diy transparent lcd screen brands

Transparent LCD’s provide an innovative display solution opening up new ways for brands to promote their products and services. Examples include retail stores looking to advertise a new fashion clothing or accessory, museums securely housing a precious artifact with information displayed on screen or brands looking to launch a new product at a live event or show. The opportunities are endless!

Our Transparent LCD Displays include a Grade A LCD panel with metal bezel protecting the edges / electronics and a media board supporting HDMI or VGA inputs from your PC, Laptop or Media Player.

Transparent screen technology offers intriguing ways to deliver visual information to your audience, being used to reveal or conceal products, objects or artefacts behind the screen.

The combination of HD LCD technology (4K on our 65″, 86″, 98″ version) with a transparent screen substrate opens up creative avenues that were previously closed with traditional LCD displays. Solid black pixels on a transparent background can be used in intriguing ways to hide (and gradually reveal) whatever is behind the screen.

Our Transparent LCD monitors are designed for integration into the customers own furniture housing or display case while our Transparent LCD showcases offer a complete solution including the display, housing and backlight with white or black options available on request. We can also offer custom freestanding options for POP / POS displays. Transparent LCD’s are predominantly fully housed however we’ve recently developed an innovative housing method using a high brightness LED panel which allows the display case sides to remain transparent for improved visibly into the display case.

Using their original design as a starting point, we worked closely with the team at Nike to adapt to the mechanical aspects of the design, the result was a sleek and minimalist set of nine Transparent LCD Display Screens, custom built to suit the applications requirements, bringing Nike’s original concept ideas to life.

These screens can also be granted multi-touch capability by combining them with infrared touch frames or PCAP touch overlays, to add an interactive element to your installation. This creates a very powerful impact when the content on screen integrates with real life objects behind the screen, encouraging viewers to interact on a level that will exceed expectations.

Transparent LCD’s comprise of an LCD panel without the backlight with white pixels appearing as transparent. In order to display an image, the Transparent LCD needs to be integrated into a housing with a high bright LED backlight.

We can also offer more complete solutions like our Transparent LCD Showcase that comes fully contained and ready to use with a powerful backlighting system to guarantee the best picture quality.

Yes in order to display an image Transparent LCD’s need to have a strong backlight. Notoriously Transparent LCD’s have also needed some form of housing to achieve optimum image quality, however, Nike’s House of Innovation paired our Transparent LCD’s with powerful, oversized backlights that allowed the screens to be mounted with no surround but still producing a high-quality image.

Transparent LCD’s are arguably the most popular transparent screens but are hindered by their need for a backlight to operate. For applications looking for a similar effect without the backlighting, Transparent OLEDs require no housing or surround but are only currently available in a 55″ screen size with HD quality. For larger transparent screen applications, Transparent LED’s are recommended with external and internal solutions usually installed to glass facades for the impact of an led screen without compromising the view from inside the building.

We also offer transparent projection technologies including our Clearview Rear Projection Film featured in Guardians of the Galaxy as well as at the 83rd Oscars celebration and MTV EMA awards.

Transparent LCD’s are a great way to combine physical and digital displays in one central place making them a popular choice for museums and exhibitions. Our transparent screens can also be integrated into display furniture and appliances & vending machines like freezer doors for supermarkets. Other uses include POS displays, store window displays, trade shows and product launches.

We manufacture in Britain and ship worldwide – if you need further information, a pricing quote, or want to discuss ideas for using our Transparent LCD Display click the link below to contact us, email us via info@prodisplay.com or call us on +44 (0)1226 361 306.

The transparent LCD is a kind of LCD screen that you can see through it when it’s working. You can read the information on the screen and see what’s behind it at the same time. Such a screen is not a new technology. It’s a branch of the traditional screen which has been more than 20 years.

The biggest difference between a transparent LCD and with traditional LCD screen is its light transmittance is higher. In theory, the higher the light transmittance, the better the effect that you can see through the screen.

The transparent LCD is the core part of the transparent monitor. It can not emit light by itself, so the backlight is essential when it’s working. If you don’t like the backlight, then what we recommend is the transparent OLED.

The transparent LCD is widely used in lots of applications, for example, video walls, vending machines, display boxes, and others. It usually is used with a touch screen. Such LCD with touch screen is interactive and interesting.

The transparent LCD  is made by a daily used liquid crystal display screen. Such a product is an LCD panel without an LED backlight. It has a proper name which is called open cell LCD panel. It doesn’t have a frame and the thickness is just about 1.4mm.

