Mixed Bag

After hyping myself up over it all, I was pretty disappointed at the selection of books at the Powell's Technical bookstore. If I would have had more time I would have liked to check out their main location but the clock just didn't permit.

I did however pick up this massive book called "Upgrading and Repairing PCs 17th edition"for $25. It's huge. The book has 1582 pages filled with every possible detail about everything from processor sockets to Power Supply cable pinouts. I'm not sure how much good I'm actually going to get out of it, but I'm sure I'll end up cracking it open a couple times.

What I was really looking for was something that would detail with actual computer modification. Things like soldering your own USB connectors, extending ribbon cables, making VGA cables, and solving power requirement differences between laptop CD drives and full sized 5.25" CD drives. Does anybody have any recommendations?

Monitor buying

So yes, I've decided to go with the 17" iMac. So now it's time to buy the monitor. Before I do however, there are a lot of things I need to consider.

1. Power supply - The first thing I would look for (maybe after price) is if it has an external power supply.  This is important because external power supplies are going to be more compact than one's built into the monitor, They'll be enclosed so you don't have to worry about protecting it, and there's already a long cord that goes from the supply to the monitor. 
2. Screen quality - Although most cheap displays have very similar panel specs, it's still a good idea to compare the static (or normal) contrast, brightness, and color gamut if you can. Lot's of sites don't bother to include this information, but you can usually find it with a little bit of searching. 
3. Built in video cable - Although fewer monitors utilize these, if you can find a monitor with a VGA cable soldered directly to the board, that's one less bulky VGA connection that has to take up room inside the dome. 
4. Simple is good - Lots of monitors these days (especially the 20 inchers) are packed with stuff you aren't going to need for this project like built-in USB hubs, speakers, and multiple video inputs. If you can avoid these things, it might make your life a little easier. Although these things shouldn't affect the panel at all, they mean extra circuitry inside the case which may or may not be modular. 

When shopping online, things like power supply and built in video cable can be hard to determine. I spent hours looking around the internet for stores that include pictures of the back of the monitor because nobody explicitly says what kind of power supply it uses.

In the end, I found a great deal on a Hanns HW173 17" widescreen monitor. It does not have an external power supply or built in video cable but it was $99 from staples.com with free shipping and when you look at the back you can see that the circuitry isn't spread out all over the place.

Now All I need is a 17" iMac to put this thing in...