Building a Whitebox Notebook PC

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 10, 2004 9:49 am

The next PC boom has arrived and this time around it's in the notebook market! With Centrino and Intel's wireless campaign many are moving over to notebooks and the newest trend is Whitebox Notebooks.

The next PC boom: Whitebooks Part 1 (Introduction/Picking out the pieces)
The next PC boom: Whitebooks Part 2 (Assembly of the pieces)
The next PC boom: Whitebooks Part 3(Software Install & Tweaks)

Doom 3 on the ASUS M6N: Look here

Custom version of Power4 Gear Here (Thanks BklynKid)

Feel free to let us know your thoughts and feel free to ask any questions here or in the general computer forum that you may have!

UPDATE: Many of you have been e-mailing and asking for a list of stores that carry both the barebone & premade versions of the ASUS M6000 Series notebook. Here is a short list to help you out!

Barebone Sources:
ECS Technologies - USA ($1010 w/ CD-RW/DVD)
GenTech- USA ($839 w/ Free Shipping)
Alpha PC Store - USA (M6Ne w/ ATI 9700 $869)
Computer Brain - USA
NuSystems - UK

Completed Systems:
ABS Computer - USA
Power Notebooks - USA
Cobalt Computers - USA
Geared 2 Play - USA
ComTec - Canada
ARC Computers - Australia

Here is a Linkto the ASUS M6000 Series Line

Immortal · Post by **Immortal** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:03 am

very well written and concise, i might try this in future...

Can i ask do u save any money on building ur own laptop... as opposed to buying one whole?

Sublime · Post by **Sublime** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:05 am

dude thats an awesome idea and well written indeed. I can't wait to see how easy it is to put together and how it performs.

That ASUS M6N looks like a killer notebook with the hardware you picked up for it!

Immortal · Post by **Immortal** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:06 am

i wish u could use the Radeon 9700 Mobile.... laptops need interchangeable GFX cards dammnit!

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:09 am

yes you save a ton of money by building your own and you get the parts you want. I shy away from posting numbers in my reviews so that in two months someone can read it and not see wrong prices or retailers that are no longer around.

If you are looking to price this notebook from a online PC builder try looking at this:

Computer Brain

Although they have some options for this notebook they still don't offer what I wanted like 1gb of brand named memory, or a 5400 RPM 40GB HDD. So in my case the only way to get what I really wanted was to build my own!

ASUS is also coming out with a model like this that has the ATI mobility 9700 128mb in it. I am guessing it's less than a few weeks away.

Immortal · Post by **Immortal** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:15 am

how much we save then.... as of now lets say....

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:23 am

So let's say I bought all these parts today... buy using my dealtime search engine and newegg I came up with this:

ASUS M6N 15.4" widescreen: $875
Intel P4-M 1.7GHz: $438
2x 512mb Kingston DDR333 SODIMMs: $238
40GB 5400RPM Fuji HDD: $104
CDRW/DVD Combo Drive: $85
Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG Card: $47

Total: $1787 + Software

As to how much I saved? I can't compare it to anything because you can't buy what I'm building anyplace right now, but lets take a look at a Dell...

Dell Inspiron 8600 15.4" configured the same way runs:

Total: $2,366

So in this case you are saving just under $600 by putting it together yourself using name brand parts that you choose. Brand loyality!

Immortal · Post by **Immortal** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:49 am

sssssccchhhwweeeeettt! :D :D :D

Post by **Digital Puppy** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:58 am

Apoptosis wrote:Total: $1787 + Software

Dell Inspiron 8600 15.4" configured the same way runs:

Total: $2,366

Can't wait for the next 2 parts.

'DP

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:42 pm

It was just brought to my attention that ABS Computer offers the ASUS M6N whitebox Notebook at some very nice prices! They call it the zForce F3 on their site though.

ABS Computer

Prices at ABS start at $1799 fully configured with windows! Or $2093 like the model we built for our review, but it has a 60GB HDD over the 40GB drive we used.

alister · Post by **alister** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:36 pm

Immortal wrote:i wish u could use the Radeon 9700 Mobile.... laptops need interchangeable GFX cards dammnit!

Ask and you will receive

"The Area-51m takes mobile gaming to the next level with innovative features like Do-It-Yourself Upgradeable Mobile Graphics Technology. Performance is second to none with processors up to 3.2 GHz and featuring PC-3200 memory. Backed by award-winning customer support, the Area-51m delivers the ultimate mobile gaming experience. "

http://www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx

Alister

Post by **Illuminati** » Tue May 11, 2004 5:53 pm

The area51 sounds good an all for a mobile desktop replacement, but expect a battery life of 2 hours or less. P4's were not meant to be on laptops.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed May 12, 2004 3:34 am

The real chalange will be for companies like asus to get the price down so i can build $700-1000 note books. on the high end its always cheaper to build your self but on the lowend sometimes the big oems can give you better deals.

vgoklani · Post by **vgoklani** » Sat May 15, 2004 11:17 pm

This is amazing! But where do I get a Whitebox ASUS laptop from?

Can I also swap videocards? Also, what type of hard drives can I use? Do they have to be a specific size? I can save a bundle by buying USED/REFURBISHED PARTS.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:34 pm

you cant swap the video cards just yet on this model. Any ATA-5 or ATA-6 notebook harddrive will work with this model. You can save some money buy buying used parts if you can find them used.

If you read above you can find retaillers that offer this notebook (ABS, ComputerBrain and so on)

mrplow · Post by **mrplow** » Mon May 24, 2004 1:30 pm

I like the idea of that... nice writeup too. It looks a bit daft having the same images on page one and two though, even if they are the other way around

kalmark · Post by **kalmark** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:46 pm

I read on one Hungarian (my home country) website that NVidia has made plans for an interchangeable mobile video card standard. The simple addon card would contain the chipset and stuff, the cooling would have to be integrated in the laptop's appropriate port.

Emphasis is on standard, ad this would be available to any vidcard manufacturer. I think having this as a standard is a must, as you need the built in extra cooling.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:50 pm

Yeah nvida MXM is what it's called. It is basically a PCI-Express X16 video card for your notebook. MXM notebooks would have the same interface, much like you are familiar with when it come to AGP cards in your desktop machine.

user · Post by **user** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:32 pm

made a quick guest account guess the password =)

Anyway, I have been considering a barebone laptop for quite some time, and does anyone know where to find a barebone with trackpoint and not a trackpad (trackpoint is the little eraser looking nub mouse) cause I hate those pads with a passion.

I cant seem to find one anywhere ='(

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:41 pm

Try looking on pricewatch. i saw several on there but you need to look into the reseller before you buy anything.