[HN Gopher] X210Ai is a new motherboard to upgrade ThinkPad X201...
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X210Ai is a new motherboard to upgrade ThinkPad X201/200
Author : walterbell
Score : 175 points
Date : 2025-12-01 03:12 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.tpart.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.tpart.net)
| idiotsecant wrote:
| Error establishing a database connection
| thinkmassive wrote:
| Archive link:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20250924185757/https://www.tpart...
| samtheDamned wrote:
| This is super cool!
| GaryBluto wrote:
| Sounds great, but the website is down.
| bfrog wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Won't fit, the X200/201 use a different chassis design to the
| X220/230.
| prmoustache wrote:
| I never understood why laptops brands have so many SKUs and
| change chassis design on every generation. When I compare
| both internally and externally my personal thinkpad from 2019
| to the one my company is providing me since last june, I
| don't see any outstanding difference that justify having
| incompatible mainboard, keyboard, trackpad, screen, hinges or
| even fans. It looks like they change the layout and parts
| dimensions for the sake of changing it.
| ho_schi wrote:
| It are only minor changes.
|
| Recent ThinkPads are close to be identical: X280 - X13 Gen3
| (minor change: 16:10 with X13 Gen1).
|
| X13 Gen 4 - Gen 6 are sadly nearly identical, especially
| the ugly camera bump which is not required. No camera needs
| that space and video conference systems cannot used the
| full resolution.
|
| Luckily sometimes the batteries are compatible.
| BenFranklin100 wrote:
| Dissapointing. The X220 is built well and has a great
| keyboard. Any idea why the focus on the X200/201 instead of
| the X220/230?
| neilv wrote:
| I have no idea why they did, but some pros: X200 is less
| expensive, (I think) it has a little more room, and it
| doesn't have the X220's crazy design flaw with the lid
| shell.
|
| I also had better luck getting genuine replacement
| keyboards for the X200. Half of the X220 keyboards I
| stockpiled arrived as substandard garbage, even though I
| was trying to avoid that.
| jdboyd wrote:
| 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.
| znpy wrote:
| 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...
| bubblethink wrote:
| 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.
| throwaway270925 wrote:
| 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.
| varispeed wrote:
| 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.
| walterbell wrote:
| Would it help small shops if there were open schematics for
| laptop motherboards, like OpenCompute does for servers?
| Coreboot and other open firmware (e.g. EC2) could then target
| that "open" motherboard, even if the shipped board designs
| had 10% non-open customization for business differentiation.
| rkagerer wrote:
| Anyone know if there's anything like this for the Dell Precision
| M6600?
|
| (Or upgrade suggestions for someone who loved that laptop?
| Framework? Thinkpad?)
| __del__ wrote:
| i'm also curious. i used that thing until last year.
| bubblethink wrote:
| 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.
| ignoramous wrote:
| > _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...
| backscratches wrote:
| Seconded. Coreboot and lvfs firmware upgrades and completely
| repairable with inventory parts.
| rramon wrote:
| Is the X200s (s = low power variant) chassis too different or is
| it compatible as well?
| globnomulous wrote:
| Sorry for my cluelessness, but why is this laptop so popular?
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| The keyboard is absolutely glorious, for one.
| fuzzy2 wrote:
| And that's about it, I'd say! I find that everything else is
| really, really bad. It creaks, it wobbles, it warps, and it
| did so from day 1. The fan is loud and kicks in quite early.
| Well maybe the X200 isn't as bad, but the X220 certainly is.
| And even after 14 years, it still smells when it gets hot.
|
| Sorry for the rant. I really want to love it, but I just
| can't.
