I Built the World's Smallest Gaming Laptop!

[00:00:00]I just spent $50 building what might be the world's smallest gaming laptop. I never game in just one place, and I got tired of carrying around a huge laptop just to play Minecraft. So, I started wondering, what if the smallest gaming laptop actually existed? It has an 8-in display about half the size of a typical laptop. It's so tiny, you could literally slip it into your pocket. But the real reason I built one myself, many laptops like this can cost over $500.

[00:00:27]So, can a $50 gaming laptop actually work? All right, let's build it. The first component I want to show you is this 7-in display. It comes with its own controller board, features a resolution of 1,024x600, connects over mini HDMI, and is powered through micro USB. Best of all, you can pick up the whole kit for around 20 bucks. All right, let's hook it up to something real quick and see if it actually works. Perfect. The display is working exactly as it should, showing everything my PC outputs without any issues. Next up is the heart of the entire build, the motherboard. To keep this laptop as compact and portable as possible, I decided to use a Raspberry Pi 3. Even though it first came out back in 2017, I still think it's a great [music] choice for a budget project like this, especially since you can find one for only around $20. Honestly, I'm still impressed by just how well-designed this little board is. It fits comfortably in the palm of my hand, yet it still packs everything you'd expect from a tiny computer, including an HDMI output, Ethernet, and USB 2.0 ports. Even better, the entire operating system lives on this tiny 32 GB micro SD card, which makes the whole setup incredibly simple and compact. After locking in all the hardware, it was time for what was probably the [music] hardest part of this entire build, designing the laptop's exterior. Unfortunately, I don't have the budget for a 3D printer.

[00:01:43]If I did, fabricating custom parts would have been so much easier. So, instead of 3D printing, I had to get creative with the materials I already had. For this build, I decided to use a sheet of PVC plastic that I cut and flattened from a regular PVC water pipe. It might not be the most conventional choice, but it gets the job done. Once I had a nice flat sheet of PVC ready to go, I could finally start building the display housing. First, I cut the PVC to match the size of the screen. Along the bottom edge, I left about 1.5 cmters of extra material so the display would sit slightly higher, making it much more comfortable to look at. But when it came time to mount the screen, I ran into a problem. The display ribbon cable is incredibly thin, and the screen won't work without its controller board. If I left that cable running down through the hinge into the bottom half of the laptop, it would be bent every time the lid opened or closed. Sooner or later, it would crack or snap. Instead, I decided to mount the controller board directly behind the display. The first step was securing the ribbon cable so it couldn't move around. After that, I glued the controller board firmly in place. At this point, the display needed a small spacer underneath to keep everything level and properly supported.

[00:02:52]With the base finished, it was time to close up the edges of the display. I used two L-shaped plastic strips to build a bezel around the screen. It sounds pretty simple, but this turned out to be one of the most timeconsuming parts of the entire project.

[00:03:10]About 2 hours later, this was the result. I did leave the bottom edge open for now, though, because I still needed access to route the display's power and video cables before sealing everything up. The next step was building the bottom half of the laptop. I started by measuring everything carefully and cutting a base panel that matched the dimensions of the display assembly. At the back though, I left about one extra centimeter of material. That overhang would give me enough space to mount the hinges later on. Of course, one panel wasn't enough. I needed two identical pieces, one for the top and one for the bottom of the laptop's base. To form the sides of the chassis, I had already cut several 2cm tall PVC strips. I glued them around the edges to create the outer walls of the laptop.

[00:03:51]With the frame finished, I placed the Raspberry Pi inside and marked the mounting holes.

[00:03:59]After drilling those holes, I used a soldering iron to heat the threaded inserts before pressing them into the plastic. Melting the PVC slightly around the inserts helps lock them in place much more securely than simply gluing them.

[00:04:14]Once that was done, I cut out the rear IO opening so all of the Raspberry Pies ports would be fully accessible from the outside.

[00:04:23]For power, I decided to use two lithium batteries to run both the Raspberry Pi and the display. I wired the batteries in parallel to increase the overall battery capacity while keeping the voltage the same. The problem is that each lithium cell only outputs about 3.7 volts. While both the Raspberry Pi and the display require a stable 5V supply.

[00:04:43]To solve that, I used a DCDC boost converter to step the battery voltage up from 3.7 volt to 5 V.

[00:04:52]Now came the moment of truth. I wired everything together and tested the circuit to see if it could deliver enough power.

