5 ms·
is there a reasonable way to build ones own laptop these days?
by fnid 17y ago
is there a reasonable way to build ones own laptop these days?
- jeduan 17y agoWhy would you want to?
- fnid 17y agoThe same reason I built my own workstation. The same reason I build servers. Because you can build better equipment and gain an intimate understanding of the system so if something goes wrong, you're more apt to fix it without a $500 fee from the manufacturer.
- jeduan 17y agoYeah, but I find notebooks to be in the same category as mobile phones where you don't get anything but bulkiness in return for your time. You might get a better use for your time building your own servers and workstations.
- d0mine 17y agoI've down-voted it by accidence. Please, up-vote to fix my mistake.
- thaumaturgy 17y ago> The same reason I build servers. I can't figure out how to build servers cheaper than their equivalent abmx.com counterparts -- ignoring cases where I buy an 8-bay unit and then purchase the drives separately. In fact, to go further out on a limb: it's been a while since I've seen any computer system in the consumer market for sale and thought to myself, "I could build one like that for less". Which sucks, because it would be great if I could do that, stick my own label on them, and sell 'em.
- aaronz3 17y agoYou can do it, its just not economical. Last time I looked the cases were pretty bulky as well, but it's been a while.
- _pi 17y agoIt's fairly easy to find barebones bodies with mobo, cpu, etc. However finding graphics chips, sound chips, etc. is quite a pain.
- fnid 17y agoMhm, this was the state of the industry the last time I checked. I suppose it would be easier to take an existing laptop and replace the parts...
- jrockway 17y agoNo, but it is easy to pop in the OS install disk of your choice and blow away whatever crap came with the default install. (That's all this article is talking about.) Most laptops have fine hardware, it's just that the default Windows installs come with a lot of ads to keep the price low (or more likely, the profit margin higher). Save yourself the trouble and delete the ads before they even get the chance to be executed.
- thaumaturgy 17y agoDell laptops and desktops are tricky to do this with if you're installing Windows, because -- for some dumb reason -- the Dell hardware is simply crippled without the pack of model-specific drivers installed. On some units, you even lose ethernet, so you're not only stuck with a horrible screen resolution until you fix it, but you also have to load the drivers on via usb. And finally: I don't know of a manufacturer right now that provides you with a real actual Windows disk when you buy your computer. You generally get instead an OEM "reinstall" disk which puts all that wonderful crap back on your system. I really really wish Linux could get a serious hold on the consumer market.
- jrockway 17y agoI really really wish Linux could get a serious hold on the consumer market. So then Linux machines would ship with a ton of crapware too?
- thaumaturgy 17y agoIf they did, the problem could be solved by installing your own free Linux distribution. This is not the case with Windows, which was the point.
- blasdel 17y agoThe problem is with the bundled software, the hardware has nothing to do with it. I'm sure you can wipe it and install Windows (or a better OS) from scratch yourself.