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Small Lego case hides a grown-up computer inside
Let's imagine you've always found Lego computers cool and woke up today wanting to make one of your own. In that case, congratulations: Mike Schropp from Total Geekdom just published a design for a small (but powerful) PC that's perfect for you. Schropp went for the smallest design that could still house the latest Intel i3, i5, and i7 processors, USB 3.0, various ports (HDMI, LAN, audio, display, mic), multiple SSD drives, up to 16GB of RAM and even a CD/DVD or Blu-ray drive. He went through three iterations, before he managed to build a size (7.5 x7.5 x 5.5 inches) that he felt was perfect for this project (and didn't need too much Lego), equipped with a top-down cooling system.
He said he got the idea after considering requests for him to build a Lego computer:
The more I thought about the Lego computer over the last year, the more I started wondering how I could design and build a system that wasn't so difficult to reproduce, one that could be bought by anyone looking for a new computer with a unique twist, a Lego twist.
This isn't Schropp's first attempt at building computers out of toy bricks, by the way: In 2011, he built a Lego PC tower that served as a folding farm for cancer and AIDS research. He's done other far-out projects, as well, including a robot made using computer parts and a PC cooled by a wind tunnel. He wrote extensively about his experience building this Lego PC on his website and posted a healthy collection of images, so make sure to visit if you'd like to tackle something similar in the future.
