Thinkpads Forum

Presenting my latest contraption, an R61i FrankenPad. This Frankie begins with one of the uncommon Euro R61i standard screen models that bears many similarities to the outgoing R60, but for the lack of an infrared cutout and of course what it' packs under the hood: the GM965 chipset supporting 800mhz FSB Core 2 Duos, 8GB of RAM, and SATA 2. The Franken aspect comes from it being a 15" laptop, accommodating the retrofit of FlexView panels last found in the T60p.



This particular unit, that I bought from a gentleman in Poland, arrived upgraded with a T7300, 3GB of RAM, and dual booting Windows 7 and XP. From the factory, she had an LG Philips XGA display and 3945ABG. Since then I've upgraded it with a late model ID-Tech N150U3-L01 prefit with EDID, Middleton's R61 15.4" BIOS, 4GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.0, and Advanced N 6205 (as a placeholder mainly, read on...). I've also swapped the ALPS keyboard for an NMB and stylized it with X200 buttons.






My plans are to upgrade to a Penryn (hence the 15.4" BIOS), 8GB of RAM, SSD, Intel AX210, R60e palmrest, IBM badges, Smartcard reader, and Windows 11. I'd also like to solder a MPCIE header to the empty WWAN slot and try to install an NVME drive there, but it's not that important.

As it is, with its T7300 and GMA X3100 it actually has no problem browsing my favorite websites, streaming YouTube 720p 60 h264, and playing my 20th century PC games. With my 89% health Panasonic 9 cell it even estimates a generous battery runtime of over 3 hours in power savings mode. I am delighted to have a retro form factor ThinkPad in my hands again that I can actually use (lead-free solder doesn't cut it), and I am already enjoying using it. It's so sad that 4:3 didn't continue in the mainstream, even the P71 (which I love to bits) hasn't as much physical height as a 15" FlexView. And as my closing images will show, standard screen laptops utilize limited desk space far more respectfully than their industry wide replacements.

With X330 (top), W530 (middle), and R50p (bottom).





Memorial Day '23 Update:

I tried Windows 11 and it was too cranky to my liking, and it clearly wants more technological overhead to abuse than Santa Rosa offers. So I've made some adjustments to my upgrade path. I've settled for Windows 7 Pro, since it just works better on this hardware, but I'll switch to Ultimate for Bitlocker if I take this mobile in the future, as I do in good faith intend to use this machine productively. I'm also dual booting Win 10 Enterprise 1607, for now unactivated, which may be of use for software compatibility in the future. Since I'm using 7 I've settled on an AC-7260 for WLAN with a home-made bracket, until my mail-order brackets show up. Not great, not terrible.

Ordered a T9500 on Aliexpress for $19 and managed to win on eBay 8GB of DDR2 for the starting bid of $23. T8300, T9300, or even my own T8100 would all have been fine, but I just feel better with the "best" plug-and-play CPU. Copper dGPU cooler is also on its way, total overkill for I like these things to be COOL.

All you need now is the HV150UX2-100 LCD with my LED-mod to make things complete.

This is the frankenpad Lenovo built. Essentially it is like the T601 frankenpad with Intel graphics but in an R60 shell. For those sensitive to it, even though it uses the same keyboard as the T60/1, the keyboard seems even better because of what's beneath it. Just like a boxer is happier typing on his opponent in the corner than on the ropes. The top cover has character, it reminds me of the classic gangster films where the cars have suicide doors -- the rear doors open towards the front. The rubberized coating on the T60/1 looks stunning when new, but wears over time and the R61 wins out eventually.

