Why Can't You Build Your Own Laptop? 

Build a pc in a briefcase and install a monitor in the top

For a solid second I thought this was a LTT video about building a laptop. I wanna see that now.

That guy looks like the guy from Linus tech tips. How weird and they both talk about technology

The quick answer: Laptops dont use standarized universal slots and sizes.

every computer is a laptop if you try hard enough

1: Empty your PC case 2: Insert whole laptop into case 3: ??? 4: Profit

It’s even harder in Minecraft.

As a programmer and digital artist who's always on the go, I just want to be able to fix and replace parts in my laptop once they become obsolete rather than spend hundreds on replacing the laptop entirely.

My brain programmed to stop your videos on the word "Speaking of" 04:33

"Full ATX hinders portability" Screw you, Linus, I riveted backpack straps to the side of my full tower. I call it my "reksack."

my dad once used two broken laptops to make one working laptop

Use my sister's method of getting more air in a laptop, drop it until enough screws come out and pop bits of the casing off, thus getting more air in

2:49 _proceeds to circle a socketed CPU_

At least older thinkpads let you swap the cpu, ram, storage, battery and swap out the optical drive with more storage or a second battery. Plus they usually have a spare mini pcie slot inside. They also have expresscard and pcmcia slots for extra ports. You can also upgrade the display and replace most individial parts cheaply.

“You can’t build your own Laptop” Laughs in ThinkPad.

*Techquickie : "Why Can't You Build Your Own Laptop?"* *Me : "Bcoz I can't"*

Yo linus can u make a video on how to make a mini itx, "laptop" computer like u mentioned? Would be neat

"There is a certain satisfaction doing it yourself" yeah.... (0:23)

I have also the feeling the brands has no interest in people start building their own labtops. Because it's a massive business. And then suddenly they lose money. Also considering the market for labtops has explored.

isnt techquickie just an LTT but with less subscribers?

Im waiting for Linus to try to build his own “Janky Laptop” out of desktop hardware. With a UPS on a cart.

I tried building a laptop. But instead i made a Lapbottom.

Next on Linus Tech Tips: We made our own laptop.

"Hold my beer." - Ben Heck

y can't we build it if they can build It? *HMMMMMMMMMMM*

well, you CAN, but it requires a lot of equipment and would probably cost more than a prefab.

I feel like while the starting points may be different, you can build some laptops to your preference. I upgraded the GPU on mine twice. I also upgraded the screen resolution and quality. I upgraded the keyboard to backlit. I even upgraded the Power Supply. Before this machine I had a Phenom II, with two separate water loops. 1 For CPU and the other for Tri-Fire setup. Building the laptop was definitely harder, and more limited, but you can still do upgrades beyond adding HDD and Ram.

Techquikcie: you can't build a laptop yourself months later, an indian youtuber:i build a laptop

Hey Linus. I love your creativity. You inspire me to build computers. Here’s a challenge. Build a laptop using Desktop PC Parts only. I have faith that you can do it. Doesn’t matter on the size. If you read this comment, I’d really appreciate it. 👍🏾

because the industry sucks. dont give the industry excuses linus. even laptops can have standardized form factor designs. even if it made laptops a bit thicker i wouldnt mind.

Now I'm wondering. Theoretically, if you could order the parts to a complete laptop how much money could you save to build that laptop instead of buying that model? Example: buying the case, laptop monitor, and internal parts that were already made for the laptop from the manufacturer themselves (given that you already have the tools) versus buying that same one prebuilt?

I have a briefcase sized laptop I use for 3D modeling on the go for clients, looking to build a second as backup using 3D printing and a cnc mill, feeling a bit shot down by your video

yea you can build a laptop, shove some parts in a case, attach a battery and monitor to it and bam, laptop /s

I'm trying to build a custom retro gaming laptop. I'm going to get a sd-to-ide adapter for the hdd. I have the maximum ram I can fit into it too. (If you're interested, the laptop I'm customing is a old gateway solo.)

Maximum PC did an article on building your own laptops. Surprisingly (at the time) you could get a laptop shell and separate parts to your liking

Well you can in Europe. You can buy a laptop without a cpu (full desktop cpu's that is even the 9900k) so-dimm ram ,disk's and wifi bluetooth dongle and they just provide the motherboard and screen you have to install the rest + screen is 2560x1440 144hz g sync and they sell rtx 2080 max q cards that are dedicated so they can be upgraded or purchased separetly.

You could always grab a business/workstation grade laptop, then upgrade the parts yourself. I had a Dell Precision M4600, the CPU/GPU are removable, in addition to the RAM and storage. Same thing you could do with a Latitude, minus the removable GPU. Not only, you'd have a durable, but also a customizable laptop. You can even swap out the display for a higher resolution, add a camera, a fingerprint, etc.

Clevo's "barebone system",like P870DM ,is so customizable that you can choose screen\CPU\GPU and install by your own self.

Lol framework was like "Hold my beer"

Thanks for the video. I kind of already knew the answer, but I'm glad to have confirmation.

one word "MONEY!"

