Obviously the frame was going to require internal bracing of some kind.Ī LCD monitor is thick – at least 2 ½” – and that does not include the laptop. The monitor would need to be mounted in the center of the frame, far enough from the sides to allow for a decent width of matte (3” at least on all sides). My plan to use a full size desktop LCD monitor had several design issues that I needed to resolve:Ī desktop monitor is heavy – 10+ lbs and a laptop also weighs several pounds. I decided to use these as the base components for my digital frame. I had recently upgraded my 17” LCD desktop monitor, and I also had a discarded laptop. My wife was skeptical about the project, and I knew that if the frame did not look great, it would be banished to the family room, instead of being mounted in a place of honor in the living room. I also wanted professional quality matting and framing. The screens were also smaller than I wanted – equivalent to an 8”x12” photo, and varied considerably in contrast, brightness, and general image quality.įor my project, I wanted a desktop quality LCD screen of a size equivalent to an 11”x14” photograph. All of them involved taking the laptop apart completely and generally rendering it useless for any other activity. The laptop projects that I saw had a couple of common issues, however. The laptop based digital frames have larger screens (10” to 15”), and tend to be reasonably inexpensive to build (provided you own a discarded laptop). I also found a couple of large screen digital frames available online, but they are quite expensive ($800 to $1200) for basic frame and matte combinations.Ī quick search of the web turned up several do-it-yourself articles by photographers that had built their own digital frames – typically from discarded laptops. They range in price from about $100 to $300 (US). Most of them are not matted, and the frames are plastic, metal or simulated wood. They have small (5” to 7”) screens, and are designed to sit on desk tops. Most of the commercially available digital frames don’t really meet my needs. Recently, I started investigating digital frames as a possible solution to my problem. Framing costs and available wall space limit the number of photos that I can display at any given time, however, and inertia limits the number of times I change my display prints. I have taken a lot of pictures over the years, and like many photographers, I am proud of my work and want to display my favorites on the walls of my home.
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