X200 P8600 MB Upgrade

Hello,

I have a X200 P8600 Thinkpad for two years now and i'm thinking to upgrade it.
I saw that the new X201 has the same HMM than the X200 and obviously the same casing.
Does the motherboard has also exactly the same design between both ?
I saw in the HMM that the only difference is a screw between x200 and x201
I saw some interrogation about the possibility to upgrade the X200 with a X201 motherboard but any thread if it's really possible ?

Does someone has ever success this upgrade ?

Thank you.
PY

 

It doesn't always work that way. The only way to know is to try it. Laptop motherboards are pretty expensive. Honestly, I can't see it being worth the effort or money for such a small performance upgrade.

 

A refurbed i7-620M motherboard cost about 300$, that is stay cheaper than a new x201.
My P8600, 4gb, 500gb/7200tr isn't enough powerful to edit easily HD movies so I was thinking if this update could be possible...

 

if you want to do it, you will be the first one to try it.

 

I would look at it like this, if you code video and it takes six minutes do it with the Core 2 Duo, is worth $300 to be able to do it in five minutes with a Core i7 CPU? In what way is you Core 2 Duo insufficient?

 

Yes, the core 2 duo is a bit limit for full HD video montage and I thought that a i7 core will be more powerful for that. You don't think so ?

The only insufficiency of the core 2 duo is when i try to edit AVCHD videos.

 

Alright... I haven't done this particular upgrade myself but here are a few observations:

Firstly, the X201 has a set of stereo speakers in its chassis while the X200 only has a mono speaker. There may or may not be fitment issues. I did upgrade an X60s with an X61s motherboard and had a fair amount of difficulty with some chassis parts; nothing insurmountable but I did need to purchase some X61s-specific parts to get it to work. Your X200's speaker assembly may or may not work, and you may need to purchase an X201 speaker assembly and bottom chassis to get this to fit correctly.

These motherboards come pretty much as a bare board with no machine type information programmed into them. I forget the exact process but there is a pretty hard-to-find program needed to flash the motherboard with a specific model number if you wished to use something like Lenovo System Update to get your drivers/etc for this system.

All in all, it's up to you to figure out if the performance boost of the i7 and the slightly better X5700 integrated GPU is worth it in your case. I can definitely see the temptation to do such a mod(I like to do a lot of hardware tinkering myself and have built a few Frankenpads in my day), but for how I use a system this probably wouldn't be a very feasible upgrade for me.

That said, practicality and sensibleness aside, this mod is very likely doable. What's your source for the i7 mobo, may I ask?

Edit: Another possible roadblock I thought of is the LCD cable; I'm unsure if the X200 LCD cable and the X201 share the same connector. I think they do as I think I've heard of a couple of people doing the X200 AFFS mod to their X201, but I can't be 100% sure on that. My suggestion is to poke around the forums a little bit and figure that out before trying this. Also, since I think the X201's BIOS whitelist is different, expect to have to purchase a new wifi card as well; the one from the X200 likely won't work.

 

i'm going to be blunt because these sort of questions pop up on a semi-regular basis on laptop forums...it's a hare-brained scheme.

even if there is no physical form factor difference between the two, a system board swap isn't the answer because the chipset may not support your existing cpu (assuming you don't fubar the cpu when you unsolder it) and if you buy a x201 mobo and a new cpu, the high cost is going to greatly offset whatever you are saving in $$$. the difference in your end cost will, at best, likely be very insignificant.

you'd be better off selling the laptop and using that money to buy a pre-owned or refurb'ed unit (if you're on a tight budget) or a new laptop altogether. two out of those three scenarios will give you a laptop with some sort of warranty coverage, something that's absent with your DIY systemboard swap.

 

One major caveat with this: the planar for the X-series has the CPU physically soldered in place. The replacement board will have the CPU already attached. Considering I saw an eBay seller with X201 i7 boards for about $360 shipped(the same seller I purchased my X61s board from over a year ago), I'm assuming this is where the OP is seeing them. With the CPU already attached, that's not a bad deal for an X201 board. As far as warranty goes, that's the nature of the beast with a Frankenpad... if you mess up it's on yourself to fix it. Since my current crop of ThinkPads are the first I've ever had warranties on, admittedly I'm going to wait until after the warranty periods are up to do any major tinkering(my T400 that is being sold to a friend is a different story, however).

