How come there is no DIY Laptop?

[whm1974]

So I would like to build my own Notebook, but there are no Standard Form Factors like ATX. How come? Surely there is a Market for this. I can not be the only person who desires this.

[NTDaws]

Theoretically you could build one with desktop parts and make it chunky. Also there never was competition for custom laptops, I also feel it would be extremely difficult to make it more mainstream at this point. Nor do I find much cool about building a laptop anyway, it looks like a bitch tbh.

[whm1974]

2 minutes ago, President Dawson Wehage said:

Theoretically you could build one with desktop parts and make it chunky. Also there never was competition for custom laptops, I also feel it would be extremely difficult to make it more mainstream at this point. Nor do I find much cool about building a laptop anyway, it looks like a bitch tbh.

Most of Us built our own Desktops, so a Notebook shouldn't be that much harder.

[NTDaws]

Just now, whm1974 said:

Most of Us built our own Desktops, so a Notebook shouldn't be that much harder.

Yeah but desktops are a breeze to build, cooling would be a huge factor in a custom laptop. And even today they aren't "great" for cooling.

[dean_5234]

1 minute ago, whm1974 said:

Most of Us built our own Desktops, so a Notebook shouldn't be that much harder.

it is, think of how much you'd have to cram in something less than 1 inch thick

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Most of Us built our own Desktops, so a Notebook shouldn't be that much harder.

Of course it is, every laptop has a different motherboard layout, the ports in a different place, a different number of them, different CPU, GPU, cooler design, layout, intake, exhaust.  It would have to be much bigger and standardised making it less useful as a laptop.  Someone building a low-end laptop would end up with it just as bulky as a high-end, not a very popular idea.

 

There have been projects for modular laptops but they've never really gotten very far.  There was one recently that was due to come out but got stalled due to the current silicon shortage.

[Arika]

5 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

So I would like to build my own Notebook, but there are no Standard Form Factors like ATX. How come? Surely there is a Market for this. I can not be the only person who desires this.

doubt it.

 

The people who primarily buy laptops just want to go into a store and pick something up and start using it. they dont want to have to worry about building it, installing drivers and software.

 

There has been a few kickstarters for DIY laptops that never got funded or never came to market.

 

People interested in building PCs want a desktop for as much power as they can, not a laptop.

[whm1974]

Just now, President Dawson Wehage said:

Yeah but desktops are a breeze to build, cooling would be a huge factor in a custom laptop. And even today they aren't "great" for cooling.

But still...

[NTDaws]

1 minute ago, whm1974 said:

But still...

I get it, it would be a cool idea. But I don't see this happening for a good while, and I personally really don't wanna deal with that in my field of work. I hate tearing them apart already.

[whm1974]

1 minute ago, Arika S said:

doubt it.

 

The people who primarily buy laptops just want to go into a store and pick something up and start using it. they dont want to have to worry about building it, installing drivers and software.

 

There has been a few kickstarters for DIY laptops that never got funded or never came to market.

 

People interested in building PCs want a desktop for as much power as they can, not a laptop.

As a Linux User it can be a PITA to find a Laptop.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

Ever notice how much empty space a desktop has?  That's the cost of their modularity.  They are big and waste space to allow you to swap in a range of standardized parts.  Laptops on the other hand do everything they can to save physical space.  Most things are custom, or shared only between a few similar models.  Even just display panels are not that interchangable between too many laptop models.  Only the storage, RAM, and optical drives are truly modular parts, maybe MXM graphics cards in a few cases?

[trag1c]

The problem with laptops is that they require a lot of proprietary designs if you want to meet certain specifications and goals within a give space. The ATX standard is easy because you have a lot of room for components. Even on those ITX builds its still a lot more internal space than what is available in a laptop. Modularity and small/portable often cannot coexist together. You have to pick one or the other. The closest that you can get to a DIY laptop is a barebones system from someone like Sager/Clevo where all you're doing is slapping in storage and RAM and on some models possibly GPU and/or CPU. Many mobile CPU's and GPU's are also come in a BGA or CSP (chip scale package) packaging where they're soldered directly to the board to save space since sockets have a large board footprint and take up a lot of Z space.

[Arika]

7 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

As a Linux User it can be a PITA to find a Laptop.

which makes you a niche within a niche

[BondiBlue]

12 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Most of Us built our own Desktops, so a Notebook shouldn't be that much harder.

No, it is that much harder. If it wasn't so difficult we'd have custom laptop options available. There are so many different factors that have to be considered, including power delivery, cooling, storage options, expansion, I/O, graphics, and more. 

[Frugivore8894]

I have thought of theirs before (shower thoughts) and I would love to build one. I actually disagree with the fact that “it’s too thin” or “ it would be too hard”. It’s not a thin and light it would be a heavier gaming style laptop. I saw some mentioning cooling and once again I say that it’s not a thin and light. My main point is that it would be a whole new space with new standards. I think it would have to be a thing where the community pushes the manufacturer’s to get together and form the necessary standards. 

[whm1974]

18 minutes ago, Frugivore8894 said:

I have thought of theirs before (shower thoughts) and I would love to build one. I actually disagree with the fact that “it’s too thin” or “ it would be too hard”. It’s not a thin and light it would be a heavier gaming style laptop. I saw some mentioning cooling and once again I say that it’s not a thin and light. My main point is that it would be a whole new space with new standards. I think it would have to be a thing where the community pushes the manufacturer’s to get together and form the necessary standards. 

For a start, Standardized Batteries and Screens.

[Frugivore8894]

1 minute ago, whm1974 said:

For a start, Standardized Batteries and Screens.

Yep but I mean you sorta need the whole thing. 

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

For a start, Standardized Batteries and Screens.

Standardize something means not putting every bit of space to use. Unacceptable on laptops.

 

Heck even power tools dont use standardized batteries yet. We humans are bad at getting to an agreement

[Mark Kaine]

But there are!

 

 

 

 

[whm1974]

15 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

But there are!

 

 

 

 

That is a lot of work.

[Arika]

27 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

For a start, Standardized Batteries and Screens.

[Frugivore8894]

29 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Standardize something means not putting every bit of space to use. Unacceptable on laptops.

 

Heck even power tools dont use standardized batteries yet. We humans are bad at getting to an agreement

True but like I said it will take time and it won’t be thin. (For a wile)

[Kisai]

1 hour ago, whm1974 said:

So I would like to build my own Notebook, but there are no Standard Form Factors like ATX. How come? Surely there is a Market for this. I can not be the only person who desires this.

There is a standard notebook platform. It's called Clevo.

https://www.clevo.com.tw/clevo_pro.asp?lang=en

 

Pretty much every "custom" laptop (eg sager) out there uses it.

 

Funny right now, it's cheaper to buy an entire laptop with a RTX 3080 in it than a RTX 3080 PCIe card.

[Biohazard777]

45 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

But there are!

 

 

 

 

Putting an SoC kinda defeats the purpose we are going for here (desktop parts which can be replaced or upgraded).

[Biohazard777]

8 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Funny right now, it's cheaper to buy an entire laptop with a RTX 3080 in it than a RTX 3080 PCIe card.

To be fair a mobile 3080, even a high powered one will probably perform closer or worse than a desktop 3070 card.
But yeah I agree, this year I'm replacing my laptop, desktop upgrade will wait for the next year. hah