Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - What do Uber-techs do?

Spektyr · 03-31-2006, 10:20 AM

My recent induction to and experience with laptop repair and upgrading has gotten me thinking: these things are actually pretty cool. Not desktop cool, but cool in their own right.

However, I have never bought a computer that was made by anyone other than myself. Whether it was a frankenbox slapped together out of any spare parts I could find or a super-gaming machine I lovingly crafted out of individually hand-picked parts, I've built every computer I've owned since I graduated from C-64's.

Is there anything like this available to laptops? I've seen eBay listings for various parts of various laptops, and it wouldn't be terribly difficult to assemble an existing type of laptop out of pieces of one. What I'm wondering is to what extent there's a standardization or customization for these things. I imagine you can't simply swap most components in a Sony and a Dell without at the very least accomplishing nothing. (Unlike most desktops where a video card is a video card, taking into account AGP vs PCI and such.)

So assuming I'm approaching this from the DIY perspective, what is it I'm looking for? Are there any laptop brands that are less jealously proprietary than the others? Are any of them more flexibly designed?

To compare it to automobiles, I'm not looking for a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce (which need highly specialized training to do more than check the oil), I'm looking for a basic domestic car like the Mustang or Chevelle were years ago. Decently fun cars that weren't impractical, but if you wanted to you could pop the hood under a shade tree and with some patience, elbow grease, and some cash, turn the thing into a street monster.

Basically I like to make my computers "mine". Not just a (fill in the blank) model. More of "yeah, this is Toshiba Thing-a-ma-jig, but I've done a little tinkering under the hood so it's not exactly stock."

Just so you know, I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears geek. I've got military training in electronics so I'm not afraid of (or likely to fumble) anything inside a computer. I'm just trying to bridge what I know with desktops over to the portable cousins.

03-31-2006, 10:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
Spektyr Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 102 OS: XP, Vista Home & Ultimate / Ubuntu "Hardy Heron"	What do Uber-techs do? My recent induction to and experience with laptop repair and upgrading has gotten me thinking: these things are actually pretty cool. Not desktop cool, but cool in their own right. However, I have never bought a computer that was made by anyone other than myself. Whether it was a frankenbox slapped together out of any spare parts I could find or a super-gaming machine I lovingly crafted out of individually hand-picked parts, I've built every computer I've owned since I graduated from C-64's. Is there anything like this available to laptops? I've seen eBay listings for various parts of various laptops, and it wouldn't be terribly difficult to assemble an existing type of laptop out of pieces of one. What I'm wondering is to what extent there's a standardization or customization for these things. I imagine you can't simply swap most components in a Sony and a Dell without at the very least accomplishing nothing. (Unlike most desktops where a video card is a video card, taking into account AGP vs PCI and such.) So assuming I'm approaching this from the DIY perspective, what is it I'm looking for? Are there any laptop brands that are less jealously proprietary than the others? Are any of them more flexibly designed? To compare it to automobiles, I'm not looking for a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce (which need highly specialized training to do more than check the oil), I'm looking for a basic domestic car like the Mustang or Chevelle were years ago. Decently fun cars that weren't impractical, but if you wanted to you could pop the hood under a shade tree and with some patience, elbow grease, and some cash, turn the thing into a street monster. Basically I like to make my computers "mine". Not just a (fill in the blank) model. More of "yeah, this is Toshiba Thing-a-ma-jig, but I've done a little tinkering under the hood so it's not exactly stock." Just so you know, I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears geek. I've got military training in electronics so I'm not afraid of (or likely to fumble) anything inside a computer. I'm just trying to bridge what I know with desktops over to the portable cousins.