The Maker of Gore-Tex Is Experimenting With an Artificial Cornea - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2019-gore-artificial-cornea/ <comment><USER2> As someone with Fuchs Dystrophy (which is slowly blinding me), and writing style aside, I'd like to see the aging billionaires of Web 2.0 throw money at more ideas like this instead of at Hail Mary passes to immortality. Is that so much to ask for? I think it's realistic to live to 100 with 90+ good years. Without fundamental breakthroughs in science, it seems like a hard trek to get beyond that.

[https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/fuchs-corneal- dyst...](https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/fuchs-corneal- dystrophy.htm)

<comment><USER3> Instead of relying on billionaire's whims I'd rather we taxed them more and used CDC's and NIH's epidemiology and scientist's opinions to fund research that benefits society the most.

<comment><USER4> You want to tax all 536 billionaires? Capital gains perhaps?

I'm not exactly sure why everyone middle class and above wouldn't want to pay a little more for more medical research. We'll all likely benefit. The "let's just tax the rich" is only going to get us so far.

<comment><USER5> Any stronger taxation scheme to make the rich pay their share is probably fine.

I personally prefer a small financial transaction tax.

<comment><USER6> In the United States:

The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (37.3 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (30.5 percent).

The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of total individual income taxes.

The top 1% was 1.4 million returns in 2016. The top 50% is 140.9 million returns.

How much is "fair"?

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-14/top-3-of-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-14/top-3-of- u-s-taxpayers-paid-majority-of-income-taxes-in-2016)

<comment><USER7> Income tax is also hardly the only tax wealthy people pay. It's probably the least interesting tax to consider.

I keep reading people talking about billionaires "hoarding" their money, as if it was just sitting in a vault like Scrooge McDuck and not being reinvested in countless businesses, while only a small percentage is going towards their 'luxury' lifestyle (which they also assume goes all into useless flashy cars and fashion like lower-tier wealthy celebrities they see on TV who also frequently happen to end up broke... for some reason).

We should tax that consumption, not the investments the return value and therefore jobs, technology, science, etc to society). Or focus on the far wealthier corporations who pay no direct tax through various financial trickery and/or incentives to off-shore it instead of keeping it locally to spend (although most still pay tons in taxes through other means).

<comment><USER8> neither income nor consumption should be taxed, instead, consider taxing that which we do not produce via the work of our own hands, such as land value (which ultimately comes from nature/the productivity of the surrounding community).

<comment><USER9> Consumption should very much be taxed considering it is the simplest way to claw back all the environmental externalities in an ever polluted world with no one willing to take responsibility.

<comment><USER8> if you really want to do that levy a carbon tax or a packaging tax or something more direct

a consumption tax would also penalize transactions that might decrease environmental impact e.g. solar panels, or of tools used in the construction of a composting toilet, those being easy, obvious examples.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I remember when their clothing line came out decades ago. These days I have what is essentially a Gore-Tex aorta attached to my heart. I'll bet they make a difference in eye repair. They're a pretty interesting company.

<comment><USER11> Interesting that you mention this. My gut reaction to the article was along the lines of "smart rich maker doing some crazy innovative shit in an area totally unrelated from what they are known for". Is there anything specific about Gore-Tex that would make you happy that they are pursuing the problem vs some other rich nerd?

Not that rich nerds pursuing problems is a bad thing, I just want to know more about Gore-Tex specifically.

<comment><USER12> [https://www.gore.com/products/industries/life- sciences/medic...](https://www.gore.com/products/industries/life- sciences/medical-industry)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> It was dusky evening, the clock knobs pointing at the two numbers before midnight all the while a tiny light serendipitously blinking in the distance. It was that moment in time I knew I was about to throw up reading yet another BB article ...

<comment><USER14> Yeah that wasn't for the faint of heart. Pretty disgusting to be honest.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Existing artificial corneas have great difficulties with biocompatibility and more critically stability of the interface between the implant and the host eye tissues. Currently donor corneas are a much better option for most where this is available.

If they can crack the issues this will make a difference, but they are not easy issues to solve. Corneal blindness is important cause of blindness worldwide, with a lot of the burden in places where corneal transplants are not available or not practical.

</comment><comment><USER16> It's an unfortunate name to be associated with eyes!

</comment><comment><USER17> Is the 1976 organizational memo online? I googled a little but couldn't find it, just references to it.

</comment><comment><USER18> 360 image was cool. But it made me swipe left and back out of the page.

