[Music playing]
[Intro]
Come take a look at this view, it’s pretty sweet.
I try to stay as productive as possible when I’m traveling so one thing I’ve done to
help me stay productive is I built a triple screen laptop.
You might have heard of Project Valerie made by Razor; their triple screen laptop?
The side screens don’t actually fold in.
The laptop I’ve built is collapsible.
Let me show you.
So this here is my mobile battle station.
It’s got 2 extending monitors on either side and I’ll show you how to build these
in just a second.
I just want to show you that this screen is fully functional.
I can take windows and drag it across and drop it on either side, and the laptop is
100 percent portable.
It’s got some interesting construction practices, but these hinges right here allow the monitors
to fold completely flat.
Each of these hinges was about 2 bucks and the side monitors were around $100.
So it’s a pretty inexpensive project, comparatively.
I was inspired when I saw Project Valerie at CES this year.
So let me show you how I built my own.
So this is the beginning of my triple monitor set up.
Right now I’m using one of my old laptops.
These monitors on the side here are entirely powered and receive all of their information
from a USB cable so there’s no power adapters or anything like that.
These monitors aren’t super awesome for gaming; they have an 8 millisecond response
time.
But they are super portable because they only have that USB power connector and display
connector.
They also do this weird thing where if you tip them sideways, they will turn back on
and the orientation of the screen will be this direction instead which would be awesome
for browsing Reddit.
Or, working on something on this computer and having information on this screen as well,
whether you’re like editing videos or working on a project.
And that’s where the triple screen laptop comes into play.
[Sound of ripping plastic] They do have the vesa mount on the back so
you can put these on like a monitor extension arm, but since I have limited space on the
back of my laptop we’re going to have to use something else.
I’m going to use these door hinges to hold the monitors in place and allow them to flip
out.
These glues right here, these are called Epoxy.
I have 2 brands: I have Lock Tight and JB Weld.
I’m probably going to use the JB Weld just because it has a higher PSI which means it
has more strength and holding power.
So right now I have some tape wrapping around the side of the monitor; just holding it in
place and trying to get an idea of where the hinges should be placed.
Epoxy is 2 different chemicals that mix together, and when they’re mixed together they form
a chemical reaction that make them hard in about 5 minutes.
This thing will fully cure in about 24 hours.
That’s why there’s still liquid inside of the tubes, but once they are outside of
the tubes and exposed with air and mixed together, they’ll get really hard, really fast.
So right now both hinges are good and actually it’s only been curing for about 2 hours,
but the weight on one hinge can hold the whole laptop.
So this epoxy is pretty strong.
I’m going to clip on the first screen right now, and by clip on, I mean epoxy.
So I’m going to put some tape down just so I don’t’ get any glue stuck to the
hinges.
I’m going to flip them over and I’m going to set the monitor down in place right after
I finish gluing it.
So I kind of have it stacked down on top of a book and you can see that second monitor,
which is this guy right here, is resting on top of the hinges.
And the hinges are glued.
It’s not going to stick to the laptop because there’s a piece of tape underneath.
And then I added some more weight on top of that to kind of add pressure to the glue and
help it dry better.
I made sure there’s an even amount of room between the edge of the laptop and the top
monitor right here.
So when it folds out they’re still going to be even with each other.
Alright so I’ve taken off all of the weights and it looks like…it’s been probably about
an hour and the instructions say that this stuff gets tacky in about 5 minutes.
And it actually holds pretty pretty strong, even after an hour of just sitting there.
Let’s see if it stands up on its own.
I got the door hinges on the back here.
So this second screen that I’m going to add right here, I guess you could call it
the third screen, is a little more tricky because it needs to open up and it needs to
sit on top of the second screen that I added there.
So what I’m going to do is I’m going to stick this hinge just like that, so that part
is stuck to the laptop and then this part is going to fold up and attach to the side
of the third monitor there.
And I’ll probably do two of them just so that there’s more support.
And this one will actually have a flat surface for the hinge to attach to.
So it should be just as secure as the other one since it had the curved area of the back.
So this time around I’m making sure that the hinges are also straight with each other
because if the hinges are kinked or skiwampus, they’re not going to fold in the same direction;
one might fold this way and the other one might fold slightly that way which wouldn’t
give a direct swing to the monitor.
So this one I’m using the edge of the laptop and just pressing the bulge of the hinge right
up against it; same on both sides and that will make them both equal.
[Sound of plastic ripping]
One of my favorite things about having a triple screen laptop is on long flights like this
I can get 3 times as much work done as I would normally.
[Music playing]
So when I was at CES I did see the real Project Valerie on display, but apparently it was
misplaced or stolen.
So Razor, if you need a working prototype, I’m your guy.
Thanks a ton for watching.
I’ll see you around.