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| Yet after 14 years you still have it and use it?
|
| Quality also went down while with later models - back in
| 2014 I was laptop shopping, based on the X2xx series
| reputation I tested an X240 and it was crap, even the
| keyboard was super bad, I ended up getting a Dell xps13
| whose keyboard was miles better and it still works today.
| fuzzy2 wrote:
| Well "use it" is a bit of a stretch. I'm a bit of a
| device hoarder. It's one of my experimentation platforms
| for Linux stuff, currently running Fedora Kinoite (with
| Universal Blue).
|
| My daily driver (of sorts, don't really need a laptop
| anymore) is a MacBook Pro Late 2013, with NixOS. It's so
| much better in every regard, it's not even funny. It also
| still has its original battery.
| silon42 wrote:
| For a laptop keyboard...
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| Not really! It's just good. I guarantee you it's better
| than the keyboard 95% of people have on their desktop
| computers.
| close04 wrote:
| 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.
| AlecSchueler wrote:
| Mine x200 still my daily driver. Only had to replace the
| battery and the charger so far.
| spankibalt wrote:
| 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".
| t0bia_s wrote:
| 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.
| RomanPushkin wrote:
| 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.
| AlecSchueler wrote:
| 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.
| lproven wrote:
| They only cost this much _with the new parts fitted_.
|
| Various versions have been on sale for 5+ years, often billed
| as the X2100.
|
| https://bmdiethelmv.wordpress.com/2021/07/02/thinkpad-x2100-.
| ..
| pyvpx wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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?
| lproven wrote:
| No, for an X2100. The chassic with the new parts already
| fitted.
|
| E.g.
|
| https://www.xyte.ch/shop/x2100-pricing/
| jokowueu wrote:
| 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
| lproven wrote:
| > what do you mean you bought it for +$2k?
|
| You can buy the hardware already upgraded with a new
| motherboard and screen.
| dcminter wrote:
| I think parent poster had an X1 or something and assumed the
| conversation was about a similar contemporary device.
|
| I'm a little sad this board isn't for my X220 ... I would be
| sorely tempted if it were - but like other posters I'd have
| some reservations about things like battery life even so.
|
| By the (contemporary) by, a Mac Book _is_ probably a better
| buy if you like Mac OS (I don 't) because the hardware really
| is excellent. One _physical_ point in favour of the modern
| Thinkpad though is weight - a MacBook Air is about 1.2 kg,
| whereas the X1 is not quite 1 kg.
| cyanydeez wrote:
| Someone do this to the X230T.
|
| ALL OTHER 2:1 TABLETS ARE INFERIOR.
| spankibalt wrote:
| 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.
| cyanydeez wrote:
| Nope. Open, Twist, Close. No change in viewpoint.
|
| Every other 2:1 tablet requires changing perspective. Like
| walking into a different room and forgetting what you wanted
| to do.
| spankibalt wrote:
| So built a t-hinge keyboard for the detachable, et cetera.
|
| The results are in: _Nothing_ on the market equates to the
| elegant simplicity, adaptability and haptic qualities of a
| detachable done right, which can be used as a tablet (with
| or without an external keyboard), or in _several_ laptop
| modes (depending on the implementation of the keyboard
| attachment, e. g. with or without t-hinge), or just /also
| as a screen when connecting a expandable dock/computer (e.
| g. Nintendo Switch-like). A machine in that form factor can
| scale from smartphone-sized to a ~13-incher; everything
| above is too big and cumbersome.
|
| Besides, as the other chap in the thread mentioned, the
| X61T is a superior chassis to the X230T anyway. :)
| jeffbee wrote:
| Being the best 2:1 tablet is like winning the NIT. The 4:3 X61T
| is clearly the GOAT.
| t312227 wrote:
| 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 0.02EUR
| ahoka wrote:
| Yes, also had one and it was decent for its time, but it's not
| great, especially compared to anything you can get today.
| mushufasa wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| What's a good alternative to 2010 Thinkpad X200 series, with
| potential for coreboot support?
| backscratches wrote:
| Can't recommend starlabs enough, fully replaceable
| everything, coreboot, modern specs, Linux compat, firmware
| over lvfs
| walterbell wrote:
| Thanks for the rec, didn't know they had moved on from
| Clevo designs to their own board design made by
| Quanta/Compal/Wistrom etc.
