Screen and processor upgrades for older thinkpads

There are a few older models in the outlet right now, R61 and T61 and others. It would be nice to have a big 15" second laptop for home use, at the desk and couch.

Which one of the older 15" thinkpads can be outfitted with a better screen and processor easily? Specifically, no soldered cpus so I can buy (hopefully cheap and readily available) cpus off of ebay or elsewhere and upgrade it. Also a nice high quality 15" display, CCFL or LED, as long as it's has more than 1024 verticle res. Doesn't have to be a widescreen laptop. I would prefer if it wasn't actually but there doesn't seem to be any non-widescreens in the outlet.

I know the flexviews are limited to the T60p's and earlier for the most part. There aren't many of those in the outlet, but there are on IBM's site, and I wouldn't be opposed to buying one and outfitting it with a flexview screen or one of similar quality given such a product is available. So which old laptop can I stick a good screen and a c heap cpu upgrade in?

 

upgrade cpu on a laptop? why bother?

 

Someone is jealous, poor guy stuck with a BGA CPU

 

It would be nice to have the option to if I found it necessary. Or if better performing cpu's are cheap, then I would just do it for the hell of it. Even if I didn't notice the difference.

 

I am jealous of your 5000 posts...

 

the T60p was the last 15 inch standard aspect ratio format that is fitted with IPS LCD, it is a classic.

Regarding CPU upgrade, it is a worthwhile investment if the laptop's own CPU is very slow, and the new faster CPU can be bought for a low price.

Obviously, there is no point getting a cpu upgrade if getting a new model of the same laptop with better cpu is cheaper.

Many people do mods to their laptop because they like to do it, just like people spending lots of money modding cars, this is a hobby for some people.

 

The LG screen used in the T61 and T500 is a fairly decent TN panel. I've seen a few of them. That's the way I'd go if I were to upgrade the screen. Which do you have now?

I'd have to agree with others, upgrading the CPU within the same family of CPUs is a waste of effort unless you've got a specific need to run the CPU at or near capacity frequently.

If you're looking for a candidate to upgrade, the R60 or R60e are an excellent choice. It's a straight swap for any of the T60 SXGA+ or UXGA screens. Plus you can usually get them cheaper while still getting a dual-core CPU, which is should remain a decent CPU for a while.

 

Yeah, like I said it'll just be used as a second laptop around the house. It would be fun to buy an old solid thinkpad and upgrade it how I like.

How about a T60? Can I put a Core 2 Duo in a T60 that came with a Core Duo T2400? If it's a 15" 1024x768, can I put the IPS 1400x1050 screen in it and change the CCFL lamp if need be? Or possibly the 1600x1200 IPS screen?

 

Most likely yes. I mentioned the R60 because like the T60, it's a straight swap for one of the IPS screens and it's more likely cheaper than the T60, but the T60 is good option if you're willing to spend the extra cash.

 

I have a t61p. It was purchased "loaded" and it will still keep up with "any of them out there. It has 4gbs of memory and will goto 8. The one difference is that it has slightly slower memory than is possible today.

I still use it, especially during power failures which are plentyful. It's a good machine and runs MSDN Windows 7 and has two new batteries.

It has as large a processor as is generally availailable but I do notice that some new Lenovo processors these days are sold with Extremes. I only get 4 hours of battery life and batteries have not improved since it came out so I ask myself why get more processors and exacerbate the battery problem.

The machine is still under warranty and I experienced a "dimming" of the screen. They replaced the screen. The new 15" screen is as good as as they are made and actually has better resolution than the 15 incher's sold today.

Renee

 

Umm... because we can?

 

I have a T60p with the upgraded ATI 5250 card but I want to know if I can buy an IPS screen for it to replace.

My max resolution is 1680x1050 and I can't seem to find reference to that screen rez anywhere so I'm thinking I may have gotten conned. I do get decent side to side viewing angles but anything angled up and down still look pretty bad.

Are the screens expensive or rare? I plan on upgrading the ram, HDD, and battery too. This is costing as much as a new laptop.

 

There's no 16:10 IPS screens to be bought.

 

@Asudef.

which country are you in?

For battery, get Boston Power one. Ram and hdd can be bought from Newegg.com or something.

 

I'm in the US.

Mine is a T60p with what I believe to be a 4:3 LCD but the resolution says 1680x1050 and the side viewing angles are good but the angles from above and below are bad.

I just want an IPS LCD to replace this one since I do Photoshop/Lightroom and enjoy a quality screen. All the other stuff I should be able to find pretty easily.
Where/how can I find one or do they just pop up every now and then on ebay/local ads?

 

There's no 16:10 displays to buy. No one has offered any for sale.

 

1680 x 1050 is resolution is only available in the 16:10 format, which is widescreen version of the T60p.

For 4:3 format which is the standard aspect ratio LCD (looks like a square, well almost) in the T60p, they were available in the 1400 x 1050 SXGA+ resolution and the 1600 x 1200 UXGA resolution.
------------------------------

IPS LCD was only available in the 4:3 15 inch format of the T60p.

 

Ah ok, my previous laptop was the same resolution but looked much wider than this one. So the only way now is to find a T60p with the 4:3 LCD if I wanted the 1600x1200 IPS?

Is it possible to get a T60 and just swap out the gpu and an IPS screen to essentially make the same machine?

 

T60 15 inch laptop can support the 15 inch LCD, without having to change the motherboard/planar.

P.S. GPU is physically soldered to the motherboard, so if you want to change the GPU you would have to change the whole entire motherboard.

 

If you want to go cheap, the IPS panel swap works on both the R60 and R60e as well. Plus the R60 runs cooler. The R60 with an Intel GPU and IPS panel would make for a very nice machine.

 

yes the 15 inch R60 makes a good base for the IPS monitor. R60 can be had for around 150 to 200 USD depending on the spec.

 

That actually sounds good, the T60 does run really hot but what are the differences between the R60 and T60 aside from the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo?

I prefer the FireGL 5250 or 5200 card though. Is the battery life on the R60 better than the T60?

Edit: Is it a fairly straightforward task or even possible to swap out the internals of my machine if I get a T60p with Core Duo?

 

So for about 700 including tax+shipping, I picked up a T60, and a "new" old stock IPS screen, an extra 2GB of ram and a T7600 upgrade and an old 500gb 7200 rpm drive (free, lying around). I'm still waiting for everything to come in, but I don't think the price is too bad