The underlying concept of a DIY notebook can be best compared to that of a SFF PC bare-bones: Take one case and factory-equip it with a proprietary motherboard and power supply. The user then selects all other components such as the CPU, RAM, graphics cards, the hard drive and the optical drive from a pool of system components.

Exactly the same thing happens with a DIY notebook: The user must first decide which bare-bones from which manufacturer he prefers. Once a barebook is selected, the user automatically determines which platform (AMD or Intel) will be used - just as with an SFF PC - and the extent to which the equipment can be upgraded with memory, hard drives and optical drives.

You can even choose the graphics card with some barebooks.

Yes, you read that correctly: there are even barebooks that have room for two hard drives and two optical hard drives, for which you can choose your own graphics card. We only know of one barebook, the Clevo N9860 , which combines all of these options.

Unlike an SFF PC bare-bones, when the user chooses the barebook, he also automatically determines the size, resolution and display quality available for working with. After all, as with an off-the-rack notebook, the display is a fixed component of the machine.