Slashdot Mirror
Building a Laptop Enclosure To Last (makezine.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Build quality is a characteristic many people value in laptop design, but one that often goes unrepresented on a spec sheet. Over at Make, Kurt Mottweiler took build quality to the next level with his laptop enclosure design, which replaces the typical plastic clamshell with a wood veneer filled with e-glass cloth and cork composite. The article shows his build process in detail. Quoting: "The LCD panel and main enclosure components are assembled using vacuum bag clamping techniques. After assembling the layers of the panels at the glue station, the assembly is transferred to the molding station where it is put into a seamed bag and sealed up with a roller rod and clamps. Then a special vacuum pump is used to evacuate the bag and allow atmospheric pressure to clamp the layers together while the epoxy binder cures. ... To increase the strength, improve heat dissipation, and enhance the aesthetic properties of the Heirloom's main enclosure, I chose to use an undulating shape across the width of the bottom panel. The slight wave provides a semi-monocoque structure that stiffens the otherwise flat section of the case while providing for a measure of air flow across the bottom of the case."
Outside of the Kaypro or the Compaq luggable, this is the largest laptop I have seen!
Seems like milling a case out of aluminium would have more qualities that are necessary for a portable device
Have gnu, will travel.
Where is the picture of this laptop?
I don't know how durable it will actually be, but it sure looks nice.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
How I Built an Heirloom Laptop
Or: How I have money and time than you
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
but I'm still going to have to replace it when the power jack dies :).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I doubt people are really valueing that much a strudy laptop enclosure when the hardware it contains is so cheap to acquire and replace. Your smartphone is propably more expensive than your laptop. But, who knows, perhaps people are still listening at this marketing bullshit.
Achille Talon
Hop!
Instead of just software bugs I now I have worry about real bugs destroying my laptop.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I think the fellow has met HIS goals, but they miss the boat.
The main cause of laptops dying is spills on the keyboard and the underlying electronics.
The broken ones I have seen involve damage to the LCD screens. Neither of these
scenarios are addressed by THIS wood/composite design.
It appears the gentleman mainly designed for drop resistance, rather than spill and
LCD strikes. He has sought for a problem to the solution he proposes.
Lastly, most laptops end up discarded not because of damage, but because their
innards are obsolete. His insides are not upgradeable; the bulky case has limited
interior space and is not modular. The materials used are impact resistant but they
have to be made and formed by hand.
But it might make the top ten.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
is just a free added feature.
I thought I saw a TV news segment back in the 1980's that the GRiD Compass laptop was designed to withstand being run over by a tank. With an $8,150 USD price tag and sold mostly to the government, the case should be quite sturdy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_Compass
I have a Lenovo T430. My backpack laptop bag opened up in a mall awhile ago and the laptop fell onto the hard tile floor, bouncing several times. Not even a crack or chip. Still looks like new. Without a doubt the best laptop purchase I have made.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Not only is this a waste of time and money, but they left the ThinkPad insignias on it after assembly. And it's supposed to be some kind of "open source project"
I'm not too surprised though, the following article is about how a guy restored his guitar by laser-etching a "sacred geometry" pattern onto it.
And the site's tagline is "We are all makers!"
In other words, come here with your money to feel less guilty and possibly even convince yourself you're not a total moron!
The first dozen comments I read on this story read like this place is mostly visited by huge assholes. Never mind that I get moderated into oblivion every time I talk about lack of productive output in the USA and most of the west due to the huge government and oppression of the individual, these comments are likely left by some people who waste their moderator points on me. You gotta be a special kind of asshole to berate a guy for building something with his hands that looks like a beautiful piece of art. He is actually manufacturing something nice, not unlike musical instruments that are made by hand in the world of mass manufacturing.
I don't say this too often, especially in my political and economic comments, but fuck you, guys.
You can't handle the truth.
Stopped reading right there.
Build quality is a characteristic many people value in laptop design, but one that often goes unrepresented on a spec sheet.
The well-built laptops usually say "MIL-STD-810" on their spec sheet. Take a look at the Thinkpad spec sheets, for example.
http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/ThinkPad.pdf
Commercial products go through substantial testing to ensure they do not radiate electromagnetic interference. Commercial plastic cases have embedded shielding to keep their emissions within regulatory guidelines. Without shielding a laptop radiates on numerous frequencies ranging from a few MHz out to several GHz. How does this guy know he's not going to interfere with safety equipment, phones, WIFI, etc.? And, while I'm sanguine about allowing consumer electronics that have passed EMI testing on airplanes, I'd make this guy leave his laptop at the gate.
But, as Mrs. Lincoln said, other than that little problem it was a really good play.
I really wish I could replace the CPU/Board/Graphics of my old Thinkpad T400 and keep the case/keyboard/display (especially the indicator lights). No such luck so far. :-(
It's impact resistant sure, but it's a damn good thermal insulator. Heat is a killer.
Also, plastic clamshells tend to hold up okay when dropped. Fans getting clogged (or dying from mechanical failure), power supply breaking off the board, or lcds cracking seem to be far more likely causes of laptop replacement.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
That's the cost of having a modular/replaceable inside.
