Case Mod - In Progress [on Haitus]Gaming_freak_10's Laptop Mod

cchr you should check out the link in my first post... the guy who inspired me to do that to my mod is the guy you should check out.. I'll post the link to that mod again in this post... http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=202281

speaking of laptops mod... I'm having a bit of a problem searching for a power brick for my laptop.. I need your help Bit-techers! I am planning to install some odd number fans to help get rid of the heat that the laptop will generate and I doubt that the USB power will be enough to do that.. Should I buy one of these to power the laptop AND the fans at the same time or should I get something else?? AC Adapters for Laptop/Fans

 

Why not use a bigger and quieter laptop fan (blower) instead?
A metal laptop base used as a heatsink extender will also help (helps for my laptop Latitude E6400, with it's magnesium base and 1 screw slide out panel for full laptop internal access).

If you need more power, then how about a 90W PSU instead of a 65W one. They are slightly larger and well can provide up to 90W of power if needed.

A USB head can drive a small fan. It provides 5V.

 

hmm you mean the Aluminum right? those are pretty good for heat sinks I think.. hmm speaking of fans I am looking for those... that will help tons if I could find some around here in the town I am staying at... *mutters*

 

Well while pulling my camera.. here is my laptop. Maybe it might give you ideas

Top view with 9-cell battery - 14inch system 16:10 display (1440x900):

It's nice to have a laptop without stupid labels everywhere.
The laptop is not curved, it's my stupid old digital camera (Canon PowerShot A75)

Open, backlight keyboard on, with Win7 log-in screen set to black:


Bottom (placed above carrying case to not scratch it):

Notice the 1 screw on the panel. The 2 on the side bottom, is for the HDD, you don't need to remove them. The 2 rectangles where it looks like there is supposed to be a sticker with the service tag, has been removed because I had the bottom cover replaced due to a faulty pad. I re-placed the sticker at the inside.
The rectangle connector under the battery is for the dock station, or if you want the second batery called the slice battery. A thin battery of the side of the laptop base, thin. With the 9-cell battery it provides 21 hours of battery life.


Screw stuck with panel.

Slide out panel like a TV remove battery cover

Open sesame!


So easy to take it apart.. if I really wanted I could have pulled everything out...

Windows certification label is under the battery, I put RAM above it.

Ok, what you wanted.

Notice the red arrow. The base of the system goes under and touches with thermal paste the heat-sink.
The silver pad is silver sheet wrap around foam, it's used to transfer the heat-sink heat the the metal cover plate. There is another place where it does contact next to the GPU (closer the fan), just to the left of the pad under the monitor plug (under the blue plastic tag on video plug).

The result: A nice cool and quiet operating laptop.
Fan never spins on battery.

 

The laptop I have uses "magnesium alloy". I guess it's for the casing to be able to take its shape better after a fall, all by being in metal. But I am no expert in metals, and we don't know what the alloy is.
My guess is that it's aluminum mixed with magnesium.

I can see that my base is molded not engraved with the MacBook Pro, more like molded, same for the cover plate. It might be better using aluminum if you have access to a machinery to engrave it.. but it might costs you a fortune.

My laptop was valued at 2000$ (I paid 1630$ before taxes after negotiations over the phone). That was 2 years and half ago. System has 3 year warranty with 3 year next business day on site service.
It's the Dell Latitude E6400

 

Yeah GoodBytes but I want to design my own case similar to those 90s iMacs you know which ones?? well lemme draw some pictures up so I can explain what kind of case material I am looking for dirt cheap... one moment please....

After a few minutes drawing the picture above... This is what my plan is currently is on right now... For some strange reason I like the idea of making a iMac case clone for that but a bit more... how do you say... ah Blocky of some sort you know??

 

Ahhh I see.

