A new Frankenpad is born

[Cigarguy]

Thanks to TuuS who supplied me with a Nvidia NVS 140 T61 motherboard and some additional accessories, a new Frankenpad is born. The eyes (screen) is from a T60p with a SXGA+ screen. Also added a T9500, 128 GB Samsung 830 SSD, Ultimate N 6300 and 4 GB of RAM. Even got the colourful IBM logo which is important to me.

Just finished loading Win 7 and man I'm in love. With the help and after sale support from TuuS, the conversion was real simple and straight forward. Took me about 1.5 hour but most of that time was spent making sure everything was super clean before reinstall.

From beginning to end TuuS was a real pleasure to deal with.

So, I'm thinking it maybe time for another Frankenpad build. This time with a UXGA screen. When will this end?

[rumbero]

When will this end?

As soon as Lenovo comes up with a ThinkPad model that is up to the high standards of our amazing Frankenpads?

Other than that, i fear we are are doomed to constantly hunt for parts and refurbish our fabled machines, either until their interactive usability has come down to such a slowness in comparison to more modern machines, that it doesn't seem practical anymore to use them for anything else but playing Tica Tac Toe, or until replacement parts have become so scarce and expensive that a single day job doesn't suffice anymore to keep up with the required parts flow.

You won't believe how glad i am that my Frankies still deliver much more performance than i actually need! As a Linux user, i hope this will still last for quite a while to come.

[ajkula66]

End? You're at the very beginning of the FrankenPad game...LOL

It ends when you build a machine that fullfills your every need...likely never.

Congrats on your "newborn"!!!

[JeffCullen]

[Thrakath]

If you find the famous 14,1" UXGA Panel please PN me!

and congrats!!!

[TuuS]

I'm always thrilled to help deliver a new Frankie into the world.... wait, does this make me a "mid-wife" lol I'd prefer the term "doctor", but I guess "professor" is more apt lol

Anyhow, congrads to Mr. Frank N. Pad on his birthday.

ps. I used to make birth certificates to go with the frankenpads i built, I should probably dig up the photoshop files and make you one

[Cigarguy]

LOL, birth certificates. That's great.

ps - This makes you the mad scientist.

[JeffCullen]

These NOS boards TuuS has found deserve the LED UXGA screen which RBS is installing, which is what is going to happen to my boss' Frankenpad shortly... muahahahahahahahaha!!!

[ajkula66]

These NOS board TuuS has found deserve the LED UXGA screen which RBS is installing, which is what is going to happen to my boss' Frankenpad shortly... muahahahahahahahaha!!!

You may want to hurry up with that one...seriosly...

[JeffCullen]

Just heard this morning... thankfully this one is already arranged and the lid is on its way to him.

Guess I should have said "verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry shortly!"

Stephen is having a polarized experience borrowing my T61p while his Frankenpad is getting upgraded -- apparently it's noticeably faster (so the FP is getting one of the NOS discrete boards TuuS found plus a T9300 to replace his T7700), but he hates the widescreen and I must say the WSXGA+ one in that unit is really starting to dim...

I built his "Mk.I" Frankenpad for him about a year ago, finally prying him away from a HP nx6125. I was so sick of watching this guy waste $$$ time waiting for that old heap... but it had a fantastically bright 15" SXGA+ screen, and he couldn't find anything suitable to replace it... until I discovered Frankenpadding...

He had insisted on a SXGA+ FlexView over UXGA, but has been complaining about brightness... I got him to spend a little time with my W500 to get him to acquiesce to higher PPI, and the LED mod should solve his complaints about brightness...

[RealBlackStuff]

Jeff's boss is the last lucky person for whom I can do the LED-mod including the screen.
For those of you who you can still find such a screen, you can send me the lid/laptop and the new LCD, and I will do the modding for you.
I'll put more info up on my website shortly.

[JeffCullen]

I hate to threadjack, but another Frankenpad has been transformed from a Intel integrated graphics+T7700 unit into a BEAST with one of the NOS discrete NVidia boards from TuuS, LED-backlit UXGA screen from RBS, and a T9300 from fleaBay. It's running cool and quiet and is pretty darn neat!

I find the colours pretty strange with this machine sitting next to my girlfriend's properly calibrated MacBook Pro w/matte WSXGA+ display. I think I heard George mention a calibration file for Windows kicking around for this display which works well? I'd love to get my hands on that...

I'm handing this beast off to my boss today. If this isn't bright enough for him compared to his ancient HP nx6125, he's officially beyond hope!

[Cigarguy]

That is one nice machine Jeff. I'll a bit jealous.

My latest project a WUXGA T61p screen into a T500. Got the T61p for $50 due to a dead GPU. Got a T500 for $50 due to a broken LCD. For $100, together, this is one fantastic machine. My first WUXGA experience and it takes some getting use to it. I still like my SXGA+ Frankenpad more. No so certain about a UXGA Frankie now. Screen being difficult to source is also a factor.

[JeffCullen]

I'm a little jealous of Stephen's machine as well!

I'm deliriously happy to report that we just had his ancient beloved HP nx6125 next to his Mk.II Frankenpad, and the Frankenpad with the LED-backlit UXGA Flexview display is brighter! The machine is rounded out with 8GB of RAM and an Intel 330 240GB SSD. It flies.

Your T61p/T500 mash-up sounds nice, even before factoring in the excellent price! I really like the high density of the WUXGA screen in my W500. I understand there is great variability in how nice they look depending on manufacturer... they are nowhere near the image quality of a Flexview... but the real estate is fabulous.

[ajkula66]

The biggest problem with WUXGA panels is that they're not IPS.

I literaly had my finger on the keyboard ready to pull the trigger on a $3K Z61p when I realized that...

As for the calibration, this is a decent start:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

[Cigarguy]

I agree, those Flexview screen were something special. That's why I'll be sad the day my Frankenpad no longer serves me need. Fortunately that is at least a few years away.