Question: Install of X61 tablet motherboard in X60 tablet

[smugiri]

A question for the gurus here: will any X61 tablet board fit in an X60 tablet chassis?

I need to get a machine with more memory capacity (virtual machine usage) and really like the X60 but it can only take 3GB of RAM.

My understanding is that the X61 can accept up to 8GB of memory and I want to take advantage of this.

It was my understanding that this switch was possible but further research on the web indicates that this is not possible. To be a little more specific, I found a comment somewhere that the X61 tablet boards require a second fan that might not be present on the X60 tablet board. See this eBay auction for details.

Does anyone know if the X60 tablet chassis will accept an X61 tablet board? Please let me know.

thanks,
Steve

[ajkula66]

Not all X61 units - tablet or standard - have the second fan, or even the ability to have one installed. The second fan came standard with WWAN-enabled models, and some of the other boards have a "slot" for it but that's about it. I've owned several X61T machines and none had a second fan.

That being said, it should be a clean swap, but I've never done one myself, so proceed with caution and try to gather more info on the matter at hand.

Good luck.

[smugiri]

Thanks for posting this.

So, the key is to avoid WWLAN on a board which I do not need and I should be fine. I can check up boards in the maintenance manual as I find them to make sure they do not have this (and I do not have the antennae to use the WWLAN anyway).

[IvanAndreevich]

Wouldn't it be a better deal to sell your machine, and buy an X61T instead?

[richk]

The boards that need a second fan should have a second fan installed. They are not listed as a separate part, but they can be found and I have certainly changed them. I would avoid a board that needs a second fan because the little fans break A LOT. I agree that you might be better off selling yours and buying an x61 tablet, but if you want to do the swap, I have an X61 tablet board available (a lot cheaper than the lady in Indonesia whose ad you pointed at). Send me a pm if you are interested.

[smugiri]

Wouldn't it be a better deal to sell your machine, and buy an X61T instead?

An X61 tablet with Bluetooth, SXGA+, fingerprint reader and in good cosmetic shape is about $600 here in Canada as of Dec 2010, if I am very lucky.

Since I have an X60 already with all these features aside from the motherboard, even if I had to pay $350 for a board, I still come out ahead (especially considering I can still sell my perfect X60 board for maybe $180-$200 and get maybe another $40 for the 4GB of RAM currently installed in it. Total cost for the upgrade, RAM included if I shop carefully, would probably work out at about $200 max which is way cheaper than buying a new machine. And all I need is the additional RAM, not more speed (just want to give my Windows VM 2GB+ of RAM for some software I need to run on it, max I can currently safely give it is about 768MB).

I love these X6x tablets, I have had a T400 and currently have both a T410 and X201s at hand (corporate) but I still use the X60 tablet, it is the right machine for what I am doing right now.

[motoracer47]

Hi,

I know this is an older thread, however there is some knowledgeable responses here, and my question is along the same lines...so decided to not start a new thread.


Does anyone know if the x61 non-tablet motherboard can be swapped into an X61 tablet chassis? I would think the mobo's are the same between the 2 to lower manufacturing costs, but dont want to assume.

thanks

[smugiri]

Hi,

I know this is an older thread, however there is some knowledgeable responses here, and my question is along the same lines...so decided to not start a new thread.


Does anyone know if the x61 non-tablet motherboard can be swapped into an X61 tablet chassis? I would think the mobo's are the same between the 2 to lower manufacturing costs, but dont want to assume.

thanks

Nope

To the best of my knowledge, tablet and non-tablet boards are not interchangeable.

[motoracer47]

Yea, figured it out. Found a cheap 2ghz non tablet mobo for cheap, but oh well. thanks