Building an Xbox 360 Laptop

It has come to my attention that my green Xbox 360 laptop is in the new Popular Science – I did an interview with them a while back, but I didn’t know exactly which issue it was for. I guess it’s the new June one!

It's back, back in the New York groove, it's back!

For those of you wanting to try a project like this, the Engadget articles below can help supplement the Popular Science article:

Part 1 – Xbox Begins

Part 2 – Return of the Xbox

Part 3 – The Final Countdown

Also, for the first time ever, I am making available the Adobe Illustrator (AI) files used to design all 3 Xbox laptop thus far! You’ll need AI 10 or newer to open them, so any reasonably recent version should be good.

Original white water-cooled 360 laptop, 2006

Black 360 laptop, 2007

Green Halo-inspired 360 laptop, 2008

Also now would be a good time to talk a little more about the new chipset. From what I have seen the old chipset has been pretty much “washed from the shelves” though I did see a 203 watt Arcade unit when I bought my last Xbox for modding 2 weeks ago. The new chipset 360’s have a 65nm process CPU, use a lot less power and (the CPU at least) runs a lot cooler, so use them if you can. All Xbox 360’s now have the supplemental GPU heatsink, though the GPU is now by far the hottest part of the system, so it actually needs more cooling consideration now than the tri-core CPU.

What to look for:

  • On the box below “Xbox 360” text: “Go Play” (arcade) “Go Pro” (premium) “Go Big” (elite)
  • On the side of the box, under specs, the word “Falcon” (name for this revision of motherboard)
  • If it is listed on the side sticker (not always anymore) 175 watts for power. (203 watts is the old one)
  • The lot number should be above 0740 but this isn’t always sure-fire, the other signs are better.
  • After Opening: The power supply will be labeled 175 watts.
  • Camera though bottom of unit trick: Check out that link, which shows what the new GPU heat sink looks like, as well as the old copper heat pipe CPU heat sink. On the new Xbox the CPU heat sink should be a simple, less shiny aluminum block WITHOUT the vertical copper heat pipe.

Have fun and happy modding! Also be sure to check out our forums for lots of great help and tips.

30 thoughts on “Building an Xbox 360 Laptop”

  1. I am an long time subcriber to popsci mag. I only wish the article would have come in time for me to place a bid on one of your PS3P mod, my son and I play alot of GH3. It seems that the DIY article has been removed from their website but the short article in the issue itself is enough to make me jump on your website 2 days ago and bookmark it. and before i go…..PS3 (Blu-Ray kills HDDVD altho I couldn’t live without COD Modern Warfare) / Chevy / Sony Electronics / Anheuser-Busch / Dr. Pepper / Wolf / What-A-Burger and last but not least newly found Ben Heckendorn mod fanboy, in case YOU were wondering. hahahaha Great Site!

  2. The PopSci June issue came in today, and I saw your laptop, Ben, in the HowTo section. Sweetness.

  3. Just read about this in PopSci, absolutely awesome!

    I want a PS3 Laptop! πŸ™‚

  4. Hey dude i was wondering if you have more of those xbox 360 laps. An if theres the posibilite that I can get one of it.
    Your proyect is amazing but i have a few questions about it:
    Do your xbox 360 lap actually can connect to xbox live wireless?
    Is it rechargable?, if it is how much time do the battery has?
    And how much it will cost?
    How much time you take to make one?
    Mail: pablo_jgz@hotmail.com
    Please respond guy.

  5. Congrats on getting the cool article in Popular Science! One of my listeners was wondering if it would be possible to get a MacBook into a Pismo PowerBook. I suggested he challenge you with that — probably an easy mod for you, but it would be real cool to have modern Intel-based Mac power in the classic Pismo case.

  6. How funny – I have that issue sitting right next to me. I just hadn’t read far enough into it to see the article yet. I flipped through it just now and sure enough there it was πŸ™‚ It was a PopSci article that led me to your site a few years ago.

  7. I am actually designing the next Xbox 360 laptop to be – hopefully – easily repeatable. With an unmodded 360 HDD (swappable), memory unit access and camera.

  8. Whoa wait, Ben did you just say that your working on plans for a “4th” 360 Laptop? I though you said the “3rd” one was going to be the last one? What changed your mind?

  9. Mr. Ben Heckendorn I have 4 questions
    1) Do you sell?
    2) If so How Much?
    3) If not Do you where
    4) do you need a Specific laptop
    Thank you

  10. Pingback: 5 xbox 360
  11. dude i would love to buy a 360 laptop i have $600 saved up is that enough for 360 laptop plz email me if u sell them and pay anything for 360 laptop

  12. I own an Xbox and a Playstation and both are really good game consoles. Let’s see what are Microsoft’s future updgrades on its Xbox game console.*~-

  13. I want to challenge myself to make a laptop but have a few questions:

    How much would it cost to get all the parts required?
    How long would it approximitely take?
    Where can I get the casing from?

    Any help would be great:) thankyou

  14. Im 12 and Im not very smart yet but you made me intrestid in building machins thanks for that and i hope you do more amazing stuff.

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