L440 options and upgrade tips

about wifi, first page, post #8 :thumbsup:

L440 HMM might help with panel swapping

 

Have anyone tried an Ultrabay battery with their L440?

 

"Lenovo must have removed the whitelist" - are we only talking about cards that they offer with that model, but that were bought elsewhere than Lenovo? Or any card one wants that's the right socket?

I don't think any of the current models support ultrabay batteries. Not sure about putting a hard drive in the optical drive bay in though - I think that ought to work.

 

Due to the lack of a connector for Ultrabay batteries on the system board, it won't work. The T430s is the newest ThinkPad supporting an UltraBay battery.

 

Dang it.. It would make the perfect notebook for me. I5, 8GB RAM, m.2 boot SSD, 500GB media HDD, and two batteries. It would have been epic...

Thanks anyways.

 

Yes, but I went with an m.2 SSD (has not arrived yet though), so I would be able to fit something in the DVD drive slot. And I was hoping for a battery. Guess I will have to buy the 9 cell battery, and stick with the ODD..

 

I can confirm that HDD caddy for ODD works fine...as long as you don't need to boot from it.

 

I ordered a L440 and the more I read, the more I like!!!

So, is the NGFF in a m.2 slot? I was told the NGFF was soldered to the MB (and didn't bother to add it when ordering)?! Or is the only way to run a m.2 drive is to remove the wifi card?

The monitor upgrade: I'm reading people say the B140HAN01.2 is a IPS panel but I'm just seeing a standard LCD panel. What am I missing here?

And the L440 has an express card slot? I completely ignored that information. And I'm new to eGPU (learning now) so there is potential to game on this thing??? Really??? Awesome! What is the speed of the express card slot? The website only lists that it has one.

Ohhhh, this machine is gonna be fun!

 

There are two NGFF slots. One has the WiFi module. The other is either empty, has a WWAN module, or a 16GB cache drive - depending on the configuration you purchased. You can run an m.2 SSD without removing the WiFi card.

I think my replacement display panel is LCD and not IPS. It still works very well.

I believe the ExpressCard slot is PCIe.

Sent from my Lumia 1520

 

About panel confusion, IPS is technology of LCD manufacturing...
See this link for more info

So, I also ordered FHD panel for mine L440, it arrived today, and I installed it.
Panel I've ordered is manufactured by AUO and it has prduct number B140HAN01.2, and, from what I've managed to find out, this is same panel option avaliable for T440s marked with FRU 04X0436 on T440s FRU list
Also, there are different versions of B140HAN01, and I found all differences well documented here

panel swap was really simple, so, I took some time to take some pics and create short tutorial:

So, after shut down, remove battery and battery charger.
First thing you need to do is to remove 2 plastic caps:


I used a pin, just stuck in corner and lift it up, nice and easy:


After removing 2 screws under screw caps, all you need to do is to unhook lcd basel. Gently lift it from inside and it should snap out, work its way around, gently and slowly, you don't wanna brake it:


After basel is removed, you need to remove another 4 screws to be able to remove panel.
Picture is slightly out of focus, but location of screws is clearly visible:


Gently lift old panel from top side, and flip it over, being careful not to damage LCD cable. EDP connector is secured with some glue tape, so, you need to unstick it first.
I removed it in direction of arrows shown on picture.
Again, be careful because you need to restick it on new panel:


After removing connector, remove "old" panel, get "new" one in place, and repeat all steps in reverse order, and that's it !
Really simple !

I also documented differences betwen new and old panel.
Album is here.

Sorry for bad english !

 

Good instructions! You can add that there is a small metal clip that additionally secures the connector, it has to be lifted up to be removed.

I installed the display yesterday and it ist very nice. Been lucky as there are no dead pixels.

 

Did anybody attach such a keyboard yet? Maybe if the light connectro isn't powered one can try to solder a lead an a switch to be able to turn it on manually.

Another question: Would the trackpad from the new L450 (the one with the buttons) fit in our device? Looks as if it could.

I really like the L440 beacause it is a good starting point for modding. So far I added a FHD IPS panel, +4GB Ram, 128GB M.2 SSD, 1.7TB HDD and a Blu-Ray drive. It is really becoming the laptop of my dreams for a cheap price. Next project: Backlit keyboard )

 

yeah, there is metal clip securing EDO connector, but I didn't mentioned it because it can be seen on picture
didn't try backlit keyboard, please write back how it ended for you

 

Just for fun, this is where my L440 is now: 16GB of RAM, 128GB mSATA SSD, 80GB Intel 320 SSD in the main drive bay, 250GB Crucial MX100 SSD in an optical drive bay caddy, FHD screen retirement replacement. All my data is synced with OneDrive, so I'll be spanning the Intel and Crucial SSDs. No point in leaving my old Intel unused!
Sent from my Lumia 830

 

Anyone know if the trackpad is swappable for one with physical buttons?
Sent from my Lumia 830

 

yes that would be nice... a trackpad with physical buttons. The one from the L450 looks as it could fit. anyone has the possibility to try it out?

 

It seems that the L45o touchpad is compatible according to this website: http://www.amazon.com/Nbparts®thinkpad-Three-Buttons-Touchpad-Clickpad/dp/B00USWYFRO

 

I can confirm the touchpad with physical buttons works. Can anyone verify that the low resolution screens cable works with the 1920x1080 screen?

 

yes, same EDP cable that had worked for low resolution screen will also work for 1920x1080 screen
you can see on tutorial I've wrote that only panel is swapped, EDP cable remains the same
link

 

This is awesome. I think im gonna order one of these L440. I think it's the cheapest 1080-capable thinkpad ?

EDIT: So I bought the laptop. Ordered one of these :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371267494943?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

And installed it in minutes thanks to the guide posted above. The laptop rocks. Only thing I wish is I could replace the keyboard with a backlit one.

 

It's funny how the L440 gets better and better. I am going to do the screen thing as well soon. Might as well swap the trackpad too then

 

Hello All - New member here.

I'm thinking of buying the L440 via a work promotion - for about half the the normal selling price

I know the the L440 is not built for gaming but I am still wondering what my options are regarding upgrading it's graphics capabilities.

Any advice would be welcome

BTW great forum and very useful info found already in this thread.

Many thanks

 

Its possible to do an external GPU set up with the L440 as it has an expresscard slot (well some models do). I currently have the EXP Beast which is the expresscard to PCI adapter and an NVIDIA GTX 960 which worked plug and play with my old X230 but i have some issues with Error 12 with my L440. I have a software from Nando on TechInferno forums that is meant to help me resolve the issue but i havnt got around compiling the steps involved. If you want i can show u what it is like if u can help me out too.

Thanks

 

Just upgraded my screen to the 1080p from eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/400860511554?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT for $65 bucks. Its a UK seller but the item got to me in about 5 business days, i think if you go to their website and buy the screen its cheaper by a couple of bucks. Makes perfect sense considering that on Amazon i can sell the OEM screen for about the same price. Hopefully someone buys it from in a bit. Now that i have 1080p all that remains is the eGPU setup. Can anyone help? This is the post on techinferno.

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/5874-guide-dsdt-override-to-fix-error-12/

I understand a bit but half of the rest is jibberish lol