I’m posting this a little early because it’s gonna be popular. Ben Heckendorn has been up to his tricks again. This time he built a 14 pound, water cooled 17 inch XBox 360 aluminum cased laptop. It’s got all the outputs you could ever need. This one is very good. He was kind enough to write up the build and do a nice photo shoot. Oh, this is very, very nice.
[Update: Skyler] set up a mirror.]
wow…just wow. NICE work.
thats so freakin sweet! i dont have one, but i am going to buy one just to mod it out like that
sweet mod, but to really make it a laptop, don’t you think it should run on batteries? I guess that would make it more difficult.
That’s nuts. i love it
the 360 would never run off a battery for long enough to make it worth the added weight. Sick mod i can’t believe how professional it looks!
oh. my. god.
i need one
Holy crap. Thats just freaking amazing.
I bow to your technical prowess.
insane….he never ceases to amaze me. Can anyone take a guess at the price of this baby? lol
amazing…
two hacks in one day… it’s almost like hackaday chrismahanukwanza… almost.
That is the most awesome Xbox360 mod EVAR.
Very nice work. The true definition of a hack (Hell it should even please steve!)
1 problem I can see…….. those very nice milled air holes are on the bottom, where hardly any air can get pulled in!
Maybe if the back was raised it would increase air cooling properties.
Pretty impressive! really quite amazing.
Don’t know how i feel about portable watercooling though… seems like a bad move no matter how well you seal it. (Unless you are using like a non-replacable liquid and weld it together or something)
Then again, this thing probably weighs enough that it won’t be moved much…
i just wish it had some battery power, and i also wish microsoft spent more than ten seconds on the efficiency of this machine. the heat output alone of this beast could melt some solder unless there is some thermal shutoff i’m not aware of (perhaps the chip smasher has a thermal switch we’ve never heard of)
i also just wanted to post this so the comments box sticks with my new email
Wow. that is amazing.
that’s freakin amazing.
Cool, but useless. No battery, just as heavy as the original, and no handle. like the other guys here mentioned, the water cooling will probably leak when you tote it around.
that thing wrocks my socks
no freaking way.
i am so totally doing this.
yes agree with every one very cool and it must be kept cool 2. 3ghz processor in that thing LOVE IT
That is sweet
Cache
http://benheck.com.nyud.net:8080/Games/Xbox360/x360_page_1.htm
yes must admit like this very much keep up the good work
I saw this earlier on Engadget. It just amazes me that not only did he pull it off so perfectly, but he even managed to make it water-cooled in the process. This guy is my hero.
omg where ams teh leds!! hackaday plz start shows me sume reel hax k thanks steve
I have been a long time reader of hack a day and a member of the benheck forums for a year and a half, and this thing beats every other portable made (some get pretty close, the 360p loses a bit from no batteries, but no biggie). And steve, you are a moron. thats it, you are a moron. you couldn’t even make a gameboy portable, much less a 360p.
You fucked up Hack a Day.
absolutely fantastic…..you really are a genius…
microsoft and sony really should offer you millions.
ideas like that a like rockin horse S**T…
WELL DONE MATE
what sort of hack is this this is hack a day bring some reel hacks this is not one whoever came up with this needs to find a reeal hack and stop posting this rubbish in britain you dont find this rubbish
Steve- shut up you illiterate little punk.
nice, but i would have opted for a keyboard-less monitor mounted contraption. Less portable but better suited for it’s usage. Still, I think there’s money to be made doing that. Not so expensive for a gaming laptop/ media viewer at all.
If only the 360 weren’t so bulky and hot. Reminds me: the (late) psx’s form factor was perfect. Sexy thing…
i can see myself on this, xbox live, oohhh yeah keyboard built in, this is the greatest thing ever, he should start mass production now
Also seen on Engadget with a snide comment about it needing “magsafe” for the power cord.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/11/ben-heckendorns-xbox-360-laptop-best-mod-ever/
another cool hack from ben. been following his portables for quite some time and love every one of them. to the haters, this guy has made a portable of every major console to date and seems like a really nice, down to earth guy… his writeups are always amusing.
IMHO i HATE this new software. I don’t like the ‘show next comments’ button. Why can’t there be a ‘Show all comments’ button?