The transparent LCD has many custom features, such as size, resolution, and so on. If you want to use the such product normally, there are also some details that you need to pay attention to.

Plenty of clients buy a such product from us, but they can not use them or sell it to their customers right now when they get them. That’s because the transparent LCD is just a semi-finished product. Most of the clients need to install it on their machines.

GECEY can provide the full sizes of the transparent LCD. Please don’t worry about there is not having the proper size for your application. The most commonly used resolution of such a screen is 1920 x 1080 (FHD). If you need the 4K resolution( 3840 x 2160 ), please feel free to contact us first.

The transparent LCD has a professional name which is called open cell panel. You can see its appearance in the picture on the left below. It looks like a black panel with a driver board. The picture on the right below is its internal structure. We can see that the structure is complex. It contains two polarizers, two glass substrates, liquid crystals, and so on.

The polarizer is made of a kind of material that looks like plastic. It has a direction. It just allows the light in which the waves are in the same direction to pass through. The directions of the two polarizers are perpendicular to each other. The polarizer is like a light filter. It’s used to improve the color and definition. If there is a polarizer, you can see nothing from the screen.

The reason why we introduce the polarizer is that it can greatly influence the light transmittance and brightness of the screen. For the manufacturer, we usually change the polarizer to improve the light transmittance. The production process requires special workplaces, skilled workers, special materials, and special care. This is because the transparent LCD is very fragile and easy to be damaged.

Light transmittance is a very important parameter for transparent LCD. The higher the transmittance, the higher the brightness, and the more you can see the product behind the screen.

How much is the light transmittance of the common screen? The picture below is the SPEC of the AUO 32” open cell panel the model is T320HVN05.6 CELL. From the picture, we can see it’s 6.5%. If you check the SPEC of LCD screens which are from super manufacturers, such as Samsung, LG, AUO, and so on, you can find the transmittance of them is around 6.5%.

However, 6.5% is not enough for the transparent LCD display. So it’s essential to change the polarizer. Some special materials and polarizers are needed. The process is not easy, especially the big sizes. If the operation is wrong, the screen will be damaged.

The super manufacturers of open-cell panels will not do this for you. The process is finished by the manufacturer of a transparent LCD. So, finding a professional manufacturer is very necessary, if you want to buy some.

LED backlight: LCD can not emit light by itself. So it needs the backlight so that you can see through when it’s working. For details, please see the rest content.

Controller: Same with the common LCD panel, it needs the controller to work. The controller receives the signal from the computer or U disk and sends it to the panel, then the panel can display the letters, pictures, and others.

Glass: The glass is used to protect the transparent LCD. Although glass is not essential, it’s used in most applications. The LCD screen is glued on one surface of the glass.

Frame: The frame is essential. It’s used to hold the LCD screen, glass, backlight, control board, and other parts. Some clients need their supplier to make the frame for them, some others can make it by themselves.

The most commonly used backlight system is made of several LED strips with white light directly. The color temperature is about 6000K( pure white). The LED strips are placed on the back of the screen. They are usually located at the top or bottom or on the left and right sides of the space.

The LED strips are driven by a small controller so that they can work in sync with the transparent LCD. The LED backlight panel can also be used to make the backlight system. The key points are the light of the space should be bright and even enough.

Second, the transparent LCD is not suitable for playing pictures or videos with complex colors. The large area of complex colors will affect your to see through the screen. It would be hard to see the products behind the screen clearly. Please keep most areas of the LCD to play white color.

When the screen displays white, it’s the most perfect condition to watch the product behind it. So, when you make the pictures or videos, please keep the background to be white. Just use the transparent LCD to play the introductions or videos with simple color.

First, the transparent LCD can not emit light by itself. Second, the space around the screen can be divided into two parts: the dark area which is in front of the screen, and the bright area with backlight which is behind the screen. People can see through from the dark area to the bright area, but they can’t see through from the opposite direction.

Most of the transparent LCDs we exported are frameless. The clients have the frame and can install the product by themselves. If you don’t have the frame, then we can also make it for you. Most of the frames are made of aluminum and iron plate. The aluminum frames are light, strong, and easy to be produced. The frames have many custom features, such as sizes, thicknesses, and so on.

Plenty of clients want to use the transparent LCD to modify their products and they just need only one piece. For example, the LCD side panel PC case is very popular. There is a transparent screen on one side of the PC case. You can see the inside of the PC and play the videos you love at the same time.

