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Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad

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  Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-21 23:32 +0000
    Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2026-06-22 13:05 +1000
      Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-22 06:26 +0000
        Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2026-06-22 18:08 +1000
          Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-22 08:21 +0000
            Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-06-23 09:49 +1000
              Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-24 15:10 +0100
                Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-24 17:54 +0000
                Re: Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-06-25 09:40 +1000

#585 — Upgrades for the T60 Thinkpad

Hiya o/

I've been using a T60 Thinkpad with Linux for the past couple of years, 
and I've been thinking about doing some more upgrades on it recently! I 
think it could use some fresher hardware.

I've been planning for a second drive, that I will mount on the back of 
the case, I've gotten the idea from some pretty interesting custom 
Thinkpads on r/Thinkpads, they're a great source for inspirations on 
upgrades, really.

I've had quite a look into getting a new heatsink, I'm not sure the 
difference that it would make but I saw on the Thinkpad forums that a 
T500 heatsink can infact fit into a T60 quite well, they seem pretty 
analog from what I saw, but it could be something worthwile, it gets hot 
quite quickly when I'm compiling on Gentoo.

Also, last but not least, a dock! I've been researching for ages to try 
and get a dock, alot of them seem to be from Germany but I saw a new one 
crop up recently on eBay for only around £8 so that's a pretty sweet 
deal! Especially considering the prices usually range around £20 with 
international delivery not included!

Anyways, I hope you're all having a great day! Let me know what you 
think! Should I try and do a screen upgrade? The 1024x768 panel is 
pretty good, but I'd like a little more resolution if I could, but I'm 
not sure if that might kill the vibe a bit?
-- 
- Mokka

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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#586

Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I've been using a T60 Thinkpad with Linux for the past couple of years, 
> and I've been thinking about doing some more upgrades on it recently! I 
> think it could use some fresher hardware.
> 
> I've been planning for a second drive, that I will mount on the back of 
> the case

I guess you've probably thought of it, but if you're not using a
disc drive or other Ultrabay device, you can fit a second drive
there:

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

> I've had quite a look into getting a new heatsink, I'm not sure the 
> difference that it would make but I saw on the Thinkpad forums that a 
> T500 heatsink can infact fit into a T60 quite well, they seem pretty 
> analog from what I saw, but it could be something worthwile, it gets hot 
> quite quickly when I'm compiling on Gentoo.

Interesting, my Thinkpad R60 with a Core2 CPU also seems to get hot
fairly easily. However I don't use it much. Believe it or not I
prefer the R31 I'm posting from now, which seems to have much
better margins for cooling, as well as other things I prefer.

-- 
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#_ < |\| |< _#

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#587

Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

> I guess you've probably thought of it, but if you're not using a
> disc drive or other Ultrabay device, you can fit a second drive
> there:
> 
> https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay_Slim_SATA_HDD_Adapter

Ah! I have heard of those, apparently they're pretty hard to find now, 
along with the battery ultrabay device too. Though, if I ever did find 
them, I'd be sure to get it!

> Interesting, my Thinkpad R60 with a Core2 CPU also seems to get hot
> fairly easily. However I don't use it much. Believe it or not I
> prefer the R31 I'm posting from now, which seems to have much
> better margins for cooling, as well as other things I prefer.

Nice! I think I've got an R32 actually, been wanting to get it working 
for a while but I've yet to get a fresh battery or refurbish the one 
that I have, they're quite strange batteries.

They're very nice machines though, and I can imagine they probably do 
have a bit better cooling. Though I'm quite rough on the hardware so I'm 
probably not doing my laptop any favours, just thinking the heatsink 
might give it a bit more of a fighting chance xD

-- 
- Mokka

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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#588

Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>> I guess you've probably thought of it, but if you're not using a
>> disc drive or other Ultrabay device, you can fit a second drive
>> there:
>> 
>> https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay_Slim_SATA_HDD_Adapter
> 
> Ah! I have heard of those, apparently they're pretty hard to find now, 
> along with the battery ultrabay device too. Though, if I ever did find 
> them, I'd be sure to get it!

I thought there were lots of clones for the Ultrabay Slim HDD trays
but I see they're advertised as "Ultrabay SLIM For Lenovo Y410
Y510P Y510PT Z400 Z500" and the Ultrabay page on Thinkwiki notes:

"The IdeaPad Y400/Y500/Y410p/Y510p's Ultrabay is different from the
 Ultrabays used in ThinkPads."

So I guess it's not that easy. Still the original IBM ones will be
out there, I got an Ultraboy Plus one for my R31 on Ebay some years
ago though I had to wait a while for one to appear.

