A Portable Desktop Computer

I don't like laptops. They're slow and hard to repair, and having two devices to sync files and environments between is annoying. Inspired by a Microwave PC I helped a friend build, I figured I would build a computer in a briefcase to fix all those problems.

My first attempt below accomplished a lot of what I wanted, with enough room left over to carry a full size mechanical keyboard.

It was also quite bulky though, and a pain to carry around, so after a year or so I started looking for an upgrade path. I looked for a while for a case I could buy that was only just large enough to fit all the components but couldn't find anything, so I had to make it myself.

After a lot of modeling in SolidWorks, I had a good idea of how I wanted to arrange everything. I ordered some specialty small form-factor parts, and started 3D printing

A lot of these parts I ended up printing in ABS on my Ender 3 without an enclosure. (Don't do that. It took like 5 tries for every part.) I printed the remainder where heat resistance was less important in PLA with the help of the University Of Michigan Design lab.

After several hundred hours of print time and iteration, here's my final result

If for some reason you want to copy this, all the files are available on Github including the SolidWorks assembly and the STL files. Feel free to email me with any questions at jcksn@duck.com

Parts List

PSU: TF550 Flex ITX form factor (link). Off brand but quite reliable so far, except for that one time I forgot to cut a hole for air intake and then tried to play Baldur's Gate 3. Can't blame it for that though.

GPU: 3060, Phoenix V2 (link). The smallest 3060 I could find. You'll also need a PCIE riser cable.

Motherboard: Gigabyte B550I (link)

Fan: Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.Black (link)

For everything else you can probably use whatever's handy, although a M.2 SSD is a must. As for the monitor, I just bought a panel with a controller off AliExpress and velcro'd it to the top half.