X220 display mod with 12.5" FHD IPS panel from Dell XPS 12 ?

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

No, not really. I'm drawing about 15W with wifi and bluetooth radios on, running Firefox and MS Word. The backlight is probably a little brighter than I like but at this point, I have no control over that setting. With my 6 cell battery pack (62 Wh), I'm currently getting about 3:30 hours of run time.

Uhuu? No more brightness control? That sucks hard!

[Tasurinchi]

Fwiw, this guy in Japan has developed his own kit for sale and is even taking orders for mods to be done. Appears to be a Japan-only dealy though.
I don't think I have the chops to do this myself - anybody here willing to do the mod if I acquired the kit via this guy or ctom's guy?

That's very interesting, thanks a lot for sharing!

The adapter looks kind of big IMO but maybe is just the perspective. I'm trying to guess how it would fit inside the X220.

[LastSilmaril]

That's very interesting, thanks a lot for sharing!

You're welcome!

The adapter looks kind of big IMO but maybe is just the perspective. I'm trying to guess how it would fit inside the X220.

You don't have to guess; see here.

[Tasurinchi]

You don't have to guess; see here.

Wow, those are very detailed steps how to do it. Nice job by the guy/gal who documented the steps... Thanks again for sharing...

[LastSilmaril]

You don't have to guess; see here.

Wow, those are very detailed steps how to do it. Nice job by the guy/gal who documented the steps... Thanks again for sharing...

Sure. And yeah, this looks like a particularly elegant, well-thought-out design for the pcb. I'm getting curious enough to want to try it myself. Anyone have a micro-soldering guide?

[Bibin]

Sure. And yeah, this looks like a particularly elegant, well-thought-out design for the pcb. I'm getting curious enough to want to try it myself. Anyone have a micro-soldering guide?

No micro-soldering here. Looks like the PCB just has holes that get placed on top of the existing through-hole parts from the dock connection, and then the simple soldering is done. There is one surface mount point for the VCC connection, but that is a big simple pad. This is a very nicely done kit. The only thing I would have liked more is to have a disable switch, so the external DisplayPort connection may be used alternately.

[LastSilmaril]

Sure. And yeah, this looks like a particularly elegant, well-thought-out design for the pcb. I'm getting curious enough to want to try it myself. Anyone have a micro-soldering guide?

No micro-soldering here. Looks like the PCB just has holes that get placed on top of the existing through-hole parts from the dock connection, and then the simple soldering is done. There is one surface mount point for the VCC connection, but that is a big simple pad. This is a very nicely done kit. The only thing I would have liked more is to have a disable switch, so the external DisplayPort connection may be used alternately.

Do you think it could be modified to add such a switch?

[Bibin]

I'm not sure, I don't know enough about displayport here. However, space is tight, so that would have to be integrated into the PCB to be reliable. In an ideal scenario, there is the equivelant of a /CE line so the display can go into an inactive state. In the worst case, external hardware takes the lines off the displayport connections. The signals are probably too high-speed and sensitive for that, though.

[jedisurfer1]

If anyone knows how to do this mod please PM how much you are charging for your time and efforts. If you can do this on an HP 2560p 2570p even better. Thanks

[Bibin]

Based on what I'm seeing, I feel confident I could perform the mod using the kit, but I'm not willing to fork over that much money right now for something I don't need. If you want to buy me one, well then, I'll see

The mod could in principle work on any laptop with DisplayPort, but that adapter board will only work on the X220.

[hengster]

Good news to people living in China.

There is a seller on Taobao who now does this mod on X220 and X230. Besides doing the mod for you they also offer to buy a refurbished machine fit in the FHD IPS and then sell it to you for a reasonable price.

Seller: http://shop116423671.taobao.com/?spm=20 ... 6.2.OdPKgz

Refurbished machines with FHD IPS: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a23 ... t=5#detail


I'm living in China, so might bring one of those to my brother in Denmark next time I go home

Edit: If needed I might be able to help as Im fluent in Chinese and could talk to the seller and maybe even try to find out a method for international shipping to US and EU.

this is awesome! that changes everything for me, and considering to upgrade my X220 and T420s, or just getting Core i7 sets instead and selling off current ones later.
As for the Taobao links, confirming the content as you said (I am fluent in Mandarin Chinese too), seems like many people have been buying with no problems from the seller. Thinking now to find a reliable Taobao agent to bring it in to Singapore for me

QUESTION: Can anyone comment on the battery life after changing to FHD panels?
Logically it must be worse than a HD panel, but roughly by how much (%)?
This information would really matter, since I am using my X220 when travelling for overseas trips.

