Hi folks,


Has any folk successfully assembled a laptop from parts? Just came across following website on Internet browsing;


http://pchub.com/uph/


They are selling laptop components.


I built many workstation and server w/o problem. But never built a laptop before. As curiosity I start this posting.


My main interest on building laptop is not solely for saving hardware cost but avoiding paying licence fee to MicroSoft which to me is only a waste. All laptops available on market are preloaded with Windows. I cease running Windows for >8 years. That means the buyer of the laptop must pay licence fee to MS as compulsory. This is extremely unjust. User of laptop is at liberty to select his/her own OS NOT being compelled running MS' prodcuts and/or paying licence fee to MS as forfeiture.


TIA


B.R.
satimis

I don't see it being very cost-effective.

Looking at their prices (without even considering shipping charges), and assuming you can find all the minimum parts for a functioning specific model, you'll end up with a slower notebook that costs about the same or more than a decent basic current model that has an pre-installed Windows OS.

Plus, a used battery would be very questionable, and a new notebook battery is generally not very cheap...which would add more to the cost.

You might want to look for a business-class laptop. I know Lenovo offers some models with SUSE Linux as an option. If you're really dead set on getting a laptop without an OS, ordering via customer services might be able to do that for you. Mind you, good luck finding drivers. Every laptop is pretty much proprietary from the ground up (excluding memory, hard drive, and processor). Finding Windows drivers is difficult; finding Linux drivers is near impossible.

Essentially what I am getting at is they can make you a computer without Windows but they won't be inclined to support it beyond hardware failure within warranty. You can't expect them to give you any assistance in regards to OS and their hardware if it is not Windows.

http://www.lenovo.com

Hi john,


My target building my own laptop is NOT for cost savaing.

What I dispute is paying licence fee to MicroSoft as compulsory for a product which I don't use.

Besides Windows Vista is preload on the laptop with a recover disc provided but without installer supplied. In this arrangement neither I can repartition the HD adding non-Windows OS. Parted in Open Source (similar to Partition Magic) may do the job to repartition existing HD with OS running. But there is a risk. In case of failure where can I get a Windows Vista installer to reinstall it? This is totally unjustified arrangement on paying the licence fee.

On virtualization I must run Windows Vista as Host and other OS as Guest. This is an unstable setup. On virtualization it needs a trouble free OS as Host.

There are Linux OS running on Windows without "wine", the simulator. This is NOT my preferred arrangement. (Maybe there are Unix whcih can run on Windows. But I'm now aware. I fail to see OpenBSD/FreeBSD/etc. can run direct on Windows)

For such reason I start googling parts to build my own laptop/notebook.


B.R.
satimis

Hi FordGT90Concept,


Thanks for your advice.


I don't expect the vendor providing support on software. But they must guarantee the hardware within warranty period. In case of dispute they can install Windows on their laptop as reference. If they can make Windows running on their laptop I can make Linux/Unix running on the same w/o their support. I made use of this practice on hardware dispute on Desktop.


About driver I'll post on Linux/Unix community asking for opinion. nVidia chip sets have better support. Thanks for your reminding .


B.R.
satimis

Hi folks,


I found my solution.


We can build our own laptop/notebook. Searching "barebone laptop" on google you'll find many suppliers there. The price is a little bid cheaper.


Cost saving in NOT my major concern. What I dispute is the laptops/notebooks available on computer shops all coming with MS Vista preloaded. They force me running Windows paying licence for a product which I already cease using for >8 years.


We can buy the entire laptop/notebook w/o the operating system. Alternatively we can buy the pieces of the laptop and fill in the blanks with other computer components which we can buy elsewhere. Similar to building desktop computer.


B.R.
satimis

Stephen Liu said:

Now I understand that this is a philosophical issue for you, and from that viewpoint, I agree. However, Microsoft may thwart you with something they did years ago.

Microsoft arranged with vendors that they still pay some fee to Microsoft for every functional computer system they sell, even when they don't include an OS with a "bare-bones" system. It was some fraction of the cost of a regular Microsoft Windows license.

As I recall, the arrangement was supposed to "compensate" Microsoft for the "undoubtedly pirated copy" of the Windows that a customer was going to install on the bare-bones machine.

It's been awhile since I read-up on that topic...things could have changed. I forget the details, but it was quite a shocker when it was disclosed in PC and business publications.


Moving on...I now better understand your position. I thought the issue was that you thought you were getting less of a machine because of the Windows license fee, whereas what I was trying to tell you was that you could pay for a system that included the license fee AND it would still be cheaper than making one from scratch from that website or similar parts websites.

Parts separately are almost always sold for more than the assembled item...that's why "chop-shops" for cars exist even though there is the risk of being arrested and going to prison. It can be very big money.

Again, I would recommend calling customer service of several laptop manufactures like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Systemax, Gateway, etc. Tell them up front that you will only buy it if it does not come with a Microsoft OS. I'm sure they'll send you to someone that can arrange that but it might cost extra.


Edit: I know Systemax includes Windows + Driver/Software reinstallation disks with all their computers now, free of charge. Those disks work even after the hard drive had been kill disked.