R51 Motherboard Swap?

[SAIYAN48]

Hello!

I have an R51 with max RAM and a dualboot with XP and LXLE. Now I love this thing but it's not too powerful anymore. In theory, with case modding, what Motherboard could I put into the chassis? I do want to keep the classic keyboard since I had an x131 for high school and hated the modern keyboard. Any ideas/advice is appreaciated.

Thanks!

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Sadly, there's not much of an improvement path if one want to utilize the R5x chassis. None of the significantly newer boards will fit.

You could hang on to the "classic" keyboard all the way into T/W 420/520 series which would provide immensely more power than your current ThinkPad.

[RealBlackStuff]

Without case modding, the best you could do is put a T43p mobo in there.
You'd also need a new CPU, a new fan and new RAM with that, but the rest of R51 you can reuse.
However, you are still limited to max. 2GB RAM.

Ajkula66's advice is indeed your better/best bet.

[SAIYAN48]

Any non Thinkpad boards that might do the trick (as a last resort)

[ajkula66]

Any non Thinkpad boards that might do the trick (as a last resort)

No

[Ogog10002]

Without case modding, the best you could do is put a T43p mobo in there.
You'd also need a new CPU, a new fan and new RAM with that, but the rest of R51 you can reuse.
However, you are still limited to max. 2GB RAM.

Ajkula66's advice is indeed your better/best bet.

Am I to understand that any T43 motherboard will fit the case with all the screws in place? How about the display I'm guessing one would probably have to change it too(inverter and cable as well, but will the T43 display cable and inverter fit in the R51 case?)
Thanks

[RealBlackStuff]

Any T43/T43p (and its sister R52) mobo will fit.
If it is a 15" screen with UXGA, or a 14.1" screen with SXGA+, then you will need a mobo with ATI graphics.
LCDs will also fit between models.
BUT, you will need an R5x LCD-cable and inverter, they are different from T4x.
Get the manuals from the HMM link above, and compare parts.

[kfzhu1229]

You'd also need a new CPU, a new fan and new RAM with that, but the rest of R51 you can reuse.
However, you are still limited to max. 2GB RAM.

Uh I believe that is not true as the PCMCIA cage between T42 and T43 is completely different, and T42 cage is completely electrically compatible with R51. Using these cages on a T43 results in firstly the connector not plugging in and also weirdly enough, sleep function gets screwy.
I believe the safest option is really to get a T43 unit entirely (or even better, go to a newer machine like the T520) and then sell your R51.
If you still want to keep the R51 guts, then you just need a T43/p motherboard (preferably ATi based as the non-ATI based one is likely slower than your R51), R52 PCMCIA cage, CPU heatsink, 533mhz Dothan Sonoma generation Pentium M CPU (although your existing 400mhz one will work too but defeats the point, providing it's not a Banias core), DDR2 RAM sticks, and a different bluetooth card if that's something you want.