Here's a quick answer for those who wants to use a laptop LCD for display for their projector. This is one of the most common questions asked on this Forum.

A basic LCD monitor you buy over the counter is already prepackaged with everything you need to hook up to a common video input jacks such as VGA, RCA, S-Video. The basic components are LCD screen, controller, and backlight inverter. The controller has an input and output. The input connections are either VGA, RCA, or S-Video. The output then connects to the LCD screen. The backlight inverter takes low voltage power like 12v and steps it up to a few hundred or thousand volts for the backlight to light up the LCD.

Laptop LCDs come with the LCD screen and the backlight built in. But it does not have a seperate controller. The controller is built into the laptop. This is the part that most people dont understand why they cant use a laptop LCD. You need a controller to convert standardized VGA, RCA, S-video signal to non standardized LVDS signal. LCD screens dont cost much. You can buy a laptop LCD screen for a few dollars on ebay though they can get as high as $100-$300. The controller is what's gonna cost you the most.

The controller has to be specially programed for the specific Lcd you are going to use. Also a special Lvds cable has to be made to connect the Lcd to the controller.

Just one more thing should be added. You can always just use the entire laptop in your projector. But laptops don't have video inputs. So all you will be able to do with the laptop is play files off the harddrive and Dvd player if one is built in. Also most likely you will have to extend the Lvds cable going to the Lcd which can be a lot of work if it's even possible.

I hope this helps and please don't post here asking questions. Pm me if you need something else or think something should be added.