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Portables Hardware

Building a Custom Laptop to Your Specifications? 83

Posted by Cliff from the isn't-it-past-time-this-was-possible dept.
swordsaintzero asks: "I am not happy with the options presented to me in the laptop market. The system that comes closest, Alienware, costs more than my last car, and still doesn't have exactly what I need! Even Google didn't seem to come across any sites detailing anyone who had built a laptop from scratch. Does someone out there know of such a site? If not, does anyone know the motherboard brand being used in the Alienware Exteme series? If I can get some decent leads, I will post the ensuing mayhem, as I attempt to build my own."
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Building a Custom Laptop to Your Specifications? More

Building a Custom Laptop to Your Specifications?

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  • Car? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:27PM (#6810612) Homepage Journal
    Every computer I've ever owned cost more to purchase than my current car. What's your point?

    • Re:Car? (Score:5, Funny)

      by dmayle ( 200765 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:32PM (#6810645) Homepage Journal

      Every computer I've ever owned cost more to purchase than my current car. What's your point?

      Priorities.

      You obviously have yours well arranged. Good man...

      :)

      • Re:Car? (Score:1)

        by torpor ( 458 )
        I lived in LA for 15 years, and spent more on my computers than I did on my car. In fact, for most of that 15 years, I didn't have a car. In LA.

        Sure as hell had a good 'net connection and a decent computer all that time, though ... :) In fact, I had a pretty decent rack of computers then, heh heh ...

    • I'm a amateur radio operator. Every tranceiver I bought cost more than my car. So what? It is just a priority issue.

      If I can get a nice Volvo for almost nothing, then I'll get it! Who cares it looks like a filing cabinet?

  • alienware (Score:5, Informative)

    by Phoenix Dreamscape ( 205064 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:31PM (#6810641) Homepage
    Custom laptops? Can't help there.

    It should be noted, however, that Alienware actually buys their laptops from a company called Clevo, paints 'em green, and resells them for $600 more. You can buy identical laptops for much cheaper from other Clevo resellers, like Sager. Check pctorque.com and powernotebooks.com for "Alienware" laptops without the expensive paint. Of course, they're still ridiculously expensive.
    • True, but Alienware gets the new stuff 1st. Check out the new Area-51m Sentia [alienware.com]. 14" with more than XGA screen res! $1904 for decent configuration.

      Besides, we all know the blue looks better than the green!

      • That's not new - the Dell Inspiron 4000 I'm typing this post on has a 14" 1400x1050 display and it's two years old now... no dead pixels either :-)

  • Laptops... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by invisik ( 227250 ) * on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:33PM (#6810646) Homepage
    ...are a compromise from the start. These highly integrated and mini-sized parts are not off the shelf components. You just can't get the level of customization that you can on a desktop. Someday you might, but not today.

    I'd say make the best educated decision you can about the system you choose--you can't ask for more then that.

    Just bought an IBM Thinkpad X31--no idea what the mobo or options card brands are, but it sure works just fine. And the media slice is cool--can go laptop with it on or ultra-portable without it.

    -m
  • what exactly are your needs?
    • In most cases you'll find what someone thinks they need to do X is nowhere near their actual requirements... its just "top of the line". Buying the latest and greatest in computer equipment is the stupidest thing you will ever do. I always buy one or two steps below top of the line (a.k.a top of the line 3months ago). Its usually about half the price and down right indistinguishable for 95% of what I do with it.

      Scott
      • Correct. Even older laptops are much use. Right at this moment on my desk there are three laptops and a workstation. One of the laptops is a Digital Pentium-166, running RDP client against my Windows servers. The second one is a Dell Pentium-II 200 with Cygwin + XFree loaded, running X sessions to my Unix servers. The third one is a Fujitsu Pentium 3-500, just checking out code out of the repository and building it continuously. And I have the workstation to work with, although I find its VDU size quite sma

  • Help us out (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Clockwork Troll ( 655321 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:34PM (#6810654) Journal
    We need a little more information. In particular, can you tell us:
    • What you're looking to spend
    • What features are must-haves
    • Whether your laptop will also dock and be your primary home PC
    • Do you need wireless connectivity?
    • Will you be doing mostly office-type work, development, or games?
    There are a lot of variables here.

    Once we have this information, we can then tell you to go do your own fucking research because this is not a help desk.

