Creating a custom front LCD Bezel

I work in a sensitive location where notebooks with webcams are not allowed. I'm desperate to find a way to either customize the front LCD bezel of the Alienware M17x and the ASUS N50vn so that there is no webcam slot, or to find a place that would create a custom front LCD bezel.

If anyone could direct me to a place, preferably online, that would create the bezel without a webcam slot (if i send them the current bezel as a mold sample), or knows a way to remove the webcam slot and make it professionally look like it doesn't have a webcam i would really appreciate your help!

 

Couldn't you just remove the webcam? The hole would be there still though

 

Out of curiosity, where the hell do you work that's too sensitive to allow laptop webcams?

 

Leaving the hole in the bezel defeats the purpose of the laptop not showing that it had/has a webcam.

I work at a super secret research facility that is conducting experiments on an undisclosed project that might change the world. Hope that satisfies your curiosity.. I work in an Oil and Gas platform. Webcams are prohibited so that... i can't even find a good enough reason to justify the prohibition.. Gotta live with it though..

Anyone has any suggestions please?

 

Ahh, I thought maybe you could show security that it had been removed. Getting a custom bezel is gonna be tough, but I'm sure someone could fabricate one for some $$$. Good luck.

 

Could you just cover the entire bezel with a cut-out sheet of thin plastic or something?

 

It has to look foolproof. a sheet of plastic is kinda giving it away.I could get my laptop confiscated.

 

Then remove the webcam and repaint the front LCD Bezel.
It's possible, it's easy, it's foolproof.

Here are a lot of painting experts who will help you to do this. Or just remove the front bezel and bring it to a painter's shop.

 

Repainting the bezel would still leave the hole where the webcam was.

Does your notebook have an option for the webcam, or is it on every single model? I know with my mother's Latitude E6400, the webcam was optional, and the ones without the webcam don't have the hole in the bezel. If that's the case with your model, you can probably find the solid bezel at a parts reseller.

 

I thought the bezel has a transparent cover above the webcam. So after he painted over this transparent cover, no one sees the webcam and it looks as if there never was a webcam.
Else he can fill the hole with something and repaint it after that.

Sorry, but I don't really see the problem here.

 

What about letting the project's internal tech people remove the webcam (temporarily) and satisfy themselves (and, more importantly, your bosses) that the webcam cannot be reactivated without that fact being obvious to an even cursory examination of the front bezel of the computer. At the very least, it might be worth the while to bring the topic up with your immediate supervisor (keeping in mind, of course, that they are specially bred to be extremely paranoid ).

It strikes me that, given the level of security you're operating under, the approach you're contemplating might get you into more trouble than it would save as someone else there will undoubtedly recognize your computer's make/model, and (if they're standard-issue paranoiacs) know or discover that it comes equipped with a webcam. At that point, the fact that you never said anything to anyone, and the fact that you have disguised the system to make it look as if it never had a webcam, would be construed against you as circumstantial evidence that you're trying to sneak a webcam on-site. As I'm sure you're all too well aware, that suspicion, once rooted, will inevitably lead to the loss of your security clearance, and thus your current position.

 

what you said is true. However, if it is foolproof, two words is all it takes to make it work, "Factory modification".

 

Here is an idea. I did it on a couple of computer to fill in chucks taken out. What you could do if your feeling crafty is remove the front bezel and remove the web cam. Then get Bondo (stuf you touch up a car with) then lay the bezel flat and fill to hole. After it drys you can sand it down till it is perfectly smooth and get it repainted. You can do it your self or ship it out. If you do it slow and take care it will look untouched and like there was never a web cam.

 

Depending on the level of paranoia that's being cultivated there, "factory modification" might set off more bells than it quiets.

 

what color is your laptop. just put a tape that has the same color
the e6400's webcam is so small that putting a black electric tape on the portion where the cam is, looks very natural

is the cam embossed on the bezel or engraved?

 

Sounds to me like your trying to sneak your laptop / webcam somewhere it shouldn't be like a girls locker room. Not cool.

Just sounds sketchy, like "If I can make my laptop look it doesn't have a webcam, maybe I can set it up and my girlfreind won't notice when were 'doing it', or maybe I can leave it in the room while she changes or something"

your sick and not fooling anyone.

 

how exactly he is supposed to use the camera if he wants a bezel that doesn't have a hole for it? x-ray camera?

 

That is precisely the point - when he takes his notebook into the high security area where he works, and which as a no-webcams policy, he wants to avoid having the computer be confiscated on account of the built in webcam by making it look as if one was never installed in the first place. I would imagine that, once the OP is finished working on this site, he would restore the webcam to its previous glory so he could bask in his own grainy image!

 

i know, im just replying to te poster whos accusing the OP of trying to use his laptop as a spycam

 

This so call high security area @work if their security staff are doing their job properly you will not be able to use your laptop with your modded spy cam any way!
Now just tell your boss to order you a computer for your work needs..
I bet your allowed mobile phones in this so call high security area.
Good luck in your quest!

 

^ Best answer. Remove the bezel, get some bondo (I use the fiberglass reinforced stuff), fill, sand, paint. Properly done you would never know there was a webcam there. It's a good opportunity to customize your laptop too.

 

You're still counting on the sec-guys at this place being less than sufficiently paranoid....