Some R51e Questions

[emeraldgirl08]

Does a slim DVD/CDRW fit in an R51e? I have the HMM and it shows only a 12.5 mm device for the R51e's. Is there anyone who has tried?

I also have a question on motherboard types. I see that there are two different processors available. The crappy Celeron and the nice Dothan Pentium M. If one gets a unit with the Celeron can the processor be upgraded to the 1.86 PMs?

I did see a post about the R50e's here regarding swapping Celerons for Pentium M's but I think the two are completely different motherboards as the R51e's support DDR2 so I'm hopfully assuming the switch to Pentium M Dothan is doable.

In case you're wondering why is she asking all these R51e questions???

I have an 15" R51e coming my way as a project and am also (yes I am an inquisitive girl) wondering if a Flexview would work with this? I really like the bright LCD in my R52 but would imagine that if it were a Flexview then this lappy would almost be perfect for lil' ol' me

[dr_st]

Does a slim DVD/CDRW fit in an R51e? I have the HMM and it shows only a 12.5 mm device for the R51e's. Is there anyone who has tried?

The R51e (unlike regular R51) have a fixed bay. I think Ultrabay Enhanced 12.5mm drives fit there (although it's not a screw-free design), but dunno about Ultrabay Slim.

I also have a question on motherboard types. I see that there are two different processors available. The crappy Celeron and the nice Dothan Pentium M. If one gets a unit with the Celeron can the processor be upgraded to the 1.86 PMs?

It's the same chipset, and the CPU isn't soldered, so I'd say yes. Just make sure you get the 500MHz Dothan chips (1.73/1.86) and not the 400Mhz chips (1.7/1..

Dunno about the Flexview thing.

[richk]

As far as the flexview thing, it's hard to say. R51e uses ATI Radeon Xpress 200M, and it is the only model I know of that uses that chip. I certainly have not tried it. I would not be surprised if the bios (unique to that model) only supports xga

[virge]

I recently picked up a R50E which is very similar (the same?) mechanically to the R51E. I've been using the DVD/CDRW from my T41 in it. Works just fine-- no eject lever, so you have to just pull/push the drive to get it to come out. Haven't checked to see if there is supposed to be a retaining screw. Mine is a project machine as well and its not quite complete.

The R50E originally came with a 1.5GHz Celeron M which I switched for a 1.3Ghz Pentium M that I had lying around. Don't notice a difference, but it works fine. As you said though you have a different chipset in the R51E so I dunno if this interchangeability carries over.

I have the parts necessary to test whether a Flexview will work with mine (Intel GPU, so I don't have high hopes), but haven't had the time. And frankly, I'm also a little worried that I'll short something on the motherboard!

[emeraldgirl08]

@ dr_st.

Yeah you confirmed my hypothesis on the PM compatibility. I wasn't so sure after reading the R50e dilemma with swapping. I had figured that if the R51e can take a DDR2 RAM then the FSB and the L1 cache must be bigger than the R50e setup. Therefore then R51e should be able to take that PM.

If anyone else can verify this I'd appreciate it. I just bought a PM 1.86 Dothan from Ebay and hopefully (by the comp deities) this works

I'd very much prefer the step-up from the 1.4 Celeron that is coming with it. I should also mention that it only has 256 mb of DDR2 RAM. Luckily the 1GB that came with my R52 will work with the R51e (I bought 2gb for my R52 and put the 1gb away).

[ajkula66]

IPS LCD will not work in a R51e.

[emeraldgirl08]

No IPS.



I was browsing thru the TRW book and there were some R51e's that, I could have been sure, had the option for IPS screens.

Just not possible George???

[ajkula66]

What's the 7-character model number of that R51e that's on its way to you?

[dr_st]

I was browsing thru the TRW book and there were some R51e's that, I could have been sure, had the option for IPS screens.

R51's - sure. R51e's - no way. Putting such a high-end part into an "economy" model doesn't make any sense.

Now, whether it can be theoretically supported is a different question, and has to do with BIOS/chipset limitations.

[ZaZ]

Wasn't the R50 the last R series with a IPS?

[dr_st]

Wasn't the R50 the last R series with a IPS?