[00:04:59]Perfect. The Raspberry Pi powered on without any issues, which meant the power system was working exactly as planned. Now, it was time to connect the display's video cable and power. But almost immediately, I ran into another problem. Both HDMI connectors were simply too bulky. They stuck out so much that I couldn't close the display bezel properly, and the cables kept getting in the way. So, I came up with a pretty simple solution. I carefully removed the rubber housings from both HDMI connectors. The goal was to make them as slim as possible without affecting the signal in any way. After peeling away all the rubber, the connectors were much smaller, giving me the extra clearance I needed. But there was still one more issue. The HDMI cable itself was way too long, so I had no choice but to shorten it. That turned out to be one of the trickiest parts of the entire build. The wires inside an HDMI cable are incredibly tiny, and soldering every single one back together was no easy task. About 30 minutes later, after reconnecting every signal wire to the HDMI connector, I finally had it working again. I did the same thing with the micro USB power connector for the controller board, removing its bulky plastic housing so it would take up less space and fit much more cleanly inside the laptop. With that out of the way, it was time to add one last feature to this laptop, a webcam. I decided to mount it along the bottom edge of the display.

[00:06:14]Unfortunately, I couldn't place it in the center because that space was already occupied by the HDMI connector and its wiring. So, this was one compromise I had to make. Next, I drilled a small hole for the camera lens along with another opening to route the cable down into the bottom half of the laptop. Once the wiring was in place, I attached the final bezel piece, sealing up the display assembly and finally completing [music] the screen.

[00:06:42]Next up was the keyboard. I placed it on top of the PVC panel and traced its outline before cutting out an opening just large enough for it to fit perfectly. I'm actually reusing the same keyboard from one of my previous projects. It's compact, connects over Bluetooth, and since I'd already removed its internal battery and wired it for external power, it was the perfect fit for this build. I also cut a small window into the top panel so the LED battery indicator on the charging board would remain visible. That way, I can easily check the battery level whenever I need to. Next, I connected the display's power wires directly to the Raspberry Pi's USB power pads. By powering the display straight from the Pi, I was able to eliminate a bunch of unnecessary connectors, making the wiring much cleaner and saving valuable space inside the laptop. Next, I drilled a hole so I could route a 3.5 mm audio jack to the outside of the laptop. To do that, I used a male to female 3.5 mm extension cable. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a shorter one, so I had to work with the extra cable length and tuck it away inside the case. The next step was adding a proper power button for the system. On the Raspberry Pi, all you have to do is briefly short the two pins on the third row to power it on or shut it down. So, I soldered those pins to a small momentary push button, then mounted it flush against the outer edge of the laptop. At this point, the system was almost complete. Before sealing everything up, I connected the charging board to the battery pack. Once that was done, I placed the top panel onto the laptop's base and started putting everything together. There was just one final piece left, the hinges. I had already prepared a few custom cut PVC pieces, so all that was left was to mount them to the sides of the laptop, drill the mounting holes, and secure everything with screws. And just like that, the mechanical assembly was finally complete. Now, it's time to install the operating system on this mini laptop. The first thing you'll need is a micro SD card reader, so you can connect the card to your computer. Next, download the Raspberry Pi Imager from the official Raspberry Pi website and install it just like any other application. Once it's open, simply select your Raspberry Pi model, choose the operating system you want to install, pick your micro SD card, and click write. The software will automatically download the OS, flash it to the micro SD card, and verify everything once it's finished. After that, just insert the micro SD card back into the Raspberry Pi, power it on, and you're ready to go. I actually completed this step before the final assembly. If you've never done it before, hopefully this gives you a good reference for your own build. Now, let's see what this little laptop can actually do. Let's start with Minecraft using Prism Launcher. First, I loaded up Minecraft 1.8.9.

[00:09:17]Getting into the game took quite a while, which isn't too surprising. I think the Raspberry Pi 3B Plus is finally starting to show its age. To give it the best chance possible, I turned all the graphics settings down to the lowest values. And as you can see, while moving around, the frame rate stays below 20 frames per second. Once I stop moving though, it climbs to almost 30 frames per second. Honestly, that's a pretty impressive result for such a tiny Raspberry Pi. It's definitely not buttery smooth, but it's still playable, and that's more than I expected from hardware this old. But how does it handle something more basic, like watching YouTube? Well, the website takes a while to load, but once the video starts playing, it runs smoothly at 480p. This little laptop definitely isn't breaking any performance records, but honestly, I'm really proud of what it can do. Besides watching videos, it also has a 720p webcam, and I'm actually pretty happy with the image quality, especially considering the entire build only cost me about $50. Sure, the performance isn't anything spectacular, but it can still handle basic tasks and even run Minecraft. As long as you don't mind the lower frame rate, it's surprisingly usable. So, what do you think about this tiny DIY laptop? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments.