Don't throw away your T4x, The new mobo is coming![Lots PIC]

[PowerPC]

T61 T9900for summerX9100@3.7Ghzfor winter|6GB|160GB SSD|SXGA|HD7750 and 2503 ultrabase guess that's it

Why don't you use different speed profiles only? Disassembling will stress parts, and the occasional out of time hot or cold day will ruin your plans.

[RMSMajestic]

T61 T9900for summerX9100@3.7Ghzfor winter|6GB|160GB SSD|SXGA|HD7750 and 2503 ultrabase guess that's it

Why don't you use different speed profiles only? Disassembling will stress parts, and the occasional out of time hot or cold day will ruin your plans.

My T9900 goes as low as 0.825v while the minimum voltage for my X9100 is 1.0v (at 800Mhz), although I can underclock both further by pin mods, I prefer not doing so.

Also for a heavy user like me a routine cleaning is necessary every 6 months

besides, even at the same voltage and frequency, X9100 runs hotter than T9900, maybe because my X9100 is a c0 stepping one

But you are right about the British weather, not "occasional" but "usual" I'm thinking about getting rid of X9100

[misfit]

production nearly finish!!!!!

but I guess we might have to wait for the next batch of motherboards :/ the first batch has only 200 ~ish motherboards only

I'm going back to China this Christmas and might bring back a few (<5) of those, if HOPE have no intention to sell those on ebay

Have faith in T4x

Man but I'd love to get my paws on a couple of those, one for a 15" UXGA case and one for a 14" SXGA for mobile duties - luckily I already have the 'donor' ThinkPads in my collection - the ones in my sig are runners, I have 'parts machines' too. I really do hope that they become available on the second or third production run. Meanwhile I'd best get as much paid off my credit card as possible so I have 'room' to purchase a couple if it happens!

[PowerPC]

Parts machines, huh? I have a small hoard of parts, but not entire ThinkPads. I guess I need to start doing this for the 15" T60, palmrests are impossible to find for a low price (with low I mean, less than a whole unit with a BIOS lock from eBay).

[ajkula66]

[misfit]

Parts machines, huh? I have a small hoard of parts, but not entire ThinkPads. I guess I need to start doing this for the 15" T60, palmrests are impossible to find for a low price (with low I mean, less than a whole unit with a BIOS lock from eBay).

Yeah, by 'parts machines' I mean non-working ThinkPads that I bought cheaply. Most have the fractured BGA issue, some have just been decommissioned from business' and have no HDD (and often RAM - and why is it that when this is done they almost always throw away the HDD caddy and cover too?). Others have various problems - my biggest reason for buying is if they have a good screen, especially if it's a FlexView. I like having a stock of the parts that are most likely to fail or need replacing at some stage.

The T60 palmrest thing... I wasn't aware there was a problem with them but had a spare for my 15" models. A friend on a NZ computer group said his had broken latch clip areas and the lid wouldn't stay closed so I gave it to him. LOL, I'm beginning to wish I'd kept it now. :-/

Ok, let's do this right;

Hi, my name is Shaun and I'm a hoarder.

[lanesharon]

Me too -

[shawross]

Parts machines, huh? I have a small hoard of parts, but not entire ThinkPads.

Ok, let's do this right;

Hi, my name is Shaun and I'm a hoarder.

Is the T50 too good to be true or not? I have always thought if anything sounds too good to be true it isn't. When I first heard about the T50 I thought it was a scam but now I am becoming a believer. I am a T4x hoarder I suppose because I have 4 T43's, 1 T42 and 2 T41's. I love the feel of the T4x's and I prefer the 4x3 screen.
I have a T400 but it is just a Laptop and my T43's are much more than this. Sounds like a confession but I am glad I have retained and increased my collection. Workmates don't understand my attraction to the older technology and I would love to upgrade with a T50 Mobo and just tell them I did a minor tweak. Then I would show the Windows Experience Index which would truly impress.
IBM deserve much recognition I believe and they aren't perfect but their build and design has only grown in my eyes.
I just hope that the T50 quality is up there and put me down for a minimum of 2. Then I will offload my T400.


T43 1.86Ghz 2G 160GB IDE HD X300 Windows 7
T43 1.86Ghz 2G 80GB Sata X300 Wndows 7
T42 1.8Ghz 1G 40GB IDE XP
Sitting on shelf 2 x T43 , 2 x T41, 1 x T40

[RealBlackStuff]

I noticed there will no longer be a PCMCIA cage.
Instead there's a small metal housing with presumably (and hopefully) the earlier mentioned HDMI port, and probably another USB port.
Any chance of seeing a frontal view of the left side (with USB/Audio/??? ports) of that mobo?

[ssd_thinkpad]

Are there good batteries out there (new) for the T40 series?

[PowerPC]

I guess you will need to rebuild them.

[Medessec]

I noticed there will no longer be a PCMCIA cage.
Instead there's a small metal housing with presumably (and hopefully) the earlier mentioned HDMI port, and probably another USB port.
Any chance of seeing a frontal view of the left side (with USB/Audio/??? ports) of that mobo?

One of the photos he posted in the topic initially-show this view:
http://forum.51nb.com/attachments/20121 ... k4m245.jpg

It's easy to see that the T50 motherboard puts the HDMI port in place of the S-Video out, and after looking carefully at where the PCMCIA ports would be, I think I can make out that that's a SD card slot in this picture:

http://forum.51nb.com/attachments/20121 ... uwvv9b.jpg

I have a college roommate that I sold a T43p to last year- I've showed him news of this motherboard and he is really anticipating the motherboard. Him and I both have checks ready to write

[lanesharon]

An online pic of the original motherboard:
http://www.techex.biz/ebaybiz/pics/Moth ... 548_01.jpg

You can see that it is upgraded, but I do believe that he is using the original circuit board for the new ones. So, will he give a discount for turning in your original board? That would be a great recycling endeavor.

[Medessec]

I doubt he's using the old boards. I remember seeing a production photo of one of these boards- there was still some extra *board* attached, as if it had gone through a fresh production process.

I also noticed in that photo RMSMajestic posted showing those production models that they made- there's no HDMI ports. I'm hoping these models he mentioned are actually "pre-production" for testing, and the next batch will have the HDMI.

[RealBlackStuff]

The only thing the T43/T50 mobos have in common are the dimensions with their mounting holes/studs, most of the mobo-connectors and the location of items like CPU/RAM/HD.
The T50 board's printed circuits are quite different, especially on the bottom.
There is absolutely NO WAY that you could use an old T43 mobo and turn it into a T50 mobo.

[Medessec]

That's quite cool that if you actually look at the pictures RMSMajestic has posted of the motherboard, it looks very similar to newer laptop motherboards in the construction, with much less chips and bare wires going everywhere.

I'd love to see someone at some point, take a T42/T43 case and use sculpting mould or putty to actually form the exterior around the new ports(HDMI port, SD card slot, cover up the missing dock port) of the T50 motherboard... I'd do it if I had the patience and the skill.

[Thrakath]

Great project going on over there!

One question: Is someone here in close contact with those guys in China? In our german Thinkpad-Forum there is big interest (growing) on those MB (T4x and T6x). So those guys could manufacture them on demand or how? Is just for them as a fun project or could they also produce bigger numbers? Maybe it will be even more efficient for them to make more

[28CarsLater]

Sounds awesome and I don't even have a T4x. Do you suppose it would fit the 60 series?

[AnakiMana]

We do custom projects like this frequently in the Atari ST scene. New custom hardware is always in development, like USB & ethernet adapters for those nearly 30 year old machines. The developer starts a post in the forums detailing the project, defining goals of how many he can make and expected cost based on possible quantities. He then asks for a show of interest and those who would like to commit to email him with how many they will order. He puts them on a mailing list but updates are posted on the forum as to how many more are needed to meet the price goals.
It seems to me that this motherboard project should be organized like that. If there's enough interest, we can get better pricing, and they'll know how many to safely produce.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[PowerPC]

Sounds awesome and I don't even have a T4x. Do you suppose it would fit the 60 series?

It won't fit. Another planar for the T60 is being planned.

[Medessec]

One question: Is someone here in close contact with those guys in China? In our german Thinkpad-Forum there is big interest (growing) on those MB (T4x and T6x).

I think this RMSMajestic member that posted this topic is the best we have- he seems to have the insight and connections with those working on these boards. Although you can visit 51nb.com, you can't really get that far unless you know your fair bit of Chinese... and Google Translate(as hard as it tries) does a pretty tragic job.

We're sort of in the same boat as you... we'd love to get some information on sales and would very much love to get our hands on these T43-mod planars, and the info RMSMajestic supplies proves extremely helpful. I'd imagine your easiest shot at getting intel on these boards is just seeing what happens on here- The German-English bridge gap is far less than the English-Chinese gap

Sounds awesome and I don't even have a T4x. Do you suppose it would fit the 60 series?

T60/61 generation Thinkpads cannot fit T43 planars. You will have to shop around for some dead T42/T43s, empty shells, or just pick up a working T42/T43 for really cheap. I've got a bunch of parts, I've been preparing for the T50 planar madness Because of the design - both 14" and 15" will work.

I've heard snippets of information from attempting to browse 51nb.com with Google Translate(fail) and from RMSMajestic on here that 51nb may have plans for piecing together a T60/61 planar that supports Sandy-Bridge or Ivy-Bridge mobile Intel processors with G2 socket. I'm really hoping that happens-that will give 4:3 the well deserved life it needs. People who have wanted 4:3 to work will have that possibility again.

He then asks for a show of interest and those who would like to commit to email him with how many they will order. He puts them on a mailing list but updates are posted on the forum as to how many more are needed to meet the price goals.
It seems to me that this motherboard project should be organized like that. If there's enough interest, we can get better pricing, and they'll know how many to safely produce.

I'm pretty sure it is organized vaguely like this-there is a system, although I could be wrong, I'm not sure... because I'm not an insider. But that system in question would be Chinese, that's the big roadblock between garnering the interest in those boards here from you guys.

[lanesharon]

Maybe if we ask around on FB and other places, we can find a chinese translator. I will ask. I hope others do too.

[Orclas]

Hmmm, one thing just came to mind: I wonder how the T43 cooling system will behave with an i5 to cool...?

[ajkula66]

Hmmm, one thing just came to mind: I wonder how the T43 cooling system will behave with an i5 to cool...?

One way to find out...

Having said that, PM780 wasn't a cool-running chip either *and* you had a V3200 oven that was cooled by the same heatsink...

[misfit]

Hmmm, one thing just came to mind: I wonder how the T43 cooling system will behave with an i5 to cool...?

Yeah, I wondered the same thing a while back. A little research told me that he TDP of the Dothan was up to 27w - while the mobile i5 is rated at 35w. Not a huge jump but significant.

However Intel only seem to give the maximum TDP for the i5 regardless of whether it's a 2.2GHz CPU or a 2.9GHz (and that's 2.9 nominal, they also have a 'turbo mode' that is higher). So I'd assume that perhaps a CPU towards the lower end of the speed range should be fine. I mean, four cores that are about 6 generations newer running at >2GHz should absolutely trounce the Dothan at the same speed and (I assume) the same real-world TDP.

I'd think that 'Hope' would have already thought about this...

PM780 wasn't a cool-running chip either *and* you had a V3200 oven that was cooled by the same heatsink...

Excellent point! Also I was wondering if the footprint of the i5s IHS would fit against the T4x cooler (but don't have one out of a ThinkPad right now to eyeball).

[Medessec]

In my mind the G1 socket and i5 die would be a bit more shallow... but I'm pretty sure that you won't need copper shims or anything to make sure the heatsink meets the CPU. We'll just have to wait and see. But the T43 heatsink isn't exactly something you can just bend down for the CPU to meet the heatsink... I mean, you could, but I wouldn't.

[lanesharon]

From what I read, through the translator, some of the people on the Chinese website already have these boards. Which means, they are running some kind of setup that I am sure all of us would be glad to know about. We really need a translator.

[Orclas]

With a total of 50k+ members, there just has to be a Chinese speaking member somewhere on this forum, even if only - say - 10% of the members are anywhere near active. Question is how to find, I don't think multi-posting a job advert on the most visited subforums would be too popular with the admins...

[28CarsLater]

@Medessec, PowerPC

Thanks for the responses, When/if these things are offered I'll ebay a T4x.

@lanesharon

I am in no way fluent, but I have a co-worker who is from China and helped me translate for three projects I had to do this year. I could see if she'd be willing and post in the NB51 forum.

[lanesharon]

Thanks. I am hoping she will agree.