Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

thinkmods.store

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 111 posts

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#71

Post by chx »

numpad0 wrote: post #53
zoomablemind wrote: post #43

Nicely looking idea. Not sure about the benefit though. SSD can be fitted in ThinkPad in several ways already 1) swap internal HDD 2) use the optical drivebay, needs a caddy 3) attach M2 SSD instead of WWAN card (this option is slower) 4) attach externally via eSATA (with adapter cable) All of the options above are bootable (not sure about eSATA, but can test). One more option is nice, of course, though not sure that…

Those older ThinkPads predate M.2 standard and since M.2 is longer than mSATA/mPCIe they simply don’t fit in case they needed a PCIe based storage.

> M.2 is longer than mSATA

There are 42mm long M.2 drives and as all M.2 cards, they are 2mm wide. The largest 2242 SATA drives are 1TB from such reputable brands as Kingspec and Dogfish and I strongly recommend avoiding them like the plague. I'd stick with the Transcend MTS 430S at 512GB, it's the first SSD in such a size with a DRAM cache, launched last year. (At least the first retail, no idea what goes on with industrial SSDs.)

Full height Mini PCIe cards are 30×50.95 mm. You can indeed buy an msata to 2242 adapter and it's cheap as dirt because it is completely passive, just the PCB with the right edge connector with the M.2 key B connector mounted on top. Zero electronics necessary. It's just SATA.

For the sake of completeness, I must note some newer 2242 drives are key M / NVMe / PCI Express and I haven't seen such an adapter yet. The Sabrent 2TB Rocket is the largest 2242 SSD I am aware of and it's key M.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#72

Post by chx »

hoistbypetard wrote: post #56

I'm afraid the 2242 requirement makes this much less of a slam dunk than it should be. Last time I looked for one, only the Toshibas were available as 2242 NVMe drives. (Many more similarly-sized drives are available, but they use SATA which won't work with this adapter.) I've been looking for an upgrade to my 2242 PCIe drive but they rarely appear, and usually by the time I find one you can't actually order it anymo…

https://www.sabrent.com/product/SB-1342-2TB/2tb-rocket-nvme-...

Be careful: this is key M and it's not unlikely you have a key B slot. The largest key B 2242 drive is, on paper at least is https://paypaymall.yahoo.co.jp/store/etrend-y/item/1194784/ but I have never seen it being in stock after it launched (?) last year. Otherwise, the SN520 is the largest obtainable at 512GB. https://geizhals.eu/western-digital-pc-sn520-nvme-ssd-512gb-...

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#73

Post by jolmg »

jasoneckert wrote: post #51

I've been using laptops now for 28 years. I can't think of a more rugged, long-lasting, and well-performing laptop than the Thinkpad series. As a result, I can see this product being a total hit. Most of my students buy used Thinkpads because they're inexpensive and easy to upgrade, so I'm going to show them this link!

Panasonic toughbooks? Some are so rugged, they're uncomfortable, but others are only semi-rugged and they're pretty nice.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#74

Post by rasz »

microcolonel wrote: post #57
hoistbypetard wrote: post #56

I'm afraid the 2242 requirement makes this much less of a slam dunk than it should be. Last time I looked for one, only the Toshibas were available as 2242 NVMe drives. (Many more similarly-sized drives are available, but they use SATA which won't work with this adapter.) I've been looking for an upgrade to my 2242 PCIe drive but they rarely appear, and usually by the time I find one you can't actually order it anymo…

It's a major upgrade, if your best storage is currently SATA 2; even if you have to select a relatively obscure SSD manufacturer.

Which Thinkpad would that be? The switch over to SATA 3 happened between T410 and T420, coincidentally thats the same time they switched from Gen1 (PCIe 1.1, 2.5Gbps) to Gen2 (PCIe 2.0, 5Gbps). SATA 2/3 is faster than single lane of PCIe 1.1/2.0.

example test on T410 https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32260935657.html 180MB/s max read out of a drive easily reaching 600MB/s in normal circumstances https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6961/plextor-m6e-black-edi...

TLDR: its ALWAYS inferior to simply using SATA drive in HDD slot.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#75

Post by rasz »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #60
zwayhowder wrote: post #13

Given it's limited to SATA3 speeds, why not just replace the internal hdd with a SATA3 SSD? My X260 is very happy with a 2tb Samsung drive. I suppose this would be lighter, but we are talking about 50g of extra weight for a 2.5" SSD. Some of the future mods though look very cool. I particularly would like the Unifying Mod & WHQD mods.

It's not SATA, it's NVMe. And vintage ThinkPad enthusiasts are not typically concerned about weight unless they're going for "more is better".

its pcie 2.0, slower than sata3

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#76

Post by rasz »

jchw wrote: post #17
numpad0 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NVMe is somehow better in random access performance. Also ThinkPads before X240 has no space to accommodate M.2/NVMe as those machines predates the standard. Personally I wish(ed) if there were 2.5” shaped GPU than SSD though

I don’t really know for sure but my intuition is NVMe can win in random access and latency because it has much larger command queues and typically multiple queues (so each CPU thread can have its own queue.)

does this (T410) look in any way worth it ? https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1adoQGVXXXXaxXFXXq6xXFXXX4/200...

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#77

Post by 1996 »

Evidlo wrote: post #7

Semi related, but has anyone used the T420's ExpressCard port for USB3 expansion? I bought a USB3 card [0], but the write speed is only barely faster than USB2 for flash media. (interestingly, the write speed is much faster when uploading an image to my FPGA dev board) [0] https://www.amazon.com/ExpressCard-34mm-Adapter-Dual-Port/dp...

I did, it runs way too warm.

I am a bit afraid this mod will have the same problem.

Instead of plastic, it would be better to use a material that can conduct heat.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#79

Post by nominated1 »

jasoneckert wrote: post #51

I've been using laptops now for 28 years. I can't think of a more rugged, long-lasting, and well-performing laptop than the Thinkpad series. As a result, I can see this product being a total hit. Most of my students buy used Thinkpads because they're inexpensive and easy to upgrade, so I'm going to show them this link!

I’m typing this reply on a T490. It ain’t your parents Thinkpad. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice but I’d be surprised if it lasts me longer than an XPS or equivalent would.

Opening it up to add more memory and larger SSD was nerve racking. I was worried I might snap the tabs on the “glass fiber” shell. Better than an Inspiron or Pavilion but not confidence inspiring. I don’t look forward to replacing the battery in a couple years.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#80

Post by microcolonel »

rasz wrote: post #74
microcolonel wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a major upgrade, if your best storage is currently SATA 2; even if you have to select a relatively obscure SSD manufacturer.

Which Thinkpad would that be? The switch over to SATA 3 happened between T410 and T420, coincidentally thats the same time they switched from Gen1 (PCIe 1.1, 2.5Gbps) to Gen2 (PCIe 2.0, 5Gbps). SATA 2/3 is faster than single lane of PCIe 1.1/2.0. example test on T410 https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32260935657.html 180MB/s max read out of a drive easily reaching 600MB/s in normal circumstances https://www.tweaktown.co…

I forgot about the ExpressCard being one lane of PCIe; what a waste. ExpressCard seems extra silly since it was often available on machines with USB 2.0, which was faster than PCIe 1 1x. No wonder it never took off for most.
Post reply on HN