Thinkpads Forum

My brother managed to pick up a (really nice condition) Thinkpad T61 for about $3, however, it's an nVidia model. Being as it's suffering from a failed GPU (made in October 2007) I figure I'll replace the motherboard.

To get to the question, are there any significant differences between the Intel and nVidia boards? I'm thinking I'll get a used Intel board and swap that in, however I'm not sure if there are any significant differences in some minor case layout or screen connector or whatnot. At the moment I'll try a poor mans reflow of baking the motherboard but even that won't be a permanent fix; I've used the method on a few HPs before long enough for people to buy a new system but it never lasted permanently.

This particular one is a 15" model, 6457-6PU. It's in surprisingly great shape and for $30 or so I'm willing to try and fix it as a backup in case something ever happens to my T410.

Yours is not 15", but 15.4" widescreen.
Physically all 15.4" T61 motherboards (Intel and nVidia) will fit, same connectors, same layout.
The only difference between Intel and nVidia is the fan.
You can use the nVidia fan also on an Intel board, but NOT v.v.

As it happens, I have a complete, working "motherboard/CPU T7200/fan/chassis/ATI FireGL V5250 graphics" combo from a 15.4" T60p laying around, that is a drop-in replacement for your busted nVidia.
It does not have 1394 Firewire and SD-card reader, but is otherwise identical.
If you do not need a load of RAM, this would be the perfect solution!
You can transfer your own RAM/wifi/CD/HD and it will all work out of the box.
PM me if interested.

Performance differences between the Intel and Nvidia chips for web browsing are minimal unless watching full screen 1080p flash, which the Intel card can lag slightly on. Unless you will be playing games or doing CAD or using GPU intensive applications, the Intel one will suit you just fine. However, if you plan on keeping the unit for a long time, a non-deffective Nvidia chip will be better since computing is relying more on GPUs in general (operating systems, GPU accelerated rendering of websites, etc.).

Your best bet is to simply find any Intel 15.4" T61 motherboard and swap it into that laptop. The discreet graphics on these laptops are so poor that they really don't offer much unless you want to play some old games at low settings. The only advantage discreet graphics offer for anyone not interest in playing games is that they have H.264 codec hardware acceleration. But even then, any core 2 duo would have no trouble decoding a bluray movie all by itself. All you are looking at is more heat and less battery life.