  • sager notebooks (Score:5, Informative)

    by JumpSuit Boy ( 29166 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:34PM (#6810657) Homepage
    alienware sales sager notebooks at a 90% markup. A lot of other peolpe sell them. powernotebooks [powernotebooks.com] for example . Just google them.
    • man, you're not kidding,

      alienware laptop $3100 [alienware.com]

      powernotebook laptop $1800 [powernotebooks.com]
      And the powernotebook laptop has a 17" wide screen formated LCD !!!
      Hell, with some of the awesome case-mod painting tutorials, i'll be able to do the alienware pretty paint job myself!

  • So what are his specifications?

  • Clevo (Score:5, Informative)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:38PM (#6810675) Homepage Journal
    I think the Alienware laptops are mostly built by Clevo [clevo.com.tw] (story here [thetechzone.com], brochure or press release here [clevo.com.tw]). I had someone come in with a Clevo quote recently. They look like capable machines.

  • Why bother? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:39PM (#6810681)
    Unless you're a hardware hobbyist or want to explore the computer architecture, Dell has the best proposal for laptops, which you can configure to your liking. For $2800 before $100 rebate (so $2700) total I was able to configure:

    Intel Pentium(R) M, 1.4GHz,14.1 SXGA+

    1GB,DDR,266MHz 2DIMM

    60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive

    2x CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R)

    Intel Pro 2100 Wireless Card

    Now that's a fine system, even considering the obligatory Microsoft tax and WinXp Home pre-installed. Check place like SlickDeals.net for Dell coupons and you should be able to get your system within $2,000-$2,500.

    • what......
      i just baught a laptop in pc world (im in uk) for 699 (whats that about ~$1000) i got

      2.4ghz
      512mg
      32mg built in graphics
      dvd/cdrw
      and all the usual stuff (tv out built in modem blah blah blah)

      I cant beleive laptops are still that expensive over there.

      S
      • 32 mb of 'built in' graphics, i.e. UMA, i.e. comes from your system RAM, i.e. video RAM access has to use the same bandwidth as system RAM access, i.e. 5uXXors!
        modem... ah, a winmodem. Welcome to driver hell, rebooting your box when you want it to hang up the phone, and sluggish response due to high interrupt overhead needed to keep latencies tolerable.
        I've used 1000 USD laptops and I've used 3000 USD laptops, there is DEFINITELY a difference in build quality.

  • Customize This (Score:5, Insightful)

    by D.A. Zollinger ( 549301 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:46PM (#6810713) Homepage Journal
    I'm sorry to say, as several other posters have already pointed out, that laptops are pretty much inconfigurable beyond "Do you want DVD or CDRW with that?" The best thing you can do if you are in the market is look for a model that most closely fits what you want to do with it, and how you will most likely use (abuse) it. For example, if you know you are rough with technology, might I suggest a Panasonic ToughBook? If you are looking for style and sophistication, perhaps Apple is calling your name? If you want a gaming platform, you can go with your alienware. Several manufacturers are coming out with 17" and widescreen laptops (Apple and Dell for example), and if you want something that can keep going on batteries for several hours, perhaps you should investigate Centrino laptops.

    YOU must decide what is important in your new purchase, and decide how important. If customization and configurability is really that important, perhaps you are asking the wrong question? Maybe you should be asking, "Do I really need a laptop? What would a laptop give me that a regular computer will not, and can I live without it?"
    • Alienware's new m51 is supposed to let you swap out the graphics card and the processor for new ones.

    • Re:Customize This (Score:1, Informative)

      by torpor ( 458 )
      Apple aren't just style and sophistication.

      I've had a Rev. A Powerbook (rev _A_) for about 4 years now, and it is a solid computer. It has survived two complete trips around the planet, had its case replaced 2 times (not easy to do, though) and had umpteen keyboard swapouts, and it still keeps on ticking.

      Incidentally, speaking of part swapping on laptops, I don't know where I'd be without sites like pbparts.com, though ... could never find something like that for Dell/HP/Alienware laptops, anyway, so it
      • Is that a Kanga, the 3500 with G3 processor? or is it a Wallstreet?

        You can upgrade a Walstreet to a G4 processor with the help of PowerLogix [powerlogix.com]

        And you're right.. My 400mhz Pismo (2000/firewire) powerbook is durable. It might not be made of titanium or aluminium, but it is nearly indestrutable.

