Ben Heckendorn's Xbox 360 laptop: best mod ever?

Every so often a mod comes along that's so intricate, so amazing, so over the top, that words simply don't do it justice (but we'll try anyway). Ben Heckendorn's Xbox 360 laptop is one such mod. Having garnered no small amount of fame from previous portable projects like the nPod, PPS2, and N64p, Ben was commissioned by a generous benefactor to somehow make a 360 "good to go" a la the Crunchwrap Supreme -- and since this is the great Mr. Heckendorn we're talking about, slapping a hinged LCD onto an out-of-the-box console simply wouldn't do. Instead, Ben spent three months designing and building the so-called Xbox 360p, machining a custom aluminum laptop enclosure by hand into which he stuffed a keyboard, 1,280 x 720 Westinghouse LCD, and get this -- even a custom-built water cooling system to replace the 360's stock, bulky heat sinks. The end result is a polished, professional looking (albeit heavy -- this machine weighs in at about 14 pounds) laptop complete with WiFi, USB ports, obligatory glowing green ring, and converged power supply so that the monitor and gaming system only require a single cable snaking out the back. Well done, Ben, well done; but as you yourself note, there's no such thing as resting on one's laurels, so we can't wait to see what you have in store for the PS3 and, most especially, the swing-your-arms-like-a-maniac Nintendo Wii. Hit the jump to check out the 360p's guts, and then head over the Ben's site for a ton of photos and one of the more thorough build walkthroughs that we've come across...

[Thanks, Jeffler and kade]

[gtoji @ Feb 20th 2008 7:53PM]

holy sh*t, this is a work of art that Michaelangelo would be awe-struck by, not to mention the fact that you've got to be pretty brave to put a $300-$400 piece of equipment under the knife (so-to-speak), artistic, brave, creative, intelligent, do you like work on the military's most secretive projects? WAIT! don't tell me, cause' then you'd have to kill me!

[nintendozach @ Mar 8th 2008 10:37AM]

I want to know where this guy learned to do it. He had an interview about this on G4's X-Play.

[nintendozach @ Mar 10th 2008 7:11PM]

He is a Mod God

[Dan @ Mar 10th 2008 3:22PM]

lulz if he gets red rings.

[Dan @ Mar 22nd 2008 3:28PM]

lulz if he gets red rings.

[Shade @ Nov 24th 2008 2:55PM]

What I'm interested in is how much did this guy comission Ben for? I WANT ONE. D:

[hi @ Nov 25th 2008 12:54AM]

Very nice benheck also the instruction is really easy to understand how to do it and soon i am going to do it my self yayayayayayyayayayaya?!?!?!?!?!

[DKing @ Dec 24th 2008 9:45AM]

Now just make it portable.

[Paul Witt @ Jan 7th 2009 9:57PM]

THAT IS AWESOME

[Jeff @ Jun 25th 2009 2:45PM]

My email is [e-mail] and i would love to buy this console name your price
Or can someone build me one I love buying one of kind stuff I just had a custom corvette build and would love to have this unit build into it

[john @ Sep 11th 2006 12:48AM]

Just imagine tripping over the power cord... no magsafe there

[Vinni @ Sep 11th 2006 12:50AM]

Now that is nice. Very well done.

[Tomy @ Sep 11th 2006 12:52AM]

Ben Heckendorn, you are a god among men.

[nizzy1115 @ Sep 11th 2006 12:56AM]

that is truely amazing. i am quite speachless at the quality of your workmanship. very well done

[Alan Hoffman @ Sep 11th 2006 12:57AM]

That thing is SICK

[Rai @ Sep 11th 2006 1:06AM]

If they made the Xbox360 like that at the first place... Sony would have buried its head in the toilet long ago...

I would buy this piece of art, no fuss... gimme the price, and I'll hand you the check... No joke... This is some good stuff...

[kleger @ Sep 11th 2006 1:18AM]

so what can the keyboard do?

[Ryan @ Sep 11th 2006 5:23PM]

now, why cant a big production company just hire this guy. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo; i really dont care, but if his work ever gets mass produced by anyone im all over it.

[Seroth @ Sep 11th 2006 1:22AM]

I assume the keyboard is for communicating online via Xbox Live.

[Jeff @ Sep 11th 2006 1:28AM]

I am truly amazed by this mod. The fact that this was NOT made by a major company, but a regular guy – is unbelievable!

[zer06ame @ Sep 11th 2006 1:31AM]

Wow. I don't even know what to say. That's by far the sexiest piece of gaming workmanship I've ever seen. They seriously should've manufactured that as the 360, just have video out to play it with the monitor down on a bigger screen. If that was available for purchase (at a highly produced rate, not one man's hardwork for months) I'd buy one.

[mat @ Sep 11th 2006 2:05AM]

#1-

You don't need magsafe, the thing is so heavy you'll end up ripping the plug out the socket.