Lenovo made sure that the 4:3 R61/i would not be a vehicle to express a preference for the form factor over the widescreen models by limiting it to the Asian and (East) European markets. Further they neglected its BIOS and did not update it to accept penryn CPUs as they did for the R61 widescreen models and T61 and X61. So it suffered the Cinderella neglect to better show off her stepsisters. Member Peak2Peak's bold and inspired solution to use a widescreen BIOS solves the bigger problem of using a penryn CPU, but reduces the incentive to find a solution which does not introduce disabling the firewire port. The BIOS can be further modified to run better CPUs, such as the E0-stepping T9900 and P9700, either underclocked at 800 MHz FSB with pinmod or at 1066 MHz FSB with planar modification. The first will be like running a super T8300 or T8100 (ULV) with double the cache and improved stepping. The second is not so attractive because your 15.4" T61p and R500 ATI etc frankenpads are a better fit.
You can also run a T9500 CPU with dual IDA.

One can just disconnect the touchpad or use xinput under linux to disable the touchpad, no need for the R60e palmrest.

The R50p also had a very expensive QXGA flexview option ...

Congrats on a nice Frankenpad. The 15" R61 as a basis feels really special. I was contemplating one of these myself at some point, but the lack of a real need + the fact that the T60 I have is still in good working condition makes me postpone this idea for the time being.

RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 2:27 am

All you need now is the HV150UX2-100 LCD with my LED-mod to make things complete.

I think about it lots. This thing would last 'forever' with an LED backlight.

unixed wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 8:52 am

Member Peak2Peak's bold and inspired solution to use a widescreen BIOS solves the bigger problem of using a penryn CPU, but reduces the incentive to find a solution which does not introduce disabling the firewire port.

Indeed. For better or worse I have never used a 1394 device. I am unironically more interested to play with the 56K that the T601 doesn't have.

One can just disconnect the touchpad or use xinput under linux to disable the touchpad, no need for the R60e palmrest.

I'm going for the A31p (my other favorite vintage laptop) aesthetic.

Interestingly, with the 15.4" BIOS installed, the laptop IDs itself to the UNAV installer as having the ALPS touchpad and won't properly install the Synaptics driver. Force-installing the Synaptics driver resolved that.

The R50p also had a very expensive QXGA flexview option ...

There's a place in Florida that I've bought multiple N156KME-GNA from, amazingly they list the IAQX10N in stock... for $300. My original plan for this laptop was actually to order one, because I am crazy, but then I found the EDID-ready N150U3-L01 in my inventory and it became more than good enough. Someday, though...

dr_st wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 10:03 am

I was contemplating one of these myself at some point, but the lack of a real need + the fact that the T60 I have is still in good working condition makes me postpone this idea for the time being.

Good on you. T60 was a champion in its time and survivors still hold up to this day. I am a crazy ThinkPad groupie with a personal favor for the R-series so that's why I pulled the trigger on this R61i. I don't usually see them for sale, and the price was the same as the last one I'd seen half a decade ago, but this one was in better shape. So I did the insane thing and bought the 16 year old computer.



Forgot to include, also ordered an ATI R60 heatsink, since the rear vent functioning as an intake bothers me somewhat, although come to think of it this is advantageous on non-flat surfaces. I know a Core 2 with X3100 hardly needs the extra exhaust of the ATI unit. It's solely personal preference.

You just need the palm rest from the R60e and it would be perfect:






I had a similar R60e with the aforementioned palm rest and Blu ray drive, but with a Merom CPU. I thought about upgrading to the R61 board, but seemed kind of expensive at the time and the technology was getting old, so I bought a X220 as it the nice screen I wanted, which hard to believe, was hard to get at the time.

Those Blu Ray drives are exceedingly rare, now, along with all Ultrabay devices for the T40-R50-*60 proprietary connector era. The Ultrabay second drive market has totally dried up. USB adapters get the job done well enough, thankfully.

Just chiming back in to say, Windows 11 Pro sucks on this thing haha, but not any worse than any other ThinkPad in my experience. It's laggy, Vantage doesn't work properly, and then the entire OS got itself stuck on its own updates. Granted, I find Win 10 Pro laggy even on Kaby Lake. I hear Win 10 ENT 2016 LTSB offers a smoother experience, so I may try that out to 'get with the times'. Otherwise the "Extended Kernel" hack for Windows 7 may get me some more productivity out of my favorite OS.

