XPS M-170 Laptop: Full Military Overhaul.

A

altmann

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
133
OK, I have had My XPS M-170 for a while now, (3 years to be exact). It still runs games quite nicely and without much in the way of hiccups. I've replaced the screen myself after a crack, and upgraded the RAM to 2GB but that's about it.

I've done a couple casemods already that were fairly unique:

Annarchy (my little pony) computer: http://flickr.com/photos/theadam/sets/994731/
Fruitf*cker: http://flickr.com/photos/theadam/sets/72157594185071928/

But now it's time for my laptop to get a makeover.
I got to the point where I figured, if I was ever going to do anything to this beauty, I might as well do it now. Nothing like a little midlife crisis on your laptop. So I decided to just go with the flow and do a military theme. There's no pre-set direction here, no plan so-to-speak. I'm just going with the flow.

Here's what I started with:
57938203_4e9dd7fc15_o.jpg


Ok, so I've taken this thing completely apart and now I'm in the middle of masking and sanding:

3066228663_d81d2e399e_b.jpg

Note the letters "XPS" are actually masked off. That was a pain, but worth it, since they light up.

The screen is masked off from UNDER the bevel so as to make totally sure there's no chance of paint getting on to it:
3066228911_43553a0827_b.jpg



The ports were not so much "masked" as I cut out little cardboard pieces and shoved them in or under the port:
3067069346_c786a70007_b.jpg
 
3067164530_2c47e824a2_b.jpg

The base green coat of paint.
3067166648_ec4e45c0d3_b.jpg


3066321119_e8d34d32b0_b.jpg

I wasn't happy with the buttons so I ended up re-coloring them later.

3066351651_786695797c_b.jpg

My good friend did the stencil for the back of the laptop by hand. I'm really happy with it and I really appreciate his help:
3066351273_dc2f28f59b_b.jpg


3067192786_8e83a55b92_b.jpg

This is masking for the yellow caution striping around the monitor.
3067192636_8e5af6f4e5_b.jpg


3067160036_4c3abeeafe_b.jpg


3067158576_a292ba11f5_b.jpg

The hard drive has caution striping and the exhaust ports red and white hazard striping.
3067157038_6c467e87e8_b.jpg


3067155390_0a4f849046_b.jpg


3066313103_8407767496_b.jpg


3067152636_d6129bace6_b.jpg


3066310291_825a3e5620_b.jpg


3067149940_4b4bb6ca36_b.jpg


3067146176_4541036f7e_b.jpg


I'm pretty happy with it over all. I like the military look and it's certain to turn heads at my local LAN. I've never seen such a project before and it actually only took me about 3 days to do the core painting/masking and even then, that was after work.

The ease of this project was surprising. While I am used to taking laptops apart, I'm not used to painting them. I think I'll do another paintjob on my brother's laptop, or even my wifes...
 
Wow, that is pretty impressive. Like how it turned out a lot. Does the paint seem to want to chip off though?
 
So far no issues with paint wanting to chip at all. I did sand down the metal and I did a lot of light coats of XIM primer which (supposedly) sticks to damn near anything.
 
Wow man.. loooks great! It would match the ammunition container mod that is on here somewhere
 
Wow, I really dig that, not too common to see laptops getting a make over and you executed it damn well. Glad you posted this, make me want to theme one too...











Ok fellas, who wants to donate :D
 
I love that theme, looks great.

You could paint the touchpad tho it will work fine even with paint and clearcoat but I guess it's not really necessary.
 
I appreciate all the comments. The overspray was intentional. Go look at real military equipment. It may not be PERFECT but that's the point. If I wanted it perfect I'd have done it by hand and that would have been a bitch.
 
altmann said:
I appreciate all the comments. The overspray was intentional. Go look at real military equipment. It may not be PERFECT but that's the point. If I wanted it perfect I'd have done it by hand and that would have been a bitch.
Click to expand...

I think you should weather it a bit and make it look well used. I think that would add a lot more interest to the look of the overspray, etc.

Anyway, nice job. I especially like the hazard and caution striping.
 
Looks very nice! I am not sure how tacky it might look, but have you considered putting a bullet hole or two sticker on it? It might give it a little more character.
 
Love the paintjob, I think the overspray looks perfect. Reminds me of an old jeep that we used to have hanging around my house.
 
Great job!

I wasn't a big fan of the looks of this laptop originally but you made it look awesome!

I wish you'd have taken the bezels apart more though, removed the LCD etc.. would have made for a more even finish around the trackpad and LCD, but it looks good as is.
 
Neat project.

btw, the yellow / black warning stuff is available as a tape. And the finish of it would still fit in with the mod.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top