Such a case for gaming looks very amazing so lots of people want to have one. However, it’s hard for them to find a supplier to buy just one piece of transparent LCD and it would take a long time to get one. So, they want to DIY by themselves.

There are some guides online that teach people to use a common monitor to DIY a transparent LCD. For example, use the screen of a second computer monitor to make one. The simple process is to remove most parts of the LCD panel of the monitor, leaving only the LCD screen( open cell), then install some LED strips and the open cell on their PC case.

Does it work? Yes, but there are many problems in the DIY process. First of all, you need to be very careful in the DIY process. The LCD open-cell glass is very fragile. There are several flexible PCB cables at the bottom of the screen. If either of them is damaged, then the screen can not work normally.

Second, the transmittance of the screen that you DIY is much lower than the professional transparent LCD. So the final effect is not as good as you think. There are also some other problems, for example, you need to put one tempered glass to protect the LCD screen. We recommend buying one transparent LCD directly.

A wide variety of 5 inch transparent lcd display options are available to you, You can also choose from original manufacturer, odm and agency 5 inch transparent lcd display,As well as from tft, ips, and standard.

There are many transparent lcd, including stretched displays, media players, touch displays, LED-backlit display that support different audio and video formats. These transparent lcd slickly display content in ultra-high and HD definitions and stand out as the most cost-effective and reliable digital signage players. Added with unique ultramodern features to deliver vibrant displays, these transparent lcd are ideal for restaurants, offices, supermarkets, retail shops, and more.

Transparent lcd enable metal and position detection without having to physically contact the metal object. They offer a wide range of applications in robotics, rail, material handling, aerospace, military, as well as heavy machinery. Choose from different transparent lcd types, from the shielded versions that have electromagnetic fields concatenated in the front and unshielded applications that allow wider sensing distances. Whether you want to use your sensors for industrial purposes or source for your brand, there is a wide selection of wholesale transparent l display to choose from that will suit different applications.

Alibaba.com features the most reliable, sturdy, and proficient transparent lcd for displaying your ads more precisely and beautifully. These wonderful transparent lcd are equipped with smart display features and higher resolutions to show your ads in a more creative way at stores or any other outdoor places. These wonderful transparent lcd are automated and come with stands to be placed at any part of the store.The transparent lcd are equipped with all the latest and smart technologies that can play your ads more vivaciously on screens with full HD resolutions. These wonderful pieces of transparent lcd are equipped with a higher contrast ratio, enhanced brightness, and come in various sizes and pixel capacities to fit your requirements of advertising. The transparent lcd are also equipped with enhanced memories and louder sounds to make the entire ad viewing experience unparalleled.

Recently Shenzhen Metro Line 6, Line 10, Beijing Metro Line 6 train glass window, the news of the emergence of transparent display is quite eye-catching, these transparent display and the window into one not only can display the weather, site information, but also Internet access, watch videos, shopping online stores.

Transparent displays can find many applications outside of televisions. Especially for a supplier such as LG, which itself is much more interested in areas such as outdoor billboards, or information display panels in companies and museums, than in televisions themselves.

The past decades of cell phone development history can also be seen, whether it is a transparent display, or transparent keyboard, such materials related to transparency in cell phones is not much, the actual landing of the product is only a handful.

Talk about the application of transparent screens on cell phones. You do not say, in the era of feature phones, cell phone manufacturers have really used transparent materials to do some niche devices.

The last time a transparent display was so eye-catching was at CES 2016, when Panasonic showed a transparent display in the form of a cabinet door, called the “invisible TV”; when it is not opened on a daily basis, it just looks like an ordinary transparent glass cabinet door. When it was opened, it was a TV that could display motion pictures. At that time, it was still a concept product.

One point to revisit here is the “self-luminous” nature of OLED screens themselves, which means that each red, green or blue sub-pixel on the screen emits its own light without relying on an additional backlight. Only in this way, OLED screens can eliminate the liquid crystal layer, backlight layer and other modules commonly found in traditional LCD screens, achieve higher color contrast, and in the form of thin and light enough to ensure. Thin, folding, bending, these screen forms are inseparable from the structural characteristics of the OLED screen itself.

The direction of transparent display technology is more diverse, such as LCD, OLED can be transparent. Here we put aside some unconventional transparent display technology, such as Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens transparent display technology: this type of reality-enhanced AR glasses products, and sometimes with 3D display properties.

