of the screen due to the large surface area and only being suspended from the sides. Now wacom are pretty much the only active tablet to go for (for OS X compatability) but their standard configs are only 10" then 15". They do OEM digitizers for tablets which are fine and they do 12" models there but I am not sure whether you can buys those in limited numbers or not. Maybe an email to wacom would help you out in that front. I have thought about using a 6 x 8 graphire internals as they come with the controllers etc... however it's only 10" and is too big for the enclosure. I have been considering just getting a 10" display and using that but they are not easy to come by with an XGA res (the absolute minimum required nowdays). Food for thought anyway.

So what do you plan to use the extra space for? I too was planning on skipping the optical drive and using the space for a second HDD or what have you. Hadn't really decided yet - but what are the extra fans for really? Are you planning to overclock the processor? Is it simply because the display is going to be covering the top of the machine not allowing heat to be disipated? I'm very curious about that one.
 
baxterbrittle said:
So here's the thing, and I don't mean to be rude in saying this but I think it is pretty lame for you to be secretive about a mod in which you are trying to profit from, but want others to figure out how to make it work for you. I mean I am all for mods and I hope that yours works out great, I just think it is not right for you to take other peoples ideas and make them your own - then sell them! I know another guy whom did that... good ol' Billy Gates.

Look if you want to do this mod go for it, want peoples assistance, ask away. DO NOT try to hide what you are doing so others cant steal it. If you want to sell it there are heaps of people out there whom would like to have a moddified machine that have no inclination to do it themselves.

Sorry to sound like an ass but it just didn't sit right with me.

Moving along, I have been working on this one for a while but have come to a pretty solid conclusion that it needs to be driven by an active digitizer rather than a passive one. Passive is OK for PDA's and cameras but for computers they are simply too inaccurate. Also they tend to develop weak spots across the middle of the screen due to the large surface area and only being suspended from the sides. Now wacom are pretty much the only active tablet to go for (for OS X compatability) but their standard configs are only 10" then 15". They do OEM digitizers for tablets which are fine and they do 12" models there but I am not sure whether you can buys those in limited numbers or not. Maybe an email to wacom would help you out in that front. I have thought about using a 6 x 8 graphire internals as they come with the controllers etc... however it's only 10" and is too big for the enclosure. I have been considering just getting a 10" display and using that but they are not easy to come by with an XGA res (the absolute minimum required nowdays). Food for thought anyway.

So what do you plan to use the extra space for? I too was planning on skipping the optical drive and using the space for a second HDD or what have you. Hadn't really decided yet - but what are the extra fans for really? Are you planning to overclock the processor? Is it simply because the display is going to be covering the top of the machine not allowing heat to be disipated? I'm very curious about that one.
Click to expand...

well so by now everyone knows it's a tablet. you made a good point about withholding info. it wasnt a really original idea anyways, and most of the merit goes to effort and time i guess. thanks for convincing me, and for all your advice

im going to use a resistive touchscreen, made by keytec. i would've prefered to have a capacitive touchscreen (3M makes nice ones) but they're not easy to get a hold of, so i went with this "off the shelf" peice.
the extra space is gonna be used for a few things. extra usb ports, space for wiring for lcd and touchscreen, and just to create some cross ventilation. over clocking the processor would be cool, but meh, id rather buy a 1.5ghz logic board (ive a 1.33ghz powerbook right now).

you're right about the fans - cramming all that in will make things hot. the keyboard allows for much more dissipation than a screen would.

more details as things come together!
 
Bootleg 12" Powerbook

I actually have a 12" powerbook that has suffered a little bit from some problems. As of right now I can't plug in the power without spending about 10 minutes situating the cable. This is due to a few drops that occured with the cable plugged in, and pardon the pun, bent it out of shape. If you would like to buy the laptop from me I would be willing to sell it for cheap in hopes of creating this hybrid mod. I'm about to buy a macbook pro within the next 3 months (waiting for a later revision) so it wouldn't be that big of a deal to lose it. Feel free to comment back or e-mail me to figure something out.
 
baxterbrittle said:
I mean I am all for mods and I hope that yours works out great, I just think it is not right for you to take other peoples ideas and make them your own - then sell them! I know another guy whom did that... good ol' Billy Gates.
Click to expand...

