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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."
Doesn't look like it'd be much trouble (relative to building this in the first place) to replace the innards every 3-5 years or so if you felt the need. Besides, the open-source Novena computer designed by Bunnie Huang and Sean Cross that this is built to enclose has as one of its goals a "requirement for user access to the internal components" so I'm guessing being able to upgrade iteratively is kind of the idea.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
"Replace the innards" doesn't work for most laptops
This isn't "most laptops". This is a custom hand built enclosure for an open source computer[1] designed specifically to be user upgradable. Your entire comment makes no sense in the context of this article.
[1] http://www.kosagi.com/w/index....
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Slash of moderators take time. Browse at 1 moderation and watch those assholes disappear. Then go back and browse at -2 and find a much different place.
Slams for moderation isn't prefect but it isn't bad.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
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.
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