THE X230

2024/5/27 7PM GMT
Recent shit I've done: nothing
Progress on training my writing skills for IELTS: -1
Money spent: alot...
but i've got some good news for ya(or me):
I'VE GOT A ThinkPad X230!!!!
for no reason(tbh for the ThinkLight), but i want to try the great(according to the internet) Classic IBM ThinkPad Keyboard myself(and that ExpressCard slot with PCIe 2.0 x1), but i also want some not that old hardware(especially graphics power wise)
I am now typing this shit talk blog comfortably with my quote en quote "new" X230 with a X220 keyboard mod
So I chose X230 over X220, for that Ivy Bridge with HD Graphics 4000(300GFlops beat the shit out of those 100ish GFlops from the previous gen)
And decided to mod those infamous "new Lenovo keyboard" out with the classic one from the X220
And it had been such a hassle to deal with... i mean generally old laptops from that era are infamously bad to handle with in modern days
Especially something by Lenovo with a brandname called ThinkPad
What you are dealing with in this gen(or ThinkPad from 2010~2014):
Locked out BIOS with whitelisted wifi card and stuff(though before Haswell came along its still modifiable, even just by software without a SPI flasher or sth)
Shitty TN-LCD panel... THE WORST and one the most expensive to replace
and due to the use of LVDS panels and some bios limitation i guess, u r limited to 768p, unless you choose to route a DisplayPort signal out of somewhere(i mean they all got DP out by this point) but the converter board is expensive and good luck finding a 12.5inch Full HD IPS panel with a good price
And the batteries, these machine are made with battery lock out chip in mind(but as previously mentioned its modifiable), for some good reason of course: Lithium-ion batteries are super dangerous(like all the  things exist that hold a massive amount of energy inside them does), and those non-genuine battery could be a big safety hazard.
But INAFF of shit talks, tldr these batteries aged badly, and they came out in around 2012... wait what years is it again? Lenovo of course stopped making them ages ago(i think they last made X230 batteries in late 2017), and btw thos e dudes in China figured out a way to defeat that lock out chip anyway, now its literally impossible to find a genuine batteries that are in a good shape(95%+ health and won't set themselves on fire), you either find those third party suspicious one with fake capacity on it, or a one that won't last you for more than an hour... tho i think i've got a known good one(still on the way tho) by luck and paid a premium...
oh btw, Lenovo just started to giving up on some of the signature IBM classic ThinkPad design with their latest and greatest xx30 lines of ThinkPad, by that it means the Classic Keyboards are gone by this point, and came up with something that looks more modern(and cheap, which i am not a huge fan of other than that one where HP got it right with their 835 G8), the infamous chiclet keyboard, but surprisingly enough, Lenovo just decided to make the size and the connector of their new keyboard *almost* exactly the same as the previous one so you can easily get the old joy back with a simple mod, how fun is that!
Turns out that although the connectors are identical but the pin-outs are a slightly different so u gotta take you new old keyboard apart to isolate some of the pins(see that link above) and you also need a new old palmrest from the X220 to make you new keyboard feel like home(or to fit perfectly in here to be exact)
But after you finally got through all those hassle of screwing and unscrewing
You founds out that the keyboard layout is slightly different between these and now you have to do a EC mod(basically a on board controller monitors all the lockout stuff like those ARM9 chips inside a Wii and Wii U) but its easy enough and can be done in software, to change those keyboard layout around and unlock the battery lockout to use something else
But by this point, i think you might wanting to have a full BIOS unlock anyway...
I think i should just write a post detailing all those steps on modding this X230(finally something useful on this website)
I'm sorry that i write this much of nonsense but typing on this keyboard is a real treat... not too mechanical but also not too mushy, amazing, i really want to use this as a daily driver by this point(X280/A285 got shitty keyboards... and my HP is a little bit on the fragile side, which its not something i can take care of. i like to handle my laptops like a daily item but not a precious little glass)
Anyway, that's it for today, and see ya later(probably this day or two)


side notes: fuck, this X230 project is costing me little fortune by this point... but that feeling just WORTH IT!