        I've had it since July 2000, I just replaced a battery, AC adapter, upgraded to 320 MB ram, and upgraded the harddrive. I'm considering the 900mhz upgrade chip as well. I'm going to continue investing in this machine

        • No, it is a titanium powerbook g4, rev a. (#1). 1gig of RAM.

          Much as people marvel at how 'delicate' it looks, this thing has taken a serious kicking. I've gotten used to thinking of it as more of a 'plank' (as in "that surfer and his plank, attached at the hip") than a laptop. I guess it helps that I have replaced the entire casing twice, personally - no small task! I have become pretty confident about this computer, frankly.

          All my previous PC laptops were crap in comparison. I had Sagers, Dell, HP.
          • You might get lucky then.. PowerLogix or another company might still be developing upgrade chips for that machine. Cross your fingers :)
      • You've replaced the case twice and the keyboard several times in just four years and you call that a "solid computer"? Even for a laptop that sees a lot of action that sounds pretty chintzy to me. Do others out there have similar issues with off-the-shelf laptops that aren't made by Apple?

        • I've replaced the place by choice, both times as a result of an accident.

          The point is: I could and did do it. You can't, and won't do it with a Dell or whatever.

          (IBM's, yeah.)

          Your jump to a conclusion belies an evaluative system based on ridicule, not sensibility.

          • Re:Customize This (Score:2, Insightful)

            by ichimunki ( 194887 )
            I didn't jump anywhere. And my conclusion was not the result of ridicule rather than sensibility. Obviously if you had accidents that precipitated the replacement of cases, that's not really indicative of the quality from the manufacturer (but you didn't mention that in your original post, which is why I responded).

            So instead of wondering about Apple quality at this point, I'll just consider you accident prone and admire the fact that your laptop survived without any serious damage-- after all, the case
            • Heh heh. Yes, I guess I could say that I was pretty clumsy in both cases.

              Nevertheless, I hope you can appreciate my admiration for just how durable this box has been. The case-swap was *not* easy... like trying to put together a gutted swan and expect it to sing again, afterwards ...

  • Can't do it. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GoRK ( 10018 ) on Wednesday August 27, 2003 @11:54PM (#6810755) Homepage Journal
    You can't just go build a laptop from scratch. You can build awfully small portable computers, but at a certain point you have to get a little specialized. Until things get so small and compact that there becomes a standard component interface for laptops this will continue to be almost impossible without a team of engineers and some big-buck manufacturing tools.

    The closest I ever saw was a laptop that used standard desktop processors; had two MiniPCI slots, two PC-Card slots and took the "relatively" standard 144 pin Micro-DIMM memory modules. This allowed for some flexibility but it came at a huge sacrifice for battery life (with the desktop processor)

    Breaking it down:

    1) Case: this is usually where it starts. The design of the system will be centered around how BIG it's supposed to be when it's done. Most everything follows the design of the case.

    2) Motherboard: Laptop motherboards are nothing if not proprietary. 90% of the peripherals are built in. The only things that most modern laptops leave "off" the motherboard are ethernet, wireless lan, modems (and often not even all of those) Form follows form here. The motherboard is the largest component, so it generally takes the shape of whatever empty space is left after everything else goes in the case. Sometimes laptop motherboards are split into two or three pieces to twist around hard drives, cd-rom's and cooling equipment. Again, no standard form factor.

    3) Peripherals: (sound/video/firewire/usb/serial/parallel/etc) None. It's all on the same board, remember? If you get a MiniPCI slot, you can find a few peripherals to plug into it (but nothing like what you can buy in a pci card). I know of the following MiniPCI peripherals:

    Network Cards (you'll have to find somewhere to put the RJ45 port)
    Wireless Network Cards (youll have to find somewhere to stash the antennas)
    Modems (youll have to find somewhere to put the RJ11 plug)
    Crypto accelerators (used in embedded devices like the Soekris router appliances)

    4) HDD: ah ha. here you get lucky! You can get all manner of 2.5" HDD's up to and including some slick new 7200 RPM guys! Just watch your height and power requirements

    5) Ram: Ditto. Typically dictated by the motherboard, though you do have some flexibility here

    6) LCD: LVDS has helped a lot towards standardizing an interface between a laptop's graphics system and the screen itself, but you'll still need to find a compatible panel and LVDS driver. You can do some googling on LVDS if you want, but it's essentialy like a low level form of DVI. There are presently single, dual, and quad LVDS systems (based on how many pixels you need for a panel)

    7) CPU: AFAIK, none of the manufacturers even sell their mobile CPU's in a socketed configuration. It's probably going to be built onto a motherboard.

