Building a PC used to be a fun adventure — what’s the latest, what’s the greatest, what can I afford? Well, that last question seems to have taken over and sucked all the fun out for a lot of people. [Matt] from [DIY Perks] on YouTube has hit upon a solution that’s brought back the fun, at least for him: recycling! The video is embedded below, and he runs a forum whose thread has more details.
Long story short, though, he’s flagging recycled laptop components as both good value for money and a fun rabbit hole to go down researching parts. The best part, of course, is that you can get a mobo with 32GB of RAM soldered on, and embedded RTX graphics, and a decent processor for about what you’d pay for that RAM on sticks these days. The big hack is getting the dang thing started: he needed to make a single-pin ribbon cable after identifying which pin on the keyboard membrane hit the power button. If you can score a laptop that does not power on from the keyboard, you’ll have an easier time in that regard.
To take recycling further, he shows how to delaminate cracked glass from an old Intel iMac to get a better-than-4K retina screen for nothing but sweat equity. The unit was heading for the bin, and his only cost was the effort it took to extract the LCD panel. Some of us might be able to skip the laptop and just use the iMac; it depends on how much compute is enough for your use case. Maybe a 10-year-old iMac’s guts will do; maybe last year’s gutted laptop isn’t enough.
We have to admit, the oak-and-aluminum all-in-one tripod he makes is very snazzy, though it may have too little brass to be on-brand for [DIY Perks]. The speakers, in case you were wondering, are also e-waste, recovered from an old TV. Perhaps the accent colour should have been green instead of blue!
Thanks to [Keith Olson] for the tip.
Calling it affordable does feel like a stretch, given all the extra materials you have to buy in too (even if you call your time free – which given the fun of the project I would). I’d go for less cripplingly expensive…
Still not a bad concept and the end result looks pretty practical.
It’s a DIY all-in-one computer.
There’s a reason why AIO systems aren’t popular: the laptop based hardware runs into thermal limits and starts to throttle under load, and the embedded GPU isn’t powerful enough for gaming, so it’s just a wheezy old laptop that isn’t portable.
The particular system he used has likely better cooling than the system originally did I’d suggest, and has more than enough power for gaming – got a dedicated (if still mobile version) 4060 GPU that is better performing that the majority of gamers cards judging by steam survey – heck from a quick skim it appears a higher % of gamers are still using 10 series than using this laptop GPU, and its actually currently the most popular GPU in the survey. Along with a very modern capable AMD CPU…
Also the AIO systems these days are getting very popular and really not very ‘laptop based’ any more – the convergence between high end performance laptop and desktop stuff is very much there now. Not to mention all the gaming focused handhelds that are by their very definition AIO and gaming…
Even before Strix Halo and whatever Intel called its new monster APU there has been a huge number of pretty darn capable, efficient, and small form factor capable chips out there. Strix Halo is roughly in the same ballpark as a desktop 4060, in some ways better performing and comes with pretty monster overkill CPU for gaming needs and all in a smaller power budget than just that dedicated GPU (also a whole system generally costs in the same ballpark as just a better GPU would, and less than a new completely discreet but comparable system). And if you get it in desktop format you’ll still have PCIe lanes available for extra GPU if you really want them later.
Available in laptop or desktop form factors – the only thing that might hold you back with strix halo is the cooling in the smallest form factors, but being impressively efficient that isn’t very likely. The laptop fans might be screaming, but cooling 120w in a laptop form factor isn’t a particularly novel or huge challenge – heck I had a Pentium 4 desktop chip laptop of similar TDP a depressingly long time ago, and it was other than being a battery hog and very very heavy for laptop (neither of which mattered to me much at the time) a great machine for the period.
AIO systems represent about 6% of the PC market (desktop+laptop) and are projected to reach about 8% in the 2030’s. I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that they’re “very popular”.
That’s the other thing. There’s only so much you can do with 100-120 Watts total power budget for the entire system, so the CPU+GPU performance is limited even if you fix the cooling system. With an AIO you’re simply paying more for gimped hardware.
Thanks for clickbait warning in the YT thumbnail. I’m delighted not to watch the whole video (or even read the HaD summary) 😛
Saw the thumbnail and thought “That must DIY Perks”, and sure enough, the blurb verified in the first paragraph. Good.
Still waiting for that killfile option HaD, right after the edit button. Maybe I should write that browser plugin after all. Or maybe tweak some adblocker rules.
I watched a few of his videos awhile back and I don’t fully remember but the feeling that I get thinking back is that his channel is basically a “life hacks” channel for people with a few extra IQ points.
Not anything useful but something that might trick a few people into thinking it is.