In addition, MIT has been working on developing a passive transparent display system with nanoparticle technology – this scheme uses a projector as an external light source to project the picture on top of a transparent medium (this transparent medium is embedded with a nanoparticle that can partially display the projected picture). There are also some current transparent display technologies that use similar projection schemes. These solutions are cheaper, but they are not the mainstream of transparent displays, at least not yet.

In the past two years we have seen more transparent displays, usually LCD or OLED transparent displays. It feels like we are back to the time when we discussed the flexible screen not long ago, divided into OLED flexible screen and LCD flexible screen two directions to do the discussion. So how do these two types of panels are transparent?

LG in a video briefly explained the principle of transparent OLED screen – it in the original red, green, blue and white four pixels, based on the addition of a “transparent sub-pixel”. This pixel does not emit light and does not participate in the image display, but it is itself made of highly transparent material.

Ultimately, when countless such pixels are evenly distributed on the panel, the screen will naturally obtain a certain transparency effect, but at the same time can also take into account the display of color images.

That’s why the transparency of transparent TVs is only around 30-40% at this stage, not 100%. After all, some sub-pixels are still used for image display, but as long as the density of transparent sub-pixels is high enough and the amount is large enough, it is enough to “fool” the user’s visual senses.

Making the screen transparent is only the first solution to the problem of transparent TV. After all, outside the screen, the back of the traditional TV set there are power, motherboard, audio and other devices, they can not disappear in thin air.

It is clear that the LCD screen originally had the basis to make a transparent screen. As for the OLED screen, the simplest example to support its transparency is that many smartphones now support under-screen fingerprint recognition (and even some have under-screen cameras), and these fingerprint recognition solutions are usually optical fingerprint recognition, which requires the screen itself to be transparent in order to achieve the purpose of still recognizing fingerprints under the screen. These screens are generally OLED screens, so it is clear that OLED screens naturally have this “transparent” feature. (For example, transparent electrodes ITO indium tin oxide material; some layers are thin enough so that the performance of translucent)

It can be said that the ‘coolness’ of the transparent TV is also the main reason why it is so desirable. Especially when you reach out to the back of the screen and see your palm intersect with the virtual TV content, that feeling is really fantastic.

Since you can DIY transparent display at home, screen transparency is not a black technology. Only these years the transparent screen research has always continued, the core issue should be how to increase transparency or screen light transmission. After all, DIY transparent display, and today’s Xiaomi transparent TV than in transparency or far worse.

This is also theoretically an important issue that affects both LCD and OLED transparent route. The previous article mentioned that LCD screen is the need for backlighting, which creates an obstacle for the full form of LCD screen to achieve transparency. In the early years there are some LCD transparent screen therefore removed the backlight system, with the help of external light source: either natural light, but artificial external backlight, to achieve the visualization of the screen. At the same time, LCDs also came with two polarizers (starters), which are components that affect the light transmission rate.

“While a typical transparent LCD screen requires a backlight to achieve a visible picture, a transparent OLED screen is made up of millions of self-illuminating pixels. This creates a whole new field of innovation…” And because the OLED layer structure is simple, it is also easier to make thin.

As mentioned earlier, these different layers originally have transparent properties. About contemporary panel manufacturers, there will be different layers to do further transparent technology. This part of the specific technical details we do not know. But the aforementioned Xiaomi transparent TV, subway windows transparent screen are OLED panels, it is not difficult to imagine the mainstream of today’s transparent display in which direction to go.

For example, many high-end supermarkets originally used a lot of glass in their windows to create a simple, transparent visual perception. LG now wants to replace all of this window glass with transparent OLED screens so that customers passing by can see both the products and the real-time changing information on the glass, which is also a means to enhance the experience.

Transparent displays for black are usually more valuable in terms of picture presentation, not only because the black background is easier to integrate into the environment (e.g., viewing in dim light), but also because the presentation of bright colors such as gold and silver is significantly more favorable and significantly better than transparent screens that display white transparently. In addition, the black part of the transparent is also to enhance the visual experience. Last year, when Panasonic showed its OLED transparent TV, it also added an extra black panel at the back to enhance the black presentation.

This is something that appears more valuable for the inherent use scenarios of transparent displays, such as store window item display aids, and various retail experience enhancements, all with transparent black displays, as well as enhanced bright color displays. This is also part of the reason why OLED transparent screens are more promising.