LOL and i know another guy who's done that: Steve Jobs! its called business, and no matter how much i come to admire some of these pioneers, i always find instances where they're theiving jerks. thats how they become so successful. honesty just doesnt get you anywhere.

and i was surveying customer needs, not asking people how to make my mod. companies do this all the time. it's a neccesary tool in product development. you survey customer needs, weigh their needs with manufacturing costs and difficulties and make the best product u can based on that balance.
 
Sdashiki said:
have you seen the size of the 12" logic board? its tiny.
Click to expand...
Not tiny enough to fit under half of a notebook keyboard, as in that mockup. Further, I have never seen an LCD panel 4.5x10 inches in size for sale by any panel manufacturer.

szsiddiq said:
yea that mod looks like itd be tough. even after taking the optical drive out, you've still got the battery and harddrive to work with. altho, you could use a 1.8in drive and have plenty of space, so nevermind
Click to expand...
There's no chance of the stock logic board fitting in the pictured configuration, but even considering your tablet concept, where are you going to get a replacement case? Per-unit cost on a custom enclosure for electronics is going to knock the mod squarely out of the "sane budget" ballpark, not to mention that the port connectors don't really lend themselves to tablet PC layouts (tablets are used principally in portrait mode, after all).
 
matticus008 said:
There's no chance of the stock logic board fitting in the pictured configuration, but even considering your tablet concept, where are you going to get a replacement case? Per-unit cost on a custom enclosure for electronics is going to knock the mod squarely out of the "sane budget" ballpark, not to mention that the port connectors don't really lend themselves to tablet PC layouts (tablets are used principally in portrait mode, after all).
Click to expand...

I'm not going to get a replacement case. The bottom case will be able to house most everything. The screen will extrude from that, and to house that i'll be using acrylic. acrylic can be custom cut for almost the same price it's sold for by square ft. I'm still working out how everything will be securely mounted, but i have determined that its feasable.
 
Contemplating an internal solar panel. Not sure whether or not itd be worth it. It'll definatly take a lot more time and research, but im going to look into it for sure.

im also contemplating replacing the 12.1" with a 10.4" or 10.6" wide screen.
 
szsiddiq said:
I'm not going to get a replacement case. The bottom case will be able to house most everything. The screen will extrude from that, and to house that i'll be using acrylic. acrylic can be custom cut for almost the same price it's sold for by square ft. I'm still working out how everything will be securely mounted, but i have determined that its feasable.
Click to expand...
What about the hinge area and the optical drive slot? Have you considered the added thickness and need for lateral support under the touch screen? You can't just mount it in an acrylic frame (which also cannot be cut to a quality piece on the cheap--in addition to making the basic shape, you've got to do beveling and polishing and finding a way to put screws into it without exposing them, and of course keeping tabs on it for the screws; when they offer cheap custom cutting, they mean in a 2-dimensional shape and certainly not the intricate 3D form you'll require).

Feasible or not, this is hardly going to be a mod people would pay to have you do, though it certainly might be fun and worthwhile to do your own.
 
matticus008 said:
What about the hinge area and the optical drive slot? Have you considered the added thickness and need for lateral support under the touch screen? You can't just mount it in an acrylic frame (which also cannot be cut to a quality piece on the cheap--in addition to making the basic shape, you've got to do beveling and polishing and finding a way to put screws into it without exposing them, and of course keeping tabs on it for the screws; when they offer cheap custom cutting, they mean in a 2-dimensional shape and certainly not the intricate 3D form you'll require).

