Scan launches build your own laptop barebone kits

Posted at: 2:13am 9th October 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

Your choice of CPU, memory, hard drive and optical drive, all in a pretty laptop chassis

You might be able to tweak and customise your desktop PC like a big Lego kit, but the spec of your laptop is still generally dictated by the Dells and Apples of this world. Thankfully, the guys at Scan
have taken note of the growing demand for customisable laptops and released a series of build-your-own laptop barebone kits.

Scan’s retail sales manager, Chris Padidar, told Custom PC that the ‘brand new barebone Isotope laptops are aimed at the mid range home user,’ and also said that they were ‘suitable for the home gamer with the on board 256Mb GeForce Go 7400 graphics.’

Unfortunately, you can’t customise the graphics card yourself, which is a shame, as this is one area where laptop customisation is extremely lacking for gamers. However, you do have complete control over which Socket 478 CPU you install in the machine, as well as the memory, hard drive and optical drive. The kits also have a unique paintjob, which Scan is particularly pleased with. ‘They are sexy, slick and down right freaky,’ said Padidar, ‘you just have to love the unique designs and there’s one to suit everyone.’

The laptop kits cost £587.44, which buys you the 15in screen, chassis, battery, motherboard and all its integrated features, including a card reader. Laptop chassis barebone kits are readily available for system builders, but rarely released to the public. Back in Issue 35 (August 2006), we persuaded Savastore to supply barebone MSI laptop kits for Custom PC readers for a limited period, but they’ve since been removed from sale.

Would you be interested in building your own laptop from one of these chassis, or would you like more flexibility? Can a build-your-own laptop compete with a ready-made machine? Let us know your thoughts.

Thanks to Tom Harling for bringing this to our attention on the Custom PC forums.