<comment><USER19> Swipe navigation in mobile Safari is a problem. Lichess.org recently did a very nice redesign that made it more mobile friendly. But the user can't drag and drop pieces from the leftmost file because it's interpreted as navigation. Safari doesn't allow the webpage to listen for this event so there's no way to call 'preventDefault'. Basically unfixable if you want to use the whole screen as far as I know.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Why is this okay?

</comment><comment><USER20> On a related note, I highly recommend this doc. (Goretex is made with Teflon)

[https://youtu.be/6veeTrdEyek](https://youtu.be/6veeTrdEyek)

Chemicals used to make Teflon, which cause cancer, deformity, etc, have been found in the blood of pretty much everyone worldwide.

<comment><USER21> No, goretex and Teflon are made with an intermediate applicator chemical called PFOA, which is found in high quantities in carpets, wax paper, and some cleaning products and has been dumped in water sources near chemical factories. Its presence is negligible in clothing and cookware.

<comment><USER20> You say 'No' and then do not refute my statement, Just make a minor nitpicky remark (that its actually PFOA we're talking about) and some other true but ancillary remarks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Not knowing what Gore-Tex I thought it was a TeX variant for the vision impaired. According to Wikipedia: "Gore-Tex is a waterproof, breathable fabric membrane and registered trademark of W. L. Gore and Associates."

<comment><USER23> Yeah, it is a name for several types of fabric used in a lot of outdoor equipment. They all claim to be both waterproof and breathable, but in reality, they are mostly either one or the other. Waterproof Gore-Tex will fill with condensation, and breathable Gore-Tex will soak through. Pick your poison.

<comment><USER24> There are tradeoffs between waterproofing (hydrostatic head measured in mm) and breathability (measured in g/m^2/24h), but "one or the other" isn't really accurate, there are products that do very well at both.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Virtual Living Room? - <AUTHOR> What are others using to keep in touch using chat, audio and video with friends and family.  I'm looking for something that non-techy family will use.  Either a service or hosted.  Should work on devices, computers and browsers. <comment><USER2> This may be up your alley: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22576940](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22576940) (I'm not affiliated with it)</comment>


Add twitter to your static blog without slowing loading times - <AUTHOR> http://www.corincole.com/category_technical/adding-twitter-to-static-jekyll-site-without-javascript.html

<comment><USER2> I think that polling twitter and automatically generating the static site every time theres a new tweet makes a lot more sense.

<comment><AUTHOR> In what way?

The only difference is that I update the static code without checking if there is a new tweet - it doesn't exactly take a huge toll on the server to update that code in two files every half hour, it also means that if a tweet gets deleted from your timeline on twitter, that deletion will be reflected on your site.

<comment><USER2> Well, it depends on your motivation for going static, I guess. One of my motivations is to reduce load times and loading page elements via javascript is a step in the wrong direction there.

Just thought of something only tangentially related, though: wouldn't it be cool if the tweets on your blog were _completely_ static? Like, if they never updated. It would be a great way to show a snapshot of what was happening when you wrote the post and the discussions that may have led to it.

<comment><AUTHOR> You do realise that my code does regenerate the static site, i.e. fastest possible loading times?

As to "tweets when I wrote this post" - think for the most part they'd be fairly unrelated and therefore pointless but... would be very doable, either in bash again, or by editing the static site generator's code (in my case: ruby)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Job Search: Interview Disasters Revealed By Employers - <AUTHOR> http://roachpost.com/2010/02/25/job-search-interview-disasters-revealed-by-employers/

<comment><USER2>
      --  Candidate wore a business suit with flip flops.

God, who cares?

      --  Dressing inappropriately - 57 percent

If dropping your dress code expectations will increase your potential hire pool by over 50%, that is a serious competitive advantage over more stodgy companies.

<comment><USER3> It's not about the suit, it's about the message. As an employer you want to hire people who make an effort, and want to avoid people who can't be bothered to. Dressing well for an interview is so obvious it's actually a pretty good way of sorting candidates.

This may apply less for programmers and high-end technical positions, but this is the exception not the rule.

<comment><USER4> What you're overlooking is that attention is a limited resource. Someone who pays attention to how they dress has thereby paid less attention than they might have to something substantive.

So not only don't we care how people dress at YC interviews, dressing up is actually a (minor) red flag. We'd rather you spent that effort on something else.

<comment><USER3> In certain domains this applies (and indeed, given the blog's background it's on the mark). But in large segments of the job market I still think it's important to dress reasonably well.

Even if attention is a limited resource, the interview usually is a place where first impressions matter, so I'd say budgeting some attention towards looks is not misguided at all.

