How To Build Your Own Laptop: [Complete Step-by-step Guide]
We are often confused about which laptop to get as we don’t get all the features we are looking for in one laptop. To get rid of that confusion and get a laptop with all the features you desire, you can build one for yourself.
Building a laptop might be hectic and time-consuming, and will need expertise as well. But the result will be worth it as you will have all the features you want on your laptop. Typically to build a laptop you will need to select all the components specifically like CPU, GPU, Motherboard, RAM, ROM, etc.
It’s okay if you want to build your own laptop but don’t really know much about the components you should get. Stay tuned as I will describe everything you will need to do in order to build your laptop.
Can You Build Your Own Laptop?
Yes, it is possible. But it is not as straight forward as building your own desktop. Let’s watch a video to know about the challenges –
Laptop building process: step by step
Building a laptop for yourself is fun and challenging at the same time. Building a laptop can transform from being fun to challenging if you don’t follow the right steps and right procedures. Here’s the list of steps that you should follow in order to build the best laptop according to your preference.
1. Studying about different components
When you are about to build a laptop, the first thing you need to do is study. Study about every little component of a laptop, so you know which one you should get for your laptop.
While studying different components, you should also look for reviews about those and find out the pros and cons of the parts of different brands. This will help with identifying which brand would be the best for you.
2. Identifying your necessities
After you are done studying, now you need to match which component of which brand is the perfect suit for your needs. If your goal is gaming, put a Great CPU and GPU on top of your priority while if multitasking is your goal, you should give powerful RAM and SSD more priority.
Like this, you will need to identify what your goal is and decide which components you should get to build your dream laptop. Without a proper understanding of your needs and goals, you won’t be able to make a perfect laptop.
3. Selecting components
Now is the time to select the components for your laptop. I have covered this topic in detail as it’s the most important step while building your laptop. There are numerous brands and products available to serve the same purpose.
Choosing the perfect one which will fulfill your goal and at the same time serve for a longer period of time is not an easy task. But you don’t need to worry since I got you covered.
4. Using expert hands if needed
Now you are at the final step of putting every part together and building your desired laptop. At this stage, if you are not a tech geek, you might be needing a pair of expert hands to put together the parts where they belong.
If you don’t have enough idea about assembling laptop parts, my suggestion would be not to try yourself as you might end up damaging the parts.
Things you should consider while choosing components for your laptop
There are so many parts and components in a laptop like CPU, GPU, battery, RAM, ROM, etc. Choosing the components is often not so easy. So, here’s a few things you should keep in mind while choosing a specific component.
1. Processor
The processor also known as the CPU is basically the core of a laptop. While choosing components for your laptop, this is the component you should put the most focus on while choosing. There are so many types of processors out there, but you have to find the perfect one for you, which will be able to take your workload and handle it easily.
The processor is basically a small chip to perform all your commands and it determines whether your laptop is going to perform overall. All the other components are pretty much dependent on the processor. While choosing the CPU, consider the following factors.
Brands
Though there are a number of CPU brands, when it comes to CPU, only two brands are leading the market. Intel and AMD are both great processors, so you should get either one of these.
Intel came with Celeron then Pentium and now the core series is continuing the legacy of Intel. There are various generations to the processor models as well. On the other hand, the AMD processor series is named Ryzen, FX, Sempron, APU, etc.
Core
How many cores a processor has defines how much pressure it can handle. The more cores a CPU has, the better. While building your laptop, you should get a CPU with at least four cores if you are planning to do simple day-to-day life work. But if the goal is to perform high-end gaming or video editing, you should go for a CPU with more cores.
Clock rate
Usually, people understand the brand and core, but what they don’t care and don’t know about is the clock speed rate. It is an important indicator of how smoothly your laptop is going to perform.
The higher the clock rate of a CPU is, the more data the processor can process in a definite time frame. If you are planning to do high-end gaming and video editing, a processor with a higher clock rate is very much important.
2. RAM
RAM is very important to perform multitasking and to maintain the overall smooth user experience of a laptop. Pretty much all of the programs run on RAM so while building your own laptop, choosing a great RAM is very important.
There are DDR1, DDR3, DDR4, etc versions of ram available in different sizes. The more capacity a ram has the better. While choosing the RAM for your laptop, keep the following factors in your head.