That feels a bit unfair in the phrasing to me – I’d phrase it more as his channel is something inspiring that might just give you the idea for your next fun project, presented in a way that lets the uninitiated hacker feel they have a chance, and unlike most of us he finishes every project he documents at least with style. You may not like the design language he does, but its always well finished rather than bodge wires hanging out, wood screw jammed in haphazardly to limit motion, and woodwork/3d prints you haven’t bothered to finish at all..
Don’t watch much of his stuff, but there have been some fun ideas like the bellows and lake cooled PC’s or the using mirrors on the ceiling to send high quality audio to your speakers Spdif style but without the wires. Not the most practical perhaps, but fun idea that might well find a niche with all the house renters out there that can’t make changes to the building to run wires neatly.
The projects are mostly impractical and made for looks and clicks only, or have design flaws and errors that make them not worth replicating, and the design language is “green-screen-modern”, which is stuff made to look nice in a white box environment, lifted out of context in a highly polished and edited video where you don’t notice how wobbly and wonky the real thing actually is, and how out of place and janky it would look in a real environment.
It’s “inspiring” in the sense that it’s selling the illusion of quality to people who watch these sort of DIY videos instead of actually trying to make their own. If they did, they’d be quickly disappointed by the results.
How does the power consumption compare to that of a similar product designed specifically by a brand that specializes in the same field?
If it results in a higher electricity bill, there isn’t much point in it.
Probably the same amount of power as an old laptop plugged into an external monitor, because that’s what it is
Its a recycled laptop, at its heart the power consumption is going to be very much laptop like, and the vendors of those systems tend to care way way way more about power efficiency than a desktop AIO/Edge computing platform as laptops have to care about battery life.
So it might have slightly less performance potential, though quite possibly not as these days the same silicon is in that sort of desktop and laptop form factors fairly often, but it will almost certainly be more power efficient. Certainly won’t be enough in it to make a real difference either way though for this use case – the desktop probably comes with an always powered USB chip, perhaps a PCIe redriver, and a default power/cooling profile that is more power hungry. Combined that will be eating those few watts extra, but also makes the system more expandable with better I/O options – the laptop you might well need a powered dock/USB hub that ends up wasting just as much power…
Here is the one i am looking at now…. 7th gen i5… HP laptop.
Works great, Got it for almost free.
Plastic case, total basket case… every screw is knocked loose, Cracked parts galore…
Took a fall down some stair as i heard.
I am going to transform this touch screen into a Maple and Oak Tough Book replica.
Every part i replace is going to be wood.
Are you going to keep it in a laptop clamshell form, or turn it into a tablet?
One issue that could come up is whether the LCD cable will be long enough, since you’re replacing the thin plastic body with thicker wood pieces.
I remember an article in an old magazine, MacUser or MacWorld talking about turning an old Powerbook into digital picture frame with serial port access for uploading pictures.
I don’t know… I mean, what is wrong with the people at those magazines?
Isn’t that pretty disrespectful? 😟
How is that any different from using old vinyl records as Frisbees
or turning an old SCSI CD-ROM drive into a fancy coffee cup holder?
Where is the respect for old hardware? After all, that’s not how people treat vintage cars. Those petrol stinkers.
I actually get extra enjoyment out of desecrating rare old hardware. The sacrilege… it excites me… I crammed a Raspberry Pi and an LCD screen into an old Apple Lisa the other day, just to see if I can still feel anything
Hm. I remember reading stories about how tube radios had been smashed for fun
at ham faires in the US when solid-state radios were new and when transistors were hyped.
These things remind me of that.
I wonder how many other precious things had some monster truck rolling over. Just for fun.
45 or so years ago when I was doing consumer electronics repair, I had several customers bring in antique tube based radios and try to talk me into gutting them and converting them to solid-state. I talked all of them out of it, as the desecration would have been horrible. Several of them paid to have me restore the original chassis. It wasn’t cheap, but the results were so much better than swapping in modern guts. If they took good care of them (and done a second recapping of the electrolytics) they are worth more now than the were then, instead of the garbage they’d be if they had been converted.
You cannot offend an object. You can only offend people who are suffering from the illusion that something being rare or old makes it valuable.
Venerating old vinyls is like selling glass beads to Indians, except you’re doing it to yourself.
But everything and everyone it stands for.
An old tube radio or an old PC, Amiga etc. is a product of human ingenuity.
The microchip is a technological miracle.
If we treat it like garbage then it’s like peeing on the tomb stones of their creators.
Even if we recycle it or simply have to discard it, we should do it with a minimum of respect, at least.
With grace, basically. Not simply ripping out the microchip with force or by the use a hammer, but carefully removing it. With a cutter or a soldering iron.
If that doesn’t work, other methods are still an option, including force. But they shouldn’t be first choice.
