51nb.com released T50 (= new mobo for T4x's) in Shenzhen

[Medessec]

I think that this project will never be a neither cost-effective nor reasonable solution for an every day use laptop.

You don't know that...! They could've done a super awesome job, and manufactured boards that will hold out as well as any old production motherboard. Realistically though... it's likely you're correct. But I suppose we can wait and see how the first boards do, and get an idea of how well they do.

I suppose now would be a good time to wish the guys at 51nb and members(who... might read this?) a Happy New Year as well.

Happy New Years and Congrats on your work, from California, United States. You have my personal encouragement.

[bigstape]

So, would this replacement board work in any T4x ThinkPad, or just a T43? Would it work in a T42?

[Cigarguy]

So, would this replacement board work in any T4x ThinkPad, or just a T43? Would it work in a T42?

First post in this thread pretty much explains it. This board is design to work in any T4x chassis which includes T41, T42 and T42 hence T4x.

[RealBlackStuff]

It will also work in any 14.1" or 15" R5x, which includes the R50, R51 and R52 series.

[emeraldgirl08]

It will also work in any 14.1" or 15" R5x, which includes the R50, R51 and R52 series.

R52? I visited my sisters recently and her R52 with XP is due for a change. I had a parts T60 that I quickly fashioned into a somewhat workable unit (needs a hard drive and battery; she is running it off a Live Linux Mint disc for now last time I checked). I am certain she would give me that R52 once I get a battery and hard drive for her T60....hmmmmm lol.

Food for thought

[rzl]

Just came to know about this.

Is it possible to buy one of them ? I would really like to revive my T42.

[Medessec]

not at the moment, so far they've only done a very limited production run(first batch) and sold only to 51nb forum members, in the method of a "service install"(the customer sends a T4x frame, and the motherboard is installed by the guys who made the board)

If you've just heard about the board, and you're interested, just stay tuned. It's likely they'll do more production runs, and chances are even if they don't support selling boards over here, a working one will make it over here if they produce enough.

[3dfx_IceFire]

I just wanted to note that as soon as possible I'll buy at least two of these mobo at almost any price. This fantastic project must be supported! I don't care what kind of SD card or ultrabay interface it has, whether or not it has an additional GU chip, docking support or heating problems. All I want it to expand the life time of my T40 for several more years.

One last thing must be said: good job you engineers from China!

[shawross]

Most of us Thinkpad fanatics feel like that at first and yes it is a seemingly great and noble thing these Chinese engineers are doing. But a degree of caution and a slab of patience is required at the moment.

If we can get a reliable motherboard with adequate speed to run today's software it will be fantastic. Realistically there are challenges ahead now for the Chinese engineers and some of those challenges are likely to be passed on to the customer in the future.
Thinkpads are devices we have grown to love and admire and I still use T43's in both Thailand and Australia which are loaded with Windows 7.
The common thing that drives our love for the Thinkpads are their reliability. I don't still use the T43's because they are a speed demon but for what I do there is no lag.
Have you ever experienced a computer which periodically shuts down or over heats? That love we have can disappear very quickly and the said device can become an unwanted irritant.
For the price we will need to pay you are on the way to buy a new cheap laptop with a warranty which will likely have the ports required onboard.
We are all hopeful and we wish the Chinese engineers all the best. Again I love my Thinkpads but I personally want a reliable upgrade to my currently reliable system.

[Norway Pad]

As I have mentioned here earlier, it is important to keep the expectations at a reasonable level. We have already seen that some sacrifices have been made (No dock, no PCMCIA/Express Card, a couple of glitches and no HDMI/SATA ports). So if you are looking for a fully operational laptop, that can cover every need a modern laptop should, this will not be a solution for you. At that point, the new and cheap laptop might be the option for you.

On the other hand we have so far no reason to believe the T50 board will be unreliable, and subject to errors like random shutdowns and overheating. It will hopefully be a matter of 'lack of functionality' and not 'lack of reliability'. So once again, you need to know what you are embracing here: Some glitches and lack of functionality, but on the other hand a 4:3 form factor traditional IBM shell with up to date internals. I am willing to do some sacrifices in order to obtain just that. This is my opinion, others' might differ.

[Cigarguy]

As I have mentioned here earlier, it is important to keep the expectations at a reasonable level.

Exactly, this is a board produce, designed and distributed by an enthusiast group not by OEMs such as Gigabyte, ASUS, Foxconn or MSI with their teams of engineers and factories specializing in production of MB. OEM also have input and help from chipmakers such as AMD and Intel. So, don't expect a polished, well supported, product. This is an enthusiast product with some quirks.

For the same reason, I doubt we'll see much if any across this side of the pond. Their production run is so low that their market within their city alone will consume whatever they have. From their perspective, unless they plan on selling the commercial rights to an OEM, why would they want to put up with the whining, groaning and complaining that comes with dealing with the Western market? In this thread alone there are people whining about this feature or that, pricing, etc for an enthusiast item that they are likely never ever getting a hold of.

My my perspective, I think what the folks over there are doing is brilliant and well done. Congratulation on getting this far while the rest of us have done nothing but complain about the good old days. I hope they continue to refine and perfect this. I would love it if they sold their commercial rights to an OEM so that we can order one off of Newegg knowing the risks, features and $$$ involved. I'm afraid this is more dream than reality but dreaming is free and full of features.

[rms]

its fantastic to hear theyve made such progress, but i wonder, whats the likelihood of them putting out a haswell or ivy bridge version at some point?

