Ben Heck's Wii laptop on Engadget

Posted Jan 19th 2007 11:27AM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: laptops hacks, portable audio hacks, portable video hacks

[Ben Heckendorn] put together this little beauty on engadget. It's not quite as over the top as the XBox 360 laptop, but there's a reason for that. He'll be putting up a How-To series covering the construction. If you've been pondering building a portable yourself, it'll be a nice jump start for your hardware hacking skill-base.

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. It would be 100x as awesome if he didn't only include the crummy composite video for external display

Posted at 12:01PM on Jan 19th 2007 by danadamkof

2. it will be interesting to know what has he done to the sensor bar.
anyway, good job by ben.
He is our very own Jesus.

Posted at 12:03PM on Jan 19th 2007 by average joe

3. It looks pretty clear that the IR emitters for the "sensor" bar are directly above the LCD. Notice the two ovals.

Posted at 12:54PM on Jan 19th 2007 by ivan256

4. Look above the screen, i'm betting the sensor bar is run through ir leds in those holes.

Posted at 1:06PM on Jan 19th 2007 by Cory

5. neat, yes but no where near as nice or as clean as the xbox360. dont get me wrong it is a cool mod, however after seeing all his previous work this one is lackluster at best. Look at the way the AV ports shoot out the right hand side and are not flush at all. Also the way the minotor housing isn't made to be flush with the top. compared the the xbox360 laptop this is just kinda half hearted together it looks. I'm sorta disappointed in this one.

Posted at 1:48PM on Jan 19th 2007 by h_2_o

6. The composite-only video is very odd, considering that the Wii composite cable can be used as a component cable simply by switching the pins around on the connector.

Having a slide switch to go between composite and component output (assuming he wanted to only have one set of RCA jacks) would probably have been one of the easiest parts of the whole mod.

Posted at 2:06PM on Jan 19th 2007 by TJ

7. looks a little bulky, considering the relativly small size of the wii...

Also, while i understand the novelty of making something portable, there are next to no places you'd ever be able to play it where you wouldn't be just as well of with a stock wii. Although by nature the wii could never really be fully portable due to the need for the console (through the sensor bar) to act as a referece point, without batteries, the only difference between this and a stock wii is the 7" screen , which, given the distances and movement necisary to operate the controler comfortably, would be practically unuseable

Posted at 4:30PM on Jan 19th 2007 by wolf

8. So what happened to Ben Heck bagging out the Wii in the interview? Came around pretty quick once he played it hey...

Posted at 4:35PM on Jan 19th 2007 by Alex

9. It's pretty cool how quick he came up with this little bundle of fun. I'm still working on a way to get a PS1 to play a decent game ;) lol

Posted at 6:45PM on Jan 19th 2007 by Spanky

10. Not to whine, but why does engadget get first crack at ben?
I mean we're hack-a-day, it's a little more up our alley.

Posted at 10:44PM on Jan 19th 2007 by mastershake916

11. I don't think much of this at all. Not up to Bens standard in any way. He could have a least sunk the video ports in a little.

Posted at 11:57PM on Jan 19th 2007 by Unkown

12. I agree with comment 5. Compared to the rest of his work, this looks hackish.

Posted at 2:21AM on Jan 20th 2007 by Grey Hodge

13. I think the reason that this one looks subpar is that he is planning to have people replicate it, so he couldn't do as much of the insanly complex work that he normally does.

"Starting next Tuesday we'll be doing a multi-part How-To with detailed instructions for building your own Wii laptop, as well as loads of photos of the construction process."

Posted at 12:19PM on Jan 20th 2007 by ...

14. The design lets this down, which is most unfortunate as Ben's other projects kick ass. 'Laptop' - I don't really see you putting this on your lap. Should have just integrated the monitor (a bigger monitor) into it rather than having it flip up. Then you can just stand it up, have a better view and it wouldn't look so ugly. Should have just used 1 plastic rounded casing for all of the components, including monitor.

Posted at 1:27PM on Jan 20th 2007 by Andy

15. Now people can throw the Wii laptop around instead of the controller. Kids hopping around in the back of the car/van playing the Wii... !! Great

Posted at 7:48PM on Jan 20th 2007 by kh

16. I can see it now. You're bored on the quad at college, whip out your wii laptop, step back a couple feet to get your game on, and BAM!!! Someone runs by and scoops up your new toy. Bye bye blackbird eh.?

Posted at 2:54AM on Jan 21st 2007 by Digital

17. 2,3:
You will notice in the video, that in fact the sensor bar is in the top of the display, above the screen.

Posted at 9:42AM on Jan 21st 2007 by rectifier

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