Although we do not know exactly what the different transparent display panel manufacturers are doing to optimize the transparency of each layer of the panel, some past materials and papers have revealed the industry’s efforts to achieve higher light transmission at certain levels of the panel. For example, the aforementioned Panasonic transparent TV, there is the application of transparency through the current control layer structure: transparent when energized, not energized transparency reduced (Figure below); and then the TFT layer of the backplane part of the display.

When discussing flexible screen technology, the TFT layer is also a key focus, after all, this is where the semiconductors converge, and the AMOLED active array pixel circuitry contains at least thin film transistors, storage capacitors, and depending on the desired display brightness, OLED efficiency and various parameters, the TFT is an important limiting factor for transparency. Depending on the desired display brightness, OLED efficiency and various parameters, the driver circuitry can occupy a significant size of the pixel, making the TFT an important limiting factor for transparency.

When the Panasonic transparent TV, as well as today’s Xiaomi transparent TV, close up and look closely is still visible in the fine grid embedded in the glass.

But the Xiaomi transparent TV grid, and its pixel improvement has a lot to do with. This is the recent OLED transparent screen to increase transparency efforts.

At present, the world has a transparent OLED screen mass production capacity of the supply side, there is only LG left. The panel used in the Xiaomi transparent TV is likely to be provided by LG.

At the same time, the circuitry is stacked behind the RGBW pixels, which gives the “transparent sub-pixels” a higher light transmission rate (of course, there are similar solutions with RGB sub-pixels and transparent areas). However, it seems that because of this reason, the pixel density cannot be too high. Although the Xiaomi transparent TV has a screen size of 55 inches, the resolution is 1080p.

Xiaomi will be the price of this transparent TV within 50,000, seems to be the beginning of transparent screen into the people’s home. Just from a practical point of view, such as the actual display effect of Xiaomi such transparent TV, than today’s mainstream TV is slightly far, although indeed futuristic, but in the ordinary home lighting environment, coupled with the messy background, the TV screen is indeed very difficult to see clearly.

From LG for its transparent panel positioning, such a product is not primarily for home entertainment services. In addition to its use as a subway train information interaction tool mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is more often used in electronic signage, merchandise / exhibits to assist in the display. Its name is “LG Transparent OLED Signage”. As a retail store merchandise display, it is still quite eye-catching, for example, as a product window display, integrated into the window glass, it creates a variety of interesting display scenes, very similar to reality enhancement.

In addition, LG in the promotion of its transparent display pre-determined a program, this display and the “video wall OLED Signage” to do combined. That is, there is a video wall OLED signage at the back, and then put the transparent display in front: so that the two in the common display screen, can create an immersive 3D viewing.

In the era of feature phones, with the increasing maturity of transparent display technology, we may soon see these transparent displays in many high-end retail stores and public infrastructure, just like the glass windows of trains in the subway. But it probably won’t be in our home entertainment anytime soon, as the screen now occupies almost the entire front of full-screen phones, so we can’t design a long “chin” or an abrupt “forehead” again, right?

According to [Kelsey], transparent displays are guaranteed to make “everything feel like the future.” Unfortunately they’re hard to find, and the ones typically available are OLED and can’t make solid black colors. But as luck would have it, it’s possible to repurpose a common LCD to be sort of transparent.

A LCD uses nematic crystals that can polarize light, with the amount of polarization changing based on the electric field applied to the crystal. Light enters the front of the panel through a polarizing film, passes through the display, and then bounces off a reflective back coating. The display itself usually polarizes light in a way that matches the front polarizer. That means if you do nothing you get reflected light. However, if a part of the LCD gets an electric field, it will repolarize in such a way as to block the reflected light making the display look black in that area.

I am interested in 1920x1080 FHD Transparent LCD Display Case 5ms Transparent Touch Screen Showcase could you send me more details such as type, size, quantity, material, etc.

Transparent display technology surrounds us, even if we aren’t aware of it. In this article we look at transparent head-up displays, LCDs, OLEDs and transparent electroluminescent technology and delve into the pros and cons of the four main transparent technology displays.

However, if you think this is new technology, think again. While most transparent technology has come to the fore since the millennium, it was being used as far back as the mid-20th century.

In this article, we’re looking at four types of transparent tech which include typical projection head-up displays (HUDs), LCDs, OLEDs, and transparent electroluminescent displays (TASEL). We’ll look at the pros and cons of each and show you how transparent display technology plays an essential part in our working lives and free time. An explanatory

The first steps into creating transparent head-up displays can be traced back as far as 1937. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s, following perfections to the technology by the US and British Royal Navies, UK Ministry of Defence and, finally, the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1958, that the first true projection ‘head-up display’ was incorporated into aircraft.

