DIY Pixel Qi netbook upgrade kit now available

Friday, July 2nd, 2010...12:40 pm

Good news everyone! Pixel Qi‘s 10.1 inch, outdoor readable display is finally shipping! [UPDATE: Already sold out!] You can now the DIYnetbook screen kit which will replace your current netbook screen and swap it with one from Pixel Qi display. Supposedly, the whole process takes just 5 to 10 minutes. The kits cost a whopping $275 (only available in the US for now), but to be fair, the kits are aimed at early adopters and enthusiasts at this point and the price should come down as more quantities are produced.

So what is it? The Pixel Qi 3Qi display is a 10.1 inch screen that has been tested with the Samsung N130 and Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 netbooks. The main difference between a Pixel Qi screen and a typical LCD display is that Pixel Qi uses a unique LCD technology that lets you use the screen in two different modes. In full color mode, the backlight is on and the screen looks almost like any other LCD display. You can also cut out the backlight, which leaves you with a high contrast screen that looks almost, but not quite black and white. This mode uses 5 times less power and is very readable in direct sunlight. Check out the hands-on post we did with the Pixel QI screen here.

You can purchase the Pixel Qi display kit from Make Magazine’s Maker Shed. [UPDADE: Sold out in one day!]