Can I build my own laptop from scratch yet?

[Frank]

Well, I've just got me an Uniwill last month, Pentium-M 1.7 and Mobility 9700 (256MB), and it is a really nice laptop. But generally, the faster processors give little bang for the buck, and a 6800 or X800 make the laptop thick, heavy, hot, expensive and with little battery life while gaming.

If you want maximum performance, comfortable gaming, want to build it yourself and need it to be portable, how about something like this?

 

[Fox5]

Well, I've just got me an Uniwill last month, Pentium-M 1.7 and Mobility 9700 (256MB), and it is a really nice laptop. But generally, the faster processors give little bang for the buck, and a 6800 or X800 make the laptop thick, heavy, hot, expensive and with little battery life while gaming.

If you want maximum performance, comfortable gaming, want to build it yourself and need it to be portable, how about something like this?

Just wondering, are there portable AC batteries? It'd be great to be able to take any normally home device on the go.(would a UPS work as a battery? I think UPSes are really big, heavy, and don't last long though)

 

[Frank]

Just wondering, are there portable AC batteries? It'd be great to be able to take any normally home device on the go.(would a UPS work as a battery? I think UPSes are really big, heavy, and don't last long though)

Oh yes, an UPS would work, but there are batteries in any size, and you could use a PSU like one of these. They are actually more efficient than your run-of-the-mill PSU, but the batteries do add a few pounds to the weight of your portable.

 

[Fox5]

Just wondering, are there portable AC batteries? It'd be great to be able to take any normally home device on the go.(would a UPS work as a battery? I think UPSes are really big, heavy, and don't last long though)

Oh yes, an UPS would work, but there are batteries in any size, and you could use a PSU like one of these. They are actually more efficient than your run-of-the-mill PSU, but the batteries do add a few pounds to the weight of your portable.

Hey, those power supplies look like the one in the dreamcast. They're not powerful enough to really run recent hardware though.

 

[Frank]

Hey, those power supplies look like the one in the dreamcast. They're not powerful enough to really run recent hardware though.

Why not? They go up to 300 W on that page, and DC/DC converters in general go upward into the tens of kilowatts.

Consider that those PSU's are more efficient, as that is required for battery operation, while most normal PSU's aren't rated for efficiency at all. And an UPS first has to transform the power upwards to 110-230 V AC, after which the PSU transforms it back down again.