Possible to build a portable desktop?

Is it worthwhile at this point with tech to build something akin to a desktop but is easily transported?

Something that isn't required for use on the go meaning not a laptop but a machine that could be easily transported by hand or during travel so say if you are globe trotting, you would have the power of a desktop in your hotel room. A computer that doesn't weigh much more than 10 Kg (the case with the guts of the computer at least) and you can pretty much haul it round like a suitcase with something like a small bag around it so that no nasty bits get in.

I'm not sure how feasible it is but Google does show some results for portable desktops and how to build them but what I am more concerned is with the downsides of it. What would these be?

I would like to have a powerful long lasting desktop but I am not sure that is possible with the kind of limitations I am placing on this theoretical machine.

How would the heat dissipation and frequency of maintenance (less often is better, I would like to believe) be compared to a laptop?

The only upside I see is that since it would be so modular and made with handpicked parts from the market, it would be easier to maintain as well as find replacement components for should a problem arise. However, the obvious downside is more concerning seeing that since I have usually seen a 30 Kg or so limit on flights, the majority of it would be used up which may be used for more important things like clothing or food.

 

Many options unless you want a built in monitor..?

 

Back when I considered building a small mITX PC, this video was helpful:


With mini GTX 970 or those recent small AMD GPUs (depending on your budget), small builds are actually a reality. Get a fully modular PSU for less cable clutter, and that could be a nice build.

 

How would that work? Seems convenient. Don't you think so?

How much of a difference is there between the small and standard versions of a gpu? The dimensions, power consumption, speed, etc.?

 

According to the following review, it's pretty much the same on all counts, except for dimension, those are smaller.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2015/01/15/asus-geforce-gtx-970-directcu-mini-review/1

Also, there has been this GPU reveled:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/r9-fury-nano-revealed.780706/

 

Hey sorry about the late reply. I did a bit of asking elsewhere on the net as well and the answers I got there said that heat issues and price would be great enough that I should probably consider a gaming laptop instead. What opinions do you guys have? Also how much would that example "Steam Box" weigh?

 

My planned mITX build was €1k (4690K/970/8GB), same as my current mATX build. I had to change few things - mobo, case, and PSU. The rest was the same.

According to this video, temps shouldn't be the problem:


However, if you need to travel a lot and want to play video games while doing it, a laptop would be a better solution.

 

@killkenny1

I don't need to play on the go. However, it would be nice if when I was traveling like every few months and had to stay in a hotel for a week or so, I wouldn't have to limit myself to the power of a laptop just for that.

Unless of course, the weight would be unreasonably high even for the smaller 'portable' desktops like 15-20 Kg. I was hoping you could give me a figure on that for all the machines you have suggested thus far.

As for the video you linked to, I don't know much about the specifics of the components but just looking at the fact that they used 32 GB RAM and a core xeon I get the feeling that they used pretty much top of the line components which is the reason why they ended up with low temps for the performance. Just my thoughts, though.

Also I would hope that you would keep in mind that not everybody lives or has ready access to markets in the US/UK/EU so your 1k Euro build may be nearly double elsewhere. Just something to keep in mind, IMO.

 

Yeah, I don't have the means to weight my PC. It would be heavier than something like AW, but not sure by how much. But I think taking a desktop in a luggage is a bit silly idea, unless you either travel by a car, or take it as a hand baggage in the airplane.
Now what is important here is what kind of games would you like to play during your hotel visits, and how much of a budget do you have?
Traveling every few months is not a lot. I do so myself. I have a desktop where I do my all serious gaming at home, and an ASUS T100 2 in 1, which I take with me. It can run old games, which I'm perfectly fine with, though I just usually do some TV series catching up on in.
Maybe you could go for the same setup. Or maybe get one of those laptops with 860m/960m and build a serious desktop later on. But of course it depends on what do you want to do with it.

It's the opposite.

Well why didn't you mention it then? You ask for help, but don't share the details with us. I don't know how the rest of members here are, but I don't have telepathical powers to read you mind and know where do you come from.

