DIY Laptop?

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mpK1337

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
88
I remember reading a while back about Asus making barebone laptops for the consumer. People were buying the case/screen/motherboard together, and customizing the rest of it. I even remember reading an article on how to build your own laptop. Is Asus still making these barebone laptops? I cant seem to find them on the asus website, or for sale anywhere.
 
I recently built myself an Asus m6bne here is the thread were I talked about it:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=802638

Anandtech forums had a good post with links to vendors that sell them

http://forums.anandtech.com/message...39&highlight_key=y&keyword1=asus+AND+whitebox

Legit Reviews had a guide to building them
http://www.legitreviews.com/reviews/whitebox1/
http://www.legitreviews.com/reviews/whitebox2/
http://www.legitreviews.com/reviews/whitebox3/

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
 
i just put togethor my asus m3np, very fast and very easy. the hardest part is finding out how to do something, doing it is the easy part. like getting behind the keyboard. once you know how its easy. also make sure you turn the screw on teh zif socket, its the laptop equivilent of the zif socket locking arm. have fun and go at it.

FYI: buy.com had the cheapest price on the M3NP but about 20 bucks when i looked around.

check out notebookforums.com for way more info on barebones/whitebox/DIY laptops.
 
Where did you guys all buy your parts from? I have only dealt with newegg in the past, and they dont seem to carry any whitebox notebooks.
 
i bought (and am thrilled with) a machine from www.rjtech.com i got the mitac 8050 barebones and bought my own wireless card/memory/hd/proc to put into it. whitebox makes tons of sense if you want to put in high end parts because most companies charge outrageous prices to go to the top spec stuff. ie, i put a 1 gig stick in my laptop and it cost $220. the upgrade price for dell pc's to go from 1 256mb stick to 1 1gb stick is like $900. however, if you are looking for something cheap, dell and it's rebates will almost always be cheaper for base configs. i wanted to create a mobile photo lab/gaming machine and this pc has accomplished that for about $1700. 1.7dothan, 1gb ram, 60gb 7200rpm drive, 9700 (128mb ram), 54g wireless, 15.4" wxga screen (widescreen is incredible for photoshop because it gives you tons of room for the controls on the side of the working space). this machine is almost as powerful as my desktop and editing on it is great

8050-1.jpg


8050-3.jpg
 
wow this seems like a great idea i just have a few questions...

1) what is weight? i would guess that when creating lappy for self it would be difficult go light.
2)power consumption? any way to regulate with M processor the speed/brightness of lcd/etc. when you want the battery to last a bit?? retail notebooks normally have software with them...

but seems like an awesome idea where you can easily get everything you want and nothing you don't! :)
 
1.) its as heavy as you make it, check the specs for all your components and add them up.
2.) speedswitchxp, or your bios might have some options as well.

The same comp I built would cost $2100 or so before tax from IBM and I built it for $1200
 
All of the pics of the mitac I can find make it look like it has a single button mouse instead of a 2 button mouse...what's up with that?
 
TheCzar said:
All of the pics of the mitac I can find make it look like it has a single button mouse instead of a 2 button mouse...what's up with that?
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, the button rocks back and forth depending on how you're clicking with it. Could be wrong though.

I just looked at some pictures of the Mitac again, and damn..that thing is thin.
 
Is there any barebone notebooks that have some sort of interchangeable graphics chip? I do a lot of gaming, and in 2 years when the graphics become obsolete, I want to be able to upgrade. Is that possible?
 
I believe the new models coming out this last quarter of 04 are supposed to have PCI-Express and I would expect those to be upgradable and interchangable...not sure on that though
 
aiite well ill keep an eye peeled. Doesnt Alienware sell laptops where you can upgrade the graphics card?
 
As does dell, but at least with the dells (not sure about alienware) you have to ship the laptop back to them and have them do it...its not something you can do yourself...
 
dualblade said:
i bought (and am thrilled with) a machine from www.rjtech.com i got the mitac 8050 barebones and bought my own wireless card/memory/hd/proc to put into it. whitebox makes tons of sense if you want to put in high end parts because most companies charge outrageous prices to go to the top spec stuff. ie, i put a 1 gig stick in my laptop and it cost $220. the upgrade price for dell pc's to go from 1 256mb stick to 1 1gb stick is like $900. however, if you are looking for something cheap, dell and it's rebates will almost always be cheaper for base configs. i wanted to create a mobile photo lab/gaming machine and this pc has accomplished that for about $1700. 1.7dothan, 1gb ram, 60gb 7200rpm drive, 9700 (128mb ram), 54g wireless, 15.4" wxga screen (widescreen is incredible for photoshop because it gives you tons of room for the controls on the side of the working space). this machine is almost as powerful as my desktop and editing on it is great

8050-1.jpg


8050-3.jpg
Click to expand...



Which laptops are the barebones on there site... Sorry its hard for me to tell, newegg spoiled me :p I really woulf like to get a custom laptop.. This is a great way... :)
 
They all are...when you select customize, you just don't put any parts in it, and then you get nothing but the chassis, lcd and mobo..
 
dualblade said:
i bought (and am thrilled with) a machine from www.rjtech.com i got the mitac 8050 barebones and bought my own wireless card/memory/hd/proc to put into it. whitebox makes tons of sense if you want to put in high end parts because most companies charge outrageous prices to go to the top spec stuff. ie, i put a 1 gig stick in my laptop and it cost $220. the upgrade price for dell pc's to go from 1 256mb stick to 1 1gb stick is like $900. however, if you are looking for something cheap, dell and it's rebates will almost always be cheaper for base configs. i wanted to create a mobile photo lab/gaming machine and this pc has accomplished that for about $1700. 1.7dothan, 1gb ram, 60gb 7200rpm drive, 9700 (128mb ram), 54g wireless, 15.4" wxga screen (widescreen is incredible for photoshop because it gives you tons of room for the controls on the side of the working space). this machine is almost as powerful as my desktop and editing on it is great

http://www.iupload.net/082004/8050-1.jpg

http://www.iupload.net/082004/8050-3.jpg
Click to expand...

Is the headphone jack up front the only on the laptop? I want to be able to plug in a semi descent pair of speakers, but if I have to plug it in and route the cord around the front I may just have to pass on Mitac
 
TheCzar said:
They all are...when you select customize, you just don't put any parts in it, and then you get nothing but the chassis, lcd and mobo..
Click to expand...


Ok, so the ones that are not listed as barebones, I can also get as "barebone" :confused:

I just have to select select/unselect what I want... :)
 
Sorry, I take that back...it appears that some of them will not let you deselect things...so only the ones that say barebones are available...sorry
 
Either way, I should be able to upgrade the laptop, following the proper instructions & using the right tools :)
 
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