Congratz! I have a regular R61 with QXGA screen, X9100 CPU and no touchpad. This thing is a beast. I remember back in the day when T60 FrankenPads were all the rage. I built one as well but wish I had given the R61 more attention. By the time I built mine it was merely a collectible that I didn't use. Still, probably one of my favorites in my collection.

Are you sure you have a X9100 rather than a X9000? If it's an X9100 you either have to pinmod and thus underclock it or do the 1066 MHz FSB mod. With other CPUs of that generation, such as the T9900, you'd have to mod the BIOS too, but not with that extreme CPU (the overwhelmingly more common C0-stepping one anyway).

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Sat May 20, 2023 12:29 pm

Those Blu Ray drives are exceedingly rare, now

That's probably a good thing as with all the copyright protections, performance suffered.

The geek in me realizes that the nice thing about this type of Frankenpad is that it is not really a Frankenpad at all. It is merely a modded R61.

Or as unixed described it:

unixed wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 8:52 am

This is the frankenpad Lenovo built. Essentially it is like the T601 frankenpad with Intel graphics but in an R60 shell.

And since it is an official system, the modder who is the end-user has no dilemma like with a "T601" - do I put a T60 or T61 clear plate on it?

unixed wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 8:52 am

For those sensitive to it, even though it uses the same keyboard as the T60/1, the keyboard seems even better because of what's beneath it.

I have never typed on an R6x, but I think I can understand you. The slight "mushiness" of a T60 keyboard bothered me a bit, until I figure out I can attach tiny patches of material to the underside of the keyboard to improve support. Perhaps this extra support comes "out of the box" on an R6x.

unixed wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 8:52 am

Lenovo made sure that the 4:3 R61/i would not be a vehicle to express a preference for the form factor over the widescreen models by limiting it to the Asian and (East) European markets.

That's one way to put it... Later they've committed the same sin with Thinkpad 25 and the 7-row keyboard - by making it an "exclusive" model for no real reason.

I am convinced there is such a modded Flexview R61 in my future. With or without the LED mode, with or without the Penryn BIOS support...

Folks, I put some foam tape at the upper two corners of the keyboard to counter some clatter. I find I have to do this with nearly every Lenovo thinkpad I own. Z61t, T400, and T410 were the worst rattlers.

Are you going to put an RGB IBM badge on it? I actually still have some of the silver IBM thinkpad badges in my 'ibm badges box', looks like you can't buy them anymore though

Also, does anyone know if the R60 touchpadless bezels will fit on a 15.4" T60 chassis?

The R-series palmrests don't fit on the T-series. T-series is stuck with UltraNav since the T40 series. The last Trackpoint only T-series was the T30, which had introduced UltraNav as an option.

Even tho I've ordered an R60e palmrest for fun, I actually dig the Synaptics touchpad after the registry-hack for 2 finger scroll, and I like the Finger reader. I find them both very practical. And luckily that R60e palmrest comes with the IBM, because my attempts to pull IBM-badges off surplus palmrests/lids have only caused deformation and destructed to the IBM-badges, so the only way I will get a good transplant is to buy the badges "new". If I knew for sure they come with the glossy finish I would buy them but I suspect they are reprints or late-versions without the gloss. That said the "corporate" "ThinkpadRseries" logo isn't bad, and it better matches the rest of my fleet. Another fun mod is to color the "Pad" to "Pad" a-la T25.

So the thing is I also own a T61 FrankenPad with a danger-date NVS 140m and SXGA+, and in my opinion it feels no less sturdy than the R61. I also find there is fairly little real estate gain between SXGA+ and UXGA (same goes for the Widescreen versions). I'm inclined to agree with the opinion that late-game R-series became so nearly indistinguishable from T-series, and the cost-savings too small to warrant not paying for the T which always had better options. Meanwhile SL-series came in almost half the price of a T-series (and also super-sucked). 15" R61 was a bucket list item for me, as a personal fan of the R-series, I had a strong personal desire to own a 15" R61 and I am satisfied. But from an objective standpoint, the old faithful T61 FrankenPad is no worse a platform, in fact it's better, since you can expand off the 56 pin WWAN header any MPCIE device, even adapt an m.2 NVME drive. Whereas 15" R61 motherboards come without the header soldered on and I have no idea if it even has PCIE lanes.

