Man makes Xbox 360 laptop

First mod that's actually useful?

Xbox 360 buffs who think their next-generation games console is just too darned bulky for gaming on move - not to mention the TV you'd have to lug around - should take heart from fellow fan Ben Heckendorn who decided enough was enough and re-configured his console into a laptop form-factor.

Not that you'd necessarily want to use it on your knees, mind. The modification weighs in at 6.4kg and measures a whopping 42 x 27 x 7cm. That's not so very far off a typical notebook with a 17in display - which is what Ben's mobile Xbox 360 sports. With a resolution of 1,280 x 720, it's HD ready.

The weight includes water, used to cool the console's IBM- and ATI-made chippery which normally sit under a much larger, liquid and heatsink cooling system in the console's usual casing. Ben made sure his Xbox 360 was complete with the usual optical drive, hard disk, three USB ports and the 'ring of light' illuminated logo.

He even created his own keyboard and equipped the box with Wi-Fi. It's also got component-video, composite-video and VGA outputs for connections to external displays.

The whole project took three months to complete, Ben's detailed write-up reveals, and saw him disassemble his 360 and its components almost completely, before re-constructing the lot into a custom-made aluminium casing.

Ben has plenty more shots of the machine in action at his website.

Mr Heckendorn, we salute you. Quite apart from the ingenuity and construction skills he's clearly shown, Ben has at last come up with an antidote to all those allegations that videogamers 'need to get out more'. Now they can - and take their console with 'em! ®

Thanks to Reg Hardware reader Trevor for the tip