notebook self assembling???

[sna]

Hi,

Well, now that the notebook parts are becoming more "standrdized" I wonder when will we be able to buy the notebook parts ie motherboard, keyboard, processor , VGA processor (put it in the socket too) and choose the TFT and hard disk etc as we do now with normal PC.... is it a dream coming true? I hope so..

The issue here that u cant find all what u want in one notebook .. notebook A has great TFT, but bad hd "4200".. notebook C has better battery but bad display... notebook D has everything but looks so ugly ... I want radeon 9000 .. no I want to upgrade it now after the gf4 ti4200 is here "no need to change the whole notebook only change the VGA moudle "like a standard agp card"
etc

I hope u got the Idea

I dont think it is far it is near .... but needs a skillfull assembler..

[SkyDog]

You'd need to be more than a skillful assembler. The circuit boards in laptops are designed to fit in a very limited space. Because of the space constraints, circuit board layouts vary widely from one model to the next, meaning that a board for one model will be a completely different size and shape than for another model.

We're nowhere near seeing widespread use of "off the shelf" circuit boards in notebooks. There are a few out there with upgradeable components, but for the most part, you need to buy those components for your specific notebook model.

Just as one example, think of the video card in your desktop PC. When you upgrade it, you upgrade the whole card, not just a single chip. The other chips on that card, as well as the traces on the board, are designed to work with that particular GPU. Has your new graphics card ever been the exact same size and shape as your old one? No, because the components on the card are different -- different memory, different heat dissipation, different traces on the board, and a different GPU pinout, too. Because of all those differences, it would be very difficult to make the card the same size and shape, and with the same temperature properties. And for notebook use, that's what would be needed.

[sna]

I agree,
But I dont think it is far they only need to standardize it make a note book form factor standard (like ATX,MATX,FLEX etc)


then Add a special kind compact AGP4X connector(not slot but notebooklike connectors with empty space for the VGA card or say modoule that fits on the boardparallel to it to save space (unlike the card vertical) etc etc

or in anyway if it is impossible , ok make the board with VGA on it and when u need to upgrade the VGA change the board only (which will save u the price of buying a whole notebook with TFT HD processor etc)

If they only can standardize the board form factor this will be the first step in "put together notebook" ok let the VGA be with the board whats the problem if u ll save a lot of cash...

the ther important issue is the TFT too I ve seen very bad ones and very good ones u should be able to choose them...



simple man only need standardization

[ua549]

It won't happen for several reasons.

• Product differentiation is required for effective marketing.
• Cost, a plugable board costs several times more than a soldered chip.
• Plugable components increase failure rates and reduce reliability.
• Design restrictions will limit innovation and stagnate the market.
• Most notebook sales are for business use.
• Plugable components are not a feature most customers care about or can use.

The group that may want these features is also the group that is not willing/can't afford to purchase top end hardware, gamers. Products are made to appeal to the group that provides the most revenue, business users.

Today, one company manufactures more than 80% of all notebooks to specs provided by their customers such as IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, . . .

What you may see in the future is a notebook with the features you want already built in. As technology improves, more stuff can be crammed into the very limited notebook case. This can be seen in todays products. The high end corporate notebooks provide more function and features in a smaller and lighter package than low end consumer notebooks.