There is also an emerging technology calledTASEL, which makes it possible to laminate displays in glass and show information without a projection system. However, as this a different transparent technology, we’ll mention thislaterin the article.

The most common transparent projection HUD is a display composed by a piece of flat glass used to project images in front of the pilot. This allows the pilot to keep their head up (hence the name ‘head-up display’) so they’re not distracted by looking down at their control panel for information during flight.

Why have we included LCDs as a transparent display when, at first glance, they’re not truly transparent? In fact, we’re only able to see the information on our monitors, such as laptops, with the introduction of a backlight and a reflector shield.

Take these away and we see true transparency of the LCD display - which is something Samsung did in 2012 with the production of theirSamsung Transparent Smart Window.

LCDs are also one of the most popular screens on the market and this rise occurred early in the 21st century when liquid-crystal-display sets rocketed in popularity. In 2007, LCDs eclipsed sales of competing technologies like plasma, cathode ray tube, and rear-projection TVs.

They were thinner and lighter, easier to scale. And for the manufacturers, the cost of production was lower, so it’s easy to see how LCD displays quickly became a favorite with manufacturers and consumers.

Organic light-emitting diode displays, orOLEDsfor short, are a step up from LCDs when it comes to transparent technology. For starters, unlike LCDs, OLEDs do not require the use of a backlight or any other filters due to the use of pixels which produce their own light.

The organic materials used in OLEDs are affected by the environment, they’re sensitive to moisture and screen discoloration occurs if subjected to direct sunlight and heat

Lumineq’s Transparent Electroluminescent displays consist of a glass panel with a luminescent phosphorous layer and a circuit board. The circuit board contains the drive and controls which are connected directly to the glass panel making the panel light up.

The transparent electroluminescent displays are good solutions for transportation vehicles such as cars, buses, trucks, trains, trams, boats, and airplanes because they can be laminated in glass and turn windows/windshields into information and functional displays.

It’s viewable from all angles, is visible in all types of weather conditions and is theonlytransparent display capable of working in the most extreme environments, from the freezing temperatures of the Arctic winter to the blistering heat of a desert summer.

However, due to the limitation of monochromatic images, transparent electroluminescent displays shouldn’t be used as entertainment screens in vehicles - they should be used to display only the most critical information in the eye-line of the driver without distractions.

This comparison of different transparent display technologies is conducted by the Ph.D. reseracher Jose Rosa for theImmerSAFE project. The project stands for "IMMERSIVE VISUAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR SAFETY-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS".

Each transparent display has its positives and negatives, and they’re all fantastic ways to showcase transparent display technology at its best when applied in areas which suit their purpose perfectly.

Lumineq’s transparent electroluminescent displays are ideal in transportation vehicles, heavy machinery, such as tractors, and optical devices, like range-finders and night-vision goggles.

To read how in-glass technology is making giant strides in optical devices, read our post ‘Bring augmented reality to optical devices with transparent displays’, or to find out more about Lumineq"s transparent electroluminescent technology,contact ustoday.

As exciting as these unlimited possibilities are, they also create a new need for understanding and embracing the benefits of see-through displays. The eBook from below will provide you with ideas, inspiration, basic guidelines and industry examples for designing transparent displays for vehicles – from cars, tractors, and ships to aircraft.

The Taiwan-based company, which is known for selling DIY PC parts, also says the 13.3-inch Side Panel Kit will work on "most" ATX, Mini-ITX, and Micro-ATX PC cases. As any PC builder will assure you, compatibility with "most" PC cases does not mean compatibility with them all.

The kit also provides flexibility. Theoretically, you could use it on multiple monitors, assuming everything"s still compatible. That"s different from iBuyPower"s Snowblind S PC case, which has a 19-inch, 1280x1024 transparent LCD display on the side. However, the transparent panel doesn"t appear to have the strongest image quality and is also meant to showcase PC components, which are encouraged to be white or silver, to help images on the display pop.

Laptop users already have more options. Take the NexPad, for instance. Announced in October, it"s a 12-inch IPS display that"s meant to sit on top of a laptop display for more vertical screen space. While ASRock"s kit isn"t as simple as the NexPad, perhaps it will help pave the way for more versatile solutions for desktop users.