[Regbo @ Sep 11th 2006 1:33AM]

Is there somekind of award for this kind of stuff? An award that he should win year after year?

[Murc @ Sep 11th 2006 1:38AM]

looks pretty clean.
good job.

[Regbo @ Sep 11th 2006 1:38AM]

I'm also suprised no one has set up a site like colorwarepc.com for his stuff, where you can send him products and have them turn into one of Ben's creations. Once he has figured out a way to create these pieces of art, there should be a way to mass produce them. I mean is it illegal to sell 360's after they have been reconfigured? It's not like he is adding a modchip, and he's only increasing sales for MS. I for one think I would pay an extra $250 on top of the money for the parts to have this. Anyone agree?

[bigpoppa @ Sep 16th 2006 1:22PM]

The funny thing is, IT DOESNT FUCKING WORK!!! HAHAHAHAHA

[Mr. B @ Sep 11th 2006 1:58AM]

Wow, Mr. Heckendorn continues to out do himself. Incredible work.

[Rohit Kapur @ Nov 11th 2007 12:29AM]

Hey Evan, remove the question mark after 'best mod ever'. :-) There's no doubt in my mind at least.

[manwonman @ Sep 11th 2006 2:08AM]

@ Jeff (#9)

Ben Heckendorn is no "regular guy"

He is a genius.

He should get some people to produce more of these mods and sell them on a website.

I'd target a $2000 price point.

[tiuk @ Sep 11th 2006 2:10AM]

Seriously, I think I just got a little hard. This guy amazes me.

[cam @ Sep 11th 2006 2:14AM]

WOW. I mean... WOW! If Ben is this creative with his xbox mod, imagine if he submitted an entry to Engadget's commercial contest. Um yah, game over!

[Skyler @ Sep 11th 2006 2:17AM]

CRAP! Let me put up a mirror. Save the bandwidth guys!

[Xophonic @ Sep 11th 2006 2:44AM]

WOW!!!!! his other projects have all been extremely impressive but this one is beautiful. the know how and hardware skill it took to make this is one thing but the design is incredible. It looks better than stuff huge companies with bottomless budgets make. This is a nothing short of a piece of art. You are a god!!!!

[Alex @ Sep 11th 2006 2:20AM]

Is this the legendary Powerbook G5, gaming edition? :D

[Nizam Rahman @ Sep 11th 2006 2:42AM]

I think... I got a hard on...

[_man1c_ @ Sep 11th 2006 3:10AM]

hmmm. where can i pre-order?

[GamerG @ Sep 11th 2006 3:12AM]

Microsoft should give that man a a job.

[joe @ Sep 11th 2006 3:31AM]

ben u are a GOD. i bow to u.

[tekdroid @ Sep 11th 2006 3:52AM]

what? you mean it's not waterproof? :p
:D

[LazyMegaMan @ Sep 11th 2006 4:08AM]

Sometimes, it's ok for grown men to cry.

[networm @ Sep 11th 2006 4:30AM]

I wonder how a suitable battery would look like.
=)

[hanren @ Sep 11th 2006 4:32AM]

sony if you want your play3 to survive

HIRE THIS MAN for godsake and pay him really well for it

i can wait/live another year without that ugly thing you got there......

[shugazi @ Sep 20th 2006 6:56AM]

but does it run Linux?

[Sir Unimaginative @ Sep 11th 2006 7:44AM]

Holy... ... ...

The title says it all: Best. Mod. Ever.

[Namrok @ Sep 11th 2006 7:45AM]

This man is the Official Patron Saint of Tinkering.

[hesh @ Sep 11th 2006 11:51AM]

That thing is amazing. Simply amazing.

[Chris @ Sep 11th 2006 9:48AM]

LOL THIS IS FU*CKING SICK!

And btw engadget 14lb isnt exactly out of the question for a laptop, last i checked some companys have up to 21lb laptops so really 14lb is kinda midrange for a desktop replacement :)

[sjuste @ Sep 11th 2006 10:03AM]

it doesn't matter because he will not be able to touch the ps3. 36o is made with yesterdays tech ps3 is new and nobody knows how it works yet

[Aaron @ Sep 11th 2006 10:41AM]

This guy is amazing. I've seen some of his stuff over the past few years, and it's simply incredible. He is indeed a genius. I recall that you can buy some of the simpler projects and he'll make a new one, but the more difficult stuff (I'm sure this one is included) is not for sale.

If I owned a hat, it would certainly be off to you, Ben.

[Paul @ Sep 11th 2006 11:37AM]

This is incredible, the workmanship on this surpasses just a mod, this looks like it was done professionally by some big name company.

On a side note, his website is getting slammed, I visited it last night and it loaded fine, now that it has hit the news the images are not even loading.