Build your own laptop

Manufacturer's savings

You will ask yourself the question if the available models on the market are that bad? As we test a lot of notebooks and laptops regularly for the magazine and website we do get the feeling that most manufacturers are trying to save money on a lot of important components in the laptop. The best example is the hard drive, the 2,5 inch hard drives in a lot of laptops are a 5400 rpm or even a 4200 rpm model, very slow when compared to a desktop model. Maybe not a big issue when all you use the laptop for is office or internet applications, but when you start to use it more intensively you do notice the difference. A Seagate 7200.1 or Hitachi 7K100 drive is a better option for users like that, but obviously these drives are a lot more expensive.

A similar story goes for the memory used, as Vista is here most manufacturers will put 1GB or even 2GB of memory in a laptop, but to save money they will use the slower DDR2 533 variety in stead of the more expensive but faster DDR2 667. To find a processor that you want can be hard as well, as there are numerous models that will sport a Core 2 Duo T5xxx processor with 2MB of L2 cache. However when you want to have the faster Core 2 Duo T7xxx with 4MB L2 cache your choices are very limited to say the least.

There is hope!

There is some hope on improvement for users that want to build there own, notebook components like memory, hard disks and processors are being stocked by more shops, the biggest problem remains to find a decent barebone for your parts. To solve this Intel has started an iniative called "Verified by Intel", a program aimed at computer stores and small manufacturers so that they can market their own branded notebooks. To simplify the process Intel has ensured that parts like batteries, adapters and keyboards are standardised, ensuring availability of replacement parts.

Accu's for ‘Verified by Intel' notebooks are exchangeable.

The initiative will lead to a broader availability of barebone notebooks, and if we check our price comparison engine we do find products by Compal and Quanta. Funnily enough products by ASMobile (ASUS) are not as easy to find as we would have thought, and also 17 inch or 12 inch models are nowhere to be seen. The range will improve over time though, but as at this point in time there are no products available for AMD processors we base our article on an Intel barebone.

Before we start we have to clarify that building your own laptop will definitely not be cheaper than going to the store and buying one. The main reason for this is the fact that bigger manufacturers can buy parts in bulk and hence get large discounts. The main reason for configuring your own laptop has to be the flexibility and choice of components.