Love the hack!!! Not that it takes away one bit, but I have a few things I wonder why he didn’t do:
1) Slim DVD drive?
2) The radiator could have been much smaller if smaller copper plates had been used. Would probably make it lighter too. JBWeld is also an insulator, sodering the plates would probably have helped a lot.
3) Epoxying the watercooling stuff to help prevent leaks?
4) Maybe with a slim DVD and a smaller, more efficient radiator he could have fit a battery in there?
Anyway… As a said before none of that takes away from the accomplishment one bit. I know I couldn’t do a hack half as hardcore as that. Seriously 1337.
1. glad to see comments are alive again
2. they new skin looks like crap
In any case, great hack… I will admit water cooling was a little, umm, bold… Why not use heatpipes? In the time he spent debugging the watercooling he could have probably mastered them; and they don’t leak ;)
And I think you could have found a slightly more elegant power cord solution… With the $$$$ you spent on this, seems like a decent connector should have been in the budget…
Also, if I were to build this I would have dumped the flip screen and just mounted the screen in the top (ie tablet style) and dumped the keyboard. Just include a usb port and keep a keyboard in your car… That should have greatly simplified the build… I would have made it slightly larger so that you could fit the power supply in the box… Just an IEC power cord on the back.
As to battery power… The battery in my laptop is good for 50w/hrs and weighs just under a pound. If you wanted 2hrs of play time and the xbox was drawing the 200w That is only 10 batteries… (with derating for the high current draw) So you can go from 20lbs to 30lbs and have a portable xbox360… And of course you could make it detachable…
omfg, wow thats so 1337, that is truly a hack worthy of hackaday, crazy lol, roxors. though i do preffer the ps3, it is much more efficient, uses its cpu has 7 (actually 8) cores, each at 533Mhz, running a t a lowwer speed, with multiple cores is better than running 3 cores (in the 360) at a high speed
Its not the 3ghz cpu’s, its the poor cooling, and watercooling so long as the parts are sufficient should be fine…
Steve you are a dumb ass
-Fragged
That is so awesome! Looks great too.
fraggd why dont you go and defragg yourself i think you got the dumb ass bit round the wrong way mate
I just got done reading the whole thing and I am just blown away.
I don’t even play game consoles, but I have hacked some hardware in my day and that is just one beautifully executed project.
Common sense approaches combined with technical grace.
-and coffee. (a personal favorite)
In other words, awesome job, as usual!
O.o That’s incredible.
Brillant, I’ve felt the heat comming off of one them things, so i figure about two deep cycle marine batteries should be good for about 5 minutes of play time:) btw this is what hackaday is all about.
ps. needs some leds.
This is sooooo sweet!
If only i could have your uber-prowess in mod skill.
Can I buy one PLEASE :P
That guy has a lotta good work making portable systems, worth the to take a look
-Sulk
Loove this mod! totally impressed one of the most practical mods ive seen in ages I had to blog this one!
Whoa, insane!! Woow, Yeah.
Beautiful xbox360 laptop!
This thing really makes me urgent go do some great hacking :-]
omg that damn thing is so freaking sweet this dude should sell all his mods he would make a fortune all peep out my newest console its called Pirate Evolution and it is playable…… happy hacking asuka out
http://www.myspace.com/pirate0evolution
Really really cool. You have managed to squeeze everything into it. Great finish too though I would probably combine the power cables into one. An internal battery would be useful and I would have ditched the water cooling (too expensive and too unsafe). Fans at the sides would allow air to circulate more and better. Good Job, best I have seen yet!
That is possibly the best console to “other use” mod I’ve ever seen, it’s very tidy looking and the detailing is superb! :)
He’s even testing my favourite 360 game on it (Dead Rising) so a man of exquisite taste too.
Well done that geek!
what is the point what a wast of money i could do this but whats the point microsoft build them so why do this its only £150 for a LCD screen i know it would of cost a lot more than that to make this maybe if you put a BAT init it would be worth it but what you did if a wast of money iv work for microsoft in the past and new they were playing this and no the ins and outs of this system and i have my own and have the fan stand and intercooler and my xbox 306 gives out cold air no hot not even warm air and it works fine not one crash or even a frezz up its grt ok iv said what i wanted to say lattas