Generation
As I mentioned earlier, there are a few generations of random access memory. Started with DDR1 then came DDR2. These days DDR3 and DDR4 are seen everywhere. These 4 kinds of generations are available when it comes to RAM. Without a doubt, you should go for a DDR4 RAM, since it’s the latest and most upgraded RAM out there.
Capacity of the RAM
The importance of RAM capacity is obviously understandable so you can guess, the more you can get the better. But RAMs are expensive, and there’s a certain limit of how much RAM you can use according to the other components. I would suggest getting at least 8GB RAM for your laptop, if you can get 16 GB better,
There are also single channel and dual channel settings available and you can choose how you want to use RAM on your laptop.
Frequency of RAM
In RAM, the higher frequency will help you to experience a butter smooth user experience every time. So you should get the RAM with the highest frequency but there’s a problem. There are limitations to how much frequency is supported by the CPU you are using.
So while choosing the RAM for your laptop, you should first figure out how much RAM frequency is supported by your CPU and select the RAM.
3. Storage
Laptop storage is the place where all of your data will be stored so the first thing you need to make sure of is you buy a hard disk from a renowned brand. Then depending on how much space you would be needing you should consider the hard drive size. Overall keep these things in your head to figure out which would be the best hard disk for you.
HDD or SSD
While building your own laptop, you can pick from an HDD or SSD. You can pick both as well if you want to. HDD is comparatively slow while SSD is super fast. And when it comes to price, HDD is cheaper than SSD. What you can do is get an HDD as a secondary drive where you can store data that you won’t be using often. And an SSD to perform all the primary actions as it’s fast and less power-consuming.
Additional Read: How much storage do I need on my laptop
Interface
According to other components, you have to select a hard drive with an appropriate interface. M.2 format of SSDs is very common in laptops these days. You can also get in SATA format which often limits the speed of the hard drive so people don’t really use it anymore.
Capacity
The capacity of the hard drive depends entirely on the purpose you are going to use your laptop. The higher limit is up to you but you should at least get a hard drive with a capacity above 500 GB or more.
4. Graphics card
Sometimes you might find the graphics card is connected to the motherboard or incorporated into the processor. There’s no way of replacing or upgrading the GPU in these situations. So while buying the barebone structure, you should check if the GPU is soldered or not. If it’s connected, unfortunately, the last hope is to check whether there is an additional socket to connect to another GPU.
There are a few things that you should keep in your head while purchasing the GPU for your dream laptop.
Chips of graphics
Mostly there are just two variants of graphics chips available in the market named NVIDIA and ATI. you should prefer NVIDIA if you are looking forward to playing games on your laptop while ATI graphics cards are better at rendering high-resolution videos.
Brands
A good brand will ensure the longevity and decent service of your graphics card. Some of the famous graphics card brands are Gigabyte, Asus, Dylan, MSI, etc. You should get your graphics card from one of these brands.
Frequency
GPU frequency needs to be higher in order to provide you with the best visual experience no matter whether you are gaming or editing videos. But you have to keep in mind that with higher frequency a GPU produces more heat as well. So, keeping that in mind, you should add an additional cooling system for your laptop.
5. Batteries
Often the problem that we face with generic laptops is that the battery coverage is not sufficient enough. So while building your laptop, you got the opportunity to get a battery with a higher capacity. But first, you need to make sure it goes along with the other components and the laptop shell has enough space for the battery. Keep the following factors in your head as well.
Keeping battery voltage in the head as well while choosing a battery is important as well. Get an idea about the number of cells as well and determine which battery you should get.
6. Shell of the laptop
The body and overall structure of the laptop you are going to build is called the shell. Depending on what you want in your laptop, you can get a prebuilt shell with only the motherboard attached. There are many things that depend on the shell so you should be smart while choosing one to build your laptop.
Considering screen size, resolution, keyboard layouts, etc. is very important while choosing the shell for your laptop. Once you have chosen the shell, you won’t be able to change these components. So, you should be careful about not choosing a laptop shell that is too heavy.
Consider the screen size as well as keyboard layouts as well. You’ll be stuck with the screen and keyboard you pick because the shell isn’t especially adaptable. A bigger laptop will be harder to transport and will almost certainly be heavier.
