I was watching recently TV adds about TV monitors able to connect to the internet and make skype calls. Why would anyone want to spend thousands of $ on a new TV just to make skype calls from the living room is a matter beyond my comprehension but anyway.
In my living room, I recently got an LG TV and for quite some time I was considering buying a media streaming device. Such as those sold by iamm. However my laptop's screen inverter died recently for the second time. The first one lasted 2 years and the second about 1.5 years. It had a few other issues as well (not to mention being from a not very well know brand) making it unattractive to potential ebay buyers. So instead of dropping money on a dedicated media box, the choise was made to use this laptop instead. And drop money on a new laptop.
The screen was stripped from the laptop. Unfortunately the laptop lacks an HDMI port, but the TV supports a VGA input.
An old logitech wireless mouse and keyboard dongle that was bought separately for 6 quid a few years back was connected on the laptop and an external WIFI antenna was connected on the wifi card. (the original antenna was in the back of the screen,so it was removed) . Now I could use an old webcamera with the laptop for those skype calls I mentioned earlier, but left that for some other time. In any case webcams come cheap these days.
I could probably go with a linux OS setup, but since windows were already installed required less hassle leaving it as is. It did require some tweaking using large fonts and large icons to make them fully readable hence fully operational from a 4-5 meters distance where the couch is.
Hence for zero cost I got a media streaming device fully Internet connected.
I know at lest one who has a desktop connected on his TV. Using a laptop though which is easier to conceal has a greater wife acceptance factor C:
