Plans for some major laptop modding!

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

OK, my brother just made some ghetto idea about making his abnormally hot Dell laptop more like a desktop... Trust me, the design sucked.

My plan, however, was a lot nicer. I was planning to mount the mobo (of a laptop, mind you) to a piece of plexiglass (it'll be off the plexiglass a little bit), use metal stilts, and put another piece of plexiglass on top with holes for two 120mm fans with lighting. So, it'll look hella flashy. :)

On top of that, I was thinking of buying a random 17" widescreen laptop LCD and hook it up to the laptop mobo.

What you think? BTW, we're killing the laptop functionality, so it's just going to be a desktop.

[stinger608]

What was you figuring for the keyboard??? Just use a ps/2 or USB keyboard?

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Originally Posted by stinger608

What was you figuring for the keyboard??? Just use a ps/2 or USB keyboard?

Yeah, USB. Or wireless USB, haven't decided.

[Quakindude]

What size screen does the laptop currently have? Just make sure the video adapter can support the resolution if you're going to a bigger screen. Also, by going to a bigger screen, I wouldn't imagine gaming would be very good on it. But if it's just for Internet and other basic duties, it would be a very cool mod.

Where the hell you been anyway?

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

What size screen does the laptop currently have? Just make sure the video adapter can support the resolution if you're going to a bigger screen. Also, by going to a bigger screen, I wouldn't imagine gaming would be very good on it. But if it's just for Internet and other basic duties, it would be a very cool mod.

Where the hell you been anyway?

The screen currently is a 15.4" 1024x768 XGA LCD... I hate it. But my brother has now moved up to another Dell mobo and video card (9800 Pro... apparently he's satisfied with this) which supports a 15.4" widescreen LCD... I'm sure another one will work too. And why wouldn't gaming be better on a bigger screen... resolution?

And I've... not been here... . No, I just have basically lost interest in the computer field. I'm completely interested into cars now. I spend nearly ALL my time on my car forum. I even stopped posting on my Mac blog... my staff does it...

And this site has grown in the past monthish I've been gone... Props!

[Quakindude]

Originally Posted by wtcnbrwndo4u

The screen currently is a 15.4" 1024x768 XGA LCD... I hate it. But my brother has now moved up to another Dell mobo and video card (9800 Pro... apparently he's satisfied with this) which supports a 15.4" widescreen LCD... I'm sure another one will work too. And why wouldn't gaming be better on a bigger screen... resolution?

And I've... not been here... . No, I just have basically lost interest in the computer field. I'm completely interested into cars now. I spend nearly ALL my time on my car forum. I even stopped posting on my Mac blog... my staff does it...

And this site has grown in the past monthish I've been gone... Props!

The 1024x768 you referenced above is most commonly referred to as the resolution. When you go to a larger screen than the 15.4", the resolution will increase. Like a typical widescreen 17" resolution is 1440x900. Using that as an example, when you increase screen resolution, you put a higher work load on a video card. Laptops are notorious already for having mediocre gaming performance. Once you add a larger screen to it, the video performance can, and most likely will, suffer in any thing graphics intensive.

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

The 1024x768 you referenced above is most commonly referred to as the resolution. When you go to a larger screen than the 15.4", the resolution will increase. Like a typical widescreen 17" resolution is 1440x900. Using that as an example, when you increase screen resolution, you put a higher work load on a video card. Laptops are notorious already for having mediocre gaming performance. Once you add a larger screen to it, the video performance can, and most likely will, suffer in any thing graphics intensive.

Yeah, I know, but it can't be THAT much... That's not required anyways. First, I'm using that 15.4" as a screen.

I'm basically against this thing... spending like $400-500 to get parts for an old ass laptop with a 3.06GHz P4? I guess that his choice, but I'd rather plop down $200-300 more and get a nice C2D system.

[seyeklopz]

Could be a nice dvd player and console emulator too. Add a webcam and speaker to the front door and it's a security monitor. Nice file server, mp3 broadcaster, etc. Silent efficient notebooks have tons of uses.

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Originally Posted by seyeklopz

Could be a nice dvd player and console emulator too. Add a webcam and speaker to the front door and it's a security monitor. Nice file server, mp3 broadcaster, etc. Silent efficient notebooks have tons of uses.

Damn, that's a good idea...

My brother basically scrapped the idea completely and decided to be smart and build a desktop to my configuration, but still using that P4 of his.

I probably end up getting that laptop, so if I feel up to it, I'll definitely consider it.