You’ve seen printers with scanners in them, printers with copiers in them, even ones with the ancient technology known as “facsimile” built-in. But have you ever seen a printer with a full gaming computer built into it? No? Well, you still haven’t, technically. There’s no printer to be had anymore inside this re-purposed HP Photosmart 6520 case, but it’s probably the closest we’re going to get.
[Jacob Lee] wrote in to share this awesome build with us, which sees the motherboard, graphics card, ATX power supply, and hard drives all fit seamlessly into the shell of a disused “All-in-one” style printer. Incredibly, he even managed to integrate an LCD into the top; which hinges open when in use and gives a look down into the madness that makes this build tick.
To say there’s a lot of hardware packed into this thing is an understatement. Which is all the more impressive when you consider that he] didn’t take the easy way out for any of it. He could have used a mini-ITX motherboard, or a slim PSU. He could have even dropped the graphics card for integrated. No, [Jacob] is clearly a subscriber to the “Go big or go home” ethos.
As if putting all this gear inside of a normal looking printer case wasn’t impressive enough, he even went as far as adding female ports for Ethernet, HDMI, and USB on the rear of the device to give it a stock look. He mentions there’s some room for improvement with the USB ports, but the power switch and IEC port really look like they could have been original components.
In the age of the Raspberry Pi and other diminutive computers, we don’t see too many proper desktop computer projects anymore. Fewer still that are so well executed and creative. We don’t know how many other people might be trying to stick a computer in a printer case, but if they’re out there, the bar has just been set pretty high.
Make one that plays Doom.
I…
hm.
Pretty sure this one could play Crysis…
What makes that a gaming PC ?, Anything can be a gaming pc if statements like this are thrown around so widely, it has the resolution of PC from 1990 or that of a Gaming console from 2009. and sure Shoebox mods were funny at one stage along seeing people put motherboards inside models of the millennium falcon and integrating the lighting to it or making a V styled Engine from 2 pc cases and having a ignition key to turn it on, This is on the level of SHOEBOX / PIZZA box pc and the hardware yeah nah.
This fits into the “just because” category, and that’s absolutely fine with me.
The energy he spent on this makes me go “yay”, whereas the energy you’re spending makes me go “meh”.
Bah
Get out of here with this nonsense.
Hey its nice and portable, more power than a laptop and it suits what that guy wants it for. Stash a keyboard and mouse in the paper tray and you’re set
Very nice job.
I like it. Keep it up.
One thought.
You could add APDS-9930 Proximity Sensor on the sides of your monitor so you could have some hand sensing to get the computer to do some things without touching.
Like next, page up/down,close screen…..etc…
That is one of the things on my to do list.
But me I like no case just mount everything on a board and mount it on the wall behind my 2 28″ monitors and go.
“You’ve seen printers with scanners in them, printers with copiers in them, even ones with the ancient technology known as “facsimile” built-in. ”
Facsimile has actually grown-up where a POTS isn’t a requirement.
nice case mod, these things are shit printers, my better half was buying $35 a pop cartridges every other week. I bought her a pair of laserprinters (mono and color) and have had this thing on my parts pile ever since, nice work salvaging it.
Ha! I like it! It put a smile on my face and is a clever use (imho) of the printer’s case and form factor. Good job, Jacob Lee :)
Thanks friend!
I used to have a Canon NoteJet laptop with built-in printer. It had (IIRC) a 486 CPU, eight whole megabytes of RAM, an 800MB harddrive, a black and white LCD screen, a floppy drive, and a tiny bubble jet printer.
It wasn’t really a gaming machine, but I think I managed to get a few really simple games running on it (having a B&W screen was one of the main limits).
The printer worked pretty well, the keyboard hinged up to allow you to insert A4 paper, and it would spit it out of the back. The resolution was ok, and given that the screen was B&W, having only black ink wasn’t a big problem.
Oh yeah, instead of a built in touchpad or nipple-joystick mouse controller, it had a hand-held trackball that plugged into a PS/2 port at the back.
There’s some pictures here.