    Finally, very few companies actually make their own laptops. Most come OEM from some company in Taiwan, and even though some are assembled by the vendor, almost none are manufactured by other companies. Dell doesnt build their own laptops; I'd put lots of money on Alienware not making their own either. If you can find the OEM for alienware, and the same computer is not made exclusively for them, then you can get close to a "build your own" but if all that entails is selecting the screen, hard drive, ram, and color of the case, you're still a long way off.

    ~GoRK

    • Re: CPU sockets (Score:4, Informative)

      by TitaniumFox ( 467977 ) * on Thursday August 28, 2003 @01:17AM (#6811147) Journal
      Excellent collection of info, btw.

      Regarding newer laptops and CPU sockets:

      I upgraded my Sony GRX570 (1.6Ghz) to a 2.0Ghz because it's a socketed P4-M platform.

      Before [freeserve.co.uk] CPU removal.

      After [freeserve.co.uk] CPU removal.

      The entire post is at Vaio Village [ezboard.com] for those curious. (Yes, same username)

    • Re:Can't do it. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dago ( 25724 )
      while you make a good point debunking the need of customizing a laptop, for

      "7) CPU: AFAIK, none of the manufacturers even sell their mobile CPU's in a socketed configuration. It's probably going to be built onto a motherboard."

      It's not true, all (which means AMD and Intel) sells their mobile cpu in socketed form. You can even take a mobile athlon and put it in a desktop if you want. Usually, that's the motherboard the problem ...

      • Correct. (And Dell laptops) (Score:4, Informative)

        by Andy Dodd ( 701 ) <atd7NO@SPAMcornell.edu> on Thursday August 28, 2003 @10:23AM (#6813709) Homepage
        Dell laptops are typically some of the most upgradable PC-based laptops out there. (Although it's an increasing trend in upgradability in general.)

        The Dell Inspiron 8000 series allowed upgrades to:
        CPU (socketed)
        Video card (Socketed in a special package)
        RAM (SODIMMS like everyone else)
        HD
        Optical drives

        They had multiple display options, but that was something you could only choose at purchase time.

        Compatible laptops in the C-series 8000s were the 8000, the 8100, and 8200. A very common upgrade (which made Slashdot) was to upgrade an I8000's GeForce 2 Go to the GeForce 4 440 Go (GF4 440MX) from the 8200. You could also buy socketed P4-M processors to upgrade the 8200. I've heard rumors that the "Precision" variant of the I8000 had a Quadro option that was the equivalent of a GeForce 4 4200 Go (i.e. a Ti4200), so the 8x00s might be upgradable to GF4Ti specs.

        The new 8500 is not socket-compatible with the previous 8000s, neither is it media-bay compatible. The CPU socket might be the same, the video cards are a new form factor though. It will probably be upgradable with parts from one or two successor generations, like the 8000 could accept many parts designed for the 8100 and 8200.
        • That's because early Inspiron 8000 are derived from the Latitude C family (C800 and the like), which is the bussinness line (only difference is a bit in the BIOS) and the new Inspiron 8500 are (probably) dervied from dell's new business family, the Latitude D...
          • Dell refers to all of the older 8000-series (and all of their mediabay-compatible brethren) as C-series laptops.

            Basically anything Dell made at that time was a C-series.

            Their newest generation are referred to as the D-series.

  • It is possible, just not online... (Score:5, Informative)

    by stoborrobots ( 577882 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @12:28AM (#6810942)
    There are places you can go to get CUSTOM BUILT laptops, they are just not online stores or common chains. You need a plane ticked to Taiwan, or somewhere else in SE Asia.

    A friend of mine picked up a custom laptop in Malaysia with 3GHz P4, with DVD burner, 1Gig Ram, and a slew of other features he wanted... for under $2500 Australian (that's ~$1700 US!!!)... The kicker is that this was back in February!

