Building a Whitebox Notebook PC
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BklynKid install the power4gear utility. with it installed, super performance mode will switch it to 1.6with high performance knocking it back to 600 untill the power is needed. or you can go into your bios and look for 'cpu sidestepping' or something like that and change automatic to high performance. the names are probably wrong, but you get the general idea.
bobby, i'm sure he's talking about a usb cdrom. although you could use a usb key, if you have a large enough one. iirc nero has an option to reformat usbkeys to act as a cdrom drive.
bobby, i'm sure he's talking about a usb cdrom. although you could use a usb key, if you have a large enough one. iirc nero has an option to reformat usbkeys to act as a cdrom drive.
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People who are tired of the crappy GUI of the Power4 Gear utility can try my version if it.
Nothing changed but the font, the about window (it handled resources poorly) and the icons of course.
Also I didn't have any better icons to put in, and this is especially apparent for the High and Super performance settings, so if you have any good (matching, to XP theme/type) icons I could use lemme know.
To install make a backup of your old BatteryLife.exe (by default in C:\Program Files\GENERIC\Power4 Gear) and then drop it in there.
http://www.bk-kicks.com/mad/power4gear/
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
[edit] Updated High and Super performance icons to something more familiar and more relevant.
Nothing changed but the font, the about window (it handled resources poorly) and the icons of course.
Also I didn't have any better icons to put in, and this is especially apparent for the High and Super performance settings, so if you have any good (matching, to XP theme/type) icons I could use lemme know.
To install make a backup of your old BatteryLife.exe (by default in C:\Program Files\GENERIC\Power4 Gear) and then drop it in there.
http://www.bk-kicks.com/mad/power4gear/
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
[edit] Updated High and Super performance icons to something more familiar and more relevant.
Last edited by BklynKid on Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Illuminati
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Don't know your e-mail addy, so here it is. Here is yet another updated version as well (will differentiate filenames from now on).
The tray icons, from left to right are Super Performance to Battery Saving:
http://www.bk-kicks.com/mad/power4gear/
Glad you guys are enjoying it.
Also I'd like to share how poor the actual programming of this is. Originally the icons inside the configuration menu next to the names of the power schemes were loaded via internal BMP. On top of that it had the same pictures (of the low quality crap) as icons, in both 32x32, and 16x16. The 32x32 (except for the main, aka Super) were then ONLY used in the About window. So through maybe a few more minutes of code cranking the guys as Asustek could have eliminated the BMP all together, and simply loaded everything via ICO... anyway, what shocked me the most was that there was actually a string in the program (never used, among others) with the content 'Hello World!'...
The tray icons, from left to right are Super Performance to Battery Saving:
http://www.bk-kicks.com/mad/power4gear/
Glad you guys are enjoying it.
Also I'd like to share how poor the actual programming of this is. Originally the icons inside the configuration menu next to the names of the power schemes were loaded via internal BMP. On top of that it had the same pictures (of the low quality crap) as icons, in both 32x32, and 16x16. The 32x32 (except for the main, aka Super) were then ONLY used in the About window. So through maybe a few more minutes of code cranking the guys as Asustek could have eliminated the BMP all together, and simply loaded everything via ICO... anyway, what shocked me the most was that there was actually a string in the program (never used, among others) with the content 'Hello World!'...
Last edited by BklynKid on Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Hi everyone
I have read all the 3 parts of the article I found it to be quite informative. I have always dreamed of building my own notebook outa scratch and i guess the time has come. But unlike many of you I'm not into gaming or graphic intensive apps. I need a notebook to access the net, do bit of programming (VB, VC), running a RDBMS (Oracle) etc.
If there is one thing the article doesn't address is the price factor. The only reason I want to build it on my own is to get it cheaper than a branded one. My budget is $1000.
I'm looking for pentium 4 [clock speed no bar]
1 MB cache
512mb memory
DVD combo
14 inch screen
40gb HDD
Graphic card is not a issue. Any decent card would do
Is there a way to build one which will cost me less than $1000?
