[clue-talk] building your own laptop

[dperkins at frii.com]

Supposedly more people are choosing laptops over desktop machines.  I
think that the motherboard makers are responding to that.  But the choices
are more limited.  You can't change the display, for instance.  And most
laptops don't let you change the GPU (graphics processor), altho AOpen is
supposed to have a module that lets you upgrade your NVidia.  So your
choices are limited to CPU, memory, hard drive and wireless.  I guess you
could replace the DVD drive.

You should also verify that Linux will support the built-in network and
sound chips.  Realtek chips seem to be well supported.  I don't know if
the Northbridge and Southbridge chips are ever a problem.

You can also use Google to see if any companies, like Avadirect, are
selling prebuilt laptops based on the same laptop and installing Linux.


> A few years ago, I read that laptops
> were less generic (more maker specific).
> Therefore putting an OS (Linux), or
> building/modifying the laptop itself
> was more problematic than with a desktop
> PC.
>
> Is this changing toward a more generic
> laptop PC?
>
> rex
>