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Hardware

Laptop Case Modding? 49

Posted by Cliff from the if-you've-got-the-euros-to-spend... dept.
TechnoLust asks: "Ok, we all know how popular case modding has become. Just visit Thinkgeek for proof. But what about laptops? I can't impress that hot geek-girl with my ultra-tricked-out PC if it is sitting at home. But pull out a modded laptop at the airport and she may delay her flight. So my question is this: What places have /.ers found to get modded laptop parts and options? I know we've covered building your own laptop here and here, but I'm not really concerned with building my own, just modding a "mass manufactured" laptop. Of course, this brings a new element into modding (i.e. you don't want to run your neons when on battery.) I am also interested in knowing what manufacturer's laptops you guys think would be easiest to mod. I've had very good luck out of Toshiba laptops. The perfect laptop for me would be a clear cased Toshiba with neons around the edges. I know it will be expensive, but it's something I use everyday, so I can justify treating myself."
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Laptop Case Modding? More

Laptop Case Modding?

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  • Maybe I'm just an old fart.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by john@iastate.edu ( 113202 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2002 @11:26AM (#2809437) Homepage
    but this sounds like a pointless waste of time and money.

    If you have this desperate need to stand out maybe you could just run a USB cable through your nose piercing or something.

    • Unhappy Old Fart? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by TechnoLust ( 528463 )
      but this sounds like a pointless waste of time and money.

      Waste of time and money? Depends on your definition of waste. I drink Dr. Pepper soft drinks. I get them for $2.50 per 12-pack. That comes out to ~20.8 cents per drink. I can get water out of the tap for WAY less than that, and it does the same thing (quenches my thirst) and is way better for me as far a health is concerned. But I enjoy drinking them (I do drink water often, too, but sometimes I want a Dr. Pepper.) So is this a "waste" of money? I use my laptop for several hours every day, and having a nice laptop that I will enjoy, does not seem to me like a waste. I have a Sea-Doo that I enjoy very much, and many of the older people I work with can't understand why I would pay so much for something I can only ride 4 months out of the year. Because I enjoy it enough during that time for it to be worth the cost. Also, I enjoy working with computers and electronics, so I don't consider the many electrical/electronic projects that I have worked on (and learned from) a waste of time.
      Also understand, I don't spend every penny I get. I have a few savings accounts, an IRA, and a nice 401k that I contribute the max amount to. But I make sure to enjoy my life. I have seen too many people die with millions in the bank, that lived their whole lives like paupers, waiting for the second Great Depression when they would need that money.

      As for the desperate need to stand out, I mentioned attracting the hot geek girl as an attempt at humor. I want this because I will enjoy it. If others think it is "cool" then all the better. As for the USB cable through your nose piercing, I have no body piercings or tatoos. I am an IT professional and as such, I dress that way.

      I hope I'm not coming off too "preachy" and I definitely don't mean to belittle you. I just hope you don't lead an unhappy life, with thousands in the bank getting moldy, because you don't want to "pointlessly waste money."

      • Oh, don't worry about me -- one of the benefits of being an uber-geek is you can have both plenty of money stashed away and a good time in the meanwhile.

        My prediliction is to spend money doing things with my family rather than on shiny bits, YMMV.

        And the USB cable nonsense was my attempt at humor, too.

        Oh, and my doctor made me give up Dr. Pepper (etc) a couple of years ago, so that's one vice I can no longer enjoy :(

      • Then you would find it in glass bottles with real sugar. After being taunted by my family for paying $1.50 a bottle for superior Dr. Pepper I conducted a blind taste test at a family party. Out of ten people 9 preferred the glass bottle Dr. Pepper. One couldn't tell the difference, but after the blind test claimed to enjoy the bottle version more. BTW, this was conducted against Dr. Pepper in a can. The WORST Dr. Pepper in my experience is Dr. Pepper in a 20 oz. plastic bottle. I have mixed experience with Dr. Pepper from the fountain and from 2 liter bottles.

        Now before you claim that $1.50 for a bottle of Dr. Pepper is too much, remember what you just said:

        I just hope you don't lead an unhappy life, with thousands in the bank getting moldy, because you don't want to "pointlessly waste money."

      • Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious. I think his point was that it's a waste to spend all this money just to impress other people, when you can just spend it on things (like DP) that make you yourself happy. Which is something I totally agree with, and apparently you do as well.
  • Is just plain expensive, unless anyone has found a specific laptop range (that caters to your hardware requirements) and has a very simple shell, I just don't think its going to happen.
  • Well, at least as far as the power consumption goes, those EL lightstrips featured on ThinkGeek and other places are a good way to go. They are like your Indiglo watch...that's how they work, and they don't use much power at all, a few mA at the most. I know they're a little expensive, but hey, so are laptops. As far as installing them, depending on your machine you should have some space in there for the inverter. Hope this helps.
    ________________________________Me
    (who were you expecting? mr. gates?)
  • Well, i think it COULD be done however:

    you would need to take the laptop apart (duh ;-) ) especially all the stuff you want to make translucent, make a mold out of them and fill them with liquid plexiglass or something, I think you could get that kind of stuff somehow, but it'll be a long-winded and pretty tedious work.

    you could however opt to let a company that specializes in this kind of stuff make it, but I think you'll have to reach deep in your pocket for that...

    my suggestion: buy an iBook, looks cool and if it's running linux, you'll get your share of geek-girls ;-)

  • Delayed flight (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09, 2002 @11:38AM (#2809511)
    The only reason she might delay her flight is if you are boarding the plane.

  • Dunno if a custom paint job counts, but... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Gid1 ( 23642 ) <tom@@@gidden...net> on Wednesday January 09, 2002 @11:42AM (#2809536)

    Apple Powerbooks (the older ones -- Titaniums don't really need painting!): http://www.applefritter.com/hacks/laptops.html [applefritter.com]

    I'd consider doing that to my Powerbook, but it has a history of catching fire, so I leave it well alone!

  • Just buy an Icebook 2001 and she will happily following you to your lair, wanting to see your collection of old slashdot-postings. Dirk
  • I came across these [bryanf.com] instructions for making custom carbon fiber pieces. That would not only look cool (if done right) but it would also be lighter and stronger than the original case was.
    • From halfway down that page, some facts about carbon fiber:
      • It's flammable. Carbon Fiber doesn't make a good firewall.
      • It's conductive. Watch out for wires and electrical devices.
      • It's not heat proof. Watch out for hot engine/exhaust parts and maintain a safe distance.


      The conductive is probably bad, and depending on the heat part, that might also be bad (my Toshiba Satellite puts out enough heat that I can't actually put it on my lap).

  • Fun at the airport (Score:3, Funny)

    by stinkydog ( 191778 ) <sd@s t r angedog.net> on Wednesday January 09, 2002 @02:19PM (#2810802) Homepage
    Bag Checker: What is in the bag?
    Laptop modder: My custom laptop.
    Bag Checker: (gets hammer and screwdiver) We need to open it up!
    Laptop modder: Please don't I spent a fortune on that.
    Bag Checker: (to coworker "Bubba") It's cavity search time.

    Keep it generic, nobody wants to see "custom electronics" at the airport these days.
  • This is the best I can come up with. Personally, I have a few stickers of bands that I like, along with an Apple sticker I found at work. The Apple logo looks kind of cool on an IBM laptop! You can find some really cool stickers at skateboard and snowboard shops, if that is your thing.
    • Nice idea, but that's not what I would call "case-modding". I mean I have plenty stickers on my workstation and my laptop (bands, labels, my win98 key, lots of tuxes), but I don't consider calling my boxes "case-modded".
      X-Ray
    • I've got a sticker on my old laptop that says "Property of Bart Simpson". Makes all the difference. Plus, girls are more likely to have an interest in cartoon characters than a computer company. ;)

    • Re:What about cool stickers? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The funniest laptop sticker I've seen -- a local security guy has it (nice and big and right-side up when the laptop is opened):

      "My other machine is YOUR LINUX BOX"
  • You don't want to hack a laptop up (at least I don't)

    I would do the stickers/paint thing...
  • I don't have much in the way of recommendations, (apart from OT ones) but you might want to look at this article. [theonion.com]

  • FMJ (Score:2)

    by Xunker ( 6905 )

    I have a laptop, and I'm paranoid about it (even though it be cheap), so my case mod was designed for safety.

    It's a Compaq Armada 7380, and the back of the screen assembly (the _top_ when the screen is closed) seemed pretty thin and weak and I felt that if anything hit the top with any speed the LCD would buckle.

    To counteract that I found a piece of aluminium plate and had it cut to the size of the top of the laptop with the edges beveled, fasteners holes added and a cutout for the name/model display square. It attaches with 8 very short/small bolts with washers to the the top so if anything is dropped in the closed laptop, or if the laptop is dropped upside down on something, the screen won't be pushed in from the back and shatter. It also adds some much needed rigidity to the screen as a whole.

    • "if the laptop is dropped upside down on something, the screen won't be pushed in from the back and shatter."

      Righttttt, so your hard drive will be making a nice clicky noise, your video board will be unseated, your processor will do the same, but your lcd wont smash!

