Building a Laptop !!

[bigballaga]

anyone have any links/suggestions/comments about building notebooks ?

i want to put something together like what alienware/voodoo pc have to offer...

thankX
BBG

[saaya]

very hard to do... the boards are custom pcbs and the case of a notebook is specially designed to house all the components it uses... if your mobo is only 1mm to large it wont fit into the plastic case...

[kommando]

Sooo precious, could save you a grand or so if you DIY.

[blinky]

u have to buy a barebones chassis. the components that u have a choice over are CPU, hard drive, and ram. i think modular video cards are coming soon (alienware has em) but theyre not on barebones' yes

heres some links
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Notebook
http://www.tekstation.com/pd_141_centrino_notebook.cfm

[bigballaga]

where does alienware and others get their custom cases form ?

1. if i want to customize my case to look kick ass (custom color, maybe my business company name/logo on it), how do i go about doing this ?

2. can i also purchase the cases directly from the manufacturer (with only the lcd screen and nothing else), and i want to install everything else myself

3. what are my choices for CPU ????

thankx
BBG

[saaya]

Originally posted by bigballaga
where does alienware and others get their custom cases form ?

1. if i want to customize my case to look kick ass (custom color, maybe my business company name/logo on it), how do i go about doing this ?


has to be done 2 times (upper+lower part of the case) + 1 or 2 times for the case part for the display if you want a custom display case.

1. get the hardware first so you know the sizes
2. make a model of the outside look of the case out of loot or better wax (use a hairdryer to get it warm and smooth)
3. make a negative model of this model with wax
5. make an inside model of the components (very rough) so they will fit inside.
6. cover the negative model of the outside look and the model of the components with car finish and when its dryed cover it with vaseline or fat or silicon oil.
7. get some good epoxy
7a. add colours to the epoxy mix
8. fill the negative model of the outside look of the case with epoxy
9. softly press the model of the components into the epoxy filled model of the outside look of the case and adjust its position.
10. let the epoxy harden
11. carefull remove the wax models, if its stuck just warm it up with the hair dryer
12. clean the part of the case of epoxy you just made.
13. cut holes to the case or add extra parts by adding a wax shape to the part and will it with epoxy (make sure the surface is rough so the new epoxy can hold on the original shape)
14. cut some edges or fill bubbles with liquid epoxy.
15. glue screw nuts to the epoxy in the places you need it to hold the mobo or other parts
16. polish the case
17. assemble the whole thing

you see its a HUGE load of work! but you could get any case shape thickness and colour you want, and you could even make a clear case :D



Originally posted by bigballaga
2. can i also purchase the cases directly from the manufacturer (with only the lcd screen and nothing else), and i want to install everything else myself

there ARE laptop cases like that but they come with a mobo pre-installed and i dont think a diferent mobo will fit in there... ecs makes them for example with sis chipsets... not really a great choice especially if you think of the integrated graphics :(

i think the manufacturers of the laptop cases are not allowed to sell the cases like that, and even if you would probably have to pay a lot and it would be designed especially for a certain mobo.

your best bet would be to contact a shop that repairs mobos and ask for a defective mobo with working display and a good mobo (nf2 nf3 ati or anything with a 9600/9700mobile graphics integrated) but again i think it will cost you quite a lot.


Originally posted by bigballaga
3. what are my choices for CPU ????

basically any cpu you want, depends on the chipset. the more room you leave for a cpu cooler the better the cpu you will be able to run in it.

im going to build something like this but without display and with desktop components. i will also use epoxy plates instead of modeling my own case with liquid epoxy because it would mean a lot of work and liquid epoxy is more epxensive and im short on money :D

[bigballaga]

KICK ASS, thanks for the explenation. but do you think i could just dial up whom ever makes these cases, give them a sketch of my company logo and name, choose a color and have them make me 10 cases (for all my co-workers).

and reading from your post, i dont think i want to buy them without mobos and lcd, too much work assembling (especially 10 of them). i just want to be able to add dvd, cd burner, kick ass graphics card, network card, floppy, and etc....

~Big

[saaya]

hummmmm maybe they would do it... but itll cost ya! and not little!

hehe if it would be just one case id have loved to built it for ya, but im busy atm anyways.

custom graphics cards... thats gonna be a tough one... you would have to ask them for a large laptop case that can hold a desktop board with agp slot, then you would have to mod the agp slot, either solder it to the back of the board and flip it to the side to around 90°C so it lies flat on the back side of the mobo or just flip it to the side around 90°C so it lies flat on the upper mobo side.

the best would be to solder a 90°C flipped agp slot to the back of the board, then the heat of the gpu could easily be ventilated out of the case.

i think such a laptop would cost you around 3K, as much as an aleinware laptop and yours would be bigger and weight a little more... but then again, its custom and you can put any desktop memory, cpu and videocard in there plus all kind of pci add-in cards wich means more performence, more upgrade possibilities (almost unlimited as you could even change the mainboard if the case is built to house a desktop board) , cheaper upgrades because you can use desktop parts, and you can oc your system, and you would have exactly the same performence like a desktop machine.

im thinking about building such a machine since months if not years, but i dont have the money and time atm :(

[bigballaga]

i wonder which laptop company could make me some custom cases ?? and you said that most barebone laptops come with the lcd and mobo right ?

and the rest like cpu, gpu, memory, drives are all customizable ?

[saaya]

you can order them with the barebone or get them yourself, depends on the supplier of the barebones...

dude, if you want to save some money and build really powerfull notebook replacements get a shuttle xpc or wait for the new chuttle xpc with the 939 chipset. they have the smallest mainboards with agp slots (24cmx18cm) with all functions a desktop board has, including chipset and all kind of voltage tweaking, AND they come with a super small power supply. the watt rating of the psu sounds a little low, but those are special psus and can even power a 3400+ system with a 9800xtaccording to some reviews ive read.

the case+psu+mobo+heatsink costs around 300$ , then all you need is a small optical drive, a small notebook hdd, a case with display and some batteries. id recommend you to get an erternal battery pack, they are larger and heavier, but they last significantly longer.

with normal batteries this custom notebook(assuming its a 3400+&9800xt&17"display) would probably last 20-30min gaming and 30-70min surfing, with a external battery pack it would last 45-60min gaming and 60-150min surfing, probably a lot longer if you reduce volts a bit here and there and underclock the card and the cpu when idling. if you get a 9600pro instead of the 9800xt and a 3000+ a64 you will save a few hundret bugs and all batteries would last around 30% longer :)