Nope. R51.

T42 (equivalent of R51) was the first T series with IPS, and it took IBM/Lenovo one more generation to make sure that the 15" T series models are accepted, and so the expensive IPS feature can be safely removed from the R series. R52 comes with SXGA+ non-IPS screens.

[RealBlackStuff]

I am the lucky owner of an R52 with a non-standard 15" SXGA+ IPS Flexview.
The previous owner swapped out the original LCD for a Flexview. And it works on an Intel GPU!
For details, see second half of this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=78422

[underclocker]

Unless someone has tested a 15" SXGA+ LCD (FlexView or not, it doesn't matter), with the R51e 15" machine and an R50/R51/R52 SXGA+ LCD cable (from the HMM, it seems that XGA & SXGA+ inverters are the same), then we do not have a definitive answer.

The ATI Radeon Xpress 200M video chipset certainly supports the resolution, it "supports resolutions up to 2536x2536@32bpp" also external display "support for fixed resolution displays from VGA (640x480) to wide UXGA (1600x1200)" , see website --> http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonxpres ... specs.html

It's really only a question of whether or not the BIOS/EC (or some other chip) on the R51e includes (or blocks) SXGA+ support.

[ajkula66]

FWIW, I've tried it on R50e and got nowhere...with a complete lid from a R51.

Now, I can make a mistake since I'm only human but that's what I recall...

[underclocker]

I am sure you are correct about that. However, R50e and R51e mobos are completely different. Different BIOS/EC, too. While it was called an R51e, it was closer to an R52 (with 533MHz bus, 533MHz bus CPU's, PC2-4200 memory) than an R51.

Since the 15" R52's support SXGA+, it is possible. It probably won't work, but it should be tried.

In fact, the R51e uses the same video driver as ATI-GPU T43, R52 and Z60m machines, see below;

Video driver (ATI Radeon 200M, X300, X600, FireGL V3200) for Windows 2000/XP - ThinkPad R51e, R52 (1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1870), T43/p (26xx), Z60m

This package installs the software (Video driver) to enable the following video chips:
- ATI MOBILITY FIREGL V3200
- ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300
- ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
- ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M

The following ThinkPad systems are supported:
- ThinkPad R51e
- ThinkPad R52 (Machine Type : 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1870)
- ThinkPad T43, T43p (Machine Type: 26xx)
- ThinkPad Z60m (ATI video models only)

[emeraldgirl08]

IPS for R51e... just saw something by Underclocker but didn't read it yet.

I did see this though. If you'll notice SXGA + IPS is supported for the 15" LCD panel.

I'm thinking if I can get this thing running right I may want to get one of these screens

I'm tired of looking for a sweet spot when watching videos especially when the scene is dim.

[dr_st]

There is no SXGA+ IPS panel listed there. Just SXGA+/IPS cable assembly. Dunno why it would need a different cable. In any case, all models listed with that part number are R52s, which naturally support SXGA+, since many of them came with SXGA+ (just not IPS).

[emeraldgirl08]

What's the 7-character model number of that R51e that's on its way to you?

R51e

Type: 1844-69U

The seller could not find the S & D keys so he's sending it without them and I'm looking. At this point I'm not entirely sure what type of Keyboard it has. I bet anything it's the Alps keyboard tho although if it was NMB I'd be slop happy

[ilakast]

Just in case someone wants to try in the future:

15'' R51e + UXGA from an T42p do not cooperate Inverter lights up and works fine, laptop boots in XP but no screen output neither when posting nor when in XP (with ATI drivers installed). I used the inverter and LCD cable of the UXGA screen.

Is it going to be in vain you think to try and use the R51e cable and inverter with the T42p screen (just in case it works)?

Found the answer with a little more reading http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 53#p696753 So it is a definite NO-NO to get UXGA with an R51e.

[Tim82]

Nearly two months ago I had the opportunity to experiment with an 15" R51e (1843-6NG) and an LCD cable, inverter & SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) IPS display from a 15" T43 (2668-96G).

It is too a "no-go", the display stayed blank when booting up. I suppose R51e's BIOS can only handle XGA (1024 x 768) resolution on the internal screen.