You mean this:


Or the eMac:

 

yeah those ones but those are trademarked so I am going to design my own case based off those two imac and emacs.... and I doubt the speakers that came with the laptop will be good enough for me lol... and the input ports (usb, headphones etc etc) have to be on one spot but its all over the place on my laptop so have to figure out a central point or whatever... hmm where to find such things is the question.

imho, I like the emacs one... and for some strange reason i dont like the imac ones.. oh well...

 

Thread Bump... I am still looking for cables to add to my project for USB, Audio, Video and such... Lemme check what I need to get for the cables... VGA, 4 USB ports, Internet Cable, Not adding the S-Video to the list cuz its very old and the picture aint that good anyways.. and the 3 audio ports (Line In, Microphone and Headphones)... so is there a possible way to make all those easy to access on the case for my laptop mod?? the reason I am asking is that I don't want to reach one side to hook up speakers and then reach other side to add USB item or whatever.. so you can understand my dilemma...

 

You can have all you ports on one side using something like this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-fp32b-aluminium-black-front-i-o-35-4xusb-audio-firewire

But to do the wiring internally you will probable have to do it custom, i.e. wires and soldering iron

Hope this helps.

 

Im not in the UK i live in canada so yeah. Oh hmm that looks interesting... Checking that out right now. Actually I don't use Firewire... Ok I have noticed a slight difference between SATA and something called Slim ATAPI or whatever its called..

 

found some adapters for VGA Plug-in and USB.. now I need money lol.

 

Hey dude, just got on for the first time in weeks and read your thread

Looking good, I like your case design. Something like that solves the problem I always have of mine falling over

thanks for linking to my mod btw, i'll link to yours in my sig.

keep up the good work

 

umm actually I have gone another revising of my computer design... it won't look like a emac clone... it'll be looking awesome... lemme get the picture... where did I put that! Ah here it is...

One moment please






What do you think of this design Bit-techers??

Personally I like this revision...

 

not too bad man.
you might be able to make the L-shape out of one piece of perspex, you can heat it with a bar heater and bend it, once it cools it stays in shape. would look pretty sweet i reckon.

oh you might want to resize those images a little

edit: doh! just me, didn't have scripts turned on. no worries

 

The new design looks good! +sub'd and looking forward to seeing what you do!

 

actually I'm thinking of a blocky type of stuff you know what I mean ac?? so basically that design above is in many pieces that can be glued but that back part you know behind the monitor and above the Mobo and such? it'll be on a hinge of some sort for easy access you know? and the power button should be on the side of the plexi-glass for power and such... This way I don't have to worry about moving to the front... I had the same problem like you for the power lol... But I came up with the idea of putting the power right on the side so I don't have to extend it lol...

What do you think of that idea bit-techers?

And for the accessories hub (VGA, USB etc etc) I have found some adapters and such... just need to find something for the Internet Port... hmm where can I find one...

on another note, I was wondering if anyone here that have sketching software... the computer I am using is not fast or strong enough for Sketchup to work properly... its a AMD Athlon (tm) 64 Processor 3500+ 2.19 GHz and 1.87 GB of RAM.

Ugh... What to do...

 

Hey everyone,

Well I tried Sketchup from Google... not the Pro one tho... and I gotta admit it's pretty good so far... Heres the Sketchup version of my laptop.






What do you think guys??

Right now I am working on AC22297's suggestion to have the plexi-glass for the monitor and mobo as one piece... so you can vote for 1 or the other...


Here's AC22297's suggestion for 1 piece curved plexi-glass for Monitor and mobo.



Poll is above.... please vote!

Also please comment on why would you pick that choice!

 

i voted red

my reason is that I think having the whole thing one piece of material, although making it harder to get right, would look seamless and more classy. it would also help it stay strong on the join, that is unless you use acrylic cement or epoxy or something which would be just as strong.

that said i think doing it the other way would also look awesome, clear acrylic + components just looks cool regardless.
looking forward to seeing what you come up with

 

well thats why i made a poll... to basically tell me which choice is best... right now its 50/50... yeah just checked the poll... ugh... let's hope there's some favorites among us here... and AC? how's that project of yours coming along??