Comments on: Questions from readers, Answers from Mathieu

By: Hardware Revolution answers your questions | Hardware Revolution

Hardware Revolution answers your questions | Hardware Revolution — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:58:25 +0000

[...] the previous edition of this series, ashwin said: Q: Also it would be great if you could write what is meant by terms [...]

By: Mathieu

Mathieu — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:09:47 +0000

The problem with laptops are that few manufacturers yet offer the possibility of building your own laptop from scratch. The reason for that is that you have to consider the heat dissipated and the different size of different parts.

What laptops need are standards, like the various ATX standards for desktop. However, until manufacturers get together and adopt a standard, things are not going to improve much unfortunately.

Your two main options usually are to go to the manufacturer website, choose your configuration with what they offer and have them build it for you. The other being to buy a barebone laptop, where you can choose your cpu, ram and hard drive.

OCZ should offer you the possibility to choose your video card, but not before 2009.

By: Mathieu

Mathieu — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:01:34 +0000

I could do a glossary page for all those terms and a post to explain the different parts of a motherboard, sure. I’ll work on that

By: Kane

Kane — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:15:47 +0000

I would most definately be interested in a DIY Notebook section. Hope to see it soon!

By: Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy

Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:46:19 +0000

Great post, cool to see multiple questions answered in one post.

By: Mr Caffeine

Mr Caffeine — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:21:22 +0000

Thanks also for answering my question.
In regards of having a DIY laptop section, I think it would be very informative.

By: Grine

Grine — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:06:55 +0000

About XP 64bit:

I have been using 64 bit XP on my Dell Laptopm for over a year now and have had no trouble whatsoever, the only programs that have failed to work are small shell modifiers, a bootscreen changer and my dialup driver. Other than that I have had no problems.

By: JohnDetroit

JohnDetroit — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:50:50 +0000

I read your article on Best video card for your money: October 2008 and I purchased the 8800GT… WOW what a great card, thanks for that tip, I was in the market for a new card.
I would like to build my own laptop or maybe a unique mod. Do you know of any reputable places to shop for the parts?

By: ashwin

ashwin — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:11:34 +0000

I would definitely be interested in the DIY notebook section. Also it would be great if you could write what is meant by terms such as L2 cache, FSB, crossfireX etc, also tell about different parts of motherboard like north bridge, south bridge etc, whats their use.It would be really great to have them. (If you have already written about them, can you just write a small post linking to them as i have been reading this blog for only a month)

By: SaLaNoS

SaLaNoS — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:12:15 +0000

Thanks for answering my question, it’s been one that’s been niggling me for a while. Although granted you didn’t answer everything I asked. >.>

Anyhow, about the DIY notebook section, that’d be great – I’ll need a notebook for my tertiary education and I’ll need a powerful one for the course I intend to take.

So yes, I agree with the DIY notebook section idea.