Can you build your own laptop?

[Dave C.]

| You can only buy fully assembled.

|

Not true

Essentially true, if you are talking about laptops. You can buy shells to
add a processor, hard drive and memory to. But you will end up with a
laptop with some assembly required, it won't really be a homebuilt. -Dave

 

[Dave C.]

I ended up buying a Shuttle XPC, a used processor, used 512Mb ram, &

used 80Gb harddrive. I added a mouse, zip, & cdrom, which I already
owned & purchased a HappyHacker keyboard. For a outlay of about $500,
I had a quite powerful system the size of a toaster I could lug
around.

It worked for me since the only places I used it had monitors
available for me to use. It's not an ideal general solution, but it
was 1/3 the cost of a comparable laptop.

Add a NEC LCD1565 **** PORTABLE **** LCD monitor, and you've got a portable
system that's still half the cost of a comparable laptop. Oh, and you don't
need to borrow anybody's monitor. -Dave

 

[Barry Watzman]

The closest that you can come -- and this isn't easy to find or common
-- is a "barebones" laptop, with no cpu, memory or hard drive.

 

[Dave C.]

Hello,

I've always built my own PCs by buying all the components separately (the
case, the motherboard/CPU, the hard drive, the RAM, the video card, the sound
card, the network card, the CD drives, etc). I love being able to have full
control over the brand of the components, instead of buying from a shop like
Dell and either not having much choice or having no choice at all.

I have absolutely no experience with laptops. I am considering buying a
laptop now. Is it possible to buy laptop components separately and put it
together yourself? Or is it only possible to buy a laptop fully assembled?

Thanks.

There's another option you should consider. Build an SFF (small form
factor) system and add a NEC LCD1565 (PORTABLE!!!) LCD 15" monitor to it.
That's what I did recently. It's not quite as portable as a laptop, but
show me a laptop with a 3DMark 2001 score of 13,666 for less than a thousand
bucks. (evil grin) And my solution can be carried onto any airplane, it
two bags. If you go with the Antec Aria case like I did, you even have your
choice of ANY micro-ATX mainboard. So it is truly a HOMEBUILT portable
system. -Dave

 

[Anonymous Jack]

I don't suppose it's actually going to save any money, is it?

Nope, at least not much. The company that is buying 200,000 hard
drives a year, every year, from a manufacturer is getting a slightly
better deal than the guy who calls up and says, "Hey, I need _one_
hard drive for a laptop I'm building"

In the desktop arena, there are lots of manufacturers and lots of DIY
upgraders, so you can build a desktop cheaper _and_ better yourself.
Everything is pretty standard, and you can fit lots of stuff in a
typical case - even fully loaded; they are mostly filled with air.

On a laptop, there are few standard items - memory and HD are usually
exchangeable and standardized like their desktop counterparts, and I
think that's about it (though LCD panels are exchangeable to a small
extent, and possibly mini-PCI cards).

 

[Jason Cothran]

| Root wrote:
|
| > There have been some informative posts and some ignorant posts here. But
it
| > truely depends on what you are starting with.
| >
| > Some laptops you can buy a whitebox system and buy your own componets
and
| > put them to together. As someone else sugest the asus m6ne you can do
this.
| > I am looking into getting a compal CL56 and doing this also. But
everything
| > is smaller and more breakable so YMMV.
|
| I don't suppose it's actually going to save any money, is it?

Not a dime.

 

[AndrewJ]

The closest that you can come -- and this isn't easy to find or common
-- is a "barebones" laptop, with no cpu, memory or hard drive.

http://www.tekstation.com/pd_centrino.cfm
http://www.americancomputech.com/smoreinfo.asp?iid=166642
http://www.unitedmicro.com/ntw.cgi?NT3UN017+CPAM64005+MMKN002+HDT001++10
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=M6BNe&Category_Code=Notebook
http://www.computerbrain.com/cbisys/buy.asp?main=Notebooks&title=Notebooks&id=22
http://www.zmaxtech.com/items.asp?CartId=67644-EVEREST-70HECUW414&Cc=NOTEBOOK
http://www.unitedmicro.com/ntw.cgi?NT3UN017+CPAM64005+MMKN002+HDT001++10
http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/inde...0&model_id=812&include_type=15_inch&category=
http://www.globuscomputer.com/shop/notebook/notebook.htm
http://www.acompinc.com/smoreinfo.asp?iid=88855
http://www.avadirect.com/plist.asp?cid=301
http://www.mgepconline.com/plist.asp?cid=301
http://www.pronetsale.com/pricelist.asp?cid=3093
http://www.tekstation.com/pd_asus_pentium4.cfm
http://www.sybercom.com/cgi-bin/sybercom/NBA900-1.html?mv_pc=PriceWatch
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=S1000N&Category_Code=Notebook
http://64.227.236.145/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RT&Product_Code=MTC8050

 

[Papa]

Not really practical for laptops. Like trying to build a modern automobile
by purchasing the individual parts, the overall cost would soar through the
roof. Even building desktops from scratch is becoming more difficult from a
cost-savings point of view, but I still do it because I like to select the
components myself.

 

[Matt]

Root wrote:




I don't suppose it's actually going to save any money, is it?

Maybe you could avoid buying a service contract?

Maybe you would save money in case you had to replace something like a
motherboard or a fan?

Maybe the parts quality would be better? I've heard bad stories about
Dell laptops, for instance. Maybe the parts would have longer warranties?

Maybe you would save on software in case you are going to run Linux?

 

[Simon Leung]

Dave,

I like your solution. I am also trying to put together a portable
desktop system using standard, upgradeable components. (Bought a Dell
Latitude but am regretting for its short useful life and the
dead-ended upgrading path.)

Just want to clarify:

Antec Aria is cube sized. If I put such a box in a wheeled suitcase,
it is quite bulky, and I might be stopped due to exceeding luggage
size limits... right? I looked at Antec website and Aria's shortest
dimension is 7.9". And the luggage limit is 9 x 14 x 22. If I put
that into a suitcase and count the padding and tube space for pull-out
handle etc, it might go over the 9" limit. I am just guessing here.

I know it is not that strict after all. But I did see from time to
time people were stopped and asked to put their suitcase into that
small measuring cage.

What is your experience? Or you just carry it by hand...

Thanks!


Simon

 

[David Maynard]

Dave,

I like your solution. I am also trying to put together a portable
desktop system using standard, upgradeable components. (Bought a Dell
Latitude but am regretting for its short useful life and the
dead-ended upgrading path.)

Just want to clarify:

Antec Aria is cube sized. If I put such a box in a wheeled suitcase,
it is quite bulky, and I might be stopped due to exceeding luggage
size limits... right? I looked at Antec website and Aria's shortest
dimension is 7.9". And the luggage limit is 9 x 14 x 22. If I put
that into a suitcase and count the padding and tube space for pull-out
handle etc, it might go over the 9" limit. I am just guessing here.

I know it is not that strict after all. But I did see from time to
time people were stopped and asked to put their suitcase into that
small measuring cage.

What is your experience? Or you just carry it by hand...

Thanks!

Bad plan to hope they'll ignore it's dimensions.

And I wouldn't put a PC built with conventional parts through luggage handling.

Carry on.

 

[Notan]

Dave,

I like your solution. I am also trying to put together a portable
desktop system using standard, upgradeable components. (Bought a Dell
Latitude but am regretting for its short useful life and the
dead-ended upgrading path.)

"Short useful life?" "Dead-ended upgrading path?"

Care to elaborate?

Notan