More Power Computer Build

This is my fourth home made computer. The first was made from scratch in 1978, a Z-80 microprocessor and 200 assorted chips on a foot square wire wrap board.

I had to do everything myself, right down to making my own operating system. The next two were a piece of cake, I bought all the parts, assembled them in a weekend and wound up with nice machines that were both faster and cheaper than the commercial alternatives. Number two died peacefully after 10 years of perfect service. Number three still runs.

The latest is just a little different. Store bought computers are hard to beat for value, unless you want something different, and I did. The design decisions were the hard part. I wanted the ultimate laptop: huge screen, fastest possible performance, blazing graphics, and my budget was $1,500.

With that money I could assemble a desktop with those specifications, but a laptop? My former laptop was an early Dell XPS, and it was only marginally usable. On compute intensive tasks it got too hot to touch, then it would slow down. On battery power it only ran for about an hour, and then at about half the speed that it did when plugged in. With bag and power brick, it weighed around 15 lbs, transportable but only just.

I did like the ease of moving it from room to room, working on the sofa and taking it to bed. So the key design decision was to throw out the battery, I seldom used battery power anyway. My specs called for hardware that would soak up between 500 and 700 watts, so there was no way I could survive that amount of heat on my thighs, so the cpu and its overclocking cooling assembly, and the dual Crossfire-X graphics cards would have to move down to the power brick.


What I would wind up with was a desktop type system unit connected by a fat umbilical to a 'laptop' that consisted of a hinged LCD screen, keyboard and USB hub. Trackpads are useless for serious work. I use a trackball for most tasks or a good 3-button mouse for 3-D design work, so I wanted to be have lots of USB ports. The 23 inch LCD screen weighed in at 10 lbs, and by the time I made steel hinges and an MDF enclosure, the laptop part weighed in at almost 30 lbs. My legs lost circulation after 10 minutes. This unit wound up in the garbage.

The second enclosure was made from 1/4 inch plywood, with a small amount of oak and aluminum for key stress points. I built it like a wooden aircraft strength and lightness. That brought the whole weight down to around 15 lbs. Just about the maximum to avoid leg injury. The 'power brick' could have been made from a regular desktop mini-tower case, and a handle added to the top for portability, but I decided to scratch build the case so I could have an enclosure that wouldn't tip over when a cat landed on it, looked smart enough for posh surroundings and was light enough to carry without getting a hernia.

I used an oak frame, plywood panels and aluminum brackets to support all the computer innards. A flexible black cable tidy connects the brick to the laptop. After a couple of months of use, I am delighted with the machine. It may not meet everybody's definition of a laptop but this home made computer meets all of my needs. Oh yes, it comes to bed with me too.