Project: Macbook Tablet

[Ambross]

I am going to do this mod on a macbook i aquired. Anyone know where the 13.3inch resistive overlays are still sold?

[Ambross]

I am going to do this mod on a macbook i aquired. Anyone know where the 13.3inch resistive overlays are still sold?

hey the ebayer still sells em never mind, but will osx lion work with all this?

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

In reply to both of the above: (sorry I haven't been about lately)

Yes the screen is still sold and it will work in lion, the drivers are compatible and I used a 16:10 screen (a good few centimetre of it is used to pin it behind the casing)

[Guru Khalsa]

hi i am also looking to do this on an old white macbook. I found a 16:9 version on ebay, do you think that would work or should i look for a 16:10?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/13-16-9-USB-Panel-Kit-Set-add-Touch-Screen-Function-/320657252388?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item4aa8a96024#ht_2667wt_922

[theblake]

Matt, would you be interested in earning some money by converting Macbooks for me as described in your guide. I need them for a commercial application, and will be housed within a console unit, so cosmetics are irrelevant, all the end user sees is the screen.

I cant use Macbooks as is in the consoles, as the screen is too high has to be set too far back (if you know what i mean) and height challenged individuals cant reach it easily. we had a contractor years ago who did this for us with the PPC Macbooks, without the touchscreen, last we heard from them they could not reproduce the technique with the later models, and they are off the radar now.

Potentially we could be looking at 2 to 20 over the next 2 years depends how it goes. I just cant be bothered doing the work myself. We are on the Gold Coast, and have the macbooks already.

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

Hi The Blake,

Sorry I really haven't been about in the last few weeks due to heavy commitments. Unfortunately I am not commercially offering my services at this point due to extensive university commitments, I really wish I cloud do it for you (as I really enjoy making them) but I just can't right now.

My distinct apologies and I wish you luck in the conversions if you do them yourself. I'd love to see the results of the conversion if you do or even the old ones.

[theblake]

Thanks, but keep us in mind if things change. Unlike some others that might be doing this for fun, I will be doing this for many years to come, hence it does not matter if it takes you a few weeks to reply :-)

(unless apple make a OS X Tablet, or the Boss compiles our applications into *Nix)

I haven't got very far yet, and my current plan is to attempt to do this with the Macbook Air. However unlike you I do not need to make it durable or cosmetic as it will be inside a kiosk.

Does anyone know where I can currently buy a 13.3" 16:10 USB Touch screen with a USB connection anywhere? I found an ebayer, but they are selling 16:9, I might have to make do with buying a bigger size, which will not be much of a problem for me.

[Statue4]

I was going to try this a couple years ago, but I decided not to because I wasn't very experienced with this sort of thing and I only had one computer at the time. I was going to try it on a 17" MacBook Pro. I recently got a 13" MacBook, the black one, and am thinking about trying this project on it. I now have more knowledge about this sort of thing than I did two years ago, so I feel more confident that it will be successful. Although it is a super awesome computer as is, I think it would be a bit cooler as a tablet. Currently everything works on it, but the DVD drive is starting to go, so that would give me the needed space.

As far as the touch panel goes I found two; one is thicker (2mm), I think it is what most people have been using, and the other is much thinner (0.4mm).

Here is the thick one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/13-16-9-USB-Panel-Kit-Set-add-Touch-Screen-Function-/280667964621?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41591d44cd

and here is the thin one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-13-3-16-9-Flexible-Touch-Screen-Panel-External-USB-/250907649931?pt=US_Laptop_Screens_LCD_Panels&hash=item3a6b42e78b

Would the thinner one work just as well? Which would be better?

Also, has anyone done anything about the iSight camera. It would be pretty cool to have it flipped around with the screen.