 

Could you tell me the full form of AW? Also that is exactly what I meant when I said carrying it around with me like traveling in an airplane with it being my hand baggage.

I'm not exactly settling anywhere in the near half-a-decade and may do a fair bit of traveling. So I won't exactly have a permanent residence where I could keep a powerhouse desktop.

I usually do quite often tend to try and get my hands on the latest games. I do play older games too but I play both older and newer games fairly equally. It doesn't help that a lot of AAA titles have been getting poor optimization recently. Add to that the fact that I am using a multimedia level laptop as my main gaming computer that was at said level 5 years ago and my computer is finally reaching it's limit. I'm not a graphics nut and can lower my expectations.

However the real reason I want a desktop as opposed to a laptop if possible is because of my experience with my latest laptop.

WARNING: LONG SOB STORY INCOMING

The screen broke right after it got out of warranty so I have had to use it with something akin to scan lines that get progressively brighter to the right side of the monitor for nearly 3 and a half years. I would have gotten it fixed however, being where I am there are no help centers with any measure of repute. All any of them have is a, for all I know forged, Asus certificate certifying them as a help center. But seeing the rundown, unprofessional look of the centers, I don't trust them with my expensive machine. Especially since I have no warranty.

The other problem I have is with the make. Roughly after 2 and a half years of owning this machine, the thermal paste was wearing out. Now normally replacing it should be easy peasy save for the fact that I have no idea what Asus was thinking with the make of this machine or whether they are produced this way for all individuals outside of first world countries but basically the motherboard had to be practically yanked out of the casing with the monitor and keyboard lying elsewhere and the heat sink removed off of it before allowing any maintenance to be performed. No access to a high quality thermal paste like Arctic Silver also meant that this servicing had to be performed annually. I am lucky I currently have access to a reliable laptop repair service here because most of them aren't reputed service centers but nerdy kids who learned sufficient information about laptop guts to service them and most of them are capable of more harm than good, even if it is unintentional.

TL;DR: Inconveniences with ability to maintain or replace parts of a laptop is why I want a desktop but I need a portable machine since I don't have a permanent residence.

I'm not sure I understand. Could you elaborate?

I withhold such details since I am not actually buying/making a computer yet. But it might be useful information for whenever I do. Also my benefactors don't exactly give me a fixed budget with the only guideline being 'it should be worth it and it should be reasonable' which pretty much changes for everybody a lot.

 

This is called Vaporware...never will happen

Gaming laptop will cost you money and wattage and weight....nothing is cheap when you want powerful machine.

The upside get a GAMING laptop that will cost you upwards of 2000-3k for a rig that can come close to Desktop Power.

 

Long distance wireless communication, that'll never happen. Oh wait... looks like it did.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. You could've just said NO and left it at that at this rate.

You just don't pay attention, do you? I already said why that isn't feasible last page.

Well, in a nutshell for his highness who has too many important things to do apparently, yet still bothers answering with a half hearted and uninformed answer that's no good:

1. Me no have that much money for toys.
2. Toy made bad. Half-break after warranty. No find things/good people to make toy better.
3. Cleaning toy hard. Me have to break toy to clean and make again to play again.

 

Really what a TROLL....

Those that fail to look beyond their own logic seem to never learn do they.

Say it enough times and it must be "TRUE"...

 

I don't care what you think of me as, as long as you get my point. Given how self-righteous your post seemed, I simply had to point out how shortsighted such a view is.

Your logic being what exactly? There were several posts by killkenny1 on the last page implying it's plausibility and all you did was throw debatable facts out there WITHOUT the debate.

What happened to me, happened. You don't want to believe it, that's your problem.

Besides you still haven't addressed anything beyond the first post.

What I find odd is you have the time to throw facts but not to support them or counter any rebuttals that may have already formed in the discussion on the previous page. With such complacence, I can only assume that is a lack of attention on your part and that too for worse reasons rather than better. This isn't the first time either and I believe you, specifically, may have been the same poster who replied similarly in a few other threads I made.