I also now believe that the R60 dGPU heatsink won't fit on the R61 board, because they put some motherboard devices in the place of the GPU. It's not empty space like iGPU T60. So instead I've hunted down the all-copper Integrated GFX heatsink by Toshiba, because I like copper more. I am vain.

Also, does anyone else find the speakers on these last 4:3 laptops to be really good? They are quite LOUD and don't sound tinny or gutless like later ThinkPads.

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:36 pm

The R-series palmrests don't fit on the T-series. T-series is stuck with UltraNav since the T40 series. The last Trackpoint only T-series was the T30, which had introduced UltraNav as an option.

I mean.... we could always make them fit
The will of the mallet... and gorilla glue (ooh oooh oohh ah ah ah).

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:36 pm

So the thing is I also own a T61 FrankenPad with a danger-date NVS 140m and SXGA+, and in my opinion it feels no less sturdy than the R61. I also find there is fairly little real estate gain between SXGA+ and UXGA (same goes for the Widescreen versions). I'm inclined to agree with the opinion that late-game R-series became so nearly indistinguishable from T-series, and the cost-savings too small to warrant not paying for the T which always had better options. Meanwhile SL-series came in almost half the price of a T-series (and also super-sucked).

I really like the weight and feel of the 14.1" ThinkPads over the 15.1". There's just something about it that holding one in both hands is very satisfying.

My 15.1" T601P with the LED backlight mod from Georgy is on a special laptop stand cradled in the 'un-advanced' dock for some audio equipment. Once I have it set up I'll take some photos as it's kind of amusing. I think I paid a grand for it back in the day but never ever really used it (yeah still mint from the day George shipped it to me, ooops)... but now it has purpose! It's got Windows Vista and it's rearing to go with old audio software (not connected to the internet or anything, and it has an SSD now). Quite relaxing messing around on it with audio design.

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:36 pm

15" R61 was a bucket list item for me, as a personal fan of the R-series, I had a strong personal desire to own a 15" R61 and I am satisfied. But from an objective standpoint, the old faithful T61 FrankenPad is no worse a platform, in fact it's better, since you can expand off the 56 pin WWAN header any MPCIE device, even adapt an m.2 NVME drive. Whereas 15" R61 motherboards come without the header soldered on and I have no idea if it even has PCIE lanes.

Interesting... there's an adapter to shove in an M.2 NVMe on a T61 mobo?

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:36 pm

Also, does anyone else find the speakers on these last 4:3 laptops to be really good? They are quite LOUD and don't sound tinny or gutless like later ThinkPads.

Hmmm, I was never really impressed with any ThinkPad speakers. The only IBM speaker that made me jump out of my seat due to volume was one they used in their POWER series workstations, it's SOOOOO loud and I've no idea why IBM did such a thing. The speakers on my M2 Macbook on the other hand, I'm surprised Apple managed to make laptop speakers that good.

unixed wrote: ↑

Sat May 20, 2023 4:00 pm

Are you sure you have a X9100 rather than a X9000? If it's an X9100 you either have to pinmod and thus underclock it or do the 1066 MHz FSB mod. With other CPUs of that generation, such as the T9900, you'd have to mod the BIOS too, but not with that extreme CPU (the overwhelmingly more common C0-stepping one anyway).

You're probably right, must be X9000. Goes to show how long ago I last touched my own collection!

As far as audio goes, the whole T60 to T400/T500 range of machines (including R) was decent, especially compared to T410 and later.

micrex22 wrote: ↑

Wed May 31, 2023 12:48 am

Interesting... there's an adapter to shove in an M.2 NVMe on a T61 mobo?

https://imgur.io/a/G9THR3w

This fellow put a Lexar NM520 B+M key SSD in a B key adapter in their T500's broadband header.

