Project GhettoBook (23 inch laptop)

Awesome, cant wait to see it all come together. you bought that laptop for $250?

Thanks. I can't wait either. I should be ordering components tonight (waiting for check to clear...), and yep, the DV7 was $250. It came with a broken screen, huge scuffs on the inside of the case, a missing key, non working mouse buttons, and a 40GB HDD because the original was destroyed in the "accident." I kinda wish I knew what the "accident" was, because it looked like it got thrown out of a moving car or something.
 
I'm working on the batteries until the rest of the supplies come in.

Before:

2010-12-02203235.jpg


Here's one of the battery packs when opened:

2010-12-02204029.jpg


Here it is with the cells from the other pack added. It now has twelve cells.

2010-12-02221432.jpg


18 cell pack is done!

2010-12-02232153.jpg


I'm reading 18.73 VDC on the 12 cell, 18.48 VDC on the 18. It works!

EDIT: W00T! It's taking a charge! Based on my calculations, it should take 9 hours. LOL, that's the downside of adding so many extra cells.

LOL, this is pure epicness.
2010-12-03041237.jpg
 
Are you sure you know what you're doing? Batteries are extremely dangerous and shouldn't be taken apart.
 
Are you sure you know what you're doing?

All I'm really doing is adding more cells in parallel with the originals. It's pretty basic stuff.

Batteries are extremely dangerous and shouldn't be taken apart.

I have to disagree here. What difference does it make if I buy a laptop battery and use the cells from it instead of buying the cells individually and using them? Or are you saying that the use of lithium ion batteries period is dangerous? In that case, I also have to disagree because they only explode when shorted for long period of time, which is pretty difficult to do if you have even the slightest bit of common sense.
 
Nice, you know how long that laptop mobo will run on those bateries? Yeah, probably dropped out the side of a car and hit the ground screen first, shattering it, then skidded down the highway shortly after. what kind of case you going to use?
 
Nice, you know how long that laptop mobo will run on those bateries? Yeah, probably dropped out the side of a car and hit the ground screen first, shattering it, then skidded down the highway shortly after. what kind of case you going to use?

The mobo alone would run 27 hours with the batteries (assuming I add the 24 cell one). once I put a monitor, I've really no idea.

I doubt the laptop was actually thrown from a car. I was just using that to try to describe the level of the damage.
 
27 hours, lol, almost like an ipod, well, for regular use.

A 23" screen will definatly bring that time down to say, 18 hrs?

The car theory would be pretty realistic, falls out smashes the screen, makes giant scuff marks everywhere. Although that wouldnt explain the Hard drive, speaking of which:

Maybe a small ssd as a boot drive(fast, cheap and reliable found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226168), one of the cheapest ones out there, pretty fast, and looks to be pretty good quality.

And then a Large, but fast Hdd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148599

drives over a TB were alot slower(5200-5400)

got a design for the case?
 
27 hours, lol, almost like an ipod, well, for regular use.

A 23" screen will definatly bring that time down to say, 18 hrs?

More like 10-12 hours.

The car theory would be pretty realistic, falls out smashes the screen, makes giant scuff marks everywhere. Although that wouldnt explain the Hard drive

It takes very little shock to kill a running hard drive. Considering that the inside of the case was scuffed, I'd say it's pretty safe to say it was running at the time.

Maybe a small ssd as a boot drive(fast, cheap and reliable found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226168), one of the cheapest ones out there, pretty fast, and looks to be pretty good quality.

And then a Large, but fast Hdd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148599

drives over a TB were alot slower(5200-5400)

LOL, I cannot afford that. I'm going with a single 500GB 7200.4 because it's available for $50-60. I'll eventually add a second drive, but 500GB is plenty for now.

got a design for the case?

Yep. I'm waiting for the material to arrive. I ordered 4 ft ^2 of 1/8 inch black textured ABS. Should be plenty. All I need now is to find someone with either a CNC mill or a laser cutting system to cut the side pieces. I'm really dreading having to do those because they are curved somewhat, and there need to be tons of precisely cut holes.
 
Got a package from the UPS today.

Rosewill RK-7431

2010-12-07230840.jpg


Here's the faceplate removed. I'm going to have to use this as a template for the inner lid so everything lines up.

2010-12-07230916.jpg


And here is the keyboard removed entirely from its case.

2010-12-07231859.jpg


It's like this thing was designed for modding. The keyboard itself is all mounted to a very thin metal plate, much like a normal laptop keyboard. It also uses a removable ribbon cable, and the indicator lights are separate from the main board so they can be relocated.

BTW, sorry for the huge mess on my desk. That's what happens you've got three major projects going on at once, and only one tiny desk.
 
Finally got the HP battery open to pull the charging circuit. That was total BS, it took me over an hour to get to it, and I completely destroyed the case in the process. Turns out HP had used epoxy to hold the seams shut because they were too cheap/lazy to use a couple screws.

Here's the battery:
2010-12-08235427.jpg


Here's what the case looks like:
2010-12-08235526.jpg



My ABS sheets came in today. Cutting will probably begin on Saturday.
 
Back
Top Bottom