• Digital photoframes are expensive. I know that the price of these has come down severely since their introduction, but I still can’t believe that one would spend $100 dollars for such a small device (some examples). No offense meant, but it wasn’t for me.
• The screen is huge compared to other digital frames.
• It is not just a photoframe! Remember that it’s stlil a computer. I can play music, movies, and anything else from my home network or the internet. This may seem silly, but during a party – it’s quite nifty!
• My wife actually likes it – all married nerds will understand that any spousally acknowledged technological success deserves its own bullet point.

So now the obvious question: “can anyone try this?” Obviously, the answer is yes or the post wouldn’t continue below… However, I wouldn’t recommend my seat of the pants approach. There is good information out there to make the process less painful – this is a “do what I say, not what I do” situation.

If you’d like to try this at home, here are some links and recommendations:

If you are not a hard-headeed uber-geek and want to do some research, try some of these links to learn about other’s attempts. As these are from instructables (see the previous post), there are plenty of instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Digital_Picture_Frames/

If I can offer a few slight suggestions so that you avoid my mistakes:

• Heat is a problem. Make sure you are careful about providing adequate ventilation behind your frame, until you are sure that your personal design will not require a firefighter…
• Frame size is really tough to judge. Try to find a frame that is deep, but that is 150% of the area of your screen. I managed to squeeze mine into a smaller space, but the heat and the cramped internals will require an upgrade sooner or later.
• Keep in mind that it is going to be quite heavy (unless you are butchering a perfectly good new ultraportable laptop). This is going to make hanging or even standing the frame a challenge. Aim for a frame with a back support made of plastic or stronger, rather than cardboard.

Apart from that, there’s not much that I can share… Although it may seem like an overly technical post (that has little real info), I’m one hundred percent confident that YOU CAN DO THIS! It’s a fun weekend project and let’s be honest: that old laptop was going to sit there until you either stepped on it or lost it in your next move…

~ab