>> Interesting, my Thinkpad R60 with a Core2 CPU also seems to get hot
>> fairly easily. However I don't use it much. Believe it or not I
>> prefer the R31 I'm posting from now, which seems to have much
>> better margins for cooling, as well as other things I prefer.
> 
> Nice! I think I've got an R32 actually, been wanting to get it working 
> for a while but I've yet to get a fresh battery or refurbish the one 
> that I have, they're quite strange batteries.

Yeah I made a mess of pulling apart the IBM battery many years
ago, so I bought a couple of third-party ones. But they've both
pretty much worn out now and I'll have to see if they're any easier
to disassemble to replace the cells since I don't think they're
making them anymore now either.

-- 
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#589

Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

> I thought there were lots of clones for the Ultrabay Slim HDD trays
> but I see they're advertised as "Ultrabay SLIM For Lenovo Y410
> Y510P Y510PT Z400 Z500" and the Ultrabay page on Thinkwiki notes:
> 
> "The IdeaPad Y400/Y500/Y410p/Y510p's Ultrabay is different from the
>   Ultrabays used in ThinkPads."
> 
> So I guess it's not that easy. Still the original IBM ones will be
> out there, I got an Ultraboy Plus one for my R31 on Ebay some years
> ago though I had to wait a while for one to appear.

Ah I'm always on the look out for more accessories and whatnot, I'm sure 
I'll have the chance to pick one up at some point, somehow I've managed 
to snag myself the original IBM Travel Mouse (with the box!) and a 
UK-layout SpaceSaver II Keyboard all for under £60. I've been fairly 
lucky I'd say, so hopefully that streak may continue!

> Yeah I made a mess of pulling apart the IBM battery many years
> ago, so I bought a couple of third-party ones. But they've both
> pretty much worn out now and I'll have to see if they're any easier
> to disassemble to replace the cells since I don't think they're
> making them anymore now either.
> 

I remember a while ago I saw a somewhat guide on the internals of both 
of the kinds of batteries (stick battery and the embedded case-fitting 
ones too) with the internals, they didn't seem all too bad overall. I 
think the hardest part is probably de-soldering and re-soldering the 
battery controller. Although, I haven't much to lose, I especially want 
to try it for my X41 batteries because I've got 3 and it'd make good 
practice, even if I only get one to work.

Much cheaper than attempting to find a replacement (which seems near 
impossible for those models) or probably mostly dead OEM from 2002.

I know I've got a soldering gun somewhere, if I try it out and it goes 
well I'll probably try and make a forum post about it, I haven't seen 
many out there for it and batteries are probably one of the greatest 
annoyances in trying to get these laptops in proper working order again.

-- 
- Mokka

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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#590

Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>> Yeah I made a mess of pulling apart the IBM battery many years
>> ago, so I bought a couple of third-party ones. But they've both
>> pretty much worn out now and I'll have to see if they're any easier
>> to disassemble to replace the cells since I don't think they're
>> making them anymore now either.
> 
> I remember a while ago I saw a somewhat guide on the internals of both 
> of the kinds of batteries (stick battery and the embedded case-fitting 
> ones too) with the internals, they didn't seem all too bad overall. I 
> think the hardest part is probably de-soldering and re-soldering the 
> battery controller. Although, I haven't much to lose, I especially want 
> to try it for my X41 batteries because I've got 3 and it'd make good 
> practice, even if I only get one to work.

Yeah I've done it before, but the tricky part is getting the plastic
case of the battery apart. They can be ultrasonic welded, glued, or
clip-together. I've succeeded once in separating an ultrasonic
welded one by hitting it sharply all around the join with an
acrylic screwdriver handle to break the weld, then prying it apart
with a screwdriver wedged in the join. I don't think I'd discovered
that technique when I did the R31 battery, or it might have been
glued, so I had to try to try and cut it open with a dremmel, but I
couldn't get in far enough to some parts (also trying to avoid the
batteries which could catch fire if cut into) and ended up wrecking
it when I tried to pry it apart at one end enough to get to the
stuck bits on the other side where the connector was. Clip-together
ones usually need to be cut apart as well.

I've pulled apart more laptop batteries just to get the cells out,
trying to practice doing it without wrecking the case, and the
possibility of it all depends on how they're designed/assembled,
which varies a lot. Some are fairly easy, many fight you all the
way.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#591

Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> Yeah I've done it before, but the tricky part is getting the plastic
> case of the battery apart. They can be ultrasonic welded, glued, or
> clip-together. I've succeeded once in separating an ultrasonic
> welded one by hitting it sharply all around the join with an
> acrylic screwdriver handle to break the weld, then prying it apart
> with a screwdriver wedged in the join. I don't think I'd discovered
> that technique when I did the R31 battery, or it might have been
> glued, so I had to try to try and cut it open with a dremmel, but I
> couldn't get in far enough to some parts (also trying to avoid the
> batteries which could catch fire if cut into) and ended up wrecking
> it when I tried to pry it apart at one end enough to get to the
> stuck bits on the other side where the connector was. Clip-together
> ones usually need to be cut apart as well.
> 
> I've pulled apart more laptop batteries just to get the cells out,
> trying to practice doing it without wrecking the case, and the
> possibility of it all depends on how they're designed/assembled,
> which varies a lot. Some are fairly easy, many fight you all the
> way.
> 

