Need help building laptop.

[Oggie7797]

Let me begin by saying I mod and hack Android regularly but as far as computers....not so much. I have been looking around and I think what I want to do is build me a laptop from "barebones" so i can get more bang for my buck. I am looking into building a Dell Latitude D630 but I have never done this before but I learn quickly. I want 8GB of RAM a 500GB HDD and I want to be running somewhere at or north of 2Ghz. I will also be installing Ubuntu 14.04. I have looked on several places online and Answers are so scattered that it is hard to find the correct information. http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1654700/dell-latitude-d630-performance-upgrade.html says something about updating bios but I am not sure what all i would need to do to do that. If you can give me some help that would be very much appreciated and also if you would include links i would love that too.

 

[Diox55]

The core 2 duo, while still a fantastic chip is still an old cpu. So be it, you can pick these laptops up for around 100-250 bucks or so. If your talking about having a company building a laptop for you, most of the time your going to get a gaming laptop, and pay around 750-850 and up. Now if you wanted something a little newer that could dual boot for lets say, the range of 500-900, then I might have you covered:

http/www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Asus-X550LA-DH51-15-6-Notebook-Silver-1-6-GHz-Intel-Core-i5-4200U-8-GB-D-/301162907902?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item461eb548fe

Firstly, we have this Asus. It has a 4th gen dual core i5, 8 gigs of ram, a 1 TB hard drive.

http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y510p/

If you wanted to spend more, then this y510p is a fantastic laptop. You can game on it, dual boot, whatever you need. With a 4th gen Haswell i7 4700mq, 8 gigs of ram, an Nvidia GT755m, bluetooth 4.0, a fully backlit keyboard, and with the more expensive models a boot ssd.

 

[Diox55]

Also, 1 more thing. If you were just going to be using this for web surfing, and wanted to rely upon the cloud for storage (bleh) then the Chromebook is a good idea. You can install Linux on it, it requires a bit of a workaround, but it's completely possible.

http/www.amazon.com/Acer-C720-Chromebook-11-6-Inch-2GB/dp/B00FNPD1VW/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399945996&sr=8-1&keywords=chromebook

 

[Oggie7797]

Thank you for the reply. I use my mom's Dell Inspiron 1720 dual core duo 2gb RAM on 1.66Ghz 32bit vista 230gb HDD. I want a laptop for myself that I can learn Linux and help port ROMs to my older Android phone. Running Ubuntu 14.04 on a VM using 1gb RAM and 100gb of HDD is too slow...I was looking at the D230 because it seems to have been a popular computer and compared to my current one it would be a big upgrade. I dont have alot of cash right now so I was hoping to build one and make it as high performance as i can for about $300-400. My main things for the shell of the laptop is it have at least one 2.0usb port and a cd/dvd drive. I will install Ubuntu on any laptop that i get and as nice as it sounds i dont need a 1tb HDD 500GB would suffice and if not i have 50gb on Mega and I can format my 250GB HDD on my xbox and use that as a slave drive of sorts.

 

[Oggie7797]

Like I said earlier also, I am new to the whole building laptops but i am very willing to learn. I can buy parts piece by piece as i can afford it im in no rush but my main things is i want 8gb RAM and a 500GB HDD and i want to be running at or above 2.0Ghz. You can get a 500GB HDD for aprox $50 on amazon...but thats for the D230...Im not sure about cross compatibility though. That's why I try to be extra cautious when it comes to computers. Android is all software the only hardware changes is merely to refurbish...until Project Ara kicks off

 

[Diox55]

Like I said earlier also, I am new to the whole building laptops but i am very willing to learn. I can buy parts piece by piece as i can afford it im in no rush but my main things is i want 8gb RAM and a 500GB HDD and i want to be running at or above 2.0Ghz. You can get a 500GB HDD for aprox $50 on amazon...but thats for the D230...Im not sure about cross compatibility though. That's why I try to be extra cautious when it comes to computers. Android is all software the only hardware changes is merely to refurbish...until Project Ara kicks off

Well, it is possible to build your own laptop, but it's not nearly as easy as building a desktop. A desktop you can just mix and match parts, where as a laptop you usually have to buy specific parts.

