DIY Ultrawide Handheld Gaming PC Built From Broken Laptop

DIY Ultrawide Handheld Gaming PC From a Broken Laptop

WTF?! YouTuber Marcin Plaza transformed a broken laptop into a surprisingly thin, ultrawide handheld gaming PC resembling a Nintendo DS. This three-month project, born from necessity, resulted in a unique device.

A Bizarre Build

The project started with repurposing a broken 13-inch Lenovo Yoga 730 motherboard. The only compatible portable screen was a bizarre 12.7-inch, 3:1 aspect ratio BOE NV127H4M-NX1 LCD panel (2880 x 864 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate), leading to a clamshell design.

Plaza designed a 3D-printed chassis and built a custom keyboard PCB with 42 inputs, including a trackpad and buttons similar to a Nintendo Switch Joy-Con. Despite using older hardware (Intel Core i5-8250U CPU, 8GB RAM, Intel UHD 620 graphics), the handheld runs games like Stardew Valley, Portal, and Half-Life 2 smoothly.

Ultrawide Gaming and Future Plans

The ultrawide screen allows for multitasking; Plaza ran a game guide in a browser alongside the game. While not all games support ultrawide, it’s a growing feature. Plaza teased his next project: adding a dedicated GPU to the handheld.