Thinkpads Forum

I'm going to Japan next week, and want to buy two X60/61(s) laptops. I live in Europe where I have a flat rate HSDPA (WWAN) subscription. I'd like to have the integrated WWAN card (Vodafone or similar), which requires a mobo with a SIM slot + two PCIe slots.

I haven't been able to find any information about the Japanese ThinkPad models, whether they have 1 or 2 PCIe slots. Any ideas?

Also, can you suggest any particular store to buy Thinkpads from? An international model would be a big plus albeit not a necessity.

The TABOOK seems to list western models only, but the Japanese ones are missing. 7675-4BJ is an example of a model I'm interested in. where could I find exact specs for those?

TIA,

Antti

For X60/s
Motherboard FRU numbers with 2 MiniPCIe slots:
42T0021 (L2400/1.67GHz)
42R9870 (L2500/1.83GHz)
42T0031 (T2400/1.83GHz)
42R9872 (T2500/2.00GHz)

For X61/s
All motherboards should have (Edited: see postings below) two MiniPCIe slots in order to accommodate the Turbo Memory option. However, they don't all have the connector for the secondary fan (although that is not an issue even if you install a WWAN card + I would not connect the second fan in any case because of my preference not to have additional noise and power consumption.)

There is also the consideration of the built-in WWAN antenna. One can add that to a "top" which does not have it, but it's preferable if one finds a machine with the antenna already installed.

Note: there are X60/s machines which have the WWAN antenna but which lack the second MiniPCIe connector, so for X60/s machines you must verify that the motherboard FRU is one of the above. You can do so on the Lenovo site with the machine's serial number or you can remove the DIMM cover on the bottom of the machine and check the FRU# on the label on the motherboard.

My X61s does not have a 2nd PCI-e slot. The space is there of course but the header is missing.

Where are you getting your info that *all* X61/s machines have 2 PCI-e slots?

The discrepancy may be a generational issue. All recent motherboards should have two MiniPCIe slots so that they can provide the Turbo Memory option. Let me verify if that is correct and I will edit/correct as necessary.

I know a month ago this was not the case. You may or may not get 2 PCIe slots on your motherboard if you don't order WiFi+WWAN or WiFi+TurboMemory.

Also, I think you need to get a different, specific WWAN card to use in Europe, even if it's still "Vodafone" because they use different frequencies/bands. For example, certain "channels" on WiFi are not legal to use in Japan, yet they are legal in the US, and as such the Japanese wifi cards have those channels blocked.

Don't forget to make sure the SIM card holder is also present at time of sale; since it is soldered onto X60/s motherboard (near the memory slots on mine) it would not be easily retro-fittable.

One other reason for possibly needing a new WWAN mini-PCIE card when you return to Europe is the issue of carrier locks. A Japanese WWAN-enabled ThinkPad may have its card locked to a certain Japanese mobile carrier.

The SIM card slot can be found by simply open the RAM cover. It sits below the 2 RAM stick slots I believe. (And it is soldered to the board)