Thinkpads Forum

Thanks to the kind support by both TuuS and RealBlackStuff, who helped me to get hold of the modded display cable/inverter sets needed to operate the LED display, i have finally finished a very nice Frankenpad featuring one of those wonderful ex-factory LED backlit BOE Hydis UXGA displays.

This Frankenpad is equipped with a LED backlit UXGA HV150UX2-100 display by manufacurer Boe Hydis, which was something never offered by IBM/Lenovo for this device generation ever! This makes this machine a very special configuration hardly to be found anymore. Unlike its CCFL backlit brethren, these LED backlit displays should last for half an eternity and without any brightness decrease during years to come, while also consuming much less energy and thus ensuring a longer battery life.

These are the technical details of the base machine:

- T60 15"/4:3 shell with almost no wear!
- NEW flawless LED backlit UXGA HV150UX2-100 display by Boe Hydis
- Mainboard T61 42W7872 Penryn/Intel graphics with Middleton BIOS 2.29 for SATA II
- CPU Penryn Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60GHz
- T61 cooler unit/fan (more efficient model normally used with NVIDIA GPU)
- RAM 2x2=4GB Hynix DDR2 800 Mhz PC2-6400
- Atheros AR928X WiFi AGN
- DVD RW Multi III optical disk drive
- Bluetooth
- NEW keyboard, either US (T60 NMB) or Spanish (T500 model) layout. Also German and Swiss used keyboards available.
- NOS Battery SANYO 9 cells (manufacture date 2008-10-13, first use date 2014-08-20, 1 cycle count, design/last full capacity 84240/88420)
- WD Scorpio 160GB HDD (used) with Debian/Wheezy Linux preinstalled (if you prefer Win7, you have to provide the license yourself)
- 90W charger & power cable

To get a first visual impression, some photos can be found at www.rumbero.org/frankenpad. If you need more photos from specific angles or components, please just ask. As can be seen, there is only very light wear to be detected if you actually look very closely. Those photos are not very forgiving, but in real life the machine appears almost new at first sight.

Due to the excellent technical state of the machine, the still very good cosmetic condition, and the absolutely gorgeous LED UXGA display, i am asking for EUR 565,- plus actual shipping costs. Feel free to make me an offer i can't refuse, suitable to prevent me from keeping this rare beauty for myself.

Upgrade options:

- Add EUR 120,- for a brand new SanDisk Extreme Pro 240GB (still unpacked) instead of HDD
- Add EUR 60,- for 2x4=8GB RAM Hynix DDR2 800 Mhz PC2-6400 instead of 2x2=4GB RAM

Downgrade options:

- Substract EUR 40,- for 2x512MB=1GB RAM instead of 4GB RAM.
- Substract EUR 15,- if you prefer no disk shipped, but with HDD cage/screws only.
- Substract EUR 15,- for no optical drive shipped.

Final composition of this machine is subject of discussion and reasonable negotiation. Since it will become yours in the end, please do not accept any compromise!

Payment is possible either via PayPal (make sure to send as "gift to family or friends"), by traditional bank transfer, or even simply cash if we could manage to meet personally should the buyer be located in the Barcelona area in Spain.

Nowadays, it is next to impossible to acquire those LED backlit UXGA panels for a reasonable price. The production quantity of these panels appears to have been rather low, and the last known to me sources are offering them for absolutely insane prices of about $350 plus exorbitant shipping costs and customs fees (some examples: www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=HV150UX2-100). So this offer might well be one of the last occasions to still get hold of a Frankenpad with one of these rare LED driven BOE Hydis UXGA displays at a more reasonable price level.

While i do feel tempted to rather keep this amazing machine for myself, i don't really need yet another one, and therefore decided to make it available for interested forum members. This is a great opportunity especially for our European forum members, and especially so if you are from Spain or one of its border countries. The machine is located in Barcelona/Spain and i am willing to ship it anywhere as long as the actual shipping costs are covered.

I don't really want to offer this beauty via eBay, as i would prefer this to be owned by someone who appreciates Thinkpads for what they used to be and what they could have been. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly more complicated to source all required parts for a complete Frankenpad of this quality, and lots of time and effort had to be invested in finally creating it. Please spread the word if you think you might know someone who might find such a Frankenpad useful for his daily needs. I would be very glad if this machine would end up with someone who really appreciates its uniqueness.

Please feel free to contact me via forum PM if you have any further questions.

EDIT:
@fatpolomanjr: The brightness settings are fully adjustable, and there are 15 brightness modification steps.

Is the brightness setting adjustable?

Amazing offer, regardless.

