Broken Laptop/Pseudo iMac

So my PC laptop hinge broke on me. Forge aluminum snapped when I poked it with my pinky. I noticed plastics on my laptop were breaking in odd places, so I took it apart to remedy. Didn't get there in time. Well, here's the idea:

Flip the LCD over so it will be on the bottom, build a display and stand that looks similar to the G5 iMac, and get some bluetooth devices. Make my messed up looking PC laptop look like a Mac. I can also hack out the shell to make the interface look the same. Any thoughts or other ideas on this?

I love the idea whitlock, provided that you do this tastefully you could create a very very very good looking computer pretty easily. I know there are a couple of guides on here for software that makes the pc look almost exactly like the mac. Search the forums as well for these topics. I am anxious to see it in progress

Javadog could probably hook you up with some info on creating that acrylic shell. I know iComponent, the mod he did for the challenge required the creation of an apple-esque shell.

Oh, I've got the shell part down to a 'T'. For those who are interested in making their PC look like a Mac, you can use a free program named Flyakite. The newest version is 5, and I do not know at this moment if it is SP2 compatable. It will only work with XP. You use this program with StyleXP and it will shell it out. You can change the bootloader to an Apple screen. Finally, you can change the logon, and you will have a pretty good looking mix. My machine was like that for a long time...until I needed the resources.

True. This may give him some encouragement on getting the Acrylic roller up on the site. I could use it now, or I may have to cannibalize something else.

off topic...sorry....I visited your site just now whitlock and the google ad said


Owl Pellets & Science
New site. New Resources.
Same old great pricing.
Free charts & probes
http://www.owlbrandkits.com/products

It sent me to a site to buy owl poop from around the USA so I could study it :lol:

Just gave me a good laugh thats all....I need it since I'm stuck at work.

Post edited by: krusher117, at: 2004/09/30 04:15

lol, thats hillarious Krusher. It just goes to show how terrible google ads can be. However, the ones on this site have seemed to stay pretty accurate.

Ok, back on topic. I think that an arcrylic case would look sweet. I would go with an all white for sure on it. I don't think that this would be too difficult of a mod. I would think about disassembling the laptop completely and repositioning the parts to fit better.

ie. powerbutton, optical drive (with longer wiring probably), airport antenna, and all your ports.

The powerbook is so thin though, you may be able to get this in a casing smaller than the imac. If you really wanted to go all out a larger display would kick this mod off. That just means more $$ though.

Can't wait to see the ideas....

I'll use the display I have now. It's a 15", so there is no reason why I should go higher. I'd rather spend that money in building a slick case for it. I'm pretty stoked about it. I'm going to check the feasability of adding an opticle switch (e.g. G4 cube) to it, and replaceing LED's with white ones. I am going to have the battery in there as a backup supply, so it's like having a UPS inside of it. Bluetooth added to it, and the fact I have a wireless card, will make it just like the G5 iMac, though it's only running @ 900mhz.

I was going to block the word 'Owl' in the Google Ad's, though thought it would be funny to see what comes up.