<comment><USER4> You're right that dressing well matters in large segments of the job market. But I'd argue that this is a pretty good heuristic for deciding which segments of the job market to avoid.

<comment><USER3> That is true. However there still remain the entry-level interviews. When most of what you sell is potential every detail under your control matters.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> We're going through panel interviews right now, and a lot of that article is rubbish, as others have pointed out. But I want to tease out the "don't be negative" because it's got the reasons wrong.

"Also, no matter how tempting it is, don't say negative things about a previous employer, regardless of how the job ended - hiring managers may fear that you will say the same things about their organization."

That's not why you don't say negative things. You don't say negative things because it means you blame other people or you're a negative person. You say, "I don't like my current job because they don't listen to me," and all I hear is that you don't have very good ideas, you're very bad at explaining those ideas, or your disconnected from the people you work with. And on top of that, you don't understand how to solve interpersonal problems. None of that make me super excited about you.

Instead try realizing that you might bear some of the blame for the things you don't like, and realize the other party might have good justification. So instead: "I find myself getting excited about very different opportunities than my current coworkers. They have a real passion for solving the immediate problem whereas I'm far more interested in solving the underlying cause. So while I appreciate their desire to provide a quick solution, and have even learned when that can be appropriate, I'm really looking for an environment that emphasizes long-term thinking while still making sure customer needs are met as quickly as possible."

</comment><comment><USER6> Pretty clear BigCo corporate bias in these results, as this would likely be a positive in SF/Bay:

\-- Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork.

The meeting for drinks also cracked me up, as Linden ended many a job interview with drinks at the end of the day!

</comment><comment><USER3> I wish there was a way to link to my younger acquaintances just this part:

        --  Dressing inappropriately - 57 percent
        --  Appearing disinterested - 55 percent
        --  Speaking negatively about a current or previous employer - 52 percent
        --  Appearing arrogant - 51 percent
        --  Answering a cell phone or texting during the interview - 46 percent
        --  Not providing specific answers - 34 percent
        --  Not asking good questions - 34 percent

Edit: This and not re-reading the CV 3 times before sending it.

</comment><comment><USER7> This is an excellent summary of the kind of things a company should worry about only if they can't actually measure performance.

Though "appearing disinterested" should still be a huge turn-off.

</comment><comment><USER8> Funny, the most common thing I've seen in candidates getting rejected promptly is not being able to answer basic questions about things they've listed on their resume. Example: listing Java and not understanding what an interface is.

</comment><comment><USER9> The author made a point about researching the company before the interview. I always thought this was common sense (why are you applying with this company anyways?), but apparently it isn't.

</comment><comment><USER10> I am curious how many of these became "disasters" for the interviewer because the interviewee had already reached a point where they considered the interviewer/company/etc. a disaster (no longer wished to work there).

</comment><comment><USER11> _\-- Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork._

That's a negative? WTF? There's a hell of a lot more interesting in the way of teamwork, management, etc. in role-playing games (especially MMORPGs) than in most corporations.

<comment><USER12> On the flip-side, I once had an interviewer ask me to solve a problem where several hurdles/criteria were introduced randomly based on rolling a 20-sided die.

<comment><USER13> That's pretty awesome. What kind of company was it?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> And at this late stage the realization comes that reciting poetry in interviews was the silent assassin of my career! Just the other day I was asked to explain a concurrent design and I just couldn't help but recite the immortal words of Halyna Krouk:

        Two couplets and a refrain
                                                  a carousel
                                                                 of non-stop passing
        at each turn one more door closes before us
        with a rusty whinny
        legless horses tear into the prairie –
        racing
        two couplets and a refrain
                                                  eyes gaping
        two couplets and a refrain
                       catching up from hind to front
        reach out to me
                                                  throw me the lasso of a glance
        who made us so hopelessly distant
        who conceived us such irreparable losers
        on this overplayed record
                                                  – two couplets and a refrain –
                   where even love leaves only scratches</comment>


Structure of Tumor Suppressing Protein Identified - <AUTHOR> http://neurosciencenews.com/pten-structure-tumor-suppressant-2476/

<comment><USER2> This doesn't seem particularly interesting. Is there a reason this is here?

<comment><USER3> PTEN acts in several pathways that have to do with regulation of cell growth and interacts with proteins that have a major roles in tumor suppression. This was discovered without knowing the actual structure of PTEN, so it should now be easier to develop ways to fiddle with the signaling pathway to our advantage.

