Thinkpads Forum

I am looking to buy a 760el to use to write songs with adlib tracker II. The FM sound chip in the 760el means that adlib runs on hardware, instead of an opl3 emulation.

I have a pretty good working 760xd (I bought it years ago for $10 at a thrift store and never used it), however, the xd uses wavetable synthesis so it's useless for what I want it for.

My question is whether the el and the xd are compatible with each other as far as hardware goes. I'm planning on looking for a cheap broken el that I can use the xd to refurbish. Would the hard drive, battery, screen, ram etc. be completely interchangeable? They look like the exact same computer.

Thank you for the help,

tenfold

edit: also, are there any other models that are as similar to the XD that I could be considering too?

The 760s incorporate a modular design meaning each component is separate. You can swap the sound systems between the 760XD and EL; likewise, you can swap the CPU chips. However, the 760XD has a higher resolution screen and more video memory as well as a chassis fan. The 760Xd will probably run faster than the EL and give you a nicer screen. Just download the service manuals to see how to take apart the laptop then swap the sound boards.