I was browsing PMC the other day, and I noticed that I had 100 subscribers. I thought to myself, "Oh, that's cool. Should I do something special for it?" Then I remembered this cool project I was working on, and decided showing off what I created would be cool for a subscriber special.

I hereby present my LAN computer rig, Freedom-LAN:



Now, you may be saying things like "YOU SKRÜB YOU BOUGHT AN ALIENWARE YOU WASTED YOUR MONEY." And, normally, you'd be right. However, this particular model of Alienware is special in that it's actually fairly priced for what you get (especially for what I paid). I'll get into that later.



INTRODUCTION

This is a project I've been working on for almost the past week. After giving up on waiting for Intel to release the new Skylake i7, I went out and bought an X99 motherboard and an i7-5820K. The system I put together works very well, but it is fairly large and not something I would want to lug to a friend's house for a LAN party. I thought about using my laptop since it can play most of the games my friends and I play, but it gets kinda hot and doesn't run a few games I play frequently. So, I set out to create a portable gaming setup that didn't break the budget.


THE PARTS

A few years back, Motorola released an accessory for their ATRIX 4G phones that turned said smartphone into a laptop, complete with a 1366x768 screen, a keyboard, and a trackpad. I owned one of these lapdocks for use in a Raspberry Pi laptop project, but the micro HDMI connector on it had bent to the point of breakage as a result of me using bulky adapters to go from micro USB and micro HDMI to USB and HDMI. After some searching online, I came across thin adapter cables that work perfectly with the lapdock's limited connector clearance. Hooking them up was a breeze after thinning the ends of each cable.



With the monitor and keyboard taken care of, I needed to find a powerful machine that they could connect to. My mind immediately jumped to the Alienware Alpha, a Wii-sized gaming PC with an i3 and a slightly overclocked GTX 860M. However, I did not want to pay the full $500 price tag for such a system, because you could build something better (albeit somewhat larger) for the same price. I checked eBay and found a Dell-refurbished Alpha with all the accessories (including an Xbox 360 controller with wireless dongle) for less than $400. I didn't want to let such a phenomenal deal get away, so I grabbed it. I now had a CPU, graphics card, motherboard, RAM, hard drive, case, power supply, and operating system to complete my build.


THE SETUP

Setup was a breeze. After upgrading to Windows 10 (which unfortunately broke the cool AlphaUI that makes the machine essentially a Steam-based console) and installing software using my main computer's peripherals, I plugged the adapter cables into the Alpha and the lapdock and booted it up. Everything worked perfectly.




CONCLUSION

I enjoyed working on this project and am thoroughly satisfied by the final result, but what's the point of doing a cool project if you didn't learn something new while doing it? I've gained some knowledge that I believe will be useful for others seeking to create a portable PC:

• The Alienware Alpha is an affordable little gaming box that has a bright future in the Steam Machine ecosystem
  
• The GTX 860M is a powerful chip and it doesn't cost much to get a computer that has one
  
• 1366x768 is a tolerable resolution if the screen is small enough
  

However, I think the most important lesson to be learned is that you don't have to spend a fortune on a gaming laptop in order to have a portable gaming system. The battery-powered lapdock in this setup has around 5-8 hours of life in it, and the Alpha draws less than 130W of power, allowing you to hook it up to the cigarette lighter socket in your car and game on the road.