There are some excellent laptops on the market in 2022, but if you truly want your laptop to serve you, you should consider building your own. By doing so, you include the specs you actually need while leaving out expensive hardware that you have no use for. You can assemble a laptop that is both cheaper and more powerful than what you would get off the shelf.
But assembling a laptop is intimidating. Where do you even start? There are other questions you have to deal with as well. When getting insurance that covers your laptop for theft and loss, you won’t simply be able to include it at its listed price. If it is a particularly expensive item, you may have to specify its components to get to an exact value.
However, you should not let these concerns deter you. Once you understand what you need to include in your assembled laptop, you will be able to find your own answers to every question.
Here’s what you need to assemble your own laptop.
Contents
A Barebones Laptop
You need to start with a foundation, and that is your basic barebones laptop. Choosing a barebones laptop may require a bit of deeper research. This is because the device is produced by Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) who then sell it on to the big brands.
Think of it like the produce your local grocery store buys. The ODM is the farm. Your grocery store may put together microwave meals and sell them as their own product. The quality is dependent on the store. But when you buy raw produce, the quality has very little to do with the store.
For this reason, take a look at manufacturers like Quanta, Compal, Wistron, Inventec, Pegatron, ECS, FIC, ARIMA, Mitac, Clevo, and MSI. They have relationships with the brands, but choose a barebones laptop from the ODM before finding a brand to buy it from.
A good barebones laptop will have the capability of hardware being replaced or added with no issues. There are factors like the cooling system and interfaces which will depend entirely on the ODM.
CPU
The CPU is unsurprisingly one of the most significant components you will buy for your laptop. It is what makes your laptop function, after all, and if you start off with a deficient CPU, no other components will uplift it.
Intel CPUs have traditionally ruled the market. Until Apple recently developed their own CPUs, even Macbooks used Intel CPUs, relying on their exceptional performance. AMD is another big name in the CPU market. Consider spending more on a CPU with maximum performance capabilities by making sacrifices on other components.
RAM
Your RAM will determine how well your laptop is able to function. It essentially takes the potential of the CPU into the real world. You should choose RAM with high capacity, especially if you plan on using your laptop for gaming. Also pay attention to which generation of memory you’re choosing. The higher the generation number, the better your performance will be. DDR4 is currently the industry standard.
Hard Drive
Most people think of hard drives in terms of capacity, as this traditionally was the factor with which we had the most interaction. Back in the day, you would have to struggle with capacity in order to store files, and when you came close to full capacity, your computer would start to slow.
Today, however, capacity is far from the most expensive aspect and it is not the primary thing to look at. Rather, focus on the storage medium and interface. You should choose SSD storage, as this is best suited for primary drives. In terms of interfaces, M.2 PCie format is considered ideal.
Graphics Card
Finally, the graphic card or GPU you choose will have a significant impact on how your laptop functions, especially if you are a gamer. GPUs have famously been in short supply over the past few years, but they are starting to hit shelves once again. Your barebones laptop may come with a soldered GPU, in which case you will have to stick with the GPU included. However, this is something you should check before getting the laptop in the first place.
The above components are what you will need to assemble your laptop. Each requires a significant amount of extra research if you are to get the best hardware at the best price, and now you know what to look for.