"Soldered" *puts big red circle around a socketed cpu*

There are few OEM customizable laptops, they're bulkier but they work, kinda (look for XMG).

I know this sounds weird, but HP provides a manual with all of their laptops, and all of the spare part numbers for EVERY single part, including the motherboard, so what I have done is bought the spare parts, and built a laptop, and with also the manual, it provides an installation guide so I simply built a laptop from scratch... I don't know about other companies, and the model I built is actually way cheaper than the one I just built...

They should do a video about why it is almost impossible to throw a laptop above 30ft on a flat plain.

What if you could buy your laptop in modules. A screen module, battery module e.t.c.

Because you were so nice to put the add at the end of the video I even watched it till the end!

Techquickie: it's very hard to make your own laptop Strange parts: am I a joke to you

2:25 So glad no one is dumb enough to DIY a cooling system for a laptop.

It would be great to see more standardization in the laptop industry. MXM 3.0 was a good step in that direction.

I have got old toshiba satellite a500-17x laptop, I can only upgrade it to 8GB and I can't upgrade more than that. So I'm thinking about upgrade the motherboard, CPU and RAM but the problem is I would not be able to change the RAM, hard drive on the laptop bottom base and I would not be able to change the battery if I upgrade the motherboard. Can you help me with what I need to do before I start doing it??

I found this video while trying to research a weird use case. If I'm using a 12v or 24v power system in my home is there a place to buy power supplies for PC's that don't require a conversion into AC?

Despite this video, I dare you to build your own laptop :)

Honestly I'd be willing to buy a bigger laptop if you could put your own hardware into it. You can already replace almost anything in the laptops except the CPU and GPU so I would love a solution to them as well.

The main problem with modifying laptops is that most of the components are hard-wired to the board, requiring soldering knowledge and experience to add the functionality you want. However, I have custom-build laptops before, my best example being taking a Windows laptop board and a Mac laptop board and placing them on top of each other inside an old Dell 2005 laptop. I changed the screen for a thin monitor that I mounted inside the original screen area of the laptop, then added a splitter to the two boards with a switch in between. It allowed the user to turn on both boards at the same time (via an external power supply unit that plugged into a single port that connected to both laptop boards) and switch between which computer was displaying on-screen, or even splitting the screen to show both at the same time. I also hacked one of the usb ports on each of the computers, and using an old keyboard rigged it on the same switch to integrate into both boards as well, followed by the trackpad, too. I loved that thing. It was a small, easy way to have compatibility between both operating systems.

Way back in the late 80’s our computer store built custom Lunchbox type PCs. Smaller than a portable, but bigger than a laptop. Came with orange monochrome vga screens. I think the fastest we built were 486. Most were 386 based. Remember when The Brick 🧱 PC cases were all the rage? Along with small keyboards and 9-12” monitors.

NEXT: Why can't you build your own smartphone? (Like even prebuild stuff like ORIGIN dose with pc, why can't they do that for laptops too?)

Well cause they want you to buy another one:P

Love the way Linus says the cpu is soldered and an image with a pga processor which means is shown

I got an ad for IT management voiced by Linus Tech Tips on a Linus Tech Tips video... I legit thought it was part of the vid... xD

This guy really knows what he’s talking about. He should have his own channel

Since the making of this video, there have popped up a few websites like NovaCustom, where you can choose the CPU, GPU, RAM, Storage, Screen, Keyboard on their laptops when ordering.

Ok, this video got me thinking: Is it a good idea to select a laptop to build piece by piece from eBay and learn if it's possible to save money in the process (vs just buy the laptop with the options I chose)? A laptop in my country isn't cheap, even if it's from almost 10 years ago, but repairing or rebuilding one can do it I think.

You can mod laptops to an extent. Sometiems. Optical drive bays can be swapped out for HDD or SSD storage, or secondary batteries in some older models. Keyboards are swappable within given models for regioning purposes. And the physical case can be painted; etched or (within limits) have new surface features or textures applied. It's also not strictly required that the laptop remain a laptop during a modding procedure. If you want you could use a laptop for a base/donar system for a strange looking desktop.

also also pls explain why samsung uses xynos processors in some regions but snapdragon in others?

Cough cough framework 3 years later

I've done it. I used a laptop shell from the 80s and fit a thin mini itx mobo in it. Needed new screen and keyboard battery etc. I used a single slot quadro for gpu

Years ago (I am talking between 2006-2009ish) a wide range of barebone laptop chassis suddenly seemed to appear from various manufacture's , where you could choose your cpu, mem, hd, wireless/bluetooth adapters, cd-drive, which gave you a little more customisation than todays barebones, with various screen sizes, they were rather cool. I remember building myself a t8300, 4gb ram, Nvidia 8600gsm, for almost half the cost of a similar spec'ed brand pre-made one. Almost a third of the price of a similar apple one who cpu was older gen (I think it was a 7300). (it was a mitac chassis), it still works today, though Its only really used for office work, gaming wise anything newer than battlefield bad company 2 runs like a dog lol. on a side note a friend whose apple had similar specs needed 3 new motherboards and the still went into the graveyard years ago. It still even holds a charge just over an hour of use (down from 3.5-4) which given the age is not bad..

