Make Your Own Transparent Tablet PC

For tablet PC enthusiasts who can read Chinese: "pandepig" has a DIY surprise for you! Does a 12.1" touchscreen tablet strike your fancy? The whole she-bang is over 3 inches thick, so this home-made creation is definitely no iPad.

Still, pandepig's approach was real simple. All he did was cram all the components into a crystal laptop protector (one designed for a Mac, of all things). The heart of the project is a motherboard sourced from an HP Elitebook 2530p, apparently running the following:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo SL9300 (1.6 GHz, 6MB cache, 1066 MHz)
  • Intel GM4500MHD
  • 1GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM (from Samsung)
  • Intel 5300 AGN WiFi card
  • 120GB 5400 rpm notebook hard drive from Western Digital
  • Windows 7 (Starter?)

Parts procurement and fabrication cost pandepig around $300 (or as said in the source forum post, 2000 yuan). Mind you, our understanding of Chinese is limited, so we're not entirely sure of the parts above, where they came from, and exactly what pandepig did to put everything together. Google Translate isn't exactly the best at what it does.

But the great thing about online DIY projects is that they're enablers of sorts; if pandepig can do it, then so can you. A full step-by-step breakdown of pandepig's project is available to those who can understand it through the link below. You're of course welcome to hit the comments with your tips/alternatives.

Residual brain caused by a bloody game __diy a Tablet PC (umpc? Cottage ipad?) Update (We only have Google Translate to blame for this funky title)

Rico Mossesgeld
Contributing writer

Rico was a contributing writer at Tom's Guide. Based in the Philippines, Rico was plugged into the latest tech news to cover the latest future-gazing products and industry announcements. Rico no longer actively writes for Tom's Guide, and now works as a systems engineer. During his time at the site, he covered topics such as robotics, home office products and retro video games.

  • barturtle
    that looks to be "over 3 cm thick" not inches as you post.
    Reply
  • benstart
    That is just over 3 cm....not 3 inches.
    Reply
  • Ubel
    3 cm, not 3"
    Reply
  • sliem
    "A bit bulky, who cares?"
    What, LOL. Tablet PC is supposed to be thin, like a tablet... not like a pillow made of rock!
    Reply
  • Honis
    Some help for the writer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliper
    Reply
  • bogcotton
    You have got to love the differences between The Chinese languages and English. All those double meanings, you end up with such beautiful translations!

    "Residual brain caused by a bloody game __diy a Tablet PC (umpc? Cottage ipad?)"

    http://engrishfunny.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/129158085624723756.jpg
    Reply
  • TunaSoda
    Yeah, like the guy has a 3" long thumbnail! :D
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    Interesting and have some interest of building my own but I am always on a shoe string budget since I am a student and unemployed.
    Reply
  • christopherknapp
    The "Smilies" on that website are the most fucked-up things I have ever seen!
    Reply
  • Kelavarus
    Google Translate isn't exactly the best at what it does

    It allows you to be lazy and not ask someone who knows Chinese, and does it all automatically on a computer for free. Okay, now that we've got those parameters defined as "What it does"... If there's something BETTER why not use it? Anyway, besides annoyance at that...

    It is a bit bulky, but at the same time, pretty cool. If you're not looking totally for power, you could probably do something like that with an Ion based netbook and make it thinner.
    Reply