Thinkpads Forum

Currious while compairing the T400 with the T61 14.1" widescreen models. Are the Palmrest and back of the LCD interchangable with the T61 14.1" widescreens? Sorry for the silly quesiton.

Sorry for the bump, but I really want to purchase a T400 and got to know a solid answer if I can go ahead and replace the palment and the back of the LCD lid with the T61. Looking at comparisons it seems that the T400 and T61 14" widescreen are the same, just with diffrent internal. I want to replace the back of the LCD and palmrest so I can keep the IBM logos. Anybody know?

i did try to replace the palmrest of the T61 on a T400 and vice versa.... they do fit interchangeably. I will have a look at tonight for you and see how it goes. I will take a picture and post it on the forum tomorrow with the result.

The LCD lid should be interchangeable from the external shape and dimension wise.


Why would you go into the trouble of doing this replacement for the sake of the IBM logo?

You can do the logo change, by simply peeling off the old logo and sticking an IBM logo. I think you can buy the IBM logo from the web for a few dollars. My friend use to have a stack of those when he was selling the T61.

Unfortunately the IBM tricolour logo will not fit in the lid on the T400; the logo indent is different. There is also a nice big Lenovo logo on the left side, which although is non-intrusive, grime gets into the grooves around the logo.

lead_org wrote:i did try to replace the palmrest of the T61 on a T400 and vice versa.... they do fit interchangeably. I will have a look at tonight for you and see how it goes. I will take a picture and post it on the forum tomorrow with the result.

The LCD lid should be interchangeable from the external shape and dimension wise.


Why would you go into the trouble of doing this replacement for the sake of the IBM logo?

You can do the logo change, by simply peeling off the old logo and sticking an IBM logo. I think you can buy the IBM logo from the web for a few dollars. My friend use to have a stack of those when he was selling the T61.

Thank you very much for looking into this. I did confirm from somebody else the T400 and T61 have the same palmrest and are swapable.

The LCD will be tricky since there are two versions. The LED backlight version of the T400 is thinner and would assume the lcd lid would be a diffrent version from the T61, but if it's the starndard lcd then I think that a T61 lid would work perfectly. I'm anxious to find out and can't wait to upgrade to a T400. Hope to hear from ya soon!

after having a look at the thinkpad logo on the T61 and T400 they are indeed slightly different.... so no direct swap.

The bad news about using the T61 palm rest on the T400 is that there is a slight bulge on the left hand side, due to the plastic post that holds the screw been slightly longer. So there will be a slight modification required. Unfortunately, i can't take the picture with my Blackberry phone camera, since it is just a blur. I will have to use a real camera to take a picture of this, which will be done on tomorrow or the day after that when i get home.

P.S. But the T400 palmrest fits perfectly on the T61, which means people can use the HP Synaptic driver to enable features like 2 fingers scrolling and 3 fingers application launch.

lead_org wrote:after having a look at the thinkpad logo on the T61 and T400 they are indeed slightly different.... so no direct swap.

The bad news about using the T61 palm rest on the T400 is that there is a slight bulge on the left hand side, due to the plastic post that holds the screw been slightly longer. So there will be a slight modification required. Unfortunately, i can't take the picture with my Blackberry phone camera, since it is just a blur. I will have to use a real camera to take a picture of this, which will be done on tomorrow or the day after that when i get home.

P.S. But the T400 palmrest fits perfectly on the T61, which means people can use the HP Synaptic driver to enable features like 2 fingers scrolling and 3 fingers application launch.

Any updates on the lcd lid replacement? is it an easy swap or a no go? Thanks

Why would you want the IBM logo on a T400.. it's a Lenovo product.

To be honest, I like the new "just ThinkPad" logo in the corner. That lenovo logo they put on the bottom left of the lid during the Tx00 is a bit unsightly though. I do wonder what an SL/R series (hinges not visible) would look like without even the ThinkPad logo. Completely black box when the lid is closed. XD

The T4x0 series does away with the Lenovo logo on the exterior and moves it to the interior, left of the LED indicators.

Springdale wrote:Any updates on the lcd lid replacement? is it an easy swap or a no go?

Swapping complete LCD assemblies between 14" widescreen T61/R61 and T400/R400 machines is a no go.

As with the T500/W500 series, the LCD cable connector for the motherboard is physically wider than previous generation machines.

However, you can use the non-LED 14" widescreen panels between any Z60t/Z61t/T61/R61/T400/R400 with a CCFL display.