Apart from that, the things you should take into consideration are the cooling system, external GPU system, hard disk type supported, screen interface, etc.
How to assemble a laptop on your own
Now that you are done gathering all the necessary components to build your laptop, it’s time to start the process. The process is not simple and you should not start if you are not experienced. Nonetheless, I have tried to describe the assembling process bit by bit so you can understand it properly.
1. Gather all the necessary tools
To open up the shell and then screw all the parts in their respective places, you will need a set of screwdrivers. It would be best if you get the set of magnetic screwdrivers since they are easier to use. You should also get pliers which are needle-nose, so you can reach the screws if they fall inside any crack.
2. Turn the laptop shell over
You need to turn over the laptop shell so that through the back panel you will have to insert the components. After turning over the shell, you will get access to the motherboard.
There you will also find the section which is built for placing the hard drive. Once you open up the back panel of the shell, you will pretty much find all the sections for specific parts. The placement may vary from shell to shell.
In some cases, you might need to put your hard drive in a bracket in order to fit perfectly inside the shell of the laptop. Make sure you tighten the screws properly while placing the hard drive inside the bracket.
After that, you need to remove the cover from the motherboard. It will be a bit tricky to remove the cover panel of the motherboard. After unscrewing every nut, you will have to remove it. Only after removing the covering panel will you be able to add other components to the motherboard.
3. Installing RAM
Now that you have access to the motherboard, it’s time to place the RAM in its place. You have to place them at their position at a slight angle and then push them in the slot. You will hear a click sound once they fit in their position perfectly.
4. Installing CPU
You will find a slot nearby where the CPU is supposed to be placed. Be careful while placing the CPU in its place. You will find pins on one side of the CPU and there a corner will be missing pins. You have to place the CPU in a way so that the corner lines up perfectly along with the notch of the socket.
You should keep in mind that the CPU won’t fit unless it’s positioned in the right way, so if it’s not fitting don’t force it. Lastly, after placing the CPU, lock it by pressing the CPU lock.
5. Installing cooling fan
Usually, the CPU comes with a cooling fan added to it. While installing the fan, first you need to make sure the exhaust is connected to the vents of your laptop. Be careful about not displacing the heatsink while placing the cooling fan. And once you are done installing it, connect it to the motherboard. Without the connection, the fans won’t work.
6. Closing the panel
After placing everything at their respective places, now it’s time to close the back panel and start your laptop. If you have connected everything as they are supposed to be, you have your laptop ready.
Benefits of building a laptop yourself
The sole reason behind building a laptop on your own is the benefits it will provide which other laptops won’t. There are many benefits and advantages of building your own laptop, some of the most remarkable benefits are noted down below.
1. The laptop will be exactly how you want
Since you will be customizing the laptop, it will obviously have all the features needed according to your work need. And this is the reason why you should be smart about determining for which purpose you are going to use your laptop.
Most people want to build their own laptop because of the reason that the laptop will have all the features that they would like.
2. It will be budget-friendly
The big brands obviously make a profit by selling laptops and by making your own laptop you can save that money. If you buy the components and then assemble the parts and build your own laptop, the total cost will surely be less than a pre-built laptop of the same configuration.
So, often people build their own laptop so they can have a better laptop within their budget range.
3. All the components will be top quality
The brands often tend to use all the parts of their company and surely not every brand is the best manufacturer of every component. As a result, the pre-built laptops often don’t have all the top-quality components.
But if you build your own laptop, you get to choose the best components. Which will give you good results in the long run.
4. Warranty for all parts
If you build your own laptop, you will have to buy every part separately. This means that you will also get a warranty separately for every part. That’s a bonus of building a laptop because if you buy one, you won’t get a warranty on every part.
5. Easily upgradable
Lastly, I have seen many people struggle with not being able to upgrade their existing laptops. The main reason why companies don’t keep the option of upgrading is so people buy new laptops more often.
But if you build your own laptop, you can always upgrade and customize it more. So, you will never feel outdated or stuck with your laptop.
Parting Words
Though building a laptop is not an easy task, I tried to provide as much as I could so you find the process a bit easy. It’s time to make your dream laptop since you don’t have to worry about how to build your own laptop anymore.