Discussions

ATX is a standard embraced by all PC manufacturers industry wide so that all parts fit into that format. Laptop manufacturers do not have a similar standard. There is nothing to stop anyone from doing things differently or uniquely.

An excellent machine that uses both desktop and laptop technologies is Cybernets Zero-footprint-PC, ZPC-GX31. It has easy to get to parts and the look and feel of a laptop minus the attached display.

With laptops migrating to wide screens for multimedia, document viewing is more a problem and I hate scrolling through stuff I need to read. Give me a laptop base/components, but an optional and/or detachable LCD. Preferably my choice of LCD, so what if it doesn't fit in the lid (not needed anyway). Now, being a desktop, do away with battery pak (power brick is fine), build it all under a full-size keyboard.

Now I can put the whole PC on my desk's keyboard tray and have the LCD of my choosing, mounted anywhere. I can move it with ease and when and if I need to computer in an airport terminal I can always buy a laptop.

Existing hardware looks DIY enough according to http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-add-touch-panel-to-asus-eee-pc.html

rusty1404. Quite an astute statement and i agree with the basic argument. Yes it's quite a big challenge but it's not impossible and I'm a bit more optimistic about this. Here's a lingering thought: there are also a lot of desktop pc components, peripherals and case mods and upgrade markets are thriving; laptops are getting more powerful; some desktops and their components are getting smaller and more efficient. Is it too far off to see a merging of the two? If it were up to me I'd make things simple: shrink the desktop PC to portable proportions, slap a battery on and provide a portable LCD and keyboard. But we all know it's not that simple. As i've said in a recent thread we've come far enough to know what can and can't be done and also what will and won't be done (there's a big difference) and the reasons behind such decisions. Market forces dictate most of what we see on the shelves. The demand drives the norms/standards of the industry. Unless... someone comes up with an innovation. Set a good trend and the rest will follow--irregardless of the obstacles.

No, probably not. I wish I was more wrong than I think I am. I wanted to say 'manufacturer' instead of 'notebook company' in this post but in the notebook industry most manufacturing is subcontracted as well a much technical design. This fact could possibly offer some insight into why component, standards based notebooks don't exist today but the interpretation is beyond me.

In order to appear on the shop shelves, components or standards based notebooks would have to be economically incentivised so that they would be more profitable than the incumbent system of compiled unit sales which has the happy side effect of systemic cyclical compiled unit obsolesence. :)

In a components based system, every component would carry a massive additional cost for being a component rather than a full product, since the consumer would be expected to compensate the Notebook company by paying for any additional cost associated with the component not associated with the compiled unit, plus any oppotunity cost sacrificed by the notebook company in lost sales et cetera when using this model. Apathetic companies will resist this change due to the current comfortable and simple nature of business process derived from the sales of compiled whole units.

Ie when a company offers a laptop, they have a single product to market. They have a single unit sale to record and process. They have one consolidated warranty to maintain and fulfill. They have a whole unit that is either in a working or not working state and the interaction with the customer at the service desk is extremely efficient. The whole unit can be RMA'd back to OEM or DPM. All changes, drivers, problems, recalls are neatly and effectively grouped by SKU and this single SKU can be easily serialied and tracked. Even small things like printing catalogues and designing websites are simpler.

The obstacle clearly is that if notebook components became standardised and commoditised, then the complexity of sales, warranty, repair and RMA functions required from the Notebook company will explode. Again this strategy will be prohibited by Notebook company apathy, fear, and particularly price incentive.

The case in point is that there are currently numerous exotic notebook manufacturers in the US. These companies offer bespoke, exotic, products that while, being vastly different to component based laptops, still suffer from many of the same cost related drawbacks. Their products are prohibited from becoming mainstream by their high pricing due to high cost.

I will not say that creating a commoditised component form factor based notebook market is impossible. It is a challenge, a fascinating and interesting one but it seems to me that it is probably unlikely that this kind of innovation will be brought to market by any of the, current, mainstream notebook selling companies.

I know what components I want to have in my notebook already. I really don't need to be told. I wish I didn't have to go through hundreds of product pages and spec sheets that are almost identical and not quite what I'm looking for.

I don't care about taking my laptop to the diner, I want laptop technology in a desktop. But I want the display of my choice.
Give me the laptop base, I have my own LCD. Could be cheaper, yes/no? Could replace the average desktop PC.

A good arrangement is Cybernet Manufacturing's ZPC-GX31 only it smacks of a Commodore 64 from the side view. It has lots of room under the keyboard. I would buy any laptop as my desktop if I could get it without the display and use my own.

Well, I said two and asked three. :)..

Nice thought.

Two questions:
-Would it be free?
-How much travel I need to do?
-Can I bring my parts?

Overall, as we do in Desktops, i would certainly consider C/B ratio and if makes sense, go for it.

Dipesh Jadav

To me, the more limiting aspect of this idea is the form factor of the laptop and the arrangement of its component parts. Think out of the box -- literally. You have to remove the MOBO, CPU and Data storage out from under that laptop keyboard and stick it in a separate box to make it more like the configuration of our desktops.

It depends on who you're trying to market the DIY laptop to. If I were a gamer and wanted to bring a high spec laptop over to a friend's house or a guild party, I wouldn't mind the extra weight or the separate components. I just want a laptop or a portable desktop that i can bring along with me with the option for expansion or modification to make it rival the capabilities of most desktops.

PC case modders have been doing it for years -- making adapters or hardware standards of their own and rewiring and rearragng things to put the PC into almost any kind of appliance or form factor you can think of: VCRs, toasters, coffee makers ....
The idea is not that far fetched for the laptop.

There already is a form of DIY notebooks out. Made by OCZ they allow you to pick the cpu, memory, hdd. The only problem is the Gpu isn't configurable.

It would be awesome to see this happen, but I think the reason why we don't have this is because there is no standard mobo format. The power connector has to be in a certain place, the cd drive has to be on a certain side, the screws have to go at certain places, etc. Once there is a standard motherboard layout, then you can have the DIY laptop.