How hard is it to build your own laptop?

[coppatop]

I have built several PC's, but I have never even owned a laptop, let alone opened one. How easy or difficult would it be to buy all the parts, and assemble one? Where would I even go to buy laptop parts? (newegg?). Any good reads?

The only reason I ask is that it is generally 25-50% cheaper to build a system yourself than it is to buy a pre assembled one.

 

[captaincharisma]

i know a few years ago toms had a story on building laptops but after using the search feature to search the site i had no luck in finding it but i do know some sites sell bare bone laptop shells that have everything except the vital components but will very the barebone kits cost roughly the same as a netbook

if the barebone laptop shells are the same as normal notebooks then it can be a hard go as the worst of opening a laptop is removing the keyboard as i hear many people that take laptops apart they never were able to get the keyboard back together right but see if you can find any reviews on google on barebone laptop kits to see how simple it is to take these things apart cause they do not include a CPU

 

[captaincharisma]

Good news!!

i found toms old video showing how to build a DIY notebook check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-kMuZVEO3k

 

[lostandwandering]

eh, you usually don't save much by going DIY. You also don't get to customize a laptop like you can a desktop. Most DIY laptops come bundle with GPUs since you can't really buy a laptop GPU like a desktop one.

For the most part you get:
the laptop itself
Screen
Motherboard
GPU

you buy:
HDDs
RAM
CPU
and media drives

As Captain mentioned, the CPU can be difficult to get to since it is usually covered by the keyboard. The rest can be fairly simple, most of the compartments are labeled and only need a few screws to be undone. Laptop CPUs tend to be a little expensive.

 

[captaincharisma]

im not so sure abour the GPU. these days on some laptops you can replace the GPU maybe there are some barebone kits out that let you do that too. if there are im sure they will be hard to find any pricey

 

[lostandwandering]

im not so sure abour the GPU. these days on some laptops you can replace the GPU maybe there are some barebone kits out that let you do that too. if there are im sure they will be hard to find any pricey

Except from the people you are buying from or e-bay, they are incredibly tough to find.

Yes there is the whole upgradeable MXM slots, but it is really ridiculous in that many manufacturer's are making their own slots so that only certain cards work in their systems. Just as an FYI, the upgrade to an 8800M GTX in my laptop was going to cost me 600 bucks and that's if I did it myself. 600 and that's only one card.....

 

[coppatop]

Well, if i'm not going to save (much) doesn't seem like it's worth it. I'll just wait a few months for my returns, and get a new one from sager probably.