[Cigarguy]

They just might and it would be great. However, being that they don't have the resources of the OEM and the relationship that the OEM have with Intel, they will always be 1 to 2 generation behind. I doubt Intel would be willing to help them with technical specs and design in preparation for the latest and greatest chip/chipset launch. Considering all the effort and time involved, it makes sense if they only do this every 2 to 3 generation chips/chipsets. That's assuming the brains behind this want to carry on with this.

[TRS-80]

Apparently component and hardware manufacturers over there in China are much more open to dealing with smaller production runs and directly with individuals or small groups. Because of all the electronics manufacturing, there are apparently also a lot of shops and even entire markets with tons of components readily available, and cheap! In short, a hardware hacker's wet dream. I gained some of those insights from the following awesome (well, IMO anyway, but I am an aspiring hardware hacker ) video:

http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/08/ ... -workshop/

[Cigarguy]

Apparently component and hardware manufacturers over there in China are much more open to dealing with smaller production runs and directly with individuals or small groups. Because of all the electronics manufacturing, there are apparently also a lot of shops and even entire markets with tons of components readily available, and cheap! In short, a hardware hacker's wet dream.

Yes absolutely, they will manufacturer almost anything for you so long as you produce the $$$. I've got friends and family who constantly are over there designing, requesting and getting small runs of electronic products. The factories will copy most anything and sell to anyone. The government stays out of the way except for collecting taxes and trying feebly to provide some regulation. The number of graduates and technical expertise coming out of Chinese Universities and via foreign students is astounding.

[identify9]

So, anyone know where we're at with this? Surprised there's been no news for awhile...

[PowerPC]

So, anyone know where we're at with this? Surprised there's been no news for awhile...

The few units produced are being sold and tested only in China.

Oh well, meanwhile, I will keep hoarding 15" 4:3 T60 spare parts.

[identify9]

Good to know. Wishing I'd done something useful with my life thus far - such as learning Chinese/moving to China. Sigh....

[irus]

waiting for updates on the T50 mobo

[zgxzkr]

using the T50 to type words now.
T43 -14inch 1400*1050 ,i5 560
ecxcept it can't instal the reall IBM sofware such as powermanger. but it's nice and Reliable`

[Medessec]

That's pretty awesome! And quite funny. Not meaning anything demeaning, that's just really cool that you just posted on here with your T50.

We'd love to hear any news about the T50 production if you're able to share, but I have a patient mind, if it's a bit of trouble. Sounds like you had your work cut out just getting English characters into this forum

Welcome to the forum by the way!

[PowerPC]

using the T50 to type words now.
T43 -14inch 1400*1050 ,i5 560
except it can't instal the reall IBM sofware such as powermanger. but it's nice and Reliable`

What OS did you install on it?

[RMSMajestic]

I heard that HOPE is shipping one T50 mobo to some one in Norway this week. Is that person in this forum?

[Medessec]

Norway Pad is the only guy that comes to my mind... according to his info, he does indeed have his location listed as Norway, and I mailed a T43 and some T43 parts to him awhile back, and I indeed had to mail it to Norway.

WAIT.

[zgxzkr]

That's pretty awesome! And quite funny. Not meaning anything demeaning, that's just really cool that you just posted on here with your T50.

We'd love to hear any news about the T50 production if you're able to share, but I have a patient mind, if it's a bit of trouble. Sounds like you had your work cut out just getting English characters into this forum

Welcome to the forum by the way!

Thanks, i will try my best to review how to use English and share the feeling of the T50.

[zgxzkr]

using the T50 to type words now.
T43 -14inch 1400*1050 ,i5 560
except it can't instal the reall IBM sofware such as powermanger. but it's nice and Reliable`

What OS did you install on it?

XP SP3. But most people install the win7 even win8

[Tasurinchi]

Thanks, i will try my best to review how to use English and share the feeling of the T50

No need to write complex sentences

A couple of pictures would be good for a start...

[Norway Pad]

I heard that HOPE is shipping one T50 mobo to some one in Norway this week. Is that person in this forum?

That coould be me.. I have had some contact with Hope since last December, and we had specific contact last week about him doing final checks on the shipping. But to avoid creating false expectations about something that might not happen, I decided to not be too loud about it before I actually have the board in my hands. It seems like the problem for Hope is that he needs to go through one of his contacts to do international shipping. Very exited to see if this will happen.

..I mailed a T43 and some T43 parts to him awhile back, and I indeed had to mail it to Norway.

The goal is to turn that T43P into a nice i5 powered 4:3 UXGA machine. But we'll see what happens. Like I said, I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch..

[Medessec]

I really hope you get the board... that would be absolutely incredible to get someone who posts often to be able to experience the T50.

And I really hope the UXGA T43p I sent you is as pretty as it was when I sent it out... because if it is, it'll be a worthy chassis for the board.

As for our new member zgxzkr, from 51nb obviously, we all really appreciate you on here and putting in the time to visit us and post. It's really cool to see that on here, and see that apparently these T50 boards are working like a charm!

[Norway Pad]

I will for sure do some detailed posting about it if this happens. Upon request I am also prepared to do some benchmarking with desired benchmarking software so it can be compared with other systems. Your T43P arrived in good shape, btw, and now it even has a new palmrest.

i5 560

Is the i5 560 the recommended CPU for the T50 board? Is that the one most users have installed? Good luck with your T50!