modding a netbook?

[kane22]

Just curious, has anyone heard of anyone ever modding a netbook yet? I thought about how difficult it would be after using my netbook all day, and wondered if any insane modder attempted/succeed in modifying one while staying true to the size/weight constraints. Not that I am personally interested in modding my puny net book, it merely gets me between builds

 

[Deleted member 3]

Of course, people paint them. Define "mod". Upgrade ram? Upgrade harddrive? Add touch screen? Make it really sticky so it will be able to stick to a wall?

 

[InTeL-iNsIdE]

I think you would be quite limited to "modding" one, i mean not as if you can watercool one or add neons etc lol, just impractical

 

[kane22]

Of course, people paint them. Define "mod". Upgrade ram? Upgrade harddrive? Add touch screen? Make it really sticky so it will be able to stick to a wall?

lmao I should have elaborated a bit more.. I mean by completely redesigning the case, adding some insane cpu and cooling system too it etc., etc., Something out of the ordinary I guess is what I am saying..

 

[kane22]

I think you would be quite limited to "modding" one, i mean not as if you can watercool one or add neons etc lol, just impractical

interesting to see nonetheless haha

 

[Deleted member 3]

I'd imagine there being little space for anything exotic. Though there should be plenty of options, doesn't Google show anything creative?

 

[kane22]

I'd imagine there being little space for anything exotic. Though there should be plenty of options, doesn't Google show anything creative?

Wise idea... This one looks pretty awesome, although I would have never guessed it was previously a netbook..

 

[Mussels]

ive seen one mod where a guy pulled it apart and added a few extras inside, internal wifi, things like that.

 

[Bo$$]

will that actually fit inside the case or will you fabricate a new one?

 

[Geofrancis]

netbooks can ususly be modded more than normal laptops as there is usualy a little more space inside it for usb devices. the first netbook i modded was an asus eee pc 701 4gb that i went to town on i spent £150 on the netbook and then spent £ 250 on mods for it.

my new acer aspire one i have only removed the ssd and installed a 60gb ipod hard drive.


here is my eeepc copied from eeeuser forum:



i have been reading about the small portable eee pc for a while now and when i seen how moddable it was i had to have a shot. so i got my self to ebay and £147 inc delivery i had a black 701 4gb.

the first things i got for it were:

16gb sd card
2gb ddr2 667
10400mah battery
bluetooth
usb hsdpa modem

now i had a pretty decent laptop but it was still basicly standard and i didnt like all the bits sticking out of it so i had to start modding.

my main source of info was http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.ph … l_Upgrades it is by far the best and most usable set of mods i have seen so far so i used it as a template for my mods.

this is my layout for my mods it consists of

2x usb sd card readers
2x 8gb usb flash drives (for operating systems)
mini-pci-e 4965 AGN WIFI
usb 54g wifi
usb bluetooth
touch screen (still waiting for delivery)
e220 hsdpa modem

all the pcb's have had the connections solered off and chopped down with a dremel (apart from hsdpa as i still need it just now) to use the minimum amout of space i can. the usb hubs are getting soldered to the mini pci-e usb ports and the power will controlled by 2 switches in the modem port like
one for both hubs and one just for the hsdpa modem because it draws the most amount of power idle everything else draws minimal power when disable from windows. if iadd more stuff i will probibly put another in the pci-e bay.

http://i43.tinypic.com/161gac1.jpg
the antennas for the wifi will atach to the 2 stock antennas and another antenna i bought from ebay mounted in the screen.

your probibly wondering why would i want a second wifi adapter? well when i seen this mod for hooking up a 1watt signal booster and hi gain antenna

the bluetooth will also be getting an antenna upgrade with the second wifi antenna i got from ebay the antenna on the bluetooth pcb has been cut off and the wifi antenna will be soldered to it and routed to the screen.

the hsdpa will be in the pci-e bay use an externa data card antenna from ebay and mounted like here http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=448709

fm transmitter antenna will be mounted in the screen and buttons will be accessable in the pci-e bay

i thought i would post just now before i actualy start cutting and soldering to see if anyone has any more sugestions before the laptop gets taken apart.

and finaly since this is just my second post here thank you i dont know what i would so without this forum as a guide big_smile

 

[Cuzza]

intense

 

[Mussels]

my housemate just bought one of those, linked her to the thread.

 

[Meecrob]

Wise idea... This one looks pretty awesome, although I would have never guessed it was previously a netbook..

I have done one better, YEARS AGO, we built a pc inside an orignal NES box, only a via c7 mitx board, but the optical drive was where the game use to go in, and the thing looked like it hadnt been touched other then the added VGA/serial/audio ports on the back, We did that for a friends kid, his buddys all wanted one

also helped turn a satern into a computer, but that gave us room for a full matx setup so it wasnt as challanging.

 

[Cuzza]

I have done one better, YEARS AGO, we built a pc inside an orignal NES box, only a via c7 mitx board, but the optical drive was where the game use to go in, and the thing looked like it hadnt been touched other then the added VGA/serial/audio ports on the back, We did that for a friends kid, his buddys all wanted one

also helped turn a satern into a computer, but that gave us room for a full matx setup so it wasnt as challanging.

Cool, maybe you'd have some advice for me then? Check out my log and see if you have any ideas... http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=98525