Ask HN: How to build a laptop

I need a new laptop and I'd like to build one myself from components. But I'm struggling to find anywhere to buy components (in the UK) or even help on how to go about building one. There is a lot of info around building desktop PCs and I have built some in the past. There are lots of desktop component suppliers too, but I can't find any for laptops.

I know for most of you, it just makes sense to buy a good readymade one (MBP or Thinkpad), but I would like to try and build a laptop myself, to learn how to do it, to see how much it costs to make a good one and to have fun!

Another motivating factor for me is that I can't find any Linux laptops here in the UK. Dell used to sell them but I don't find them on their site any more. System76 (USA) charges $150 to deliver.

If I built laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed, I could probably sell them to other people too.

Do you have any good pointers on how I can get started?

Thanks!

Where do I get the body?

There are a couple of "bare bones" laptop manufacturers that can give you OEM-type empty shells with a mainboard, screen and battery. The only options you have to customize are in the memory, storage, optical bay and operating system. Some might also allow for different processors through a socket (even though for modern systems this will allow you to choose your clock speed mostly).

I suggest you look for a distributor or importer of components who can supply these bare bones chassis laptops.

Update: A couple of manufacturers of these: http://www.clevo-computer.de/ and Mitac/Gelac from Taiwan.

I'm not aware of any companies that make DIY laptop components (I do recall there was one about 15 years ago).

The parts are too highly specific, due to to desire to keep size/weight to an absolute minimum. Unlike a desktop PC where size and weight don't really matter much.

But, I'm curious, what do you really hope to gain from this exercise? Building any PC today is mostly a matter of plugging 10 or 15 bits together and then loading an operating system. I suppose if you've never built a system before, this might hold some allure.

For a portable device like a laptop, even if you could completely build it yourself, you'd probably be unhappy with the results (size/weight/performance/durability) for the money.

Your best option is probably to find a slightly used machine you can reimage.

BTW, I just went to the UK Dell site, searched for "linux" and found some laptop options.

I'm searching for bare bones laptops but my Google-fu is failing me. Do you know any names of such manufacturers or distributors? Anywhere in the world will do.