    So it can be done... You just need to be holidaying in the area at the time...

    • Indeed. I'd add Akihabara (Tokyo) to that list of places to visit for custom hardware like this. Shouldn't be too difficult to find ...
      • It's a cool place if you're into hardware, but Akihabara's main draw is availability and variety rather than price. Electronic and computing equipment is generally quite expensive in Japan.

        • I found this to be a bit of a myth, actually, like "its so expensive to eat well in Tokyo", also. If you peel away the neon, you can find very, very good bargains in that town.

          Sure, there are the front-door shops with the consumer goods at the best possible price - for the seller. But in the streets around, back alleys, in the quieter shops, you can make good deals and walk away having spent a lot less on something freakin' cool than you would have, say, in a San Jose Fry's or something.

          To this day, the
          • Heh. It's actually the story that you can get everything cheap in Akihabara that's the myth. Oft-repeated, but still a myth. Like country bumpkins used to tell tales of the streets of London being paved with gold.

            There are always places where you can get discounts on some odd stuff like you mentioned - mostly obscure items that lack mass market appeal, or are slightly obsolete or otherwise difficult or slow to sell and have ended up as remaindered stock.

            But you could say exactly the same thing about Londo

            • It is a 'shopping tech mecca' for geeks, because it is!

              Well, my experience in Akihabra in the back-alleys was in fact that I could often find very exotic things, for a price far less than I would pay elsewhere in the world.

              But I do agree with your point - there are 'akihabra's all over the world, and I concede that the 'net is still the best way to buy things.

              Akihabra has that old-school cyber-appeal, though.
  • ...but I have NFI what your requirements are.

    I had similar problems when shopping for a laptop. The issue wasn't so much that the vendors sucked, it had more to do with all the compromises made to make the things portable. You can't ask for a top of the line processor, top of the line video card, a display that handles 1600 by 1200 @ 16ms refresh rate, and then have 8 hours of battery life. Saavy?

    So how about listing the requirements?
  • I was looking for a laptop in early 2001 and couldn't find what I wanted. Battery life was a big problem. Not saying this is right for everybody, but you should lay out all your options on the table. Take the best (and closest to what you're looking for) configuration from Dell, Toshiba, IBM, Alienware, Apple, HP, Sony, etc., and then decide among those. You've got options; just don't expect to find them all in one place. I ended up being happiest with an Apple notebook, and it was a suprising and drastic m
  • From Alienware:

    Weight: 9.6lbs. w/ Battery

    Heh. So what exactly are you looking for? I find it funny that you bitch about options but have no problem with the weight of these machines. I once bought a dell inspiron 7500 (w/ 15.4" screen!) and it weighed 9lbs. 9.6lbs is *soooo* heavy, you should just by a desktop. Anyway, as others have said, a dell will have what you need for less. Maybe you should change your tune. I have a c400 (2.9lbs) with 500 MB RAM and a 1.2GHz processor and a 19" lcd for les

  • x1000 (Score:1)

    by lytles ( 24756 )
    not sure what you're looking for, but i'd had a similar "why doesn't anyone want to sell what i want to buy" feeling for quite a while re the laptop market.

    the x1000 was what i had been waiting for - i didn't have to buy anything i didn't want, got a good video card (9200), decent linux support, pentium m, no wifi (i'll get a pcmcia card if i ever want it), ...

    hpshopping.com, and look for coupons. the most configurable laptop that i'd seen, and decent prices even without mail in rebates (another bain of t
    • Um, the x1000 I'm typing this on does have wifi. Are you sure about that? It's a Centrino, and wifi is part of the package.

      The screen is amazing (my other laptop is a 15" TiBook and this is far superior) but it also has the standard Compaq high-pitched whine when on AC power, which drives me batshit.
  • if you want an alienware-etreme style laptop, just look at the manufacturer who makes them. http://www.sagernotebook.com . Alienware laptops are just the sager notebooks with pretty colors and an alienware sticker(you'll find many laptops on the market are made be the same manufacturer, with the campanies logo slapped on it). Also check out http://pctorque.com/ same situation, the alienware computer without the alienware hype. Deck out one of those and its gonna be half the price of a basic alienware. I
    • oh, and if you really want power(and basically no mobility) check out the sager 8890 V. Have you ever seen a laptop with a radeon 9600 pro 128mb? its a beast [sagernotebook.com].