I understand B+M key denotes a PCIE-2x SSD. Subsequent PCIE-4x SSDs are exclusively M-key. And exclusively B-key SSDs are SATA, not PCIE/NVME.

I'm personally attempting to use PCIE-4x M-key SSDs with M-key adapters I found on aliexpress. When they show up I'll confirm if they work or not.

Fwiw, if these SSDs work they will only have 1x PCIE lane and will be "slow".

It tickles me that the extra Turbo memory header on a lot of these Santa Rosa and Montevina laptops suddenly becomes useful. So far on the device I'm testing (not the R61) I've relocated a half-height WLAN to the half-height Turbo memory slot to free up the full-height slot for the m.2 adapter.

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:36 pm

... you can expand off the 56 pin WWAN header any MPCIE device, even adapt an m.2 NVME drive.

Have you tried this? I don't think you'll be able to boot off it unless you use the USB lanes to run a bootloader (on a USB drive) which can boot off the PCIe bus connected drive. Also is there a combination of adapter and m.2 drive that is small enough to fit in either the R61 or T61? The schematics should be available somewhere and you have the option of soldering in the mPCIe connector or just utilize the USB lanes; I'm happy to leave it unpopulated to minimize the heat sources if I have other options available -- there's an ultrabay, for example.

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:36 pm

I also now believe that the R60 dGPU heatsink won't fit on the R61 board, because they put some motherboard devices in the place of the GPU. It's not empty space like iGPU T60. So instead I've hunted down the all-copper Integrated GFX heatsink by Toshiba, because I like copper more. I am vain.

Your current heatsink has the better fan (M a t s u s h i t a), the same make as that used in the fabled Furukawa heatsink for the T61p. It will outlast the Toshiba.

2230 is shorter than a full-height MPCIE, and 2242 in an adapter is slightly longer.

I would consider them useful for extra storage, and I believe a system partition would be Bootable from a software boot loader on the main 2.5" if desired.

The IDE Ultrabay drive caddys have become unobtainium.

Expresscard adapter to m.2 also exists.

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Wed May 31, 2023 10:06 am

https://imgur.io/a/G9THR3w

This fellow put a Lexar NM520 B+M key SSD in a B key adapter in their T500's broadband header.

I understand B+M key denotes a PCIE-2x SSD. Subsequent PCIE-4x SSDs are exclusively M-key. And exclusively B-key SSDs are SATA, not PCIE/NVME.

I'm personally attempting to use PCIE-4x M-key SSDs with M-key adapters I found on aliexpress. When they show up I'll confirm if they work or not.

Fwiw, if these SSDs work they will only have 1x PCIE lane and will be "slow".

It tickles me that the extra Turbo memory header on a lot of these Santa Rosa and Montevina laptops suddenly becomes useful. So far on the device I'm testing (not the R61) I've relocated a half-height WLAN to the half-height Turbo memory slot to free up the full-height slot for the m.2 adapter.

Still, that means you could have: an NVMe SDD, a normal SSD in the regular bay, and then even an SSD in the ultrabay! Peak ThinkPad storage, the StoragePad. I wonder how many TB you could load up in it.

What a lovely system!

Reminds me of...heh let's not go there...

My SLAYX T9500 showed up today and installing it was a breeze. Jumped in without the HMM due to a very intuitive disassembly. Unlike T, Z, and subsequent R series this model does without rear-corner screws for the keyboard bezel: there's 3 little screws under the battery bay and one along the left-hand side, that's it.

The previous owner had used greasy gold paste for their T7300 upgrade, the combination of that and Merom explains why I thought the machine was running "hot", I saw 80C or so (and pragmatically that's not even hot). Now with the Penryn and Arctic MX-6 a few minutes of P95 and Furmark didn't exceed 66C on the ThinkPad's sensor nor 60C on the CPU's own sensor, and it idles around 40C-30C respectively. This is now my coolest running laptop.