Hello to all,

Yes, it is adjustable, at least mine is. It does "glide" up or down. Steps exist, but there are only some You 'll be able to see, some are rather small.

fatpolomanjr wrote:Is the brightness setting adjustable?

As i just verified, there are 15 possible brightness modification steps.

Gorgeus machine.

Being myself also in Barcelona I am tempted to buy it, but I already own two T60/T61 Frankenpads (although not LED!), so I will have to skip it. I hope it can find a nice home.

Please keep spreading the word, this machine still has not found a new home.

Thanks to all people from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK who contacted me about this Frankenpad so far!

Feel free to make me an offer i can't refuse, suitably measured to prevent me from keeping this rare beauty for myself.

I'm surprised this hasn't sold yet. although these amazing LED screens were once very reasonable, to buy one today would be well over $300 and that doesn't include the modifications needed to make it work in a thinkpad. Most thinkpad fans know what a great deal this is but to some of the casual observers they may not realize that this is the very last of the classic IPS flexview thinkpads and it's in 4:3 aspect ratio, not widescreen and it's been highly modified to state of the art technology. These screens were never available in a laptop, only in very expensive medical diagnostic equipment and I believe our very own RBS (realblackstuff) was the first person to retrofit on into a thinkpad. Today IPS screens are rarely used in laptops and when they are it's usually a $2000 or more upgrade, and never in standard 4:3 aspect ratio. I sold dozens of these screens and unfortunately due to some careless shipping I ended up losing money on them, but I don't regret it because I was able to help create dozens of amazing frankenpads like this.

In addition to the screen the motherboard has been upgraded so that it can run Penryn CPU chips. This was the last of the Core2 line and was so advanced that many were dumbfounded why Intel didn't market them as Core3. The "i" series that replaced them wasn't really an upgrade, it just added the ability to include graphics processor on the same CPU module. There is no performance advantage to this, to the contrary you can cool graphics better if it's not jammed into the same chip. This technology is only really an advantage if you want to make computers smaller and thinner, the Intel X3100 on this T61 board is extremely reliable and stable. It runs cool and draws little power. It supports OpenGL and has great support in Linux. As you can tell I'm a huge fan of the Penryn die and I don't complain my opinion is the only correct opinion, but there is no question that these are the best CPU chips you can squeeze in one of these 4:3 aspect laptops short of developing a completely new motherboard from scratch.

They also support upto 8gb of ram and SATA2, this is what really makes these frankenpads great. The T60 series limits you to 3gb and for a power users on a 64bit OS you really should have 4gb. The OS consumes 2gb alone on a modern windows version so unless you want to run your apps in virtual memory or run one app at a time you need more than 3gb. SSD is a huge advantage in many regards. For one it gives you fast bootup times and higher performance, but mostly because when you do have to use virtual memory it can be infinitely faster , especially compared to a HDD that is busy and running at capacity trying to access your data and then you force it to cache all your ram and your system grinds to a halt, and with an SSD the SATA2 support virtually doubles your transfer speeds and seek times aren't dependent on moving heads and spinning platters.

These frankenpads are basically the best of everything classic thinkpads had to offer. I've helped dozens of members to build them from kits and my good friend RBS builds them to order too, but here's your chance to get one that is ready to park on your desk and turn the key.

It's also a great opportunity for our EU members who won't have to pay for overseas shipping.

Slightly modified a few pricing parameters of the original offer, leaving not too much margin for negotiation anymore.

If this machine doesn't find a new owner during this week, the offer will be retracted and supposedly reopened elsewhere.

But given the complications nowadays to source adequate parts, maybe i'd better keep it for myself?

PM sent.

Cheers!

Anthony A.

I would have bought this day one if I didn't already buy a TP10 Tablet and T61, along with upgrades (T9300, 8GB DDR2, SSD). Not to mention the time spent doing a lid/screen, keyboard, and palmrest swap with a T60 in amazing condition. Too many laptop funds spent in the course of 2 months to obsolete it with such an awesome frankenpad.

I've also become attached to my T61, with all the work I put into it; I always type on it with pride and satisfaction. If only I could pull off an LED mod.

Sale pending.

Good! I am surprised that a nice machine like this didn't sell faster. Definitely cheaper than the money I used to build my Frankenpad. With the addition of the LED, considering today's $330 price tag, it doesn't even come close.

rumbero - Just to clarify: As of today (Mon 5 May 2015), this thread still shows this sale as pending. Has the sale been finalized?

Oops, sorry! Yes, it is already sold. I recommend getting in touch with RBS if you are looking for one.

Currently working on a similar setup, but probably won't be completed before end of summer.