X210Ai is a new motherboard to upgrade ThinkPad X201/200

[t312227]

hello,

as always: imho (!)

i own a x200s ... bought it in march of 2009 =?> so its approaching 17 years ...

it was a really great device with one of the best keyboards for a small notebook. and i still use it multiple times a week for example to browse hackernews, reddit, ... or watch some video etc.

buuuut: its nearly 17 years old ... everything is starting to wear - i wouldn't invest a dime into it right now.

what do i mean by that: keyboard has faulting keys, case starts breaking at heavily stressed regions - for example around the cursor-keys -, display is (slightly) mechanically damaged, batteries are beyond usefull etc.etc. ...

just my 0.02€

[E39M5S62]

I also have an x200s that I got new in 2009. I've replaced the keyboard, battery (multiple times), palm rest, upper shell, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting about. I haven't put new parts on it for a few years, but as recent as ~2020 they were very easy to get and affordable. My little x200s is a dedicated HaikuOS machine now and I hope it keeps running for another two decades!

[neilv]

I don't know about the X200S, but I had several X200 non-S, with Coreboot, up until recently, and they were worth repairing, as evidenced by resale value.

(New keyboards are inexpensive (at least before tariffs), the replacement palmrest plastic part can be found and very easily replaced, you can still get batteries for them. And if you have a pressure mark on the LCD, apparently that's not a showstopper. Add a $20 SSD and max. the RAM, and it's better than new.)

[mushufasa]

My understanding with this project is they also replace the screen and battery with newer parts e.g. higher resolution, or at least that's an option, and all the ports are new (it's a new motherboard). So really the only 'old' parts are the keyboard and chassis. My understanding is there's lots of cheap replacements for the keyboard floating out there given the mass production and the original intention for this device to be easily serviceable by IT departments instead of "RMA everything."

[walterbell]

What's a good alternative to 2010 Thinkpad X200 series, with potential for coreboot support?

[ahoka]

Yes, also had one and it was decent for its time, but it’s not great, especially compared to anything you can get today.

[jdboyd]

Currently $1,299.00 for the Ultra 7 and $1,449.00 for the Ultra 9. I won't say it isn't a fair price, but it is a really hard one.

It would be perhaps more interesting to start making ARM or maybe even RISC-V motherboard replacements for some of these beloved chassis.

[bubblethink]

It's not the type of CPU that is driving up the cost. It's a niche hobby product which will sell O(tens-hundreds) units worldwide. The issue with these frankenpads is the brokenness of bios/ec, tb ports, thermals, fan noise, stability, etc.

[varispeed]

This is a small shop. Given complexity I'd say the price is a steal. You certainly couldn't make it at that price in the West. Probably 2-10 times more expensive.

[znpy]

There is a risc-v motherboard for the famrwork 13 but different reviewers agree that is overall a slow cpu, nit really competitive. Probably in a few (cpu) generations…

[throwaway270925]

Agreed. I would love just a basic ports carrier board with a compute module slot for any Raspberry Pi CM for my old and ancient thinkpads.

[bfrog]

I love the x220 chassis, I wonder what it’d take to make a board with a modern risc chip and open firmware for Linux for this sort of thing.

[fsckboy]

anybody know if this motherboard will fit the x220 or x230, or just the x200/201? i've cornered the market on x220 and x230, i must have two dozen

[scrlk]

Won't fit, the X200/201 use a different chassis design to the X220/230.

[globnomulous]

Sorry for my cluelessness, but why is this laptop so popular?

[close04]

Mine still works as well as expected after 17 years, 5-6 of which it spent with heavy daily use, another 2-3 with light use, only occasionally afterwards, and overall a lot of travel and airports. I could disassemble and reassemble it to the last screw easily, no special tools besides a screwdriver, no glue, upgradeable RAM and storage. Actually my one major complaint is Lenovo's use of whitelisting for wireless cards.

But I wouldn't pay $1300+ to bring it up to speed. The batteries are done, the screen is small and the backlight is yellowed and dimming. That laptop would need a lot more love to make it fully usable as a daily driver so I'd rather keep it as it is, as a memory.

[spankibalt]

It's small, sturdy, maintainable, and aesthetically pleasing. And one can still get (original) parts. Throw in enthusiast projects like this and you can have your own "Laptop of Theseus".

[loloquwowndueo]

The keyboard is absolutely glorious, for one.

[RunSet]

https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Old_ThinkPad_Niches

You can CTRL+F for the model and see that the x201 tics many of the boxes for desirable traits in older Thinkpads.

[t0bia_s]

Not sure, but I bought used x201 in 2014 and it died few months ago (faulty charging port, weak monitor joints). Replaced by P14s gen2 with AMD. Of course it is better in every aspect, except one disc port and overall durability.

[WillAdams]

If they do a new display/digitizer for an X230T which uses the newer Wacom styluses, I'd probably not be able to resist.

