Revamping Classic Mac Notebooks

[iindigo]

First off, sorry if this is the wrong category. It's the best fit amongst all the other categories on the MacRumors forums (as far as I can see). If anyone knows of a forum centered around Mac mods I'd greatly appreciate it if they pointed it out to me!

Anyway, on with the post.

How feasible is it to completely update all of the internal components of any of the Mac laptops above (PowerBook G3, iBook fruit, iBook snow, Powerbook G4 12")? That is, basically ripping out all of the original components and replacing them with something more modern. Total list of what I hope to replace:

• LCD/Backlight assembly
• Motherboard
• HD (likely with an SSD)
• Optical drive
• Possibly trackpad (I anticipate this to be the most difficult)

With the crazy miniaturization of technology in the past decade, there should be a ton of empty room for batteries in these cases, potentially allowing for a Mac laptop with more than 10 hours of battery life.

Thoughts? Does anybody have experience doing this?

 

[gpat]

Engadget lately featured a project about stuffing a Macintosh Portable case with Netbook guts. This is basically the same thing with a much newer case.

It is definitely feasible, probably the most challenging part is finding a big enough battery which both gives you a 10 hr runtime and fits in the case.
Other than that, you will have to rewire the original trackpad, keyboard and screen and you'll be looking at a camouflaged Hackintosh.