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Anyone ever build their own laptop using a "barebook" ?

I

idea

Golden Member
I was reading TomsHardware.com and they were talking about some companies selling "barebooks," which is essentially a barebones notebook computer. The screen type, resolution, video card, etc, are all predetermined because they are fixed parts of the machine.. however you add your own CPU, optical drive, hard drive, ram, etc. Seems like a good way to cut costs.
 
It seems to be cheaper to get the base spec preassembled laptop of the kind you want then to start upgrading from there. That way you can recoup some of the costs via the parts you pull.

Example: my Thinkpad R50e was $599. I recovered $35 of the cost of buying a Pentium M by selling the Celeron M, which I couldn't have done if I had bought a barebones computer.
 
I built a barebones Asus 15.4" notebook. It had the 915GM chipset and was supposed to support a 533MHz CPU, but my 533MHz 1.6GHz chip would only run at a 400MHz FSB & thus at 1.2GHz full clock. I popped in a 400MHz 1.7GHz CPU and it ran fine. Go figure. Drivers were a bit of a PITA. Also with barebones notebooks warranty support is iffy and you might have to take your added parts out to send it in for repair, since the warranty on the unit only covers the chassis.

Do It Yourself Laptop Article:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=22

I would stay away from MSI barebones honestly, they've given our members a lot of trouble. MSI forum:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=40
 
Hey, thanks for those links. Any chance you could link me to a list of barebones laptops by the manufacturer, so I can see the choices on the chassis I want to build off of? I was hoping to get a *well built* and rugged, good looking laptop.. under 5lb. 12" screen is fine, or 13.3 wxga is better.
 
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