What to do with T61 parts?

[gobucks]

So last week I woke up to find out that my Lenovo T61 had bitten the dust. The video card, which is soldered to the motherboard, had died, and they wanted $600 to replace it (damn thing just went off of warranty 2 months ago). Naturally i figured i'd just buy a new laptop for that price, so I ended up getting a nice new T400 (with 3 year warranty) for under $1000. Now, I'm sitting here with a perfectly good T7300 processor, 4GB of DDR2, and several spare notebook hard drives, and I was thinking about trying to find a nice, small, cheap barebones to put them in, maybe for media center duties. Ideally it would be like a mac mini, possibly with room for a DVR card, and would be under $300. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

how did u get the CPU off? is it soldered on?

 

[gobucks]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
how did u get the CPU off? is it soldered on?

I actually haven't actually torn the whole think apart yet, but I don't think Lenovo solders the CPU to the motherboard - when I called about repairs, they said that I'd need to replace the mobo, but didn't mention replacing the CPU. It wouldn't make a ton of sense from their perspective - it would increase the cost of their warranty repairs since any time a CPU, mobo, or video card died, they would have to replace all 3.

Anyways, I have a pretty decent understanding of how to build desktops, since I have built several. I just need to find a good mobo or SFF barebones to put the components into.

 

[FleshLight]

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/diy_notebooks/

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/diy_notebooks/

Oh wow, this actually looks interesting. Any idea on whether it's available for sale yet?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

here

 

[Ika]

Just a few hours ago Amazon had a sale price of $440 ($363 AR) on that DIY OCZ... would've been perfect. Alas, they've raised the price already, but here's the link if you feel like watching it in case:
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZN...1A1Q8WM?tag=slickdeals

 

[RalfHutter]

Don't take your T61 apart yet!

Go over to http://forum.thinkpads.com and do some research/ask some questions. Your vidcard may be replaceable/repairable, and those guys are the experts on this sort of thing.

Worst case, you can probably sell if for parts, especially if it's got a desirable LCD panel.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter
Don't take your T61 apart yet!

Go over to http://forum.thinkpads.com and do some research/ask some questions. Your vidcard may be replaceable/repairable, and those guys are the experts on this sort of thing.

Worst case, you can probably sell if for parts, especially if it's got a desirable LCD panel.

What RalfHutter said. I think there's even a guy/company that will check/repair the video card problem. There are reports that the video chip will become detached. Maybe that's what happened to yours.

 

[gobucks]

I did a quick search of those forums, but haven't found anything yet. After my account is activated, I might try posting a question. The main issue for me is price - if they have to replace the motherboard, it is going to be prohibitively expensive. I've seen some replacement motherboards on ebay for like $350, but according to the computer repair guys around town, just about all of those mobos ship from Taiwan and are DOA. As for replacing just the video card, I have no idea where you could buy a loose Quadro NVS 140M video card, and if so, how you would go about soldering it in place.

I did see that OCZ barebones laptop, and at $350, I'd think about it, considering I could probably sell the finished laptop to my roomate for his business at a nice profit. Unfortunately it's now looking like $700 for the barebones, which is almost the cost of a brand new laptop. In fact, I've already ordered a $900 T400 as a replacement (I'm a law student, so I really need a sub-5lb notebook for taking notes in class/carrying around town for my internship), and a 15 or 17 inch "gaming laptop" just isn't going to cut it.

So if I can't find a CHEAP notebook barebones to assemble and sell, then I'd like to find a cheap SFF barebones to make into a media center. Maybe something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16856107033, but preferably from a reputable manufacturer, and ideally with support for 4GB of DDR2. Other options include just selling the laptop for parts, as you guys said. (Incidentally, if any intrepid person is interested in buying these parts and building their own PC, feel free to make me an offer)

 

[Gibson486]

I'll buy your battery (my battery on my t61 said bye bye).....

 

[gobucks]

bump

 

[TurtleCrusher]

My T61 has barely seen the light of day since i got my netbook.

Sad day :-/