I get that this is a forum where only the ' technically literate' subscribe to and being ' spoon-fed' is severely condemned but I already said in my first post that I saw several results on Google Search pointing towards the likelihood of an affirmative to the question in the topic. All I want is an personal level interaction with facts that are substantiated so that if I have any further questions or misconceptions, I may push through them. But if you give me such lackluster answers with callous disregard to any actual technicalities that may be present and towards fostering an actual discussion, what else do you think I would make of that? Other than what I did of course.

You want me to figure out everything on my own, fine. Just say the word and I'll be outta here.

 

It's been stated already this is a waste of good money after bad money. It's up to you to listen to reason and if not then that is your choice not anyone or mine on here to make you decide otherwise.

 

Why?

I already asked you for something more than a statement of what could be your own bias, seeing as the other one or two who posted were in agreement to the contrary. Maybe an example or few or some sort of comparison or statistics would help to support your claim.

Either way, your answers don't address any of my concerns, questions or the discussion that has already taken place other than the topic question.

How can I listen to reason when there is none?

You lack time, that's your concern. I can't see anything that suggests that, however, unless you would otherwise like to say so. I just keep getting the feeling you simply want to stick to the niche of forum regulars and brush off everybody else given that you won't take the time out to back up your assertions.

 

People never learn and keep doing the same mistakes over and over. If you talk about enough then it must be true....

 

That's it. I'm calling BS. **** it. I'm done being polite.

You've done nothing to aid the discussion. I keep telling you what's wrong and you didn't even answer me, sitting on top of your damn high horse giving me self-righteous, good-for-nothing answers. And now you're just giving me riddles.

Like seriously, I don't even know what the **** is the context of your latest reply and what you really want to say. Do you even have a proper grasp on the English language? You haven't given me one proper answer, let alone one that makes sense.

I've seen you reply in several other threads of mine and I swear you're like a ****ing machine. I have to ****ing tell you every goddamn thing to the point that I may as well have done the entire research on my own and you never bother giving me one bit of ****ing expertise because you act like a dumbass machine. You just spit out a stupid simple value after somebody else has gathered all the information for you like stupid little computer program. You don't even know how to have a proper discussion, as far as I am concerned.

You being how retarded you seem, I'm simply going to ignore you from now on. You can drop your useless, sanctimonious answers on some other poor ****ers head.

Remember my username, so we don't have to deal with each other because I sure as hell will remember your **** spewing account.

And any white knights that feel like coming to the rescue of your precious damsel in distress, don't bother giving me whatever retort it is you have because I won't bother with it. If you read the thread you'll know what who is and how right they are/aren't.

 

He's a troll, just add him to your ignore list

 

@OP
Get a Clevo and be done with it.


If you really, really want to go the hard way:
There are some very slim proprietary form factor off-the-shelf PCs that might be more travelling friendly than iTX/mATX builds, but the internals would be all proprietary and impossible to upgrade, maybe even hard for self-service like you experienced with your last laptop. So stick to a standard "shoe box" iTX set up.
A small monitor with a detachable stand will fit easily into a typical suitcase, but you should build serious protection around it.

 

Sorry can't really get a Clevo. I'd have mentioned in my original post but since I just wanted an idea at the moment of whether this is possible and reasonable, I didn't think to add details like I'd only have access to Indian and Slovenian markets in the near future (~1 year), amongst others like budget. Again, sorry.

Anyway, thanks for the tip. I'd most probably go the hard way since I don't buy machines often, move around (internationally) relatively regularly and on top of which the previously mentioned demerits of a laptop are present. Unless you have a really convincing counter reason for the 'shoe box' as well since I really want to avoid being unable to replace damaged parts and inability to self service (which laptops require relatively frequently).

 

A mITX PC combined with something like GeChic's monitor would probably be most portable desktop grade solution I can think of.

Depending where you travel to, one option could be borrowing monitor from the destination... Who doesn't know someone with an extra monitor in the closet?

