Small external LCD screen to mount on notebook lid and watch movies?

Hi Everyone,

I like to watch online and DVD movies, but I would prefer to have the image play on a small (5"-8") external LCD screen, rather than directly on my notebook screen (to facilitate multi-tasking). Ideally, this would be a slim screen that I could mount to the top of my laptop lid, so that the small screen becomes the "head" of my viewing space, and my main notebook screen is the "body".

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Cheers,

Jay

PS: I'm not looking for a portable DVD player because I already have a DVD player built into my notebook, and I don't want to carry a second one for weight and size reasons.

 

I've never heard of such a thing specifically for the purpose you described, but i do know they make those LCDs that mount of cameras. I'd be leery of mounting one on my laptop lid though. Unless it's a Toughbook, they're just not built sturdy enough for something like that. Especially with the already 'weak hinge' reputation of many manufacturers. Not to mention the possibility of marring the screen or chassis.

 

you can get a 7' usb lcd and velcro the bad boy ob

 

Like this?

http://www.mimomonitors.com/

 

Id imagine those screens made to connect to a console would work well for you, or any of the kinds of smaller lcds that go into a car. The car screens are probably the cheapest and best route since they are so common these days price is down and availiblity up.

If they do not accept the output of your laptop (probably VGA) you may need a VGA converter as well.

All the trouble, I would just get a 10" netbook and keep your movies on it and let it be a stand alone unit from your main one.

 

These are very cool.

 

Wasnt there some multi monitor laptop revealed this year at CES?

 

The MIMO's will drain your lappy's battery much faster (obviously). They also often conflict when gaming (if you are a laptop gamer) as the game detects that the virtual displaylink adapter doesn't have any acceleration.

Also, the lack of the acceleration means that movie playback, etc will result in a major hit on your CPU.

It's one of those 'hey, that'd be a good idea' things which doesn't actually work that well in practice unless you're fully aware of the limitations of the tech and plan around them.

 

it looks ridiculously clever. never tried it, but eager to hear your report on how well it functions for your purpose.

 

As long as you have a dual core cpu (any dual core, even CULV or atom) can handle 1080P blueray rips. DVD can be easily decoded by any 5 years or newer cpu.

 

The thing is, that most IGPs these days no matter how poor support some degree of acceleration. Currently most displaylink monitors don't - the only way they can accelerate at the moment AFAIK is to hook into an existing GPU/IGP, but there's not a lot of support for that yet. Which means that even a netbook IGP can run circles around the MIMO's and the like - and that means you actually need a Core 2 Duo, and wind it up quite a bit, when you play back video at >=DVD resolution.