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Building a laptop?

trollolo

Senior member
anyone ever done this? i'd assume like desktops the price/performance ratio is huge, but i haven't heard of this being as common. reason i'm asking is i still haven't decided whether i want to have a strong desktop/weak notebook, or go with a do-it-all desktop replacement.
 
I've never done it, but it isn't really as cost effective and the selection of chassis is fairly limited.
 
The actual build technology advances much faster than any of the possible kits. Focus on building a good desk/floor top and leave the miniaturizations to the pro OEMs like Lenovo, Dell, Toshica, Acer, MSI, etc. ( Deliberately leave out H-P because know one knows who will buy that division yet.)
 
Few companies have laptop barebones and selection is almost none for ones with capable gpus. I know MSI has a barebone version of their gaming laptop but you won't find it on sale so it's not cost-effective.

Good deals include Asus g73 with 2630qm, 460m, 1080p display. Newegg sold out of it recently for <$800 after rebate. Otherwise, xoticpc has some good deals on 15" laptops with 2630qm, 540m, 1080p/900p for <$900 that are actually regular sized (<6lb).

If you want max eyecandy, you're much better off building a $700-800 capable desktop than a >$1500 laptop that will struggle to match a $600 desktop's performance.
 
Let me give some info, since this is not a well known topic.

Practically the only barebone laptop chassis that is sold to the public are Clevo's various chassis, which are the chassis Sager uses to rebrand their computers (the Sager NP 8130, for example, uses the Clevo P151HM chassis).

See here: http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php

Those are the barebone chassis available. However, you can't buy mobile parts as easily or as cheaply as desktop parts, so you have to decide if it's really worthwhile. Usually, the best bet is to look on ebay for engineering sample CPUs to stick into your chassis.

It's not worth it. The resellers get such a good deal you might end up saving 50 bucks. It's worth it if you have a bunch of current laptop parts, like an HDD and RAM, laying around.
 
this this seller/site reputable? i'm not familiar with the OEM's of mobile. also is sager well known?

Sager is well known. They compete a lot with ASUS. R&J has been around for a good while. I don't know if they are good or not though. Never bought anything from them. If you want a Sager model go to someone like XoticPC and buy through them.
 
While RJTech is reputable, the bottom line is that you're not going to save much money going out and building your own laptop. The U.S. resellers have such good deals that you might as well buy through them. Ultimately, you might save $50, if you save anything at all.
 
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