Feasible or not, this is hardly going to be a mod people would pay to have you do, though it certainly might be fun and worthwhile to do your own.
Click to expand...

good points. the hinge area is one that im still looking into - i cant entirely solve that problem until i can take my powerbook apart, which wont happen for another few weeks. i might save the hinge portion and make a see-thru lid that would flip up or detach.
the optical drive slot will be an annoying fix, but it will be mostly cut open to make room for a few USB ports. the rest of the space will be dremel cut to make air vents. ive been told that the right dremel will cut through this aluminum pretty well, but i've yet to test that out.
ive a couple of ideas for the frame of the screen as well as mounting it. again, i've got to wait until i can open up my pb b4 i can see what'll work. i have come to terms with the fact that it'll be thicker than i would have hoped.
in either case, it'll be fun.
i also dont plan on finishing before the end of january now (it's going to suck when apple releases a tablet then).
thanks for your input! keep it coming :)
 
raggedjimmi said:
hear hear. I'm trying to figure out a way to apply one to my 12" PowerBook. A backlit keyboard would be wonderful :)
Click to expand...
id do that, but im ripping the keyboard out ;)
Sdashiki said:
its like 2 inches thick, jeezus thats friggen ugly and barely portable.

at least my own pet project would try to keep it the same 1" thickness the apple lappy i started with.

seriously, thats a thick machine.
Click to expand...

Ya i dont want to make it thicker than it already was (1.19"), but my target was to keep it even thinner. Making it thinner restricts the features i wanna add to it. Around 1.2" is where ill probably land
 
jusssst an update for anyone who's interested:
i got set back on the mod, cuz i didnt want to put my only computer out of commission. now that i kno exactly when i'll have another computer, I'll be ready to cut this baby open soon.

the delay did force me to plan more and experiment less.

here's whats new:
the lcd will rest in an area integrated to the topcase. the topcase it self will be heavily "revised." The powerbook lid will be kept completely intact (altho openings will be better sealed and the latch might be replaced with a screw (sealing it is important for keeping dust out of the area between the screen and the touchscreen glass, and being able to reopen the area easily will allow for easy access to the lcd for cleaning, and for further work to be done on the mod in the future. as it stands, the powerbook is ridiculously time consuming to open up.)

The internal modem will still be going out the window, but before i stated that id be removing the optical drive to create space needed for the touch screen controller as well as additional USB ports. I am in the process of rethinking this one. The controller should fit fine in the space of the modem. The usb ports may not be worth it. as it stands, the powerbook has 2 usb ports. 1 will be taken up by the touch screen controller (wired from the inside), leaving only 1 free. since i use usb ports far more that i ever use my superdrive, i considered removing it. Id first like to ensure that the mod can be done without removing the superdrive.

some more details on the touchscreen. the touch screen glass, made by keytec, will be installed into the top of the lid. the aluminum from the top of the lid will be cut open for screen visibility. mounting this within the lid bezel and mounting the screen will be the biggest challenges. if anyone can offer any words of advice when taking apart the lid, let me kno! also, if anyone knows of a site with pix of an open lid and bezel, lemme kno.

thanks! your comments and suggestions are all welcome.
 
kingjr3 said:
so far this thread has been ALL TALK and NO ACTION :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

lol, funny, the day you posted this was the day i got my work laptop...FINALLY! which means i can finally gut my powerbook! and that is done! i dont have my camera, so i took a pic with the isight on my new macbook of the mess ive made :).

i ordered a dremel that ill need and it shud get here by next week. so HOPEFULLY ill be done by midfeb (hoping my maryland engineering courseload doesnt grind me down too hard).

as you can see, the powerbook is a real nightmare to take apart. from what ive read and now my own experience, its the most complicated (in terms of assembly) mac notebook, and possibly one of the most complicated (again in terms of assembly) notebooks in general. there are more than 30 some different types of screws! amazing. putting it all together, with my own modifications, will be fun!

One huge kick in the behind is that company the manufactures the touch glass has an asymetric design, meaning the touch senstive area is offset on the glass. this means that a little under 2mm of the screen on the left side falls out of the touch sensitive area. i can live with that, but it is upsetting.
 

Attachments

  • Photo 11.jpg
    Photo 11.jpg
    103.3 KB · Views: 128
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back