 

Indeed, this is this Ebay seller, at 360$. This is a plus point if you ever bought a MB to this seller.
As you have told, the CPU is soldered on the X200/X201 MB, I don't have to unsolder the CPU and the X201 MB is sold with the CPU.

- I think the speaker isn't the worst problem.
- The program to flash the MB isn't compulsory, I can use the MB without the Lenovo System Update, isn't it ?
- Regarding to the whithelist, it's unlockable ? I'm remember to have installed a bootable program on my X31 to install a different wifi card.
- However, I need to check the LCD connector (besides, if someone could send me a photo of the LCD X201 connector ?)
- Another divergence could be possible also concerning the trackpoint vs the trackpoint + touchpad on X201...
Edit : The touchpad is an option, so it shouldn't be a divergence.

So i'm interrested if someone has ever dismantle his X201 and has some photos...

Thank you.

 

I've done the X200, which is very similar, but I don't have any pics for you. Check the training and support site. There's videos there showing each step of the removal and reassembly process. There's a link in the sticky. The X201 isn't there, but the X200 is and they're very similar.

I don't see the LCD cable being an issue since the X200 cable can be used in the X201 for the AFFS mod.

I would agree if you really want a X201, from a cost perspective, you're better off selling your X200 and buying a X201 if that's what you want.

 

+1 on selling x200 and getting a used x201 instead, as you would get the balance of the remaining warranty.

 

$360 is a bit cheaper than i would have expected them to cost but i don't keep a pulse on aftermarket parts much anymore.

sounds like you have some experience tinkering with thinkpads which at least puts you in a better position to try this if you're keen on it.

and selling an intact 200 systemboard would of course recoup a few more dollars.

 

Okay, to answer at least a few of your questions:

-Flashing the system type information into the BIOS isn't necessary for the board to work. If need be, you can simply grab all the X201 drivers off Lenovo's support site and be done with it that way.

-There is someone on this forum(I forget who) who does program customized BIOS options for these systems. It might be worth looking into if they would consider making an X201 version without the wifi whitelist.

-ZaZ has confirmed that the X200 LCD cable works on the X201; there are people who have used the X200 cable to do the AFFS screen mod on their X201. This would mean the LCD portion would be plug and play.

-The only major fitment issues with the touchpad/Trackpoint and the speakers will be the connectors, I think. The best case scenario is that the connectors on the X201 board are the same and you can use your existing X200 hardware without any issues. The worst-case scenario is having to purchase X201 speakers, a new base cover to fit the speakers, and a palmrest(touchpad or no). There will be a little trial and error and risk here; if you do this swap you'll be the first person around here to do it.

As far as warranty stuff and cost effectiveness goes, you've heard the spiel by now. If you spent a pretty good chunk of change on your X200(especially if you have warranty remaining), this mod really wouldn't make much sense in the first place. I would consider doing this mod only because I just have $150 into my X200(it was being sold for cheap because of cosmetic damage and I offered a desktop that I had refurbished out of spare parts to sweeten the deal) and I love to do all this hardware tinkering stuff anyway.

That said, my X200 still has warranty left so I'm not likely to do this anytime soon, if at all. Just keep in mind that others are offering valid points here, and that if you want warranty service and the ease of having a 'new' system, you may want to sell your X200 and use that money towards an X201 outright. If you want to do this because you like to tinker and don't give a care about practicality and warranty, I think this would be a really neat project to do.

 

I did happen to do this motherboard upgrade using the original parts from x200 with AFFS mod including bios whitelist mod. The motherboard is just a drop into the X200 base cover using all X200 parts exception is to use X201 palm rest with touchpad. It's ok if previous X200 has no fingerprint reader. It is advisable to do a clean install of OS.