Here's an overview of the signaling pathways involved: [http://cl.ly/cuRC](http://cl.ly/cuRC)

On another note, the interface used to represent biological information (and I'm assuming of other fields) hasn't changed since the invention of the printing press. How lame is that?</comment></comment>


Crows caught on camera making tools in the wild - <AUTHOR> http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1223/Inventive-crows-caught-on-camera-making-tools <comment><USER2> I've seen crows in Berlin on multiple occasions dropping chestnuts on the road near traffic lights, wait until they are cracked open by cars driving over them, then picking up the marrow when the traffic light goes red. Probably not as advanced as tool usage but still impressive to watch.

<comment><USER3> Here's a video (from Japan) about this phenomenon:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0)

I wonder whether it was discovered independently, or if it has been communicated somehow. Or maybe they've "always" done this, except with horses before cars.

<comment><USER4> When there are no cars, the strategy is to simply drop them from high onto a hard surface (such as a road). They always fly off with their nuts when I try to help though..

<comment><USER5> Lots of crows and walnut trees in my 'hood. When I see a crow drop a nut into the street when I'm out and about, I walk over and crush it. I'm hoping someday they'll recognize me and start dropping near me when I'm walking :-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Interesting. But then again, I've seen spiders making tools to catch other insects :)

<comment><USER7> Fantastic point! Never thought about it that way! We explain it away by saying it's "instinctive" behavior, which only kicks the can down the road.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> A little more on the research - [http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_488900_en.ht...](http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_488900_en.html) including why it's difficult to do this in the wild. And some earlier research [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8631486.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8631486.stm) with video.

</comment><comment><USER9> Other articles about this: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10788174](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10788174) and [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10781284](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10781284).

</comment><comment><USER10> So to what stage of human development is this comparable? How long until crows are building computers?

<comment><USER11> Pre cro-magnon. Give them 50 to 100 thousand years

<comment><USER12> You could set up monastery* where you wrap the science with sufficient doctrine to attract great devotees __. Their real mission?, selectively breed intelligent crows. Then vary the methods and open 10 more monasteries. That would speed things up or fail in interesting ways.

* A conventional research lab won't do.

 __Not grad students who would only give 5 years to the cause.

<comment><USER11> While a fun idea, I think we are already breading intelligent crows. Human trash provides high energy food, good for developing and supporting large brains. And the urban landscape is a complex environment with many dangers, but high reward for the curious and smart bird.

<comment><USER13> Actually, urban environments are probably a lot safer for birds than the wilderness. Unlike predator species, humans in cities don't actively hunt birds. In fact many people feed them. Buildings also provide really good shelter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Tool-using and tool-building are arbitrary distinctions. Once upon a time scientists thought there was some magic deciding line between man and beast, some key element found in us and no other animal. We now know that to be silly superstition.

Intelligence is a multi-spectrum gradient. Our brains are better at calculus, but a crow's brain can adjust for crosswind on landing better than any topgun veteran. To say one animal is smarter or more able than another speaks only of the adopted standard and says nothing of innate intelligence.

</comment><comment><USER15> Am I the only one that found this headline confusing?

</comment><comment><USER16> Surely this is unsurprising? Nests are tools, sort of.

<comment><USER17> My understanding is that tools are things used as a way to achieve an objective. Nests would BE the objective, aka shelter. Thus, an ant hill would not be considered a tool.</comment></comment>


Neo900 reaches its fundraiser goal in less than a week - <AUTHOR> http://neo900.org/#donate

<comment><USER2> As was discussed in the original thread, every detail of the neo900 is simply a footnote to the Only Thing That Matters(TM), which is:

What is the baseband processor and why was it chosen ?

The real win here would be if the designers of the neo900, in conjunction with GSM hackers, or projects like osmocombb, chose a baseband processor that they had good expectations of being able to break open, and were working towards an open baseband even if it's not open yet.

That would give us a new, modern equivalent to the calypso baseband which _is_ open and hackable, and is the de facto standard for osmocombb running on handsets. A modern, LTE capable "calypso" would be a game changer.

But nobody from the project has said anything yet ...

<comment><AUTHOR> a) The only "hackable" baseband processor that matches what you wrote is TI Calypso, and it doesn't support anything more than basic GPRS speeds. All other modems are locked with crypto keys (TI Calypso also had this ability, but for some strange reason it went out of factory with security checks disabled - that's why its the only modem OsmocomBB works on)

From Neo900 project there are plans to support "special orders" from people who want to mount TI Calypso on their PCB instead of standard modem. There was already at least one such request.

b) Even if there would be some new project for creating "free modem", replacing a firmware in such device means losing certification, which means that device is no longer legal to operate on public networks.

inb4 "I don't live in USA, your silly laws don't apply to me" \- no, their don't, but similar regulations are present on nearly any place on Earth.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> 3,5" resistive touchscreen, 800x480, hardware keyboard, stylus, 0.8" thick, same case as the 4 year old Nokia N900.

