Lenovo 3000 and Value line Laptops

[#1]

Video's a great idea, I've never seen it done before.  I've poked around in my 3k n200 a little .. you've done a great job designing it. I'm impressed! very "user" friendly!  Coming from an ol' retired design engr. The video help guide the thoughts on access.

Now I'm hoping I can get my driver issues resolved so I can have real fun with my new 3k200n !

[#2]

pls

anyone just give some link specific to Y500 notebooks

thanks

[#3]

Seems like Y500 is the least problematic of this series.

I bought Y500 in Dec-06. Its working OK.

[#4]

These videos are great!

I've always been reluctant to do any service beyond replacing ram and drives.

Now, I feel confident that I could tear my laptop down and replace any part I could get my hands on, should it ever become necessary - and not end up with 'extra parts' when I'm done.

I've been raving about this laptop since I purchased it.

No, it's not a speed demon, but it's competent, and I can upgrade the cpu/ram/drive/wifi as necessary when I need the performance boost, or when cpu prices drop.

I bumped to 2g with ram from a macbook I had upgraded to 4g.

Next step is to put a fire breathing mini pci wifi adaptor from Engenius.

(I may mod the case for an external antenna, though I dunno if I want to void the warranty just yet...)

I live on my laptop, and when I'm testing long range wifi links, I really need the same radio/antenna on both ends.

There's no reason that a sata (not sata2) 7200 rpm drive wouldn't be compatible, is there?

Is there a bios size limitation?

I'm thinking of tossing in a 200g 7200 rpm drive for a bit faster io.

My average file size is probably larger than most folks, so I think I'll gain a respectable bit of speed there.

The combination of OS agnosticism, good design for serviceability, and easy availability of drivers and tech data is a relief.

I used to specify high end Vaio laptops, but now I'll be specifying Lenovo for any new laptops we buy.

Wish list: A comprehensive component upgrade matrix, including components that Lenovo may not support officially, but which should work in most cases. The bios update notes mention some cpu's, but I'm unsure of exactly what other cpu's work in my 3000 N200 0769 alu.

Ok....I'll stop now...

[#5]

Looking at the service videos for the N100, I note the CPU is removeable. Could it be upgraded to one of the faster and cooler ULV CPUs?

tOM

[#6]

I suppose so. Just make sure that you install the latest BIOS update beforehand, so that it will accept the new CPU microcode.

The other factor to consider is cost. Getting a good CPU costs a fair bit. Would it be better to buy a new laptop instead?

[#7]

I'd like to see a cpu support matrix as well.

Buying the desired cpu with the laptop in the first place may be preferred, but sometimes cost factors intervene and it's nice to know that you can upgrade later.

I would assume that any cpu model originally offer ed as an option/submodel for *that specific board* would be compatible, as well as any cpu for which support is specifically added in a bios update.

The grey area that I see is that you could have a bios that covers more than one board revision, and may implement a feature/support on one rev, but not on another.

You'd have bios support, but not necessarily the required underlying logic circuits.

I don't know if this is an issue with the 3000 series or not.

From what I can tell, the 3000 N100/200 series use three different boards, the 0689 and 0768 on the N100, and the 0769 on the N200.

The 07x boards seem to be compatible with a lot of Core 2 Duo processors, including at least several 45nm models.

I haven't seen specific mention of support for the ulv procs. 

The ulv's are cooler, but not faster if you compare them to their equivalent non-ulv counterpart, rather than your existing cpu.

The ulv's have less l2 cache, lower clock speed, and on some models the l2 runs at a different speed than the core - which is really odd to me. Then again, I'm no EE.

The upgrade I have in mind is the T7500. It's pretty fast, and has the 4 mb l2 cache.

I'm less concerned with power consumption than performance.

[#8]

Generally, if a particular CPU is supported on the BIOS, then the whole series of those CPUs would be supported. For example, if the T7250 is supported, then it's most likely that it'll support T7300, T7500, etc.

[#9]

How about the T2xxx or T5xxx? It's also more than bios - it has to match the cooling and voltages.

tOM

[#10]

The CPU voltage is actually set by the CPU itself via a set of voltage ID pins. So if a CPU fits into a socket, then it should never damage or be damaged by anything by good design principles.

An older generation of CPUs like the T2xxx Core Duos should work just fine, since it's usually only a problem with those that are newer than when your product was released. For example, my V100 was purchased back in the days of the Core Duo, which needs a BIOS upgrade in order to use the newer Core 2 Duos.

Cooling shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just be aware of the total dissipation power. The Core 2 Duos should be around 35W and the Core Duos 31W. However, based on other posts, some people reports a thermal problem with their laptop, although I haven't seen a case where it's been extensively tested and confirmed. Just remember to use a high quality thermal compound and secure the heat sink firmly.