[thinksilk]

I absolutely must have this modification, but it does look a little trickier than I feel comfortable doing myself. I currently have 2 x220's, and have been constantly thinking of getting an x250 and perhaps trying to retrofit a better keyboard into it or something. That is silly though, the x220 is still in many ways a superior machine. I had been used to buying a new laptop every year, but this is ridiculous, my favorite laptops at this point are 4 1/2 years old. Only thing they need is a higher resolution screen.

Any assistance that can be provided to get me this modification performed would be appreciated. I tried the taobao website but am unable to get translated any clear method for me to obtain this mod. I would love to get at least one of my x220's modified, or I would purchase another already modified x220. The only limitation I would have is that payment for products would require being made on a corporate credit card and would require good accounting and reciepts (I fear that a Chinese receipt would raise a few eyebrows).

[karazi]

Does anyone know how to acquire these adapter boards? I am in the US and would definitely be willing to try this mod on my X220. The soldering doesn't look too bad and the financial risk is not crippling given these are 5y/o machines. If I am able to get it working on mine then I might be willing to do the procedure for others. Please let me know, thanks.

[crashnburn]

Did anyone try this out using that Taobao or other alternative ways?

Any links to them?

[Pokrzept]

Does anyone of you can provide information on current prices and availability of the modified laptops mentioned on Taobao auction? Since all of the Far East languages are huge mystery to me, I am not able to find any clear information. I am quite interested in information on the manufacturer and type of WQHD LCDs. Is anyone able to tell me whether the values given in the description are the prices given in Chinese Juan and do they refer to completely modified Thinkpad?

[DanielNTX]

X220 OS X Adding Scaled Resolutions: 1536 x 864 and 1920 x 1080

So if you are running OS XEl Capitan on your ThinkPad X220 and want more screen real estate without doing the FHD LCD hardware modification, you can add some scaled resolutions to OS X pretty easily. (I got this idea because Google Chromebooks let you increase the resolution past the LCD’s native resolution.)

Thanks to McDonnell for easy instructions to get OS X El Capitan on the X220: http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/

To do this, you have to create an override based on your DisplayVendorID and DisplayProductID.

In Terminal run this command:
ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayPrefsKey

It will output something like this:
"IODisplayPrefsKey" = "IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/IGPU@2/AppleIntelFramebuffer@0/display0/AppleBacklightDisplay-30e4-2d8"

At the end of the string you will see some hex values, in this case 0x30e4 and 0x2db.
Your DisplayVendorID is 0x30e4 and your DisplayProductID is 0x2db.

Create an Override folder named DisplayVendorID-30e4 by entering:
sudo mkdir /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-30e4

Next create a Display Override file by entering:
sudo vi /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-30e4/DisplayProductID-2d8

In this file, paste this code:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>DisplayProductName</key>
        <string>Lenovo x220 Display</string>
        <key>DisplayProductID</key>
        <integer>728</integer>
        <key>DisplayVendorID</key>
        <integer>12516</integer>
        <key>scale-resolutions</key>
        <array>
                <data>AAAGAAAAA2A=</data>
                <data>AAAHgAAABDg=</data>
        </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Finally, reboot and if you go to your Display preferences you will see 1920 x 1080 and 1536 x 864.

Now it’s not as nice as a native FHD panel, but it’s zero cost and an easy hack. 1536 x 864 is manageable but 1920 x 1080 is blurry to my eyes.

Display preferences:
http://i.imgur.com/rueMrLt.png

1366 x 768:
http://i.imgur.com/aVQDib7.jpg

1536 x 864:
http://i.imgur.com/6VsyqJJ.jpg

1920 x 1080:
http://i.imgur.com/Km0vU9U.jpg

Happy Easter!

[Carthik]

Has anyone successfully gotten in contact with the Japanese seller? I'm interested in purchasing one of his kits but have had no luck communicating with him. Does anyone have his email address?

