Looking For Custom-Builders of Laptops

Who are the best custom-builders of laptops with reasonable/budget prices?

How do you go about finding the good-reliable ones?

Thank you,
A.

 

it's much, much better to pursue what you want in a laptop--rather than hunting for a laptop made by so-and-so manufacturer. that may work for desktops--but laptops are totally different. the small number of OEM case makers & lack of genuinely different offerings between many resellers is what makes the difference.

in my case, i wanted nothing larger than 16" & i wanted a WUXGA screen w/ a decent high-end mobile graphics card. clevo M860TU was the ONLY thing which fit the bill. then it simply became a choice of WHO sells laptops based on this model. (fwiw, that's sager, ava, and iirc, alienware).

if i'd have purchased off of brands/builders--i'd be lugging around a toshiba, panasonic, or asus--but i wouldn't be as happy as i am with this laptop.

 

There arent any custom laptop builders.
When you see custom laptops like offered from Alienware, those are just ODM's made by Taiwanese and Chinese laptop designers such as Clevo, Compal, Mitac, Quanta, etc. They make the chassis for Dell and HP, you just never hear about them.

So there is no custom laptop
You can try making your own, but I am telling you right now, you need a lot of time, skill and money to do it.
I built my own laptop. It was a very large undertaking. I am about 90% done with it, and I have invested a lot of time, materials and money into it.
Was it worth it,
well to me yes, since all of the parts are removable and upgradeable, but most of all I love building and modding, so it was quite enjoyable.

When building your own machine expect parts to randomly die.
I was using my cut off wheel cutting a metal screw. Who would have known, but some of the metal being cut became dust and some how landed on my harddrive a few feet away. Needless to say I found my harddrive died when I plugged it in. This stuff happens, but you need to expect it. After that incident, I keep all of my electronics sealed in a box away from where I cut.
It is unfortunate that every time I have to cut something, I have to spend like an hour taking all of the components out of the shell, but its all part of the process

K-TRON

 

If you're in the UK Kobalt are a good bet as they offer to have the laptops custom painted and etched with any design

 

I live in Florida.

 

Clevo makes a very good boutique style laptop..

 

Xotic PC: http://www.xoticpc.com/

They have a really good reputation on these forums.

 

Thanks bunches to everyone here. I have spent the the last couple of hours here reading the feeds and reviews on many of the laptops I have been looking at. I have to say for what I was looking for in a lap top Seandude05 gave the best advice for a well rounded, well priced laptop.

The problem going to Clevo.com is they do not give any pricing info. However they do give a full range of what each laptop is capable of containing and running.

Solution: Go to AVADirect.com

This site has many custom laptops and dsktops to choose from...at very reasonable prices.

Again Thanks bunches to this site for all the help!

 

that's because clevo doesn't sell direct to consumers--you buy clevo's sold by other companies; ava direct being one of them.

as i stated, find the chassis with features you're looking for, and then search resellers of that chassis.

 

I really like what I see on AVADirect.com and their concept/philosophy. The MSI MS-1651 under Gaming and Performance Notebooks comes close to what I want, but I never heard of MSI and don't know what their chassis looks like. The folks at What Notebook Should I Buy? forum recommended Levono ThinkPad, but I don't know what their chassis looks like either. How do you find about chassis varieties? I would like one that is solid and durable for air-travelling and with agronomical-comfortable keyboard. Is there such a combination?

Another question: Is AVADirect.com actually offers the best price for the gaming-performance notebook I configure on their site, or is there a more direct source I can buy from as an individual consumer? (For instance, let say I go with this customized MSI MS-1651.)

Thanks for the great info here guys. You have been extremely helpful!
A.

 

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/category/notebook/ anyone try this?