DIY Windows 8 Tablet

[hackitbuildit], from instructables, has brought us a a DIY windows 8 tablet. To make the tablet, an old laptop is used that meets the minimum requirements of windows 8 preview, a touch screen conversion kit, and of course the software itself. The laptop is first prepared by removing the casing around the screen, and if you just go by the pictures it kind of looks like he is ripping it apart! Though if you look at the video screws are being removed.

The screen is flipped around and laid on the keyboard with a couple spacers between them, as many laptops use the keyboard area as heat sinking. The touch screen is installed, and some wood strips are hot-glued to the outside to fill in the gap between the screen and base. With a little paint you’re left with a large, but functional windows 8 tablet to get started developing for.

Comments

  1. MrX says:

    Who care about a Windows tablet? Wake me up when there is a Linux tablet. Oh .. wait! In fact there is:
    http://hothardware.com/News/Details-Emerge-About-the-Spark-LinuxBased-Tablet/

    • Eirinn says:

      I care about a Windows tablet – on the other hand i couldn’t give a damn about a linux tablet.

      See how that works? 😀

    • gman says:

      I’d say wake me up when tablets become usefull beyond a novelty media consumption device.

      • BobSmith says:

        Don’t wake me up. I’m sleepy, and will be cross with you if you do.

      • Sariel says:

        waking up with a windows 8 tablet in your face is like a dog humping you while you sleep. a linux tablet on the other hand is like your cat licking you in the face — it’s cute yet annoying. any tablet that’s on the market these days is about as useful as a motorcycles ashtray. wake me up when your tablets can do what my tc1100 can do.

      • Blue Footed Booby says:

        Just because it doesn’t match your use patterns doesn’t mean it doesn’t match ANYONE’s use patterns.

        In particular, the interests of someone willing to deal with Linux are likely to lie in precisely the area least suited to tablet use.

    • Anonymous says:

      Wake me up when you can install any operating system you want on a laptop.

      Oh wait.

  2. fartface says:

    $100 Fujistus Stylistic from ebay.

    Instant Windows 8 tablet that will last far longer than this.

    Windows tablets have been around for over 20 years guys. Do none of you know any Computing history?

    • Eirinn says:

      Not really in this form factor and usage scenarios. The point is that people want a full windows experience on a tablet (the ones without a large keyboard and swivel screen) and that hasn’t been possible (or more precisely feasible) before now.

      • barry99705 says:

        Uhh, no. Tablets have been around for years. Fujitsu had a full tablet device running Windows 95.

      • 0x43 0x68 0x72 0x69 0x73 says:

        Though they weren’t quite this thin, I’ve seen touchscreen-only tablets that date back to the 486 era, running full Windows 3.1. I still prefer having the screen that swivels around, though, so I have a keyboard when I actually need to type something.

    • Eirinn says:

      The stylistic series doesn’t meet the minimum requirements of windows 8 either.

      • Techartisan says:

        Windows 8 System Requirements
        1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
        1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
        16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
        DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
        Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch
        To run Metro style Apps, you need a screen resolution of 1024 X 768 or greater

        Windows 7 system requirements
        1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
        1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
        16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

        DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

        Windows 7 and 8 have the same listed requirements. The fujitsu st5112 runs windows 7 just fine. Some users upgraded to win7 before fujitsu had win7 drivers….a few features didnt work out the gate….but fujitsu has already fixed that. Dont be surprised when fujitsu adds win8 drivers to their downloads page.

    • Eirinn says:

      Personally I’d go with a touch screen instead and hook it up to a medium powered 64 bit laptop. That or get one of those 64 bit touchscreen-pc’s.

  3. Mike bradley says:

    I have been using windows tablets since 2004, and not the swivel laptops. I just bought two acers for work as well, touch and stylus.

  4. DRS says:

    Does this tablet have ‘restricted boot?’ 😉

    http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot/statement

  5. To be honest, I’m underwhelmed. This is just turning round the lid and putting wooden spacers between.

    So in the end you have a tablet as bulky and heavy as the original laptop. But you can’t adjust the display angle and type anymore. So where’s the real win compared to just adding a touch screen kit?

    Come on, rip out unneeded stuff like keyboard and trackpad, get the thickness below the original laptop and modify the housing to make up for the lost keyboard heat dissipation.
    I demand engineering! :p

  6. N0LKK says:

    IMO these laptops converted into a tablet end up being too bulky to be practical as a mobile/portable device. Yes if I could afford one, I’d buy one, if I could find a good 10″ screen tablet model other than a Apple I’d buy it. While the the iPad may be a good product, I can’t bring myself to support hacker unfriendly Apple, when the iProducts, along with the generic equivalents are only optional items for me.

  7. Hirudinea says:

    I still like a keyboard on my main computer, but this might be fun to hang in the crapper.

  8. ferdinand says:

    i bild a touche schreen in my pc case have i make a tablet or tabel pc now,NO
    this is more how can i make my leptop even worse to operate.the idee is good but your bild not

  9. Jack says:

    The Motion Computing le1700 is a dual core 1.5Ghz, available on ebay for around $350 and works wonderfully with ubuntu… I’ve been using Motion tablets for my last 4 years in college instead of paper and they work flawlessly. No need for a pointless mod when you can get last generation tablets for great bargains.

  10. retepvosnul says:

    Wow, what an uncanny resemblance to other PC tablets on the market today!

  11. Regius says:

    So poorly built it hurts.

  12. winsloh says:

    tablet = netbook = multiboot any os you choose
    cost 149$
    hd 160gb
    proc 1.66ghz
    ram 1 gb
    who cud ask 4 nething mo ? eh ?

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