UPDATE:
First design (Ryzen 3500x, lower cooling) - 5.4 litres hardware box 400x280x48mm.
Final design (Ryzen 5700x, higher cooling) - 7.39 litres hardware box - 400x280x66mm.
Separate lid with 17'' monitor on hinges.
This is a looong thread with a lot of trial and error; hardware, cooling, battery and EMI/RFI discussions.
All design and parts details are in the first 3 posts.
See this post for the start of the final-final-final build (45mm bottom box, high GPU temperatures troubleshooted).
ORIGINAL:
I'm planning on building a DIY "laptop" / portable PC, but using PC parts and allowing easily(ish) upgradeable hardware. I tried to design it like a traditional laptop in TinkerCAD and even with a trapezoid 11cm heigh at the back (like a laptop on a laptop stand) it would at best limit me to ITX boards and I imagine heat (and coolers) would be a problem - beats the purpose of easily upgradeable PC parts.
I wanted to start this topic to bounce a few ideas and put together a build plan for later, maybe someone more experienced will catch me out if I'm writing total nonsense - I haven't had a PC for around 20 years, maybe what I'm planning is not possible/sensible at all. I wanted to think it through as much as possible, design it in TinkerCAD to see if it makes sense theoretically before I start buying parts.
It will probably end up more bulky than a gaming laptop, but that's ok - I'm starting it as a fun side-project - it's meant to be a prototype so if it works, I'll be happy
I got a few similar links already in my welcome post - huge thanks for that again. All info, ideas and criticisms are welcome.
GOALS:
CONTEXT:
Last time I bought a "custom" laptop was my Clevo N141ZU, the choice is not much greater since then. I found a few sites which offer laptops with replaceable desktop CPUs but either they have undervolted Intel CPUs, or they have a dGPU which I do not see the point of paying for if I don't need it always in the laptop and have an RTX 2070 eGPU. Most laptops with desktop CPUs I found use an old Clevo chassis (VGA... nice) and you usually can't order them without RAM or SSD, paying more for something I don't need.
I've been following the new releases in tech and thought to start a hobby project - if the new Xbox and PS5 run something similar to "Van Gogh" (Zen2 + RDNA2), that chip would make a killer for a laptop (if cooling is not an issue). We will probably wait quite some time until new AMD chips trickle down to "custom" laptops, they'll probably be offered at high prices as premium/gaming products and even then we'll be forced to use whatever parts the reseller offers.
My Clevo is fine for what I need it to be and with an RTX 2070 eGPU it's OK for gaming, but I'm tired of buying a £1000 laptop every few years (where a part of that price is an SSD and RAM which I already have) with a very limited choice if I want a decent CPU but no dGPU. I thought I'll try building an as thin as possible horizontal workbench, add a laptop screen on a hinge and some peripherals on top. Worst-case-scenario I'll end up with a funky PC
First design (Ryzen 3500x, lower cooling) - 5.4 litres hardware box 400x280x48mm.
Final design (Ryzen 5700x, higher cooling) - 7.39 litres hardware box - 400x280x66mm.
Separate lid with 17'' monitor on hinges.
This is a looong thread with a lot of trial and error; hardware, cooling, battery and EMI/RFI discussions.
All design and parts details are in the first 3 posts.
See this post for the start of the final-final-final build (45mm bottom box, high GPU temperatures troubleshooted).
ORIGINAL:
I'm planning on building a DIY "laptop" / portable PC, but using PC parts and allowing easily(ish) upgradeable hardware. I tried to design it like a traditional laptop in TinkerCAD and even with a trapezoid 11cm heigh at the back (like a laptop on a laptop stand) it would at best limit me to ITX boards and I imagine heat (and coolers) would be a problem - beats the purpose of easily upgradeable PC parts.
I wanted to start this topic to bounce a few ideas and put together a build plan for later, maybe someone more experienced will catch me out if I'm writing total nonsense - I haven't had a PC for around 20 years, maybe what I'm planning is not possible/sensible at all. I wanted to think it through as much as possible, design it in TinkerCAD to see if it makes sense theoretically before I start buying parts.
It will probably end up more bulky than a gaming laptop, but that's ok - I'm starting it as a fun side-project - it's meant to be a prototype so if it works, I'll be happy
I got a few similar links already in my welcome post - huge thanks for that again. All info, ideas and criticisms are welcome.
GOALS:
- PC parts - so I can change what I want, when I want and not be limited to laptop parts.
- Light AM4 motherboard, form-factor doesn't matter. With min. 4 USB ports, built-in wireless or space for a WiFi card, PCIe x16 for GPU and M.2 slot for a main drive. A light and cheap B550?
- CPU+dGPU or APU+eGPU - probably a 65W max to keep size and temperatures low.
- GPU: two options:
- next to motherboard in the chassis
- eGPU via extender/raiser, powered by a separate PSU and connected only when needed
- (optional) able to run on battery
CONTEXT:
Last time I bought a "custom" laptop was my Clevo N141ZU, the choice is not much greater since then. I found a few sites which offer laptops with replaceable desktop CPUs but either they have undervolted Intel CPUs, or they have a dGPU which I do not see the point of paying for if I don't need it always in the laptop and have an RTX 2070 eGPU. Most laptops with desktop CPUs I found use an old Clevo chassis (VGA... nice) and you usually can't order them without RAM or SSD, paying more for something I don't need.
I've been following the new releases in tech and thought to start a hobby project - if the new Xbox and PS5 run something similar to "Van Gogh" (Zen2 + RDNA2), that chip would make a killer for a laptop (if cooling is not an issue). We will probably wait quite some time until new AMD chips trickle down to "custom" laptops, they'll probably be offered at high prices as premium/gaming products and even then we'll be forced to use whatever parts the reseller offers.
My Clevo is fine for what I need it to be and with an RTX 2070 eGPU it's OK for gaming, but I'm tired of buying a £1000 laptop every few years (where a part of that price is an SSD and RAM which I already have) with a very limited choice if I want a decent CPU but no dGPU. I thought I'll try building an as thin as possible horizontal workbench, add a laptop screen on a hinge and some peripherals on top. Worst-case-scenario I'll end up with a funky PC
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