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ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

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Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#91

Post by hoistbypetard »

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.

No doubt. I'm not questioning the value... even one lane is better than SATA2... just the ability to actually get hands on a part that fits into this adapter.

I think the mod would be much better if there were a way to have it protrude out of the laptop with a 2280 form factor drive, so that more parts would be usable in it.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#92

Post by K0SM0S »

yttriumtyclief wrote: post #88
K0SM0S wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't get me wrong, I really want all those things. So much so that I actually spent a hefty sum on my current TP (X1 Yoga '3rd', 2018) to get all those things 'guaranteed' now and option for later (I'm not much of a hardware tinkerer, but I could already see 2028 and me tweaking it up). That being said, I think it's still a small market. All of TPs I mean, new, used & yet to come ( I've got a solid theory that Think…

I feel like there's room for a couple of hobbyists to design and manufacture niche mods, as you've suggested. We've already seen it take off with Nitrocaster, and I think there's still room for a few more. My hope with ThinkMods is that I can offset the overall cost of the brand by having a number of different mods; creating a store where you might pay slightly more than Aliexpress knockoffs, but you get a reliable m…

Well, you sound like you've really got the ideal approach, just about the best business model IMHO for that kind of endeavor. Hope it goes really well.

I would just encourage you to allow yourself to make enough margin to not just keep the business afloat but grow it — notably to fuel your apparent desire to design great things, enforce great QA, etc. These things have a cost, that people are willing to pay for as you suggest, and it is always a disservice to everyone to undervalue one's work. ;-)

So, seeing as how your heart is in the right place — go TPs! — rest assured you won't overcharge any time soon. People will tell you if that day ever comes. :wink again:

Have a great one, and thanks for the awesome initiative. Best of courage and success to you!

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#94

Post by yttriumtyclief »

culturestate wrote: post #9
ohazi wrote: post #8

It would be nice to know what material/process is used to make the plastic(?) enclosure. Given that the funding goal is $1400 / $1600, I'm assuming it's 3d printed rather than injection molded, but maybe they were able to get a standard part? Otherwise, this appears to be a (rare) good example of a well-planned crowdfunding campaign. The actual design is either completely or almost completely de-risked via one or mor…

I don't think it's a commercial part - if you look closely at the photo of the first prototype, the left side of the sled shows some distinct lines that look like FDM layers. It also seems like the maker is producing these in small batches in his home lab, so 3D printing makes sense. That said, the CAD model of v2 seems to show some kind of ejector or retention mechanism (in green, again on the left) which could be t…

Yes, the very first prototype was a fairly poorly-produced FDM. The actual 3d model was high quality, but my brother just got it printed at his college's maker space, by someone who didn't really care to make it look good. It was just meant to be a functional sled.

I will be fine-tuning the final part to look and feel a lot better.

Until recently I was planning to just order them from 3dhubs, since it has decent per-unit pricing for bulk orders, but now I'm going to be buying a printer and doing them myself. This will allow me to print whatever chassis is needed, make revisions whenever needed, and also make it far easier to prototype future mods.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#95

Post by yttriumtyclief »

rasz wrote: post #84
microcolonel wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Single lane of pcie 2.0 is over 14x faster than usb 2.0 (realistic 35 MB/s in optimal circumstances), pcie 1.0 is still >7x faster.

This, the 480Mbit/s rating for USB 2.0 is bits, not bytes. USB2 theoretically caps out at 80MB/s (realistically much much lower) whereas even PCI-E 1.1 can hit 250MB/s (2.5Gbit/s before 8b/10b encoding overhead) in a single lane.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#96

Post by LeifCarrotson »

rasz wrote: post #75
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

500 vs 560 MB/s, but more efficient... it's a tossup IMO.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#97

Post by yttriumtyclief »

Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #50

Unrelated story. Back in the day, I got myself a T510. It was a tinkerer's dream - heck, I even learned how to hand-solder SMD on it. Besides the standard mods (swapping the screen and upgrading to the W-series heatsink), I noticed that there was a spare spot on the PCB that looked like it was made for some component. Looking up the teardown of the more professional variant, turns out that it was missing a connector…

>An ebay hunt and hours with a soldering iron later, I had a seemingly-working miniPCIe slot. Didn't really have a use for it though, other than bragging rights.

T440p supports this as well! It has a secret third M.2 2280 B-key slot with SATA3 lanes going to it.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#98

Post by yttriumtyclief »

jotm wrote: post #38

I'd like to see the real prototype myself: those connectors on top of a PCB seem too thick to fit into an EC slot - but there have been SSDs made in that form factor. Edit: nevermind, he found a thinner connector. I should've read the Indiegogo page before commenting :) Other than that, this adapter would be great for any laptop with an ExpressCard slot. I can't believe no one's made one before. Kind of late now that…

It was! I had to remove the entire ExpressCard cage on the X230 I was using for testing. However, as noted in your edit, I've since slimmed the drive down further. This is what it looks like now: https://i.imgur.com/A0XEkW5.png Perfectly fits the EC spec.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#99

Post by yttriumtyclief »

chaz6 wrote: post #48

Does anyone know how to get in touch with the project founder? Kickstarter does not seem to provide any way. I would like a two pack, with one of each size, but right now you have to choose one or the other.

As the other reply noted, I can be reached through a lot of different means, but you can actually do what you're asking to do through Indiegogo! When you select the 2pack and go to the checkout, you can pick sizes individually. You can mix and match.

Re: ThinkPad Mods, Done Right

#100

Post by yttriumtyclief »

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.

The intention isn't to be faster than the internal bay, it's to add another drive to machines with limited drive support. For instance, X230 only has a single SATA3 drive accessible. You can add an mSATA, but they don't come in very large capacities and the mSATA slot is limited to SATA2. This mod adds a third drive, one that goes up to 2TB at ~SATA3 speeds. So, depending on the model, it can either be a nice addition or a huge addition.
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