| backscratches wrote:
| Didn't know they were rebadging in the past, they've been
| using their own hardware designs for at least 6 years.
| ux266478 wrote:
| If you're interested in something of an even higher degree of
| robustness and are fine with an ARM device, check out the MNT
| Reform Next: https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/mnt-reform-next
|
| I really wish we could get an MNT device with upstream
| support, if not an x86 processor. Having used the Pocket
| Reform, I think about it quite often. It's almost perfect....
| but the ARM chip and all the warts that come with SoC crap
| basically is the one single thing that keeps me from using
| one.
| walterbell wrote:
| Open Arm devices sadly live in the shadow of closed Apple
| Mac Mini perf and battery life, and Asahi is stuck at 2022
| M2 SoC. Some older Arm Chromebooks have mainline Linux
| support and also run coreboot. Qualcomm and MediaTek/Nvidia
| are "maybe next year" Linux and closed firmware.
| ux266478 wrote:
| "Open" is a misnomer, I really wish people would stop
| throwing it around with regards to ARM systems because
| it's a serious problem. Apple's devices are no better or
| worse about this. It's just the nature of the SoC
| ecosystem.
|
| > Apple Mac Mini perf and battery life
|
| Battery life? You mean the macbook, not the mini, right?
|
| Speaking candidly, if both MNT devices and Apple's
| devices had perfect upstream support, I'd choose MNT
| every time regardless of battery life or performance. On
| a trivial level, I like the design language more, I
| prefer to buy boutique, etc.
|
| For actual material considerations, MNT overbuilds their
| stuff to a ridiculous degree. That's what I want out of a
| laptop more than anything. There's a sense when holding
| the pocket reform that you could yeet it full send onto
| the pavement and you'll just scratch the shell. I like
| that. It might not necessarily be true, but there's a
| sense of solidity I get from an MNT device that I don't
| get from an Apple device. I'll take almost any drawback
| to have something that's overbuilt to hell, and I'll pay
| a pretty penny for it. The one thing that keeps me away
| is being locked into a specific distro. If the
| distribution was minimalist like KISS or Void, or if it
| was FreeBSD or OpenBSD, this qualm disappears. MNT
| unfortunately runs a Debian fork, that's a non-starter
| for me.
| volemo wrote:
| > If the distribution was minimalist like KISS or Void
|
| Seems like you can install Arch on an MNT device. [1]
|
| [1]: https://community.mnt.re/t/install-arch-linux-arm-
| on-mnt/742...
| onli wrote:
| I looked into that category (of small and lightweight
| laptops, for travel) earlier this year, without the coreboot
| requirement. I ended up with a Panasonic Let's Note SZ6-CF.
| Also cheap - imported from Japan via eBay - I think it is
| better than the X200 series in almost every way, newer,
| faster, lighter. It might also have a better display than the
| default of the thinkpads. Only drawback: soldered memory (a
| crime against the longevity of those machines).
| E39M5S62 wrote:
| 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!
| webdoodle wrote:
| Props too you. We should only buy new when repairing isn't
| viable. Our throw it away and buy a new one mentality is
| destroying our planet.
| E39M5S62 wrote:
| A mobile core2duo system struggles under the weight of the
| modern web. If you live outside of that though, it's more
| than adequate for virtually anything. These days it's
| basically an SSH terminal with a fantastic keyboard that
| floats around my house and boots up quickly.
| layer8 wrote:
| The X200 of Theseus. ;)
| neilv wrote:
| 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.)
| easyThrowaway wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| xecaz wrote:
| 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
| syntaxing wrote:
| 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
| WillAdams wrote:
| 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)....
| mmmpetrichor wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| skydhash wrote:
| Browser and PDFs are my only daily GUI usage these days. And
| I could revert to a text browser if not for a lot of sites
| having horrendous navigation dom or requiring JavaScript.
| Lammy wrote:
| 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.
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