Custom notebooks?

Does anyone know the future of custom notebooks? kind of like how we can go to newegg and pick each component separately (for desktops), then set it up ourselves, saving a lot of money and getting exactly what we want.

they would need to get a standard "case". that would probably be the hardest part. and then motherboards to fit the case. Hell, they could even make custom panels for the sides that can pop out and be switched with whatever comes with your motherboard. mxm would be the video card standard. Ideally there would be 2 exhausts, one for the video card and one for the processor, on the back. Each processor and video card could come with a custom heatpipe and fan. keyboards and trackpads could be another "custom" thing that you can choose and install yourself. things like ram and hdd location is simple, same with wireless cards. just a rough idea, im sure there are flaws with what im proposing.

I don't see it being impossible...not technically anyway. Just not sure if it would make sense from a business standpoint. It would be awesome though, I hope it does happen and I live to see it =p

 

The problem about this is the thermal management, the BIOS, the compatibility of hardware and price.

See it this way, you get your barebone (the case), you put in an i7, dual GTX280M, dual Intel SSD G2 or SSD+HDD config, the Wifi. All that heats up. The cooling system should be a beast for all of that...

Ok, lets go with a more realistic model, a C2D P8700, a 4650HD or GT240M, a single 500GB 7200RPM and a 15 inch screen which is WXGA+ (900p). The system must be capable of feeding those components, but also be flexible enough for someone who would like to cramp in a QX9300 and some 4870HD or GTX280M all the way down to a T4300 and Intel GMA4500MHD configuration.

The technical difficulties are a lot higher due to the smaller case the laptop has compared to a desktop, which manages heat a lot better than the smaller laptop case.

Ok, dual pipes, that aint bad, but it would either limit the space inside of the laptop due to dual fans, or be a THICK laptop in order to fit all that flexibility.

For example, the Envy 15 has 3, not 2 but 3 fans, yes 3 fans. What happened? The design had to exclude the ODD, the dual HDD and put the CPU and RAM together on the front and the HDD and GPU on the other side on the front. Although it works, it is not the best configuration...to keep the components cool the design had to be clean, and they achieved it but it came with its downsides...

Now for this ultra flexible barebone. It would have to be aluminum or some strong component for it to last. Then the cooling would have to be MASSIVE, to cool down the highest components, which would also mean that for an entry level, it would be a waste. Battery life would be most likely crippled by all that hardware and components.

The constraints on such small area such as a laptop, even if 17", are plenty. Cooling, positioning, heat management, case durability, upgradeability.

If we add up all those constraints and put them into a design, the price would be astronomical to have the barebone that is flexible enough to accept all possible configurations, not to mention that the MoBo should be capable of doing so. And if we add the very high prices of mobile technology (CPU/GPU mainly and display) the laptop becomes unaffordable or non-worth the load of money to put in it...

It would be awesome if it existed, but the mobile technology has way too many conditions to work, that doing so, now, is not possible. Perhaps in some future.

 

The closest thing which exists to what you're referring to are barebone laptops which already have their own motherboard and GPU. The rest you can customize normally. Most of these have MXM GPUs as well so the GPU itself is replaceable(albeit the upgrade paths are limited). Mind you, they don't offer the same variety of shapes and sizes s the customizable models from larger laptop companies such as Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Asus and so on.

Also, one of the purposes of buying a "custom" desktop is that it normally saves you on price. This is the opposite for laptops sometimes; pre-built laptops normally cost less than custom ones simply because individual laptop parts are costly due to die shrinks and the technology required to reduce certain parts.

 

And people who buy custom-barebone laptop are mostly enthusiasts and gamers, people who knows what they want and why they want it. "Normal" people just go to the store and buy a Dell. Or HP. Or whatever.

Edit: I read somewhere that Intel will quit with its Build To Order for Notebooks.