What to do with an old laptop that has a wacko LCD?

I have an HP ze5385us notebook whose LCD backlight went unreliable 1 month after the warranty expired. I’ve been tossing around ideas as to what to do with the notebook but have not settled on anything.

Originally I wanted to give the notebook to my wife so that she could use it for her own use but when it became clear that getting a new LCD screen off Ebay was risky and cost too much, that idea went out the window.

The next plan was to convert the notebook into an apache server in the Data Center (aka Garage). But I would need some way to get the notebook to function while the top was closed. I wanted to see if I could remove the notebooks LCD screen and attach it to a physical monitor. This way I would not have to get another keyboard and mouse when connected through a port replicator. When I started looking into what it takes to remove the LCD I figured it wasn’t worth the effort and it would be risky if I could not piece it back together correctly.

Now I’m just going to buy the replicator and install it with a keyboard and mouse since this is the least time consuming plan. If I get a chance to tinker with the machine later on I’ll try to remove the top and see if I can hook it up to a monitor without the LCD area attached.