I also reinforce my belief that upgrading from one Core 2 to another is, performance-wise, mostly pointless. The machine is marginally better at YouTube than before.

@unixed: Thanks for the info, I'll leave the Matsushi ta in then.

Ah, my love for the R61 in 4:3 ratio is infinite

Do you know you can fit a T61p 15,4" 256Mb fx570m board into it, FSB-mod it and sporta a nicey real penryn inside it?
No quadcore though. Heatsinks can't handle it well after modifications. Maybe one day I will build my own heatsink to tackle that. However, I'm promising that to myself for 3 years now...

The only T61p 15.4" I have is a dead one that was gived to me for parts. I actually had a crazy idea of putting a T500 mainboard into a 4:3 T61 and turn it into a "4:3 T400". T500's lid cable is a big problem to doing that so I'd be better off doing R500 mainboard instead. But it barely offers anything more than vanilla 4:3 T61 and T/R500 has stupid port arrangement and 15.4" board in 4:3 chassis wrecks the Ultrabay, and I don't feel the 1066mhz C2D, GMA 4500, and DDR3 package is worth it. And if solely the 1066mhz is desired, it's already doable on a T61 board.

.
.
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In other news, my M-key adapters showed up today and I confirmed an M-key NVME works in a T61's Broadband slot.

The M-Key adapter comes with slots for 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280. I believe only 2230 will definitely fit in any full-height MPCIE slot, but T61 and T500 frames have room for 2242. Use a scissors to slice off the unneeded extension.



It might be contacting the keyboard but I don't think this is a problem, it may even assist as a heatsink.





Windows 7 does not natively support NVME, and while Microsoft had published a hotfix to add NVME support, they removed it and recommend you install Windows 10! Luckily the Internet has saved the hotfix, and even Lenovo offers the hotfix at this page. https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downlo ... t-thinkpad

Once installed, and after a reboot, the NVME drive shows up in Device Manager, and after converting it to MBR using Partition Wizard I was able to format it.

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2023 4:39 pm

The only T61p 15.4" I have is a dead one that was gived to me for parts. I actually had a crazy idea of putting a T500 mainboard into a 4:3 T61 and turn it into a "4:3 T400". T500's lid cable is a big problem to doing that so I'd be better off doing R500 mainboard instead. But it barely offers anything more than vanilla 4:3 T61 and T/R500 has stupid port arrangement and 15.4" board in 4:3 chassis wrecks the Ultrabay, and I don't feel the 1066mhz C2D, GMA 4500, and DDR3 package is worth it. And if solely the 1066mhz is desired, it's already doable on a T61 board.

R400 is perfectly doable - have got two of them done, one with intel and another one with ATI. Everything works nicely and devices are running winter cool, but the LCD RIBBON CABLE REWORK IS A NIGHTMARE.

EDIT: left side ports are easily manageable as well; right side fits perfectly and you need a small cut to fit memory card slot.
EDIT2: Ah, pictures! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link
EDIT3: with R400 board you keep the ultrabay, but power module for bay battery needs to be either removed or relocated. I have failed the latter trice though ^^'

You've done a really good job with your "R400".
What is the SATA adapter and drive you're using? When I needed something like this I got an SSD with a small PCB, then resized the SSD case.
I cannot see the card reader well, but I assume the cosmetics is as good as the left and right sides.
I tried to achieve what you did on the left but could not see how to do it without weakening the shell. You've used part of the plastic shell from the R500 between the expresscard cage and the VGA connector. I can see where you've spliced it on the cage side (anybody who doesn't know these machines wouldn't be able to tell) but I can't see how you've done it at the bottom. How did you do this? Not wanting to weaken the shell I decided to use the R500 shell as a veneer in that region but that subproject dropped down the priority order.
Very nice planar.

Those R600 are amazing and everything I dream of in a 15". You even fit Ultrabay and I understand it is possible to make the right-side USB ports work. Maybe I will commission one someday. My electronic soldering skills are nonexistant.