      Seems to me you forgot some of your laptop ;P

      • Re:FMJ (Score:2)

        by Xunker ( 6905 )

        I think you're underestimating both the minimal pressure required to break an LCD panel and the sheer paper-thin-ness of the plastic involved. :) Really, on the 73xx line, the plastic on the top has way more give than I like, and there is enough screen torsion to annoy me.

        Hard dives, especially while not running/parked, are mightly resiliant (something like 500g non-op shock withstanding or such for the Travelstar).. and as for the the other stuff, well it soldered in, my boy!

        If I drop the machine while it's running, I've probably got problems bigger than can be fixed with casemodding.

        Okay, okay, and the metal looks cool. Metal laptops look cool. We can't all afford a Powerbook G4 [apple.com]!

  • I will be heavily casemodding a Thinkpad one of these days. Certinaly, the first version attempt will be with my old 750, but a future attempt may be my work machine (reversable for job security and manager happiness). My plan is thus: Get damn good with a Dremel [dremel.com] tool. Visit my local Home Depot or Lowe's and look for some good, thick, cherry wood. Use the aforementioned Dremel on the aforementioned hunk of wood (probably a saw to trim the wood to reasonable dimensions first) and hollow out the wood that gets in the way of the electronics parts. Sand and lightly stain to taste. The downside to such a project is that wood is thermally insulative, so any part of the laptop that gets warm sure won't get cool. Fan holes must be preserved, and the wood would be thicker than the (now missing) plastic shell in most places to make sure that it's as structurally sound as possible. If I ever get TOO bored, a project involving LEDs, plexiglass and my favorite logo of the day will be used like the glow in the dark Apple logos on the Powerbooks. Having a real wood (no veneer here!) laptop would be killer!
  • find yourself a skilled artist (sculpter, painter, whatever) and say "make me a cool case, here's $BIG_NUM, do your best". E.g. you could have somebody paint on the existing case, or you could have a skilled metalworker make you some l33t burnished steel case replacement, or... Basically pick some style you'd like, find the corresponding artisian, and open your wallet. Alternatively, learn enough about $artform to DIY... as an example, see: http://www.exonome.com/fj/phkl/ for the Pink Hello Kitty Laptop...


    speaking of drool-worthy case modifications: http://www.schrotthal.de/sgi/misc/tn/hotrod_onyx.j pg.html
  • Case modding on Apple Powerbooks is a pretty big scene. No doubt a quick Google search will turn up dozens of sites. The techniques can most likely be applied to PC laptops as well.
  • I'm not really into case modding, but I know a few social techniques to get to know girls. Like politeness with some humour mixed in. But kudos to you for your lateral thinking!
  • One option may be lunchbox type computers (e.g. http://www.lunchboxcomputers.com/ [lunchboxcomputers.com]). While not as sneaky/slim as current notebooks they have enough room for mods and special equipment (as discussed in a current thread http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/07/194520 4&mode=nested [slashdot.org]).
  • This dude [zpub.com] (maybe you've heard of him) has modded his dell laptop with a k-rad sticker [weblogs.com]

    He also modded his car, perhaps you've seen it. [bbc.co.uk]
  • The obvious problem with modding a laptop is their precise, small-scale, highly-crammed and extremely uptight design. There's not a whole lot of space between the case and its innards (on most models, adding, say, a light beneath the keyboard would be all but a lost cause).

    As sexy as it would be to throw a few high-intensity white LED chasers around the monitor or something (ooh!), you'd have to consider that in the interest of maximizing battery life the voltages used inside the computer are extremely precise and arbitrarily adding more current sinks (even little ones, like LED's) may cause random, distressing lossage at the component level. In particular, the LCD is driven by current stepped up to thousands of volts, so waver it by a few millivolts and by the time the difference hits the display it'll have been multiplied about a hundred times by the transformer; how sensitive LCD's are to this kind of fun, I have no idea. Anyone? Bueller?

    My better judgement says to use stickers and not break a $3,000 machine, but the geek in me can't help wondering what it would look like to replace the LED in the IRda port with a high-intensity blue Nichia. :D
  • In the Gibson book "Idoru" one of the main characters relates to a friend how her custom 'portable' computer case (no screen, but goggles; no keyboard, but finger cups) is made by a commune of people on the Oregon coast, and called Sandbenders. Neat idea, and a good read.
  • Funny this thread should come up, my friends and I just got done social engineering our selves a handfull of SMT Blue LEDs last week from LEDtronics. While taking apart my Latitude we noticed how cool it would be to mod out the three status lights. This is a totally do-able mod just as long as you're good with a soldering iron and have a magnifying glass handy.
    • If you are interested in this mod, please keep in mind the first problem we encountered. On latitudes the third light is bi-colored, green when battery is good and yellow when it's nearly dead. This LED takes some tricky wiring to get to work.

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