Portable PCs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Juneaukid
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Juneaukid

Wondering if anyone can give any starters on this.

I want to build a PC that is portable. Not laptop portable but one
that is fairly easy to pull out set up and then put away and fit in a
closet.

I would just buy a laptop but it bothers me that i will be spending
more money for a less capable machine than if i built it myself.

It all basically comes down to the box and monitor.

My current computer has an Antec Sonata case, which is just too big.

Does any company make a "small box" case that is recommended?

Any recommendations on a durable flatscreen monitor?

Cheers.
 
You want to research SFF enclosures, which often come with proprietary power
supplies and motherboards, but it's the closest you will find in something
durable, small, not too expensive, and somewhat upgrade-able. NEC used to
make the PERFECT monitor for you, an LCD1565. My nephew was lucky enough to
snag one, he's been hauling it around the country for years in a laptop
case. He's a hardcore gamer, and he loves it. It's very sturdy, NEC
quality, outstanding image quality, andportable! They don't seem to make
it anymore. Closest I could find was something from wal-mart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=...know how sturdy it is, but seeing as it is a DVD player and computermonitor... for the price, hard to beat that deal.As for case? Try one of the following:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101020http:/...those look expensive, keep in mind that you'd have to spend most or allof the price of one of those boxes for a decent mainboard plus a decentpower supply. So it's not much of an extra expense (if at all) for theportability that you are after. The power supplies are rather small, butkeep in mind that it's not going to be driving much. You only have room forone hard drive and one optical drive, and you won't add any expansion cards(likely) other than maybe a video card. You won't need to, as these SFFsystems have practically everything built in anyway. Heck, you can even usethe built-in video to start with, unless you are a gamer.So for the SFF system, you will need just CPU, a RAM stick or two, a harddrive and a DVD burner. Optional: get yourself a PCI-Express X16 videocard, if you want.You also want to look intoportable(USB) keyboards if you are serious aboutportability. -Dave- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...


Thank you very much. I wasnt even sure of the correct terminology to
be searching on. You have given me two: "SFF enclosures" and the
company "Shuttle".



Cheers
 
Juneaukid said:
Wondering if anyone can give any starters on this.

I want to build a PC that is portable. Not laptop portable but one
that is fairly easy to pull out set up and then put away and fit in a
closet.

I would just buy a laptop but it bothers me that i will be spending
more money for a less capable machine than if i built it myself.

It all basically comes down to the box and monitor.

My current computer has an Antec Sonata case, which is just too big.

Does any company make a "small box" case that is recommended?

Any recommendations on a durable flatscreen monitor?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

You want to research SFF enclosures, which often come with proprietary power
supplies and motherboards, but it's the closest you will find in something
durable, small, not too expensive, and somewhat upgrade-able. NEC used to
make the PERFECT monitor for you, an LCD1565. My nephew was lucky enough to
snag one, he's been hauling it around the country for years in a laptop
case. He's a hardcore gamer, and he loves it. It's very sturdy, NEC
quality, outstanding image quality, and portable! They don't seem to make
it anymore. Closest I could find was something from wal-mart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...=5622679&sourceid=0100000030660804302498Don't know how sturdy it is, but seeing as it is a DVD player and computermonitor... for the price, hard to beat that deal.As for case? Try one of the following:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101015If those look expensive, keep in mind that you'd have to spend most or allof the price of one of those boxes for a decent mainboard plus a decentpower supply. So it's not much of an extra expense (if at all) for theportability that you are after. The power supplies are rather small, butkeep in mind that it's not going to be driving much. You only have room forone hard drive and one optical drive, and you won't add any expansion cards(likely) other than maybe a video card. You won't need to, as these SFFsystems have practically everything built in anyway. Heck, you can even usethe built-in video to start with, unless you are a gamer.So for the SFF system, you will need just CPU, a RAM stick or two, a harddrive and a DVD burner. Optional: get yourself a PCI-Express X16 videocard, if you want.You also want to look into portable (USB) keyboards if you are serious aboutportability. -Dave
 
You want to research SFF enclosures, which often come with proprietary power
supplies and motherboards, but it's the closest you will find in something
durable, small, not too expensive, and somewhat upgrade-able. NEC used to
make the PERFECT monitor for you, an LCD1565. My nephew was lucky enough to
snag one, he's been hauling it around the country for years in a laptop
case. He's a hardcore gamer, and he loves it. It's very sturdy, NEC
quality, outstanding image quality, andportable! They don't seem to make
it anymore. Closest I could find was something from wal-mart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=...know how sturdy it is, but seeing as it is a DVD player and computermonitor... for the price, hard to beat that deal.As for case? Try one of the following:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101020http:/...those look expensive, keep in mind that you'd have to spend most or allof the price of one of those boxes for a decent mainboard plus a decentpower supply. So it's not much of an extra expense (if at all) for theportability that you are after. The power supplies are rather small, butkeep in mind that it's not going to be driving much. You only have room forone hard drive and one optical drive, and you won't add any expansion cards(likely) other than maybe a video card. You won't need to, as these SFFsystems have practically everything built in anyway. Heck, you can even usethe built-in video to start with, unless you are a gamer.So for the SFF system, you will need just CPU, a RAM stick or two, a harddrive and a DVD burner. Optional: get yourself a PCI-Express X16 videocard, if you want.You also want to look intoportable(USB) keyboards if you are serious aboutportability. -Dave- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Not sure why my last post did not show up.

Thank you for the information. You have given me two great leads. SFF
enclosures as a term and Shuttle as a company.

I am thinking Shuttle might be a bit too limiting for my needs but i
have yet to explore all their products.

Cheers.
 
Juneaukid said:
Thank you for the information. You have given me two great leads. SFF
enclosures as a term and Shuttle as a company.
Click to expand...

I'm curious why you would not just go ahead and get a
laptop?

Seems like economies of scale are in your favor with
laptops
 
I'm curious why you would not just go ahead and get a
laptop?

Seems like economies of scale are in your favor with
laptops
Click to expand...

A couple of reasons.

This is a second PC for my son so we can game together. As a gaming PC
it is gonna need some fairly "beefy" hardware.
Buying a laptop that will fit my hardware requirements will cost over
$2,000.
I can build the same PC (in a regular tower) for about half that.

Laptops cant be upgraded. ( For example, cant pop a new video card
into it later.)

You sacrifice a lot with a laptop to get it in that small portable
box.

For my needs I dont need it to be all that portable.

Basically, I want something that can be taken out of the closet,
played for a few hours and then put away without limited hassle and
more importantly...................limited aggro from my wife.

Clutter is not allowed in my house. 8^)

However, you comment looks like it might be valid. The price on the
"portable boxes" is gonna put me up in the "uber laptop" range anyway.

Although, these things look so darn cool: http://www.stealthcomputer.com/portables.htm

Cheers
 
Juneaukid said:
Basically, I want something that can be taken out of the closet,
played for a few hours and then put away without limited hassle and
more importantly...................limited aggro from my wife.
Click to expand...

Good points!

I ask the question cause id like a "transportable"
computer as well...and like you think you don't get
much bang for buck in a laptop!
 
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