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Xbox 360 Laptop Creator Unveils Sleek New Design
Posted by
Soulskill
on Thu Dec 04, 2008 09:42 PM
from the look-at-the-shiny dept.
from the look-at-the-shiny dept.
A couple years ago we discussed Benjamin Heckendorn's modification which turned the Xbox 360 into a laptop. Now, he's completed a new, revamped design which includes a removable Xbox 360 hard drive, an internal Wi-fi module and a new button layout. It looks a lot nicer, too. He's also posted a description of how he did it.
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XBox 360 Laptop Mod Created 35 comments
Heffenfeffer writes "Benjamin J. Heckendorn has custom-built an XBox 360 laptop. It features a 17" widescreen 1280x720 progressive-scan HD display, breakout ports for VGA and component inputs, built-in Wi-Fi, and even an integrated keyboard — all in a 14 pound, 2.8 inch thick enclosure. A journal of its construction is also available for those wanting to make their own. As this was built on commission, you're welcome to ask him to build you another one, but 'beware of sticker shock.'"
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Warner Music Playing Hardball With <em>Rock Band</em> 86 comments
We recently discussed the fight brewing between the music industry and the popular music games, such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, over the licensing fees paid for songs used within the games. Well, Warner has stepped things up and denied access to future songs without a payment increase. "Once the already-agreed-upon music runs out in the Summer however, the two companies will have to hammer out a new deal that's amenable to both. If MTV Games ends up giving Warner a larger slice of the pie, you have to think that the rest of the labels will begin asking for the same cut." The Rock Band games have seen a steady stream of DLC additions to their song libraries, the most recent being Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood album. Activision has been busily working on new Guitar Hero content as well, revealing details for Guitar Hero Greatest Hits, which is due out in June. Ben Heck (of Xbox 360 laptop fame) has just put together a breath controller for Guitar Hero World Tour's bass drum, for those unable or unwilling to use the standard pedal.
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Sleek? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm dumping my Apple stock! (Score:1, Funny)
whoa (Score:1)
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Coral Cache link: http://benheck.com.nyud.net/12-02-2008/new-xbox-360-portable [nyud.net]
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The nyud.net links weren't working for me. Here's a pic on DVICE, [dvice.com] at least.
Mirror (Score:3, Informative)
Try this Zoho mirrored printout [zoho.com] with the full article (including pics).
Do you smell something burning? (Score:4, Funny)
As an added bonus, you can fry an egg on it!
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So, the obvious question (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So, the obvious question (Score:5, Insightful)
Might as well ask if Nintendo and Sony are too stupid to hire him too, since he's done console projects of their hardware too (including PS3 and Wii laptops...). Not to mention a whole bunch of dead consoles turned portable; Atari 2600, Sega Genesis, etc
Parent
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Nintendo already has released a portable Wii - http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/home-entertainment/a749/?cpg=ab [thinkgeek.com] - Strains the eyes a bit, but works fine.
Yes yes a thousand times yes. (Score:1)
I don't have an XBOX, 360 or otherwise. I travel too much to make it worth it.
But this... damn yes this.
I'd by this tommorrow if they had it.
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:So, the obvious question (Score:4, Interesting)
Not saying that would be what Microsoft would hire him for but he would be stifled working on microsoft only products.
Not to mention the fact that great hacker he might be, it might not be true that he has the right type of experience in mass production manufacturing in order to really aid them. The cost of these units is quite high. It would go down but the interest in one, considering price, would be at best, niche.
Parent
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I don't think they'd hire him as an assembly line worker, but instead an engineer/designer.
Truthfully, I'm not sure how you got modded +4, interesting. It's common sense that people that come up with innovative new ideas get hired into development, not production.
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Why not just license his designs?
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http://benheck.com.nyud.net/12-02-2008/new-xbox-360-portable [nyud.net]
(because I couldn't get the site to load)
Usually the cooler a one-off tech gadget looks, the harder it is to mass produce.
OTOH, MS could probably charge one heck of a premium for a portable xbox experience.
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there's clearly a market here
You could be right, but I rather suspect there was never a market for a kludgy, 14 lb., steel notebook, but back in the days of the Macintosh Portable and the IBM 5155 Portable there weren't a whole lot of alternatives; now there are.
Wondering why Microsoft isn't making one? (Score:1)
Anyway, Ben makes some pretty cool mods, stuff I wish I had the time and money to do.
Youtube link (Score:2, Informative)
Site takedown.... (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, considering how often Ben Heck gets linked to on tech sites, I cant believe the guy hasn't upgraded to some decent hosting yet.
I'd really like to actually read this article.
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I pay $20 mo for shared hosting at 1and1 and I've survived a digg onslaught before. It doesn't take a lot of money to get decent hosting.
Re: (Score:2)
digg generates more traffic than slashdot does. Digg is quite a bit more popular last time I checked.
I know...it sucks...but it's true.
I will say that the troll level here has gone down significantly since digg hit its stride.
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Hear hear! :)
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Doesn't he have links on his site to watch his movies as well? I haven't watched his movies, but he has been linked to a lot over the years.
I really loved the PS2 portable with no enclosure over the DVD, but he said it cooled his hand like a fan while he played it.
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Problem is that when he bought a new server for his site, he tore it to pieces because he wanted something more portable.
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"Anyone have any idea what the battery-life is on this thing, btw?"
well lets see .. if he put in an extended Li like lenovo uses i think their largest is 90wh.. and the newest Jasper uses 150w.. so using that i don't see any more than 25-30m.. probley less cause that 150w doesn't take the LCD into account.. which is a desktop one so about 30w.. so 180w... 90wh.. yea 30min at best on the very first use of the battery
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isnt' that exaclty what i said? i put "well if he put a battery in it" and then took the largest one i could find's specs (well the largest easy to get one) and pointed out it would last 30min.
I'm not sure what the point is (Score:2)
Its neat, sure. But I see it as a solution in search of a problem.
Playing fast and loose w/ "portable" and "laptop" (Score:1)