Hmm, I'll definitely have to do quite a bit more research on it it 
seems. But it's a good thing to learn, it's entirely possible. I'll 
check what kind of seal it is on the X41 batteries, I've got quite good 
access to some tools so I could try quite a few methods for getting them 
open. If at least only one of them survives the probably brutal 
endeavour of trying to repair them without destroying it entirely then 
it'll be a success (though, I hope to end up with two working ones, as 
I'm planning to sell one of three of the laptops - the other one is pure 
scrap.

Thankfully as far as I know the battery cells themselves are universal? 
They're standard from what I remember, I saw advice on them being they 
should all have the same life on them - like maximum charge. Though if 
you're buying new ones that shouldn't be too much of an issue to find.

-- 
- Mokka

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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#592

Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thankfully as far as I know the battery cells themselves are universal? 
> They're standard from what I remember, I saw advice on them being they 
> should all have the same life on them - like maximum charge. Though if 
> you're buying new ones that shouldn't be too much of an issue to find.

I've been thinking about the same issue on an old T400s, which I
keep for the rare occasions needing a Windows system.

The charging voltage limits for the higher-performance lithium 
chemistries are relatively narrow and likely depend somewhat on
manufacturing details that could easily drift over decades. It
might be worth looking up the original cell specs now, on the 
supposition that the charge management is matched to it. 

Measuring the old set under charge might be informative also,
unless it's totally dead.

Presumably one should err on the side of undercharge, not over....

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

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#593

Caffeine Canidae <samuel.common@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>> I've pulled apart more laptop batteries just to get the cells out,
>> trying to practice doing it without wrecking the case, and the
>> possibility of it all depends on how they're designed/assembled,
>> which varies a lot. Some are fairly easy, many fight you all the
>> way.
> 
> Hmm, I'll definitely have to do quite a bit more research on it it 
> seems. But it's a good thing to learn, it's entirely possible. I'll 
> check what kind of seal it is on the X41 batteries, I've got quite good 
> access to some tools so I could try quite a few methods for getting them 
> open. If at least only one of them survives the probably brutal 
> endeavour of trying to repair them without destroying it entirely then 
> it'll be a success (though, I hope to end up with two working ones, as 
> I'm planning to sell one of three of the laptops - the other one is pure 
> scrap.
> 
> Thankfully as far as I know the battery cells themselves are universal? 

The ones I've disassembled all used 18650 (18mm wide, 650mm long)
cells, though apparantly newer laptops can use different shapes.

> They're standard from what I remember, I saw advice on them being they 
> should all have the same life on them - like maximum charge.

You can get different capacities, and also different chemistries.
Definitely stick to the original chemistry as should be writton on
the battery pack, so for Li-Ion avoid LIFePO etc. cells even if
they look the same, or else things might go very wrong with the
charging/discharging circuitry.

Capacity (the mAh spec.) varies too. The cells might have that
printed on them, or you can work it out from the capacity of the
whole battery. But in the latter case you have to understand
which cells are in series and which are in parallel and only divide
the total mAh figure by the number of cells connected in parallel
to get the original capacity of each cell. Of course make sure to
wire the new cells up exactly the same in this regard as well.

It should be OK to upgrade the capacity of the cells used, provided
you stick to the original chemistry. There's also a limit on the
maximum charging current ("C-rate"), eg. 0.5C, and this is measured
relative to the battery capacity, so in theory _downgrading_ the
cells to a lower capacity than originals might cause the charging
circuitry to charge them too quickly and wear them out early. I'm
not sure whether laptop batteries charge at rates close enough to
the limit for that to be a real issue though, and I doubt you want
to downgrade capacity anyway - just if you're pulling cells out of
spare battery packs it might be tempting.

As for lifespan, I think that all depends on quality and there I
can't help you. I think brand name cells are still generally
expected to last much longer than cheap Chinese-brand things. Also
I've seen Aliexpress reviews of Lithium cells testing at lower
capacity than they're marked at, so too-good-to-be-true pricing
probably is. On the other hand if I buy eg. Panasonic cells from a
relatively trustworthy supplier (so I know they're not fakes), it'd
cost well over $100 for a full set. Yes, much more than third-party
replacement battery packs cost, but they probably use Chinese-brand
cells inside. So I'm not sure about the best way to approach buying
new Li-Ion batteries myself, it's a pain.

-- 
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