Laptop Construction

[Jonathan Hutchins]

Quoting Seth Dimbert <s.dimbert at fhmr.com>:

> Does anyone know of a source for parts for people who want to build their
> own laptop from scratch? Can I buy an empty laptop case the same way I can
> buy a PC case?

Think about it - have you seen many different brands of laptops made with 
identical, standardised parts?  Even within a single brand like IBM or Compaq, 
each model is often significantly different in construction.

As far as components go, there was a recent thread that discussed LCD monitors, 
and how you can't really purchase the ones with better resolution because the 
entire production capacity is going into laptops.

If you look in something like Computer Shopper, you'll see some cases that are 
for odd sizes and shapes, but they're mostly things like the old 
Compaq "lugabble" PC's.  If you stray very far at all from the basic 
desktop/tower configuration you're going to find yourself buying all the parts 
from the same manufacturer anyway.  Cheaper to buy the whole thing pre-built.

Even with standard "commodity" computer parts, it's getting so there's so much 
overhead in delivering individual parts to the end user that it's almost 
cheaper to buy a factory-built machine.  Only the fact that a Dell or a Gateway 
is going to come bundled with things you could do without (like Windows) gives 
you any price advantage in building your own, mostly it's more for the sake of 
choosing exactly the components you want that you'd bother.

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