building a laptop

[dadada]

i would like to know is it possible to build a laptop like it us to
build a desktop.

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Moved to Tech Support

No I don't think it's possible, you might be able to upgrade one, but I doubt building on e from scratch... ( nor do I think it's very costworthy)

Perhaps some more views or experience on this from someone else.

[davidw]

Is it possible to build a laptop?
Yes - using available parts
Is it possible to build a functional laptop?
Unlikely.
Most parts are vendor-specific and proprietary. Unless you purchased all compatible and working parts and you know how to connect the parts together, it is virtually improbable to build a laptop.

[dadada]

i am in school for information technology and i recently started my
buisness building and repairing desktops.

a fellow student started his buisness building and repairing
laptops. he won't give me any information on where he gets his
parts or specs on how to build them.

he sells them for about $500 to $600 a piece he is doing very
well i guess that is why he wont give me any info.

[rourkchris]

Most likely he is buying a setup that has everything minus the hard drive, CPU, RAM, and OS. Try searching google or even pricewatch.com for price ideas.

[Shyguy]

The laptops he's "building" are they just barebone lappy's with no HD's or OS or RAM, & is "custom building" them, by adding the extra's that customer's want like HD's, RAM, OS, drives, etc.?

It is possible to build a laptop, but the problem is getting parts that will work together & fit in the desired casing for the notebook, thats the other big challenge as most notebooks from vendors not to mention the motherboards they use are proprietary & will only work with certain cases. & you'll probably spend more on parts too, since laptop parts are considerably, well usually, more than desktop equivalents.

The other guys is probably building desktops & "upgrading" or as I said custom building laptops, but not from the ground up, unless he's got some damn good connections?

As to those barebones notebooks if you look around you can find them for pretty cheap I just saw some somewhere the other day for like 300 to 400, don't remember where but I'll try to find out & post a link here.

I did a quick search on Pricegrabber for barebone notebooks & the one company's notebooks that I saw the other day was by a company called Super Talent, they make notebooks, but apparently they also make memory modules for notebooks & desktops, I couldn't find the exact website as every link I got on them was from sites that were reviewing or selling their products, but here's the pricegrabber link I had, http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php?page_id=13&sortby=popular-&vendors%5B%5D=0&popup10%5B%5D=0&popup10_attr_id%5B%5D=276&popup20%5B%5D=0&popup20_attr_id%5B%5D=976&popup30%5B%5D=0&popup30_attr_id%5B%5D=386&popup40%5B%5D=0&popup40_attr_id%5B%5D=384&popup50%5B%5D=0&popup50_attr_id%5B%5D=230&popup60%5B%5D=0&popup60_attr_id%5B%5D=415&popup70%5B%5D=0&lo_p=0&hi_p=0&form_keyword=barebone&sortby=&ut=42bca8811bd37f1f&x=0&y=0

The lowest price was for like 500 or so, but I remember seeing somewhere the other day for as little as 400, but not sure where, hope some of this helps you out.

[dadada]

what exactally am i looking to get

what is it called

[rourkchris]

A barebone notebook. Then a laptop HDD, OS, notebook RAM, and a mobile processor(though some use a desktop processor).

[dadada]

i looked around and the cheapest i could find one was $700

how is he selling them for $500 if he has to add on everything

[rourkchris]

Perhaps he is buying them used off of forums, Ebay, etc. to keep costs down. How many is he selling in a month? What are the average specs on the laptops he's building? I see older laptops going for less than $500.00 all the time.

[davidw]

I do laptop repairwork as well. I don't do much, but enough that I've learned a few things. For example, if the laptop requires a certain hard drive, it wants a certain hard drive - no substitutions. The IBMs and Gateways give me the biggest troubles.

eBay has a lot of sellers selling barebones parts.

[dadada]

he sells them mostly to people in school
20gb hd
128mb ram
pentimum 3 processors

where can i get them under $500

[davidw]

probably eBay. I used to know a place, but since I don't do business with them, I've forgotten about it.

[Win2Kuser]

We can buy brand new AMD XP2600 upwards lappys in the uk from £600 which would be what about 900 to 1000 USD.

P3 is old old technology, he can't be buying them in new, probably buying them second hand for 300-400 bucks, check them out, clean them up and sell them on again...

Fair play if he can get away with it :p :)

[dadada]

Originally posted by Win2Kuser
We can buy brand new AMD XP2600 upwards lappys in the uk from £600 which would be what about 900 to 1000 USD.

P3 is old old technology, he can't be buying them in new, probably buying them second hand for 300-400 bucks, check them out, clean them up and sell them on again...

Fair play if he can get away with it :p :)

do you have a site i could visit:confused:

[NDC]

You could buy one at that price in the US too... However, they aren't going to be XP-M processors...

[dadada]

NDC

is it possible to build and cost effective to build a laptop
for retail sale

[NDC]

No, it would never be cost efficient for anyone to build laptops. For one thing, you could never configure them to the price you want as you would desktop systems. The main reason for this is that laptop parts are proprietary.

The best thing to do would be to buy barebone systems which exclude CPU, HDD, RAM, Optical Drive, etc

[dadada]

Originally posted by NDC
No, it would never be cost efficient for anyone to build laptops. For one thing, you could never configure them to the price you want as you would desktop systems. The main reason for this is that laptop parts are proprietary.

The best thing to do would be to buy barebone systems which exclude CPU, HDD, RAM, Optical Drive, etc

NDC,

I LOOKED ON SEVERAL SITES AT BAREBONE SYSTEMS AND THE
CHEAPEST I SAW ONE WAS $400 MY FRIEND SELLS THEM FOR
$500 HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE

[NDC]

Please lose the caps...

That's why your going to have to look for a distributor so you can get the barebones and other components at a better price.

The bottom line is, it won't be worth your time. It's hard to make a good margin on computers even with major stores such as CompUSA, PC CLUB, Fry's, etc. The only reason these guys can afford to do this is because they make money for QTY sold...

[gino x]

Dude, just sell budget desktops...if mobility is not a factor in the customers' day to day lives.

[dadada]

i already sell desktops alot of my customers keep asking me
for lap tops trying to see if i can do it affordably

sorry for the caps

[gino x]

Oh I see, trying to expand your product line..thats a diff. story.

Maybe buying barebone units in bulk then fitting them with customized parts [CPU / HDD / etc] would work?

Just gotta look around for some sources...

[dadada]

Originally posted by gino x
Oh I see, trying to expand your product line..thats a diff. story.

Maybe buying barebone units in bulk then fitting them with customized parts [CPU / HDD / etc] would work?

Just gotta look around for some sources...
gino,

do you have some sources for me

[gino x]

Sorry, I dont.

Try www.globalsources.com and see if you can find anything useful there.

[davidw]

The best thing to do (for a budget-minded reseller) is not to build but to purchase used older systems like 300-750mhz and fix them up and resell them - locally. Advertise them in the paper or for a yard sale. People will buy them. It's cheaper and less of your time to do this way. I know - I do that.

[dadada]

christian

where can i buy the older units from please advise me

thanx in advance

[Siliconjunkie]

www.ebay.com

[davidw]

SJ said it best :D

That's where I get my laptops.

I just sold one too on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38123&item=3469232376