Windows 8 Tablet

I'll show you how to build a windows 8 tablet using an (old) laptop and a touch screen kit.

The idea behind this build is windows 8 with its new metro interface and new apps is more focus towards touch screen interfaces and as I wanted to try out windows 8 (developer preview) on a touch screen but didn't have I thought I'd build one, as I had some parts left over from my macbook pro tablet.

While I wanted when I started this project to create a functional and Beautiful device I think I ended up with more of a Lindsay lohan type of device, as it works and it would scrub up nice but its a bit ruff around the edges.

What you need

A laptop that meets the minimum specs of windows 8
A touch screen kit ( I used egalax resistive touch screen)
A copy of windows 8 (develops preview/Beta)

first we need to take the casing off from around the screen and then take the screen away from the hinges. Care needs to be taken not to damage any of the cables going to the monitor as they aren't very strong.

Depend upon the type of laptop you are using you may need to unstick the cable from the back off the LCD screen so you can place in to the corret postion

Here is a video of the screen take apart

You now need to place the screen on top on keyboard. when you place the screen on top of the keyboard you need to raise the screen up so it doesn't press on any of the keys and so it enables some heat dispersion.

One of the downsides of this type of design is the lack of heat dispersion from the laptop, This could be sovled by adding some ventilation and fans but unless you are going to try playing a 3d game or rendering some video I don't think the heat will be an issue.

Below is a video of the screen being place on to of the keyboard

Now we need to tidy any cables up like, the touch screen cable and the wireless cable, in my case the touch screen cable can go under the LCD.

Next is the side to make the gap between the bottom case and the screen. I've used some pine strip wood which I've cut to size and hot glued to the case. The a quick lick of paint

Then a quick lick of paint and it's not look to bad.

This project as been interesting, it may well be cheaper to buy a windows 7 tablet from china and install windows 8 on it but it will be no where near as much fun and you need to recycle those old laptops some how.

The tablet it's self works well the only extra thing i had to do after installing windows 8 was turn on the touch enabled keyboard. I've encountered  a lot of bugs and errors, using windows 8 but I have been putting them down to it been a developers preview rather than a problem with the tablet