[Puppy]

FYI there is also 12.2" 1920x1200 panel available: Samsung LTK122H30A1 http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/TFT ... 068290.htm

EDIT it is actually Leadtek http://www.leadtekdisplay.com/122156-tf ... 27_22.html

[evening_hunger]

For that matter, also the screen from xps 13 has been done by 51nb: http://imgur.com/a/0m3a1

[Puppy]

For that matter, also the screen from xps 13 has been done by 51nb: http://imgur.com/a/0m3a1

Amazing

[evening_hunger]

Indeed. I'm not sure if you've seen the link on reddit about it (easily found). Long story short: it's one of the 51nb's mods that's about to go 'public' so that non-Chinese speakers around the world can buy it. But the price is unknown yet. Also, noone actually said what's on stake: mod kit, entire laptop to be bought, or screen assembly (with lvds2edp naturally). So we'll see. Being a x220 user, I won't lie I'm quite interested. But it's bound to turn out more expensive than my all current machine:)

[crashnburn]

For that matter, also the screen from xps 13 has been done by 51nb: http://imgur.com/a/0m3a1

Drool! Serious drool! Where in China are these guys? I'll have to call my friend who's getting a PhD in China for assistance.
PS: Why does it say x330? Is it a x230 or x301 modded?

Indeed. I'm not sure if you've seen the link on reddit about it (easily found). Long story short: it's one of the 51nb's mods that's about to go 'public' so that non-Chinese speakers around the world can buy it. But the price is unknown yet. Also, no one actually said what's on stake: mod kit, entire laptop to be bought, or screen assembly (with lvds2edp naturally). So we'll see. Being a x220 user, I won't lie I'm quite interested. But it's bound to turn out more expensive than my all current machine:)

Ok.. This is wow! - I found a bunch of links on the /thinkpad sub. Which specific one?

[fb1996]

Why does it say x330? Is it a x230 or x301 modded?

It's a modded X230, but it's called "X330" due to the 13.3" screen

[TPFanatic]

It definitely fills up the bezel much better than the original screen size. Reminiscent of a classic IBM in that regard, with the thin bezels. This could be the retro Thinkpad if it were taller to support 16:10 and touchpad buttons.

Makes you wonder why Lenovo integrated designed such thicker bezels on the Thinkpads. On the T61 they put the antennas inside the left side, and that's why it's thick. Also the IBM Thinkpads had more depth to the lid so when LeNovo made the lids flat maybe they decided making them thicker would strengthen them instead. How is the strength of the X32/30's lid? Videos I've seen show the stock one being pretty flimsy already. The antennas are actually at the top of the lid, for anyone wondering, see http://www.discountedlaptopparts.com/me ... 0026_1.jpg.

[crashnburn]

Why does it say x330? Is it a x230 or x301 modded?

It's a modded X230, but it's called "X330" due to the 13.3" screen

Indeed. I'm not sure if you've seen the link on reddit about it (easily found). Long story short: it's one of the 51nb's mods that's about to go 'public' so that non-Chinese speakers around the world can buy it. But the price is unknown yet. Also, no one actually said what's on stake: mod kit, entire laptop to be bought, or screen assembly (with lvds2edp naturally). So we'll see. Being a x220 user, I won't lie I'm quite interested. But it's bound to turn out more expensive than my all current machine:)

Ok.. This is wow! - I found a bunch of links on the /thinkpad sub. Which specific one?
Is there a Seller/ Modder in China doing this? I have a friend in China that I can ask to facilitate if so.

[evening_hunger]

You just have to search for 'x320' specifically. The situation at the moment is: number of x320 and x330 were produced, all of them sold (as complete machines) and AFAIK they're still being delivered. The production is halted until the 'manufacture' can clear all the pending deliveries, so they're in position to invest again. It seems the best you can do is to observe reddit.com/r/thinkpad and this place for news. Also, there's a link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... rm?c=0&w=1 which will get you on a 'wait list for news'.
As far as having a friend in China goes: well I guess the world would be a better place if everybody had a friend in China. This way we'd delay the annihilation of mankind:) Ok but seriously, yes, once the models are available again, you will benefit by shipping the machine to your friend in China, which will be maybe faster in some way...