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Laptops
- Thread starter stickroad
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2001
- Location
- Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
The simple answer is no.
The complex answer is maybe.
There aren't as many standards for laptops as for desktops so a lot of parts in retail laptops are custom made. There are "barebones" laptops available that you can add your own CPU, RAM and drives to. But assembling a laptop from scratch is not possible with off the shelf parts. If you were looking to save money, well, you can save a few hundred bucks off a high end spec in the $2000 plus range, but in the sub $1000 range, you'll be hard pressed to match the price of a pre-built one.
If you're gifted at metalwork, electronics and problem solving, you can make yourself a laptop style portable desktop out of mini-ITX desktop parts, but there would be a lot of handiwork involved.
In a very few cases, it's possible to get a deal on a popular model, from Dell or someone, that was a low end unit but that had expansion potential. For instance you might get a "glitchy" one or one with a bad power socket from eBay for a hundred or two, fix it, upgrade the base P4M 1.8 to a 3.4 or something, drop in a GB or so of RAM and a big fast HDD and for about $700 you'll have something that is about equivalent to a $1000 model, but without knowing the capabilities of each model inside out, you're liable to make a few hundred dollars worth of mistakes on the way, and end up "upside down" on the deal.
The complex answer is maybe.
There aren't as many standards for laptops as for desktops so a lot of parts in retail laptops are custom made. There are "barebones" laptops available that you can add your own CPU, RAM and drives to. But assembling a laptop from scratch is not possible with off the shelf parts. If you were looking to save money, well, you can save a few hundred bucks off a high end spec in the $2000 plus range, but in the sub $1000 range, you'll be hard pressed to match the price of a pre-built one.
If you're gifted at metalwork, electronics and problem solving, you can make yourself a laptop style portable desktop out of mini-ITX desktop parts, but there would be a lot of handiwork involved.
In a very few cases, it's possible to get a deal on a popular model, from Dell or someone, that was a low end unit but that had expansion potential. For instance you might get a "glitchy" one or one with a bad power socket from eBay for a hundred or two, fix it, upgrade the base P4M 1.8 to a 3.4 or something, drop in a GB or so of RAM and a big fast HDD and for about $700 you'll have something that is about equivalent to a $1000 model, but without knowing the capabilities of each model inside out, you're liable to make a few hundred dollars worth of mistakes on the way, and end up "upside down" on the deal.
Not really... You have to start with a barebone chassis with mobo, case & screen and go from there.
There are some things you can do; cpu, memory, hard drive, expansion cards, and in some cases even the gpu. Raid and such is possible, but you'll have to lose the optical to make room for the second drive. The basic issue is that you'll pay more doing piece by piece do to markup than you would just doing a customized complete machine.
You have to start with a barebones and go from there. Some things like the gpu are really hard to find since newegg, mwave, etc. won't carry the components.
Here's a link to a barebones place that can give you an idea of the possibilities: http://www.rjtech.com/
There are some things you can do; cpu, memory, hard drive, expansion cards, and in some cases even the gpu. Raid and such is possible, but you'll have to lose the optical to make room for the second drive. The basic issue is that you'll pay more doing piece by piece do to markup than you would just doing a customized complete machine.
You have to start with a barebones and go from there. Some things like the gpu are really hard to find since newegg, mwave, etc. won't carry the components.
Here's a link to a barebones place that can give you an idea of the possibilities: http://www.rjtech.com/
