Locating a Thinkpad G40/1 & building a desktop inside

[NerdModeEngaged]

Hi guys, I want to work on a rather cool project for my next laptop, I want to use one of intel's new Mini-SFX motherboards in a laptop, however i knew that i would just NEED that laptop to be a thinkpad, and i need a laptop to be very thick in order for the NH-L9i cooler to fit, now i plan to cram 8GB of DDR4 RAM into this beast to start with, and I would either go for a 7600T CPU or an AMD Raven Ridge APU if AMD are able to use this form factor, this would mean I would have one of, if not the most powerful thinkpads, I think that this would be bloody amazing, however I have run into an issue, i simply cannot source any G40/1 laptops anywhere, Would anybody mind helping me find one, and also could somebody give me some indication of price that i would have to pay for this laptop, Thanks 

-NerdModeEngaged

Edited July 23, 2017 by TheRandomness
Fixed formatting

[Droidbot]

why tho

 

Clevo W650KK1 has 7700 (desktop CPU) +1050Ti in a 15.6" form factor

[NerdModeEngaged]

Just now, Droidbot said:

why tho

 

Clevo W650KK1 has 7700 (desktop CPU) +1050Ti in a 15.6" form factor

BECAUSE IT'S COOL & UNIQUE

[NerdModeEngaged]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

why tho

 

Clevo W650KK1 has 7700 (desktop CPU) +1050Ti in a 15.6" form factor

The real reason though is future upgradability of a desktop in the portability (eh) of a laptop, i will be able to swap out motherboards etc. in the future which is brilliant

[markr54632]

You can do pretty much the same thing with a couple of the clevo, sager, and msi models though. This is a pointless and hard to implement correctly.

 

If you were dead set on trying the lenovo thinkpad g580 is a little thicker and easy to find cheap.

 

Don't forget you are going to have no way to run this off of battery and you will need to find a higher resolution screen along with the controller board for it.

Running it off battery would require a 12v battery pack and

 

Not to mention you would need a motherboard that accepts a mobile mxm graphics card and an insanely expensive mxm graphics card. No way are you fitting a full sized graphics card in there.

 

You're going to have to make custom coolers and find a board that has the dimms horizontal on the board.

 

Since its not going to be portable again what's the point?

 

You could use the outer shell pieces as a case I guess.

 

As for future Upgradeability no more so than the laptop models mentioned above.

[NerdModeEngaged]

21 hours ago, markr54632 said:

You can do pretty much the same thing with a couple of the clevo, sager, and msi models though. This is a pointless and hard to implement correctly.

 

If you were dead set on trying the lenovo thinkpad g580 is a little thicker and easy to find cheap.

 

Don't forget you are going to have no way to run this off of battery and you will need to find a higher resolution screen along with the controller board for it.

Running it off battery would require a 12v battery pack and

 

Not to mention you would need a motherboard that accepts a mobile mxm graphics card and an insanely expensive mxm graphics card. No way are you fitting a full sized graphics card in there.

 

You're going to have to make custom coolers and find a board that has the dimms horizontal on the board.

 

Since its not going to be portable again what's the point?

 

You could use the outer shell pieces as a case I guess.

 

As for future Upgradeability no more so than the laptop models mentioned above.

I know this idea is not practical, however it is not meant to be, however I will be happy running this off decent integrated graphics and I would plan to modify battery packs to get it semi portable, the NH L9i will also fit in these thick laptops, however at the end of the day this is meant as a little fun project for me to work on, and thanks I will look at the g580

[markr54632]

A couple problems with your cooling solution. Its only rated for up to 65 w tdp so i3 or lower. There are many 1u coolers that may work better. Also where is the air going to come from and where will it go?

 

This style of cooler really won't work for you. It would overheat in a matter of seconds. Look for coolers from sff pcs that use blower style fans, heatpipes and remote fin arrays. Or modify an existing laptop cooler from a clevo or compatible workstation laptop.

 

As for batteries you could potentially make a large pack out of high drain 26650 cells, but these are expensive and heavy. Not to mention you will need to integrate a balanced load charging circuit in somehow. (Possibly utilize an e cigarette or battery bank board). Then you also have to integrate several voltage regulation circuits. (Or possibly a high end car pc power supply)

The cells alone should set you back over 120 is you get them cheaper they are fake. The power supply should set you back 250 or so. The cheaper ones do not work worth a damn.

 

Make space for an LCD controller board.

These are rather large and I doubt the motherboard's will have a 30 or 40 pin display connector.

 

Unless you can design those circuits from scratch (not many people can) that just filled your entire case. No room left for motherboard, hdd, etc.

 

As for using integrated graphics. If this is your intent, then this can all be accomplished for under $800 by buying a laptop.

 

If you want a fun laptop fabrication project maybe try stuffing a console (xbox, ps2, or gamecube) in one. Its an actually feasible project. Not terribly hard and would put a lot of what you are trying to do into perspective. You can even fit a GameCube into an old netbook with room for integrated controller buttons provided you can find the controller board for the display.

 

If you are dead set on trying a project like this Ben beck has an abundance of laptop fabrication guides and information. Most of it is super useful.