 

Sweet! I didn't think laptop like monitors would be available to plug into whichever device you would like for usage. That definitely makes this deal seem all the more sweeter.

I would, however, like to know what other reputable brands I should know of or what term I should lookout for when I am looking through electronic items, if you could answer that? Just want to make sure I can procure one of these in case GeChic doesn't sell/supply to where I am.

As for monitor borrowing, I'm not sure I can make many friends quick enough wherever I go with spare monitors. And even if I manage to snag one, I'm not sure it'll be the latest in LED monitors. Does hardware still provide relatively quick measures for interface with CRTs/TFTs/1st gen LCDs?

 

As for monitor, it might be a solution to get a system that can output through HDMI. This way you can leave the monitor at home and hook it up to any television/monitor at the hotel (Nearly all have HDMI these days). Most hotels I've stayed in will be able to provide this, as will most places you're likely to visit. You're not guaranteed to get an awesome monitor but it would cut down on the components you have to carry.

Or just use a slim monitor - but I'd not be overly happy with carrying one in my luggage...

 

Makes sense. Don't all PC systems come pre-equippied with HDMI interfacing capabilities, though?

Also the slim monitors that you are mentioning, are they similar to the thing as KLF above mentioned with the Gechic monitors?

And are they really that fragile that I should consider against carrying them in luggage?

 

I have one of those GeChic monitor's and it is great.

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I haven't seen a system that doesn't have HDMI capabilities recently - but I don't doubt they exist. I suppose you could use a USB to HDMI adapter even if the motherboard doesn't have HDMI built in - but it's something else to buy, and carry/break/lose etc...

Yes that's exactly the sort of thing that came to mind - a USB powered monitor with a very slim form factor would help portability nicely.

I have no idea about the durability and resilience of Gechic screens when you carry them in luggage. My own luggage leads a hard life and gets jostled about and dropped etc.... I'd want a hard and padded case to keep it in when carrying it in a bag, if the luggage itself didn't have a hard shell. I've managed to break a tablet screen that I was carrying in soft luggage so I always wrap mine in clothes when I carry it these days - seems to work well enough.

 

I've seen usb connected travel monitors before but they have same problem as would an USB to HDMI adapter have. They completely bypass computer's own GPU so they are pretty much useless, most of the time even for video consumption. Office type productivity of course works fine.

I'm pretty sure there is other manufacturers than GeChic that makes hdmi-connected and usb powered ones, I just haven't yet come across one.

http://www.gechic.com/product_help_en.asp?s=18

IPS, 1080p but only 13.3" Nice looking hard shell for travel.

http://www.gechic.com/product_help_en.asp?s=14

TN, 768p, 15.6" (cheap-ish!)

I'm so used to dual monitors that having only one laptop screen on the go is annoying. So I have my own interest in this thread, in case someone comes up with other brands/models

 

When you say luggage, do you mean the hand baggage or the baggage to check in for transport via cargo plane and reacquire upon arriving at destination? I sure wouldn't treat my hand baggage roughly knowing what is inside, you know what I mean?

The whole thing with all sorts of display outputs (HDMI/VGA/DP/USB/etc.) is confusing. Could you tell me which options make use of which hardware? If you'd like to be more specific, which options utilize display hardware (i.e. dedicated GPU, etc.) to output video to the monitor? I wouldn't want games to not work or work poorly because I can't use the GPU or some other relevant hardware.

Also what's up with the whole two power cords thing in the first video?

Under what conditions will the electricity required be the full 5 V, 2 A? How much does a single cord deliver and how much will be taken during intensive use such as gaming, video processing, benchmarking or number crunching (DFTs/FFTs) activities?

I personally use headphones for privacy but just to be sure so that I don't end up with a monitor that can't use my headphones, all headphone jacks within the past five years are 3.5 mm, right? As well as all the pins of headphones made to accommodate those dimensions?

Also what's the general price for mainstream versions of these? How much are the monitors that are bought for general desktops for? $330 is very steep and if I only have $700-800 for a rig that chews out through nearly half of it.