Normal laptop are very thin, because they're custom built to try to cram everything as tightly as possible.
This laptop enclosure is bigger so, no matter which donnor laptop you choose, you still have room to disassemble the laptop and screw everything isinde the wooden enclosure.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Easy to maintain, hard to break, and plenty of parts for everyone - not just the nomenklatura that snagged these Heirlooms.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Invoking context doesn't get you a pass. It's just some piece of nothingness that benefits only a few people.
On the other hand, having user-upgradable machines available to the masses is a good thing.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
If that recent machine has integrated video, you're doing a greater disservice for the same reason.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
When it was "cool" to put wood paneling on the outside of cars.
Nice craftmanship, but they look ridiculous. To each his own.
I disagree. For one thing the integrated video now sits under the CPU heatsink and fan, so no more risk of overheating or dying or whining fan.
For another thing, the integrated video is very fast today, actually better than many graphics cards and is not a drain on the CPU at all considering it sits on some hugely fast internal bus and fairly accesses the memory controller (or L3 on Intel). Integrated graphics was deemed good enough for PS4 and Xbox One.
It's late, so maybe I'm missing something from the article, but while it went on in length about the case, it didn't mention much about the innards other than the heatsink.
Personally, I think a design like this would be nice for a "mobile desktop". That is, a decently powered desktop that can be plugged in and fully functional (but skip the battery). Most people I know don't often use their laptop on battery anyhow, and a mobile desktop has the advantage of being somewhat up-gradable. Going that route, it also might be cool to re-image the "suitcase PC" with something in a elegant wood design on the exterior but a functioning LCD and board (maybe a slide-out or removable input device) inside.
but if not... something like a thinkpad t420 is very modular for a laptop.... could do just as well in terms of functionality and upgradeability with compatibility with the gigantic backlog of x86 software....
I wonder if there would be a market for say.. an ITX based laptop case. ITX means you can use standard motherboards, and then the case is just a keyboard, monitor, and power. .... The most difficult part would be getting a decent cabling situation.
You would have to be crazy to be sane in this world. -Nero
Such bad taste in design. Just look at it! LOOK AT IT!
It's too late for the laptop enclosure. They've already escaped. Earth is doomed!
I was looking at a nice rugged waterproof digital camera on sale today. I thought to myself, "Boy, will this case make this camera last a while." And then I remembered that I'd had two previous ruggedized cameras, and I'd gotten a new one every 3 or so years. Not because the camera broke, but because it was electronics, and they paled in comparison to the new stuff. Buying a super duper protective and nice case for almost anything electronics related is kinda like encasing a sandwich in a permanently sealed glass case- may make it look nicer, but you're gonna get a new sandwich tomorrow. And that case is HUGE. The benefit of a laptop is size and portability. Otherwise, build a desktop computer in a nice case. You can always upgrade desktop parts. So it certainly looks nice, no doubt about it. Functionality over form usually takes the win when I'm deciding on something.
For another thing, the integrated video is very fast today, actually better than many graphics cards and is not a drain on the CPU at all considering it sits on some hugely fast internal bus and fairly accesses the memory controller (or L3 on Intel).
For both Intel and AMD, integrated video can only manage to beat low-end graphics cards within the same generation. Throw large, GPU-bound loads on it and then it will be quite clear why dedicated GPUs exist.
Integrated graphics was deemed good enough for PS4 and Xbox One.
Only if you forget that their CPU's were significantly faster than retail equivalents. While AMD sold them a fast APU, the Rest of Us (including myself) could only get a lesser A10 7850K.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Versus the multitudes that can buy the parts for Thinkpads and the like, that is something more in tune with nomenklatura.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
The integrated video is now capable of running multiple high-res monitors. It's entirely valid for office work including photography stuff.
I wouldn't want to do gaming or full-on 3D CAD work, but for just about anything else it works just fine (and draws substantially less power than an external video chip, which is nice in a laptop).
Why, oh why, would anyone want to keep that thing?
I expected some real creativity, no plastic involved - or at least no obvious plastic. Heirloom plastic keyboard, fucking-a.
If you need the current-hot word for a 'hobby'. And I have no issue with it in that context.
However I do wonder about the motivation beyond that. Is there really a problem with getting laptops of sufficient build quality? Are cases a problem in the industry? What are the barriers to good industrial design?
I would suggest that this was more of a problem in the past, though never a big problem. The old IBM Notebooks had terrific build quality and Lenovo has done a good job in maintaining that tradition. The Apple MacBooks have great case designs, as do nearly all of the Ultrabook-type laptops. Dell and HP all make very respectable laptops with a nice, solid feel.
Even if you look outside laptops, into the smartphone and tablet space. There are many, many quality offerings and they compete based upon good materials and solid implementation. It's not all about price and that creates the market space to allow a broad range of products.
So as an individual project, I applaud Mottweiler's initiative and creativity. For the rest of us this isn't really going to be a big item on our 'to do' list.