Back in the day I put an R500 motherboard in a Z60m, and I was able to plug Z60m's lid and cable directly into R500 mainboard. I didn't keep it in the end because it was awful, Z60m's structure is already weak and with surgery to fit wrong mainboard it only got worse. Now I am happier to appreciate Z series for what it is, the first widescreen ThinkPads, despite offering nothing of value over the T61 and the other Penryn widescreens. They are power hungry, slow, too wide, and limited in upgrade potential. At least for a short while, I had the fastest Z series in the world.

unixed wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 06, 2023 8:12 pm

You've done a really good job with your "R400".
What is the SATA adapter and drive you're using? When I needed something like this I got an SSD with a small PCB, then resized the SSD case.
I cannot see the card reader well, but I assume the cosmetics is as good as the left and right sides.

I use mSATA adapters with 3d printed part to fit everything nicely; + cut in a half rubber from standard 2,5-incher. Will post some pics later on. Cool, fast, low power consumption.
As per cosmethics, I tried my best however, first attempts were painful and I have had a LOT of support from German forum magician, including some work of his own.

unixed wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 06, 2023 8:12 pm

I tried to achieve what you did on the left but could not see how to do it without weakening the shell. You've used part of the plastic shell from the R500 between the expresscard cage and the VGA connector. I can see where you've spliced it on the cage side (anybody who doesn't know these machines wouldn't be able to tell) but I can't see how you've done it at the bottom. How did you do this? Not wanting to weaken the shell I decided to use the R500 shell as a veneer in that region but that subproject dropped down the priority order.

First device I just cut the part of plastics from R400 and transplanted it ^^ Will post some pictures; this was actually the easiest part really

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:27 pm

Those R600 are amazing and everything I dream of in a 15". You even fit Ultrabay and I understand it is possible to make the right-side USB ports work. Maybe I will commission one someday. My electronic soldering skills are nonexistant.

Well my right hand does not allow for precise soldering anymore, unfortunately. I think I will take some pics from the inside, this isn't as complicated as it seems (apart from LCD cable).

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:27 pm

Back in the day I put an R500 motherboard in a Z60m, and I was able to plug Z60m's lid and cable directly into R500 mainboard. I didn't keep it in the end because it was awful, Z60m's structure is already weak and with surgery to fit wrong mainboard it only got worse. Now I am happier to appreciate Z series for what it is, the first widescreen ThinkPads, despite offering nothing of value over the T61 and the other Penryn widescreens. They are power hungry, slow, too wide, and limited in upgrade potential. At least for a short while, I had the fastest Z series in the world.

This was the catalyst that started my desire to tinker with thinkpads. This is your fault

ajkula66 wrote: ↑

Wed May 31, 2023 4:51 pm

What a lovely system!

Reminds me of...heh let's not go there...

Don't you worry George, yours is still in loving hands and working And it ignited my love for those systems that resulted in at least 20 different mods on this one

Still, I like T61p 15,4" board inside R61i better ^^ And it is _EASY_

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 03, 2023 9:12 pm

I also reinforce my belief that upgrading from one Core 2 to another is, performance-wise, mostly pointless. The machine is marginally better at YouTube than before.

Yeah I noticed even on my higher powered non-laptop Intel CPUs even from 2014 they just die when it comes to Electron or HTML5. It's pretty crazy at how unusuable the internet is with those old machines.

Ideally I'd like the performance of an M2 macbook in a T60p, but they don't make anything like that these days

micrex22 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 11, 2023 4:01 pm

Yeah I noticed even on my higher powered non-laptop Intel CPUs even from 2014 they just die when it comes to Electron or HTML5. It's pretty crazy at how unusuable the internet is with those old machines.

Ideally I'd like the performance of an M2 macbook in a T60p, but they don't make anything like that these days

There's a recent thread on reddit where one guy turned the TP25's keyboard into a standalone USB keyboard, with the intention of transplanting a Framework 13 laptop AMD system board into a T470/TP25 chassis.
One of the commenters felt inspired and said he'd like to try the same to a T60.