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    Laptop to HTPC?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Peter Bazooka, Feb 1, 2011.

  1. Peter Bazooka

    Peter Bazooka Notebook Evangelist

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    I have a sony fe-890 (win 7, t5500, 4gb ram, go7600) but the battery is completely shot (doesn't even show that it is connected anymore) and the "W" key no longer works. I never use it but it works fine and the screen is still beautiful.

    My question is how hard would it be to convert that laptop to a htpc?

    I don't just mean converting it to htpc use but totally set it up like a htpc.

    I'm thinking maybe take the motherboard out of the case, remove the display, add a terabyte hdd, attach another dvd drive to it or maybe a blu-ray, and drop it into a small htpc case. It already has wireless/bluetooth, it has audio and video out, its small, and it should have enough power to watch movies and play my music.

    Anybody done this?

    Edit: maybe I should have placed this in the custom notebook build section? I've honestly never looked in that section...
     
    Peter Bazooka, Feb 1, 2011
    #1
  2. Syberia

    Syberia Notebook Deity

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    Remove the LCD and VESA mount it to the back of your TV. No, seriously.
     
    Syberia, Feb 2, 2011
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  3. reedrichards

    reedrichards Notebook Enthusiast

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    Track down an old Xbox and spend a few bucks on that and not dislodging hardware.

    Then again... depends on what else hooks up to your TV and what you reasonably expect to be able to watch on it.
     
    reedrichards, Feb 12, 2011
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  4. chimpanzee

    chimpanzee Notebook Virtuoso

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    so the only thing that is kind of broken(as battery doesn't matter) is the keyboard. why not just get a USB keyboard ? Or some kind of USB remote ?

    I briefly used my Studio 17 to watch TV on a bigger TV and Windows 7 has everything for you to do that, just a remote control is enough(or a TV tuner if you want to receive TV signal). I got it for about 30 bucks(the tuner and the remote).
     
    chimpanzee, Feb 12, 2011
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  5. try2catchmike

    try2catchmike Notebook Consultant

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    Just hook it up to the TV Via HDMI (If it has it) or VGA (Will also need speakers hooked up to it if using VGA) and get a wireless keyboard and mouse. There you go HTPC, you can add an external USB HD or stream movies to it over a network.
     
    try2catchmike, Feb 12, 2011
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  6. cokewithvanilla

    cokewithvanilla Notebook Geek

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    how about mounting it behind the tv, use the laptop drive for the os and connect it to the network and use a server to host files? then buy this:

    Buy.com - Wireless bluetooth Rii Mini Keyboard Touchpad fr PC Laptop Playstation3 & presentation laser pointer

    now you've got a fully functional PC by only using the motherboard/cpu/ram/hd... it will also be small enough to mount on your tv. if you must have attached storage, buy a 2tb external hard drive and mount it on the other side of the tv. I think you can get around 125 or so good quality movies on there (like 15 gig BD rips)
     
    cokewithvanilla, Feb 13, 2011
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