Laptop barebones? Quest for the 400$ laptop

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Dillusion

Supreme [H]ardness
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Im looking to buy a laptop for school soon. I already have my main rig at the apartment, but seeing everyone go online while I sit in class and stare at the ceiling is no fun :p

I really dont like buying pre-made computers. Whether its a desktop, laptop, even buying a PDA kinda pisses me off that I didnt put it together. Im looking for a SMALL screened laptop. We're talking like 8" to maybe 12" MAX, 8-10" would be prime. I want to buy most of the parts off ebay and the forums here, maybe a P-M or Core Solo, a small 20GB HD, 512MB of ram, etc.

I would like it to have 802.11b/g built in, and have some sort of reputable video card.....maybe an Xpress200? X1400 Mobility? Anything but GMA950 for gods sake.

Am I crazy or is it possible to make my own laptop like that for around 400-500$?
 
I doubt you'll find a way to get a video card in a machine that small, hell most of the 14" screens I've seen don't even have anything but the precious gma950 :)
 
Asus has some barebones laptop packs, but the shell alone (screen, case, mobo, battery and cables) costs more than $400. You're never going to find a unit with the specs you're looking at at your price range. The screenize is probably your most restrictive demand. Ultraportables are generally about twice the range you're looking at, on the low end.

You might be able to get a used ultraportable for about that price range, but the specs would be nowhere near what you're looking at, and you wouldn't have built it yourself.
 
Refurbished Averatec 3715-EH1 for $700.
That's the lowest I've seen with those specs...integrated S3 video tho...
 
You won't be able to build anything for that cheap. Might be able to pick something up in that range with that small of a screen used. Ultraportables ussually end up being more expensive than the 15.4 inchers which seem to be the most common right now.

I'm with you on not wanting an OEM, but when it comes to a laptop it's really not that bad. Even if you build say an Asus you're not going to save much, if any in some instances.
 
I guess I wouldnt mind a celery in there...I just want it to be small
 
Small and a decent gpu will not be possble and if it was, its gonna cost way over 1K.
 
Well unfortunately, the smaller a laptop gets, the more it's gonna cost. Especially with the specs you want.

But you can always browse through the F/S forum for a small cheap laptop. There's usually a sweet deal everynow and then.
 
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