Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone, I received my t61 today, and I'm planning on putting together a frankenpad. I'm wanting to take the screen and the hinges off the t60 (the t61's screen is same resolution but with a bad yellow hue for white and hinges are very wobbly) and try to fit them to the t61 lid. I'm wondering what other modifications I should make, and if anyone would be interested in leftover parts. I may save the t60's motherboard if I get confirmation once the t61 is opened that the nvidia chip is in fact defective so I have something to fall back on. Going to upgrade it to 8gb of memory and move the ssd to it as well. How much drilling gluing sawing and welding can I expect from this?

Are you trying to put T60 parts into a T61? If both models are 14.", Only the screen, keyboard bezel, palmrest (with slight cutting of bottom leftmost notch), keyboard, ram, complete LCD assembly, and ultrabay devices can be swapped between them. You cannot put T60 hinges on a T61 lid frame or vice versa. A motherboard from a T61 to T60 requires some drilling of the frame. I don't know anybody who tried the reverse, but I assume the fit wouldn't be perfect either.

Most people would want to put a T61 14.1" motherboard into a 15" flexview equipped T60 to get the best screen and performance combination of the systems.

I see. I probably won't be able to do this then since both my t60 and 61 are 14". I will just save the t60 then in case the t61 dies of nvidia fail I'm guessing theres nothing to do it make those hinges better? It seems like every lenovo non-ibm machine model upgrade the quality diminishes. Is this seen in the newest and best machines? Thought a fully upgraded t60/61 would be sufficient for when I start school. If I can't put them together I'll just have one to fall back on then since they were so cheap. Charger and battery are compatible with both so I'm okay with it

T61 hinges do feel cheaper than the ones on T60s. Very early hinges on some T60 machines (distinct black barrel + steel design as opposed to magnesium block), which had a similar design to T4* hinges, tend to have very minimal wobble. In my experience, usually only the right hinge will have tiny play. The newer T60 hinges have a bit more wobble, but not nearly as much as T61 hinges.

Not as wobbly as what some other brands seem to have. I'm curious as to what made them decide to push the screen to the right and widen the lid slightly on the t61, and there seems to be some sort of diagonal texturing on the upper left and middle top of the screen. I tried pushing them in a direction but they didn't open anything or unlatch anything... just for cosmetic reasons? lol

gnawzie wrote:Not as wobbly as what some other brands seem to have. I'm curious as to what made them decide to push the screen to the right and widen the lid slightly on the t61, and there seems to be some sort of diagonal texturing on the upper left and middle top of the screen. I tried pushing them in a direction but they didn't open anything or unlatch anything... just for cosmetic reasons? lol

This was done so you could fit 3 antennas + wwan antenna. The T60 could only have 2 antennas for the network card and one for wwan.

brchan wrote:The T60 could only have 2 antennas for the network card and one for wwan.

This is incorrect.

Some of the T60/p systems had three antennae + two for WWAN.

That texturing just indicates where the Antennas are. The T60 had them too on its sides. Personally, I don't quite get why they widened/off-centered the screen either. Be it on the T61 or T500. It's just a piece of plastic spacer with no obvious function. Maybe George knows more about this? Been thinking about swapping my T61 lid for a T60 lid, not only for the better hinges but for a centered screen as well. I am reluctant however because the T61 lid does feel very solid thanks to the magnesium frame and I just love the way it's built with the easy to replace plastic cover, in case you crack the lid.

The T60 systems that needed more antennas, had an optional bulge on the side. This looked weird but still better than the T61/T400/T500.

It's really like someone thought "Hm, how can we make these machines as ugly as possible?" and came up with a design solution.

OP can just move the complete lid from his T60 onto his T61, if both are 14.1" 4:3 (non-widescreen).

brchan wrote:

gnawzie wrote:Not as wobbly as what some other brands seem to have. I'm curious as to what made them decide to push the screen to the right and widen the lid slightly on the t61, and there seems to be some sort of diagonal texturing on the upper left and middle top of the screen. I tried pushing them in a direction but they didn't open anything or unlatch anything... just for cosmetic reasons? lol

This was done so you could fit 3 antennas + wwan antenna. The T60 could only have 2 antennas for the network card and one for wwan.

Yeah the T60s configured with the optional 3G had a third (yellow) wire that went to the protruding antenna housing on the right. There are far less T60s with this optional configuration so you don't see it as often.

The T60 and T61 hinges are more or less the same-- they get loose/wobbly with age. So depending on which one has more age, it will be more "wobbly".

micrex22 wrote:The T60 and T61 hinges are more or less the same-- they get loose/wobbly with age. So depending on which one has more age, it will be more "wobbly".

That hasn't been my experience, at least when comparing 4:3 14" and 15" T60s and 14" wide T61s (granted, it's a bit apples to oranges). The T61 hinges get much more wobbly.

Wobbly hinges from Lenovo seemed to extend into the T420 and maybe T430 generation. Hinges from the T510 - T530 seem to be solid, however. Nevertheless, T410 and newer hinges tend to be much better than those from the T60/x60 - T400/T500/W500/X201.

X300 stays completely wobble free as well. A clear sign that lenovo simply used cheapo hinges in the affected models.

brchan wrote:T61 hinges do feel cheaper than the ones on T60s. Very early hinges on some T60 machines (distinct black barrel + steel design as opposed to magnesium block), which had a similar design to T4* hinges, tend to have very minimal wobble. In my experience, usually only the right hinge will have tiny play. The newer T60 hinges have a bit more wobble, but not nearly as much as T61 hinges.

Would you have the FRU of the older T60 hinges?

Would you have the FRU of the older T60 hinges?

26R9391 and 26R9392 are the part numbers for the 14.1" model that I have. The right hinge actually has a small hole at the bottom where the black pieces are stuck into. If it is lose, you might actually be able to screw in a tiny screw to prevent any wobble. It does not seem like it would comprimise stability or reliablity, but I have not tried it.

brchan wrote:26R9391 and 26R9392 are the part numbers for the 14.1" model that I have. The right hinge actually has a small hole at the bottom where the black pieces are stuck into. If it is lose, you might actually be able to screw in a tiny screw to prevent any wobble. It does not seem like it would comprimise stability or reliablity, but I have not tried it.

I see. I will look for the correspondent parts for the 15" models too. Thanks.