Uber Samsonite Homebrew Semi-portable PC

[ November 3rd, 2007 @ 10:00 am ] ... [ C. S. Magor ] ... [ 1,784 views]

Uber Samsonite Homebrew Semi-portable PC

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Uber Samsonite pic 1

This completes a trifecta of PC mod articles for Saturday. The Uber Samsonite is a Samsonite metal briefcase that has been cut up just enough to fit a fully functioning PC inside with an LCD monitor. I wouldn’t exactly call it portable, because it is bound to be pretty heavy and it looks like you would want to move it fairly carefully, but it closes up into the briefcase and you can carry it, it is portable, but would be pretty heavy so you would not want to carry it far. Keep in mind that this was designed and built two years ago, when you evaluate stuff like the video card. This could be done again with modern components very easily and cheaply.

I don’t know too many details about what is going on under the hood. There is an AMD processor of some kind, some RAM with heat sinks on it, judging by the other components, I don’t think there would be any need for ridiculous amounts of RAM given that this was made 2 years ago, 3 x 256MBs? The video card leaves a little to be desired these days, it is a Stealth S120 Radeon 9550 128mb. I would love to see one of these with an 8800 GT, 2GB of RAM and a Q6600. It is a great mod and worthy of a 2007 version.

It looks a treat, the only thing that I would have done slightly differently would be to try to incorporate some high density foam or rubber to ruggedize it a little bit. I would worry about vibrations loosening things inside. Other than that I have no qualms. I like the way LordManHammer has fitted the LEDs into the briefcase. The top of the case has been reinforced to properly support the monitor and there is Plexiglas to protect the internal components, which is also a very good touch.