In order to act in a humane way, in order to be civil and be respectful to the accomplishments of their creators and humanity, as such.
I know, that’s heavy. But I hope that the idea is still conceptually tangible.
“Illusion”.. Please do yourself a favor and go study some philosophy.
Or go travel to other countries and study other cultures if there’s a chance.
It may help you to evolve from plain consumption and money thinking.
Hm. I see. I’ll try to explain it to you how someone would explain it to a child.
The point is that our behavior and mindset shapes our character.
People who are materialistic, who only see usefulness in things,
who think the whole is just the sum of its parts,
who throw away things instead of trying to fix it, will apply this behavior to living beings, too.
They ask themselves “is it worth?” to care about someone,
about trying to heal a relationship, about paying for medical treatment for a family member or a pet.
This happens subconsciously, the process is insidious.
Their rating system for everything is not based on an emotional bond and empathy anymore but pure calculation.
They become bad people, in short. Superficial, self-centered people. Like so many nowadays.
I recommend watching the children film “The Brave Little Toaster”.
It humanizes inanimate objects very well. :)
PS: Sorry for my poor English. I need more practice.
You say that but plenty of classic cars get the Hayabusa or similar high performance racing bike engine treatment, or electrification now. And that is still preserving much of a relic that would otherwise be scrap, and giving it one more story of repair and reuse visible if you know what to look for.
Nothing wrong with reusing something the way you want to really, especially if at the time it is so so so common there is very little need to preserve it (also old records might well sound so bad as to be basically unplayable – they don’t last forever). If you are taking nearly the last surviving something that could be restored and irreversibly mangling it I can see why folks would get upset, but most of the time it is old common junk or wrecks that are not really saveable in the first place.
A vinyl record lasts maybe 60 plays. Less if your turntable is not adjusted correctly or you’re using the wrong needles. To preserve an old record, you should never play it, but then there’s the paradox that if you can’t play it, what’s the point of it?
You shouldn’t use it, and eventually it’s going to degrade to the point that you can’t use it, so it’s just an inert piece of old plastic whose only value is bragging rights and/or finding a bigger fool to sell it off for more money than you paid yourself.
It’s a greater insult for an object to be treated as a relic, because that is desecrating it by mental masturbation and profit seeking. It’s no less absurd to put an old vinyl record on a pedestal than a piece of someone’s used toilet paper. Sweat of Elvis in a bottle.
I’ve been running an old HP ProBook 6440b with a broken screen as my daily driver desktop computer for the past 15 years. Upgraded just about everything (CPU to an i7, maxed out memory, SSD, etc.) with no problems.
I’m using a Dell Latituude 7480 as my travel laptop. Linux Mint makes it quite zippy. SSD and maxed out RAM.
Couple of older Latitudes are used as lab computers at home, currently FreePBX.
Don’t think I have ever bought a new computer.
makes me sad about my dead laptop pile. i have 5 laptops with screens and motherboards that are good enough to be my daily driver (every laptop i’ve bought since i discovered sub $300 laptops in 2013). but it’s still a pain in the butt to mix and match components. like i have a motherboard that eats batteries, and switching to a different battery controller is impossible for me. i have another motherboard where the wifi went bad, and it’s so old that it’s a pain to build a kernel for it. and only one of the 5 of them comes paired with a decent keyboard, wouldn’t it be great if we could mix and match keyboards on laptops?
so much incredible power and no way to use it to meet the needs i actually have and basically just because small connectors and laptop cases are hard to work with.
all of them together cost less than one framework laptop though
I’m saddened that I can barely work on laptops (and other things) with tiny fiddly scews and other tiny parts. It would have been trivial for younger me, in fact, in the ’90s I repaired quite a few laptops, but in my mid 60s, with an essential tremor, it’s almost impossible. It’s very frustrating.
Perhaps, but they probably never performed as well in the first place and that budget differential won’t last – the framework is likely to last from what I’ve seen of the construction quality longer without needing new parts than all of those cheapo ones combined, and when you do finally upgrade or need repair its going to be around the same price as the not quite e-waste when you buy it, but it will be soon quality of machine to make it good as a brand new machine…
TCO really should end up categorically in Frameworks favour in the end, assuming the company really will survive long enough term for parts to be available for the framework you buy, which seems like a fairly reasonable bet at this stage of their life. But with the AI bubble crap trying to drive all the normal people out from being able to afford a new computer who can tell – I’d still back them to survive over many others though, as offering quality and repairability in an age of scarcity will keep those that can afford the upfront cost interested.
I see spare screens as perfect for museum displays and media centers.
One shows images of only UFOs, starship combat on loops. The guts on the opposite side of a wall where you can plug in smartphones for control.