The BEST mod I've ever seen....

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You should get a Framework laptop

For reference, the reason why laptops don’t dump heat into the outer chassis directly is generally so that the batteries don’t overheat, which is a fire hazard. (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS_MVDoaIoM) Edit: In addition, there are also regulations about how hot surfaces can get so that they don't burn you.

From what I can see, it looks like the Thunderport hub kind of blocks the air intake in the fan as well, so that might be worth a redesign. Also making the top removable so that whenb the fan eventually dies you can replace it without busting apart a glued piece

Given your penchant for customizing, I'd say you should get a Framework laptop 16 when orders open up. Completely customizable IO and all replaceable parts. It'll even have an expansion bay for a replaceable internal video card.

Would also be interesting to see how it would compare with all the internal cooling mods and using the body as a heat sink but without the big cooling stand.

Your content is some of my favorite combination of "computer nerd" and "wood working maker".

Not sure if you check older videos, but regarding the Dell Dock: you can get right angle adapters to reduce the strain on the USB C port. Additionally, the docks usually have a power button, which can turn the laptop on. In my setup, I 3D printed a side shelf that holds the laptop on the side of my desk, giving me the entire desk for use. So basically, something akin to what you did with the drawer, but more barebones.

I did similar for my XPS 9560 (i7-7700HQ, 1050) a couple of years ago, with some differences: no external fan, I made a thermal bridge from the VRMs to bare heatpipes, undervolted the CPU 0.12V, put fine mesh over the intakes (to eliminate dust), and resting it on a dowell bar near the rubber strip to stop hot air recirculating into the intake. As a result, it only hits around 85'C with a GPU game or CPU-intensive work, and the power delivery stays higher. There were other tweaks, like also using ThrottleStop to improve responsiveness for DAW work. So if you want to improve on what you already have, maybe try undervolting, if your system allows it.

Cool! you should also try undervolting you cpu and gpu aswell as lowering you're minimum processor state and changing the turbo from aggressive to enabled this should increase the power ALOT more

My only note is that there are plenty of existing laptop cooling pad devices that have spare room inside their chassis that could fit the dock if you swapped out their fans for that nice one. Many of them even have fan controllers built-in. You would end up with a more comfortable purpose-built device by cobbling something together rather than building it from scratch in this case.

You're my favorite youtuber right now. You woodwork, build computer/electronic/emulation stuff, and longboard. All of which are things I like to do! I've been 30 mph on a longboard, built my own PC, built an arcade style emulator with the big joysticks, and I make some money on the side woodworking. I think you may be my spirit animal 😂

I'd like to see what you could do with a framework laptop, especially when you upgrade one because of what you'll do with the old board.

I love your videos on upgrading / hacking your tech! That cinebench score improvement is insane. For new laptops I have my eye on the new framework laptop!

Thats awesome! Love the look of it and that magnet into the cupboard is soo slick.

I’d like to see the performance upgrade with just the fan, just the improved thermal paste, and then the combination. Awesome build though!

Designing in external radii to those tenon joints that have about a 5-10% clearance on the internal radii will eliminate the need to do manual chisel work

I recently finished building a cooling pad with 3 120mm Noctua NF-P12 redux fans and Noctua NA-FC1 fan controller. It works great, can be a bit loud but way better than any previous ones I've owned.

Wonderful builds Zac! 👍🏾👍🏾

Dude invented a desktop.