This is a stupid idea, but can you design your own laptop using the Framework mainboard?

[Y22222]

Yes, this is a stupid proposition, but hear me out. I currently daily drive a 15" laptop with a dedicated numpad and it's about time to buy an replacement. I'm honestly stoked about the concept of the Framework laptop, with its consumer-first, hyper-modular approach, but the 13' display and the lack of a dedicated numpad are the deal breakers holding me back. I'm also personally doubtful that designing a 15" chassis is in Framework's priority, and even though it may appear in the future, I doubt it will come up any time soon.

So this leads me to my idea - if framework won't make it, can I DIY it? I can buy the mainboard (the heart of the computer) from the Framework marketplace, the battery will also be comming out soon, and I could go and cannibalize a 15" display and keyboard and from an used machine. The only remaining question would be the chassis, which I would probably need to make it somehow.

 

What I wanted to ask is whether this is something that could be done, or would be just a pipe dream. I don't know much about material science or frabrication, so the biggest question is the chassis. Could I 3d print it, and would it be durable enough? If I go somewhere and ask for a part to be cnc machined (out of litterally anything - plastic, metal, maybe even wood if we go extreme?), what kind of money should I be expecting to pay? Is there some kind of contraint that I'm not seeing?

 

Honestly, any info helps. Thanks

 

 

Appendum: Just a final curiosity, what if I put a (not too power hungry) dedicated graphics card into this franken-computer? Could I connect it to the motherboard like an external gpu, but all inside my custom chassis?

[Sipuha]

Sup.

4 minutes ago, Y22222 said:

and I could go and cannibalize a 15" display and keyboard and from an used machine

Ya better hope that flex cables will be right with pin number, size, pinout, etc. Despite FW having "open to userbase community" paradigm, it won't be 100% compatible with parts found in other computers in any conditions.

6 minutes ago, Y22222 said:

Could I 3d print it, and would it be durable enough?

The main issue, in most cases, is the hinge, I had too many laptops in my life which had their hinge mechanism just gone in several years of not so careful use.  The quality of 3D prints is solely dependent on the printer, its settings, quality and materials being used. You can go with 3d printing, but, I guess, there's a reason why manufacturers go with metal chassis more often nowadays.

 

3 minutes ago, Y22222 said:

If I go somewhere and ask for a part to be cnc machined (out of litterally anything - plastic, metal, maybe even wood if we go extreme?), what kind of money should I be expecting to pay?

Small batch manufacturing is not that quite cheap, as it's been mentioned in a lot of LTT videos, so custom CNC'ed chassis will be the same or even more in USD compared to the mainboard.

 

10 minutes ago, Y22222 said:

Appendum: Just a final curiosity, what if I put a (not too power hungry) dedicated graphics card into this franken-computer? Could I connect it to the motherboard like an external gpu, but all inside my custom chassis?

RIP the power brick. I can't really imagine any desktop GPU being not hungry compared to mobile counterparts. Something like a desktop RTX2060 will draw up to 160W (compared to mobile using only up to 90), add the CPU that'll be around 50-60W (never trust TDP on the sites, they never state power usage at boost). My crappy laptop (Ryzen 5 3750H/RTX2060) has a 230W power brick for a 150W peak usage laptop.  And you'll have to accommodate the cooling solution for the GPU apart from the mainboard. Either the final product will look like a giant brick, or you'll need to use a 24" monitor instead of 15" to have the proportions right.

 

The concept is interesting, but there're too many complications to be solved before moving from the drawing board. Sorry for possibly destroying your dreams.

[PriitM]

The mountain of aspects one should consider when even attempting to design stuff like this, is quite huge. 

 

Even with available CAD models, it would be quite a headache to figure out fasteners, structural integrity...not to mention cooling. And i have a suspicion, you want it to look like a sexy macbook style thing?

 

If you are really REALLY interested in doing this, you are looking at minimum 2-3 months of design time, if you know what you are doing. Plus couple of revisions through manufacturing. CNC milled chassii, one off, out of high grade aluminium...would set you back in the range of 4 figures.

 

3D printed approaches take up massive amounts of time and would most likely fail. 

 

 

[Kilrah]

Very much possible, you might want to look at people doing pseudo laptops based on raspberry pis since it's quite a similar project in the end.

 

But yes it'll be a lot of work especially if you need to learn the skills involved on the way. I designed and 3D printed a case for my desktop SFF build and already knowing what I was doing it was about 2 full weeks worth of work. 

Getting someone to CNC manufacture something would easily cost in the multiple thousands especially since it's unlikely you'll get it right the first time, however if you have access to some kind of makerspace and do it yourself that can go down to mostly just your time and effort, would learn some skills too. 

[KaitouX]

15 minutes ago, Sipuha said:

RIP the power brick. I can't really imagine any desktop GPU being not hungry compared to mobile counterparts. Something like a desktop RTX2060 will draw up to 160W (compared to mobile using only up to 90), add the CPU that'll be around 50-60W (never trust TDP on the sites, they never state power usage at boost). My crappy laptop (Ryzen 5 3750H/RTX2060) has a 230W power brick for a 150W peak usage laptop.  And you'll have to accommodate the cooling solution for the GPU apart from the mainboard. Either the final product will look like a giant brick, or you'll need to use a 24" monitor instead of 15" to have the proportions right.

This shouldn't really be an issue if you select the right parts. You can for the most part greatly reduce the power consumption from stock settings by undervolting and power limiting the GPU, as example my 3060Ti was able to go from 200W at stock to 120W while keeping 85% or so of the stock performance, the lowest I could go was 100W due to BIOS limitations on the GPU, and at 100W the performance would drop quite a bit, but if you get one that can go lower, you can probably configure it to use 80W, my old 960 was able to go to 60W or so without issues.

 

Naturally that doesn't mean it should be done, this would be incredibly hard and expensive to do properly. Properly cooling a desktop GPU in a notebook would be a nightmare.

[PriitM]

Had a quick think about it: If you dont want any fancy/sexy look for bragging rights, you could: Take a 5mm or 1/4" thick sheet of 5000 or 7000 grade aluminium. CNC machine the keyboard and trackpad openings, other buttons and, if possible on the cheap, hinge fastening. Then use spacers/washers, and long enough screws/bolts in tapped holes into the thick aluminium. 

Then, 3D print simple case(s) around the components to protect the underside, plus for any IO you may need

 

Should be the cheapest DIY approach for an amateur and allows enough flexibility to one-off build

 

Still, fabricobbling this all together will take you quite a while. 

 

 

[Sipuha]

1 hour ago, KaitouX said:

You can for the most part greatly reduce the power consumption from stock settings by undervolting and power limiting the GPU, as example my 3060Ti was able to go from 200W at stock to 120W while keeping 85% or so of the stock performance

But then designing the power delivery from the battery/charging module to the GPU is pain in the lower part of the body.

Plus the battery may not be well designed for such loads. 

USB-C Power Delivery, as much as i'm concerned, is only a 100W max, so even a passthrough mode with such GPU won't be possible. Best bet is to carry an external GPU in such case.

[Y22222]

Wow I wasn't expecting to get so many replys to my post, thank you all! All the info has been insightful for a naive like me, - I never knew that there were so many small details that made the entire thing complicated and/or expensive to do. I guess the conclusion would be that although it's technically possible, it's probably going to take me a long time and the end product isn't going to be that great. Someone with much more experience and skill with fabricating may be able to pull it off, but it's near impossible for me to be able to do it with my little knowledge that I currently have.

 

Once again, thanks for all the replys