  • Alienware is so five minutes ago. (Score:3, Informative)

    by mildness ( 579534 ) <bill@bam p h .com> on Thursday August 28, 2003 @05:12AM (#6811964) Homepage
    Now that you've decided you can't build your own laptop check out the VooDoo Envy! [voodoopc.com]

    Cheers,

    Bill

  • I recently bought a (2.4GHz P4 1G RAM 60G hard drive DVD-CDRW 802.11b card) Lapdog laptop from eRacks.com for around $2200 and have been very pleased with it. eRacks.com will custom configure the machine with your choice of distributions (OpenBSD, various Linuxes, etc.) and the staff is very helpful and friendly. http://www.eracks.com
  • Like you, I've always wanted to build my own laptop but sadly, the parts are not usually available. Part of the reason is that a lot of parts are custom engineered.

    Personally, I don't understand why there is no standardization of parts like regular PCs. You would think that standardizing would help create cheaper, upgradable laptops.
  • It's mostly custom proprietary hardware. your choices are limited.

  • advice from the front lines (Score:3, Informative)

    by dutky ( 20510 ) on Thursday August 28, 2003 @11:03AM (#6814250) Homepage Journal
    I am in the process of doing something very much like building a custom laptop, but I'm afraid I don't have very good news: it will be expensive, time consuming, and you will need to make many sacrifices.

    If you check out my journal [slashdot.org] you will get a detailed description of what I've been doing and why. In a nutshell: I'm trying to build a handheld computer that delivers adequate performance with maximum flexibility and battery life. The target design will have a small (7-8 inch) VGA screen, a moderately slow processor (100-200 MHz ARM), moderately sized hard disk (10-20 GB, 2" IDE), a moderate amount of RAM (32-256 MB), and run off of conventional rechargable batteries (8 AA NiMH cells) for at least 8-hours on a single charge.

    Just to build the prototype will take several months and cost at least $1000 (probably several times that, when all is said and done). If I go to production, I can probably get the cost down to $300 per unit (not counting NRE costs), but the selling price will still be up in the $500 range.

    The only way I am able to do any of this is that I am abandoning any kind of PC compatability: This device will never be able to run Windows or play flashy games (though it will run a regular, non-embedded, version of Linux). I've had to give up on all kinds of features that seemed like they should be simple: I don't have a clamshell case because the engineering is too complex for me to do myself and I don't have a keybaord because I couldn't find a source for laptop-style keyboards. I'm still holding out for polymer-LiION batteries, but I haven't found anywhere that builds them on contract, yet.

    This is not the same sort of task as building a desktop computer from white-box parts (which is only slightly harder than plugging together lego blocks). This is much closer to actual engineering: I'll be constructing some of my own breadboards to connect the SBC [cogcomp.com] to the LCD [earthlcd.com] and the IDE [elysium.pl] hard disk, as well as custom hardware to charge and monitor the batteries.

  • Its not *completely* custom, but IBM doesn't publish its full laptop lineup. If you call them up and find a human to talk to (at least if you're an employee), you can tell them what you're looking for and they'll find a base system that fits and then customize the components to match your needs.

    For example, did you know you can get the Thinkpad X31 (their top of the line ultralight) with the high resolution screen that you usually only find on the R series? Throw in a high-capacity battery, 802.11g mini-PC

  • Uhm... (Score:1)

    by jo42 ( 227475 )

    Just get a D3ll, d00d!
  • just get a Dell Precision M-series laptop with everything as maxed out as you can afford.

    I didn't imagine such a no-compromise laptop existed before a colleague insisted I buy one when I was looking for a laptop. My m40 (single configuration, now they let you choose how much RAM etc you get, like other laptops) was worth every penny, although it's very dated now. I think the current model is the m60.
  • If I seemed vague I apologize, it seemed patently obvious that if alienware is the yardstick (excepting cost) I am using then they would have the "specs" I would like to incorporate. I suppose I should have explained the salient points of the project idea as well as EXACTLY how I would like the machine to behave and the reasons behind it. By the way the modded up helpdesk comment was cute I almost bit on that troll feed. I'll call the project idea openlaptop for convenience. Most laptops do not have Linu
  • When I am elected president, all laptop ads will be required to prominently list the weight, and all price search engines will have a weight option.

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