Give it five years and I bet the mini form factor motherboards will start touting portables.

Answer: Because they would be slitly thicker, and they would *ACTUALLY* *NOT* *OVERHEAT* ! I can't seem to find a single decent priced laptop that i dont have to repaste, undervolt, underclock a bit, to be able to hope that the laptop wont overheat....

basically u can more or less just get a case from clevo ... and equpi it how you want...... its not perfect but works for specific workload requirements :)

I have a extremely old laptop that cant even register color or render any 3d objects. Even the text on screen is in cubes like a calculator. Its quite beefy and i want to gut the laptop and put some light pc parts in, it would more be like a slightly more compact desktop due to me probably having to have it plugged in. Im really tempted, what do yall think?

Well, this video aged well. *ahem*, hi, Framework 😃

The bigger something is the more flexibility it has: Snake vs elephant yoga battles

Nice video, thanks Linus and co

Buddy of mine built his own laptop from parts he found on the electronics scrapyard. You'd be surprised how often people throw entire electronics out when just one component fails. His was bulky as can be, probably wouldn't fit in your average laptop bag and most probably not on par with factory laptops of the time (2010), but it did work. Ran Windows XP very smoothly. We had plans to build a top of the line microATX or Mini ITX in one of the 1987 Philips NMS8250 cases I still have, but sadly we moved to different cities and contact has faded.

Just waiting for some company to make laptop shells... and motherboards, heatsink. Then we will be able to build our own.

raspberry pi: ima bout to end this man’s whole career edit: why is there a chorus of lols in the replies edit 2: please my notification center is just lols everywhere now edit 3: lol

slightly older laptops thhat arent as thin as macbook air are pretty custmizable, you can change out the cpu and theres also mini pci slots that used for wifi card that you can use for anything else you wants like an external graphics card and just use a tiny usb wifi instead

What's a good website to get barebone laptops?

Was kind of hoping you'd pull some kind of solution out of the unseen depths of the internet... or at least mention things like the pi-top. Still, enjoyed the video :)

You want a fully customizable laptop? eurocom.com Yeah monster "laptops" prolong use on lap will most likely make you sterile. Also plugging one of the more power hungry crazy laptops may trip a breaker.

could you fix a lap top tho? ordering replacement parts or any other part that may cause the issue

Would you be able toi make a video about 'Fixing' the issues with the Surface Pro lineup, am currently using a old intel cpu fooler fan soldered to a USB so it doesn't get crazy hot

*Framework Laptop has entered the chat*

Heat management, *Checks on the temps of my hp 2000, hmm still 200 c, keeping it cool!*

LMAO first time i heard this channel name techquickie 😂 i instantly said IMMA HAVE A QUICKIE WIT THIS TECH

I tried bolting straps to my pc case... it didn't work so great. Turns out a carrying handle doesn't make a big heavy box that much easier to travel with.

this reminds me of my friend who knows nothing about PCs and my other friend had built a pc so this dude goes like "Did you just build a laptop to come flex at us" lmao

Who else never thought about building a a laptop but found this video quite interesting

i was literally watching linus tech tips and then i just decided to google about building laptops and clicked a random video and oh hi linus haven't seen you in a while

in clevo desktop replcement versions,you can change cpu/gpu in addition to LCD monitor and wifi replacement and even the ability to add multiple storage(4-5 hard or ssd).....so even for regular user, that's far than enough changing compred to their upgradability solution in a case/pc. and with socket change(cpu upgrade) as you need in pc to change motherboard,the same apply here in a laptop too. anyway,for now, the ultimate raw power laptop on par with desktop gaming solutions are clevo models p750tm/p775tm for single GPU inn 15/17inch chasis and p870tm for sli graphics in 17" size form factor , all with latest intel 8086k support for 9th gen cpus by only bios upgrade.

new framework exists

For Linus tech tips build your own motherboard

@Techquickie ASUS made a custom build series about a decade ago. It was meant for smaller shops to compose their own model for sale but ended up with smaller shops letting customers make the compositions. It was great, cheap and the machines were strong (with the right components of course). CPU, GPU, RAM and disk was all customizable. The barebone system was only chassis, monitor, motherboard and mousepad.

would like to know wat laptops take the motherboards and processors from a higher end laptop from the same line (aliexpress sells most motherbard and processors to upgrade but it still has to fit.....

Steve jobs can build his own laptop

I had a laptop 20 years ago that had full sized ram and removable cpu, but the battery was an external brick that you plugged in when on the go. Good times, yeah I didn't like it either.

- What if I don't mind weight/bulkiness? Like making an small PC? - 4:12 - Ok, and a small-ish gaming PC?

i think the perfect laptop for anyone that needs performance are the gaming range, and in these laptops you can only add a ssd, m.2, hdd, and ram. Or just add an external GPU via thunderbolt.