 

[Oggie7797]

If i could i would prefer to build a desktop but my dads job has us move around alot and a desktop isn't practical for me and i need mobility. I wish laptops were as easy as desktop builds...

 

[coastie65]

As long as I have been messing around on various forums, I know of only one person who has built a laptop. By trade, he was an Engineer, and taught it in College. I've got one here that needs a new Motherboard and that is no easy task. I am assuming you are going strip a Dell Latitude and start from there. Once you find a workable Motherboard, and that won't be easy, you still have a lot of headaches ahead. I would just look for something with the specs you want and buy it. You could always Partition the Hdd and install Linux in the Partition and Dual Boot.

 

[coastie65]

The core 2 duo, while still a fantastic chip is still an old cpu. So be it, you can pick these laptops up for around 100-250 bucks or so. If your talking about having a company building a laptop for you, most of the time your going to get a gaming laptop, and pay around 750-850 and up. Now if you wanted something a little newer that could dual boot for lets say, the range of 500-900, then I might have you covered:

http/www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Asus-X550LA-DH51-15-6-Notebook-Silver-1-6-GHz-Intel-Core-i5-4200U-8-GB-D-/301162907902?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item461eb548fe

Firstly, we have this Asus. It has a 4th gen dual core i5, 8 gigs of ram, a 1 TB hard drive.

http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y510p/

If you wanted to spend more, then this y510p is a fantastic laptop. You can game on it, dual boot, whatever you need. With a 4th gen Haswell i7 4700mq, 8 gigs of ram, an Nvidia GT755m, bluetooth 4.0, a fully backlit keyboard, and with the more expensive models a boot ssd.

That Lenovo is a good choice and I have recommended it numerous times. I know of one that has one and loves it.

 

[Oggie7797]

Sorry for being such a noob at this but why cant i simply buy a used one off of say amazon or ebay that only has the shell and motherboard or that has low end parts (such as 2gb RAM and 80gb HDD) and just remove the RAM and HDD and replace with upgraded ones? And sorry again if this makes me sound like an idiot but can you not upgrade the processor to something a little better without swapping out the motherboard? I am not asking for the most top of the line ALienware laptop haha and If i had $800 I would buy one straight out.

 

[Oggie7797]

http/www.amazon.com/Dell-Latitude-D630-14-1-Inch-Notebook/dp/B004KZJ0UM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400000917&sr=8-1&keywords=D630

http/www.amazon.com/Memory-Upgrade-Latitude-DDR2-667MHz-200-pin/dp/B008O51Z7K

http/www.amazon.com/Brand-500GB-Drive-Latitude-Tablet/sim/B001QWW0FO/2

 

[Oggie7797]

I just dont see why I couldnt take off everything carefully and swap out the RAM and HDD and maybe just overclock the CPU if I needed too...

 

[Oggie7797]

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Latitude#D-Family

Idk if this will help yall help me or not but what does it hurt lol again i am sorry for being so new at all of this..

 

[Diox55]

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Latitude#D-Family

Idk if this will help yall help me or not but what does it hurt lol again i am sorry for being so new at all of this..

You could swap the ram, but laptops, well and Dell in general (older machines mostly), are known to take specific brands of ram. Like Coastie said, it is very rare to see someone build their own laptop. It's mostly because all laptop parts are specific to one machine/ company or whatever, and like to be used with that only most of the time. Building a desktop is easy, you don't have to worry about parts as much.

 

[Oggie7797]

Okay i will keep that in mind and trust me, i would much rather build a desktop but i need the mobility of a laptop. Thanks

 

[Diox55]

Okay i will keep that in mind and trust me, i would much rather build a desktop but i need the mobility of a laptop. Thanks

I understand that, I wish I could haul my desktop everywhere >.>. If you ultimately wanted portability, I'd go for an ultrabook.