I think I'll pass, but I wish them the best of luck.

<comment><USER4> As an owner of 2 N900, I must agree, I wish they'd aim to be the free version for Jolla or some such...</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How to build a laptop - <AUTHOR>

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! <comment><USER2> 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.

<comment><AUTHOR> 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.

<comment><USER3> R&JTech is one such distributor for Clevo barebones;

<http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> On the Linux on a laptop issue, I'm pretty sure there is an EU Consumer Protection directive that prohibits bundling software with hardware except in cases which are irrelevant to your situation. So you should be able to buy a laptop and then get a refund for the M$ software on it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Really!? I didn't know about the refund thing. So is it the seller or manufacturer who has to issue the refund?

<comment><USER5> You can certainly get a refund, from the manufacturer.

The legal basis is the Competition Act 1998, Chapter 1, Section 2, Subsection 2, in particular Subsection 2(e): 'make the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.'

I bought a Samsung laptop and went through the whole process, culminating in the issuance of a Small Claim. When Samsung realised I was serious, they hastily settled - I got back the cost of Windows (full retail price!), plus court costs, and the costs for having to send so many letters...

Using legal process (a Small Claim) is very easy, and nothing to fear - provided you've done the homework. The fact is that these large companies are getting away with illegal practices, but any determined individual can stop them dead. You have rights, so enforce them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > _"There are lots of desktop component suppliers too, but I can't find any > for laptops."_

There are plenty of suppliers for the modular components of laptops, e.g. RAM and mass storage devices. Even for quasi-modular components such as batteries, there are often several suppliers. But because of the space and performance tradeoffs inherent in laptop design, there is no standard formfactor for the laptop itself.

It might be helpful to consider the interchangeability of modular parts common among desktop systems to be the exception rather than the norm - after all it's not like a person can do that sort of swapping with the typical Mac or thin client.

</comment><comment><USER7> Have you tried replacing parts in an existing laptop (the first natural step is replacing ram / HD)?

I ask because I realized, only after actually opening up the laptop, that the CPU is soldered onto the MBP. I'm actually not sure how other manufacturers handle CPUs

<comment><AUTHOR> I haven't done that yet, but I have an old Asus eee lying around, which I might take apart and mess around with.

<comment><USER7> If you can swap parts, you may be able to "build" a new laptop by replacing ram, HD, and cpu. SSDs do wonders (assuming your mobo supports it)

<comment><USER8> I second this approach. Instead of building a laptop from scratch, try rebuilding existing laptops. Start with minor upgrades and repairs. Work your way towards major ones, and eventually do a complete tear-down and rebuild.

I suspect this is the way car mechanics learn. There are some further similarities. Like cars, and unlike desktop computers, laptops are heavily constrained by portable form factor concerns (size, thinness, total weight, efficient and safe cooling, low power usage, ruggedness). This wider variety of problems leads to a wider variety of solutions. So like cars, the guts of a laptop can differ wildly, and for learning you're best off picking a "line" that's well-engineered and has been relatively stable over time.

I've been slowly working towards laptop building via re-building existing laptops. Specifically, old IBM T4x Thinkpads, which you can pick up for about $200 these days [1]. There's a wealth of information about how to take them apart and mess with things [2], the user disassembly manuals are excellent [3], and I believe even the more recent T2xx Lenovo line is still pretty similar in terms of components and how they all fit together.

[1] <http://www.iobound.net/laptop-prices/>

[2] <http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki>

[3] [http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/3...](http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/39t6192_01.pdf)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot. That's a really interesting way to go about it, which I hadn't considered very seriously. I will go buy some Thinkpads. I might also experiment with Dell. I've had an inspiron for a few years and like it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I don't think it's possible to buy laptop parts separately. The only possibility I could see would be to buy used parts and hack together a laptop inside an empty laptop case, but that would be painful and not worth it in my opinion.

</comment><comment><USER10> well, there's not much to put together, maybe the mb,cpu and fans, but thats all. no graphics card, no soundcard, no whatever-card. then some wiring speakers, and the screen, and you're done. Its not worth it, but If you really want it, just go ahead ;).

<comment><AUTHOR> Where do I get the body?</comment></comment>