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I’m curious about building a laptop but am getting hung up on motherboards (beehaw.org)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I’m aware of things like framework and they’re a cool system, but they’re limited in what chipsets can be used by the mother boards they offer.

I’m thinking in the context of a cheap low spec system that can be handed out for use by a group. Most of the options available are just very pricy.

Maybe something like a SBC would be a better fit since there are plenty of cheap options out there and they can be mounted in a custom built shell with the other needed elements.

A thought that crossed my mind was ordering printed circuit board and just soldering on the sockets and the like, but that’s a very involved process with a lot that could go wrong. Especially for someone with very little experience.

Short of custom ordering from a company that does such things, are there any systems for building a mother board?

This is more out of curiosity about what options there are out there. Any other thoughts people have about custom built laptops or interesting things in that space?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I will be interested in what others say too.

Use to be that there were quite a few white box laptop suppliers but not so many these days. Even with the white box suppliers lot of the components were custom. This is one reason my wife and I still have desktop computers. The laptop and mobile market kind of sucks for standardization.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I can kind of get why the standardization sucks. Everything is so packed together in most designs, having standardized elements might limit a companies options for building something compact.

I do wonder how much extra bulk a bunch of standardized elements would actually add though. Like would the average person really mind the laptop body being half cm thicker?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

The "average person" wants a laptop that's: cheap, unbreakable, lightweight, thin, high resolution, small, fast, and with a ton of battery. Suffice to say they're contradictory requirements.

The most "standardized" laptops, as in easier to find spare parts for, are from brands popular with businesses, like Lenovo or Dell ones.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I think it is about product differentiation and the cutting edge. Also Apple has historically defined the trends even for the non-Apple markets. Apple reaches for the next high end thing, then it filters to others after they prove it out. Similarly on the PC side one has to sell an idea to the brand's first. So design is heavily brand driven and hence custom. I use to work in the industry. You would not believe the pressure to drive out a mm of thickness, an ounce of weight, a watt of power.

So do customers care. I do not myself. More normal people, well they will buy what companies like Best Buy choose to sell and push though the size, weight, features, and design do matter presumably.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

It’s a common issue in a lot of industries, where internal priorities and concerns end up having more influence on a companies decision making than actual consumer wants and needs. Why the idea of “the free market will optimize for the best products” kind of falls apart in reality so often.