As it is, I panic-purchased a second Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 when I was worried that there wouldn't be a Book 4 Pro 360 (they are now on a Book 5 Pro 360)....

[Lammy]

I have an older-gen aftermarket-mobo X210 (Kaby Lake iirc?) and I really really loved it, but the eDP flex-PCB for the upgraded screen eventually gave out (stock screen was LVDS), making the display only work at the one exact hinge angle where the broken trace still makes contact. The inability to just go to a storefront and buy that part is why I switched to a Framework 12 instead.

[syntaxing]

I owned one of the predecessor about a decade ago, the X62 upgrade to the X61! It was extremely expensive for what it was and I saved up for a while. But it was such a fun experience, felt like the original framework laptop. I got to swap out the screen too

[rramon]

Is the X200s (s = low power variant) chassis too different or is it compatible as well?

[mmmpetrichor]

The x200 was a really neat machine. They run great with linux mint - I have mine running as a home assistant server for our house since my raspberry pi died with flash card corruption.

[wkjagt]

I have an x201 and running arch and bare tty as a distraction free vim + C coding experience. Just for fun. I love it for that.

[xecaz]

Cool project, but if you can get the same spec'ed laptop with warranty on a slightly worse keyboard for less than this hack-job, i think i would prefer a new (thinkpad) laptop

[rkagerer]

Anyone know if there's anything like this for the Dell Precision M6600?

(Or upgrade suggestions for someone who loved that laptop? Framework? Thinkpad?)

[ignoramous]

> upgrade suggestions for someone who loved that laptop?

The repair-friendly [0] StarBook and StarFighter line might interest you. They generally seem good value for money and ship worldwide. Here's a 96g DDR5 + Intel Core Ultra 7 configuration at ~$2200: https://starlabs.systems/products/starbook-ultra?variant=552...

Their funder/backer is a mystery (to me) though.

[0] https://support.starlabs.systems/what-is-the-star-labs-limit...

[bubblethink]

Get an x1 carbon gen 13 (lunar lake version) for a general usable laptop. For clunkers/workstations that use desktop style CPUs, Dell still makes them and so does Lenovo. The Lenovo version is P16 Gen 3.

[__del__]

i'm also curious. i used that thing until last year.

[RomanPushkin]

I'm the owner of one of these laptops. I paid like $2-3k or even more for the laptop. The screen got broken almost on arrival. I think few days later it started glitching. It was intermittent, so I thought it would go away. I didn't. Over time it started glitching more and more. I reached out to the person in China who sold the laptop. In broken English he told me that I should replace the screen and sent me a link. I bought the screen, actually two of them, since for some reason you can't buy one. Turned out that the screen doesn't fit, and I cracked the first one while trying to install. So now I have a laptop without a screen, and it just doesn't work.

I bought Macbook Air for $1k just one week ago. I can't be more happier. Fuck these ThinkPads.

[jokowueu]

I'm a bit confused, what do you mean you bought it for +$2k? They cost nothing to buy, they came out like 18 years ago

[AlecSchueler]

You paid how much? I use my x200 every day and love it but never considered I could sell it for so much. Is that really a normal price for such an old model? My screen works perfectly too.

[pyvpx]

As a counter-experience, I bought five of the x63s and was so paranoid I’d bork the screens somehow. They all work fine to this day. :shrug:

[leoedin]

You paid $2-3k for an x200? Was that a long time ago? Is that the same laptop that's sold by computer recyclers for $100?

[wkat4242]

Wow that's so cool.

I wonder what those hackers are going to do when every case is cracked and every keycap worn out :)

[cyanydeez]

Someone do this to the X230T.

ALL OTHER 2:1 TABLETS ARE INFERIOR.

[spankibalt]

The HP ZBook X2 G4 leaves it in the dust, both conceptually (detachables are a superior form factor) and specs-wise; HP EliteBook 27xxp machines with similar guts are at least on par.

I'd rather have a new and smaller (10" to 13") version of the ZBook X2 G4 instead, upgrade the Dreamcolor display, keep the Wacom EMR digitzer and a sensible dedicated pro-GPU with certified drivers, and add plenty of ECC-RAM. Abracadabra, dream machine right there. Lenovo could do the same with their X12 detachable line if they had some semblance of sense.

[jeffbee]

Being the best 2:1 tablet is like winning the NIT. The 4:3 X61T is clearly the GOAT.

[idiotsecant]

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[thinkmassive]

Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250924185757/https://www.tpart...

[GaryBluto]

Sounds great, but the website is down.

[easyThrowaway]

What's the integrated video card in this board? I have an x220 and frankly the ancient Intel HD 3000 is the only limiting factor keeping me from still using it as a daily laptop.

[onli]

That comes with the processor: Ultra 7 165H or Ultra 9 185H, so https://www.notebookcheck.com/Intel-Arc-8-Cores-Grafikkarte-..., really strong I think.

[samtheDamned]

This is super cool!