I have read all the 3 parts of the article I found it to be quite informative. I have always dreamed of building my own notebook outa scratch and i guess the time has come. But unlike many of you I'm not into gaming or graphic intensive apps. I need a notebook to access the net, do bit of programming (VB, VC), running a RDBMS (Oracle) etc.
If there is one thing the article doesn't address is the price factor. The only reason I want to build it on my own is to get it cheaper than a branded one. My budget is $1000.
I'm looking for pentium 4 [clock speed no bar]
1 MB cache
512mb memory
DVD combo
14 inch screen
40gb HDD
Graphic card is not a issue. Any decent card would do
Is there a way to build one which will cost me less than $1000?
- infinitevalence
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1k is going to be tough. What we have learned through this is that if you are looking at some of the big name companies and going to buy a $1500+ laptop then your better off building your own. but when it comes to sub $1k generaly they can do it cheaper because they can buy parts in bulk and you cannot.
"Don't open that! It's an alien planet! Is there air? You don't know!"
Sorry for another update. But I managed bring the executable filesize back down from 120kb down to 84kb -- significant enough to spam the forums once more.
http://www.bk-kicks.com/mad/power4gear/
http://www.bk-kicks.com/mad/power4gear/
Last edited by BklynKid on Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- infinitevalence
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- Apoptosis
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Morphine,
Welcome to the forums and I hope our three part notebook article series helped you out and gave you some good ideas.
As for a sub $1,000 notebook you might want to check out the retail market for pre-built models. Walmart just signed a deal with ECS computers to build notebooks for sale in their empire, but at a $1-5 profit per model sold. There already is little if any markup on the low end models.
Best bet: Check local discount chains for cheap notebooks (best price versus performance value for what you are looking for.)
Welcome to the forums and I hope our three part notebook article series helped you out and gave you some good ideas.
As for a sub $1,000 notebook you might want to check out the retail market for pre-built models. Walmart just signed a deal with ECS computers to build notebooks for sale in their empire, but at a $1-5 profit per model sold. There already is little if any markup on the low end models.
Best bet: Check local discount chains for cheap notebooks (best price versus performance value for what you are looking for.)
Hi admin,
Its to bad we don't have Walmart in New Delhi and if i ship it I have to pay custom duty.
I have heard of these chinese sellers. There prices are quite competetive and unlike ASUS even the screen is sold separately. I think I could get all the ingredients for less than $900. Have any of you heard of this?
Like I said performance is not my highest priority, I could even do with a celeron. I will check out and keep you guys posted.
admin i kinda got the feeling that you are not happy with the outsourced technical help you're getting from india. Why? Is it our accent?
I worked for a while in a DELL's outsourced techhelp (Wipro spectramind) at delhi as a manager, I thought you guys were happy
Its to bad we don't have Walmart in New Delhi and if i ship it I have to pay custom duty.
I have heard of these chinese sellers. There prices are quite competetive and unlike ASUS even the screen is sold separately. I think I could get all the ingredients for less than $900. Have any of you heard of this?
Like I said performance is not my highest priority, I could even do with a celeron. I will check out and keep you guys posted.
admin i kinda got the feeling that you are not happy with the outsourced technical help you're getting from india. Why? Is it our accent?
I worked for a while in a DELL's outsourced techhelp (Wipro spectramind) at delhi as a manager, I thought you guys were happy
- Illuminati
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great job on part 3!
I have all the parts ready for my M6Ne.. only thing i'm missing is.. the M6Ne. Once I cash this delicious check, I'll be 1 M6Ne richer.
ADMIN:
As the rules state:
Do not promote sites you own or work for! This is really important for advertisers! We're not a free ad board and will ban anyone who tries.
You work for another review site & I didn't feel that linking a site that has nothing about notebooks and no real hardware reviews was proper for this thread.
I have all the parts ready for my M6Ne.. only thing i'm missing is.. the M6Ne. Once I cash this delicious check, I'll be 1 M6Ne richer.
ADMIN:
As the rules state:
Do not promote sites you own or work for! This is really important for advertisers! We're not a free ad board and will ban anyone who tries.
You work for another review site & I didn't feel that linking a site that has nothing about notebooks and no real hardware reviews was proper for this thread.