Build your own laptop??

[LutaWicasa]

Anybody know where to get what would be needed to build my own laptop? Don't think I've ever seen mobile mobos, cases etc. at any retailers. Seems this could be an interesting project. :)

[Jeff Bolton]

i don't think its possible dude. you can't buy integrated laptop motherboards (that's what it'd take), or even cases as far as i know. it would be awesome, but if we could, a lot more people would have home made laptops :)

jeff

[LutaWicasa]

Ahh geez...did ya have to say "not possible"?

Now I gotta do it.

[jgaud]

Please post everything you find on this. I would love to figure out the feasabillity of a project such as this.

[KeyboardCowboy]

sorry to dissapoint you guys, but i was looking into thie a while ago, it takes too many sepicalized parts to do this, the things that you can buy for laptops is usually more ram, bigger harddrive, everything else is usually integrated into the motherboard IE: sound and video



plus, i don't think i have even seen a laptop case for sale, anywhere

[NGH†Ç®ÅW£Œ®]

Not only that but the monitor would cost a pretty peny and if that doesnt come with the case it probbly not possible to find.

[David]

2.5 inch hard drives are available but expensive, as are SO-DIMMs. I would say you could build one from a couple of old laptops. Not sure.

[Staz]

At E3 this year a MoBo manufacturer (I think it was ECS but not sure) showcased a new and interesting proto type product.

It was a computer about the same size as a laptop but with no battery or screen. Had a P4 2.2, 512mb 800MHz RDRam, 100GB ATA100 hard drive.
cheesy intergrated sound and graphics.

The idea behind it is that an office worker could take thier computer to work plug it into a replicator and work on it with fullsize monitor and keyboard and mouse. Then at the end of the day pick it up and take it home and plug it into a replicator at home and not have to wory about syncronizing files.

If this takes off it could bring us a large leap close to building our own laptops.

Like pulling out that intell mobo and rplacing it with an nforce based one.

[dreadlord79]

I don't know if this is what you're thinking of, but here is a link to mobile pc cases:
http://www.casedepot.com/proddisp1.asp?sidecat=Portable+Cases&category=Portable+Cases

I will warn you though, these things are VERY expensive! Most come with the P/S, the LCD screen, the keyboard and (usually) a touch pad. I was thinking about doing something like this, but when I saw the $$, I said screw it! Hope the link helps. :)

[TheNewbie]

Yes mucho deniero 4 1 of those

[Beelzebub]

I was on eBay and they have tons of motherboard parts you can get, but doesnt seem like you can make the laptops like you can desktops tho. I guess you can interchange the display, ram and drives, but looks like if you went this route, you would only be rebuilding by using someone's broken laptop.

[Darrenct]

First off, Welcome to the forums Beelze...

It would be a fun(extremely difficult) project to build your own case for a laptop.

The only places I would see some serious problems would be integrating a screen, and the big kicker... a power supply.

Cooling could be established with a low-profile HS. If you wanted extra cooling for us OC'ers, well that would get a bit more technical... Just part of the fun.

[Ridenow]

I have been asked this a few times and have thought about it for a while before I was ever asked. I can do everything but battery power. It would not be a true "laptop" but more of an ultra small lan party rig. I know where to get 1U PSUs, riser cards, slimline drives...everything but battery.

[Beelzebub]

Thanks for the welcome Darrenct, I have been following all the forum topics for a couple weeks, and decided it was time for me to throw in my $.02. Talk about an awesome forum. I just wonder what type of rig this forum is running on. :burn:

As for the Laptop, I have an old one with a 15" Display that works off and on, sometimes it boots perfectly, other times it boots and has an odd lag to it... like every 3 seconds you can't move the mouse pointer for a split second. I have taken it apart 3 times and cant tell what the heck is wrong with it.