So what exactly do you get in a Netbook DIY kit?

We covered a story earlier this week regarding a new trend started by one major netbook player where they basically equip you with the all teh key parts to construct your very own shanzhai netbook. Let's take a moment to look at what you'd get in such a kit and how it amounts to manufacturing harmony.

If you imagine that your netbook is similar to a regular book, the front cover would be the A face, the inside cover the B face with C representing the first page and D the back cover. This is how hardware developers and manufacturers describe the four key surfaces or panels of a netbook or clamshell PC.

The A face is obviously the least interesting with B being mostly the display, C the keyboard and D the underside. What happens in the chassis between C and D is of course the most interesting area of all and contains the actual board with the silicon components soldered on to it, the RAM and drives.

In the examples below you're looking at a HP 5101 netbook clone, a 10 incher using Intel's new Pineview platform.



Here is the brushed aluminum finished front panel or A face repleat with hinges etc.



Here you have the B side, or face, which of course houses the display. In this case a 10 inch with a 1366 x 768 resolution. The wiring you see is the LVDS signal that powers the screen and attaches to the moterboard.



Here's where it gets interesting. Under the keyboard inside the chassis, this is what you can see. The mainbard is of course the larger PCB that takes up the majority of the real estate. Also note the ventilation fan, hard drive etc.



The underside reveals the SO-DIMM RAM and, in this case, a Toshiba hard drive. Between the two is the wireless adapter.



The C face here including keyboard will of course fit snugly over the top fof the main chassis. Here you have keyboard, trackpad, LEDs power button etc.



This is the same panel sans the plastic keyboard and trackpad layer which includes aluminum plating to help dissipate heat away from the keyboard

While it's not entirely clear if RAM and hard drives are included in these kits, the question you're begging to ask is - why not just send out full devices? The truth is that all these components will have been manufactured by separate players in the Shenzhen area, compiled together by a company like Guo Bang and shipped out to the OEM customer who can then assemble, test and package the product at the other end safe in the knowledge that it all fits together like lego.

This is way better than simply getting all the parts from individual manufacturers and simply hoping you've got components that fit together properly. This modular or kit business model offers greater efficiency in terms of time and sourcing, allowing for even lower prices.

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