 

Under normal usage, it could be simplified that USB connection is always "external usb connected GPU". All the other options are then using internal GPU (all Intel, nVidia and AMD ones).
Considering how big a modern GPU card is, there is no way that thumbnail sized chip inside USB3 connector can deliver similar performance. If it could, then who needed the big cards anyways..

USB2 power output isn't as high as USB3 so older computers will need two cables to supply enough power for some devices. Even some external hard drives or dvd-drives needed two. In this case it doesn't really matter what you do with the computer, monitor needs a certain amount of power to make picture on screen.

 

So, from what I read up on the remaining standards which support GPU usage, VGA allows only video signals. Does that mean If I were to use VGA instead of the other two, there would be no audio output, neither from the speakers nor any headphones I connect?

But I wouldn't have to worry about that if I get any computer, made in the present, to display it's video output, right?

Also is USB 3.0 a software, hardware or mixed standard?

 

Well... if you had the speakers or headphone connected to the TV/monitor, then you would get audio when it is connected with hdmi or dp. If you connect headphones to the computer itself, you would get audio even when monitor is turned off or disconnected and carried to another room...

USB3 is a new type of plug with double the connectors but it is made in a way that it works with USB2 devices too. Naturally a set of drivers is necessary to benefit from added speed increase.

 

Silly me. I just realized a big advantage to the laptops on flights unless I can get a figure on the form factor for the portable desktop.

Laptops don't count towards the weight limits on flights. If you do manage to create a portable desktop with sightly larger/thicker than large 17'/19' laptop form factor, I'm not sure whether they would count towards the weight limit or not if you stuff it into a laptop bag. Not that it would be safe, mind you, what with how fragile it may be.

But would that be allowed on the flight?

 

If you could convince them it's a laptop. But a 25lbs laptop? Might be hard to justify.

 

Really? Geez I was hoping it would be less than 10 Kg. Well, so much for the windup. I suppose this knowledge is only going to be used far in the future, then. Don't really think I would be getting about with that kind of a machine being a student passenger and all with minscule 20 Kg weight limits.

 

Well, sounds like you need a laptop then.

And it may weigh less than 25lbs, but I wouldn't doubt it with the video card, power supply, CPU heatsinks, motherboard, RAM, chassis alone probably weighs at least 3kg.

 

Nah. My current laptop, the one I was talking about not being user serviceable and with the semi-functioning screen, is a hulking 4-5 Kg behemoth. It usually gets a pass.

However, It's as you guys said, it's unsure as to whether such a machine with anything close to gaming desktop level functionality could exist for cheap and without severe issues.

Not to mention whether they would have any objections during security checking or not, even though the weight check is done prior to the security check...

 

You know, this is probably the stupidest thread I've seen in NBR in a long while... You want desktop level performance, then get a desktop replacement like the P771DM... It will not be cheap, however it will do everything... Otherwise, just buy a stupid Macbook and keep a desktop at home... Your idea of a portable desktop, especially one to be taken in hand baggage is useless...

 

totally possible@OP!

get urself a clevo p870dm

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"We do not talk - we bludgeon one another with facts and theories gleaned from cursory readings of newspapers, magazines and digests." - Henry Miller

Oh excuse me. I'm sorry, I should have known better than to expect a discussion on a forum. And yeah this is a totally ridiculous, you know what with all the people actually trying to reason why or why it isn't and having made actual points for both rather than bashing, you bet.

You're just like that turd I was talking to earlier. I don't need some self-righteous piece of ****'s help. You can kindly GTFO. Also I'm adding you to ignore so don't bother replying.

I'll see about that. Again, I don't really have proper access to clevo, sager, msi and all those niche brands.

 

Ignore that fool as well. He loves to label people--Nvidia fanboy this, AMD fanboy that, this thread is stupid, these people are dumb, those people are trolls, yada yada yada. Also if he suspects you of having underpowered hardware in his eyes, he'll talk down to you or even report you , so hide your sigs from his condescension.

 

That's very rich, coming from you...

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