Upgrading a Thinkpad T430 Laptop with New Hardware to Prepare for Linux and Programming

[@mikoduhplug]

Bought my T430 from some guy whose business went under back when I was a kid. Has never failed me. Plays League of Legends like a champ when I’m on the go🫡 does what I need and when it can’t I go to my PC or Mac. Been wanting to upgrade☝🏻 didn’t even know you could swap out the disk drive for a caddy! Keep going hard with the videos 👍🏻 P.s shout out the guys business who went under. Hope he’s still doing great.

[@agustinvillagran8102]

Tengo una T430 y estoy muy agradecido de encontrar este tutorial. Ahora puedo darle vida nuevamente a mi laptop yo mismo. Gracias de nuevo.

[@penguinpropaganda]

Te deseo buena suerte amigo (

[@FreeskierSean]

So awesome! I didn't realize the processor could be upgraded on these machines. I always thought it was part of the mother board. Definitely good to know for the future.

[@RobertJohnson-lb3qz]

Thanks Penguin, very good info. I’m with you on the keyboard thing. I hope to do all of the upgrades you outlined.

[@GrahamAtDesk]

Nice. I did mine a few years back, also going for the 3632QM. It's a noticeably smoother machine than it was with 4 core i7 chip in it. Mine had quite a noisy fan on the heatsink, and I found the Nvidia chip frustrating. It drains battery too fast, and if you run on the onboard Intel GPU instead the mini DVI port isn't available to you! So I bought a new old stock motherboard on eBay (£23!) that didn't have the Nvidia chip (meaning the mini DVI worked with Intel GPU) and a Delta fan (the quiet one) attached to it. I had to dismantle the whole machine to do it (not too bad, given the excellent hardware service manual that's available) and now have a very quiet machine that doesn't get too hot and doesn't throttle. I did the 1080p IPS screen mod too, which takes it to a whole new level. It's great to be able to keep this old kit going. Top tip for battery longevity - use tlp to set the charging threshold so that it stops charging at 60% max charge. The battery lasts a lot longer, and if you need to charge it higher for a few hours away from power, letting it go up to 75 or 80% every now and again is no problem.

[@Snowman-rn7eo]

Congrats on 100 subscribers!!

[@penguinpropaganda]

I never thought I'd reach such dizzying heights!

[@joaocanhoto2654]

I enjoy videos like this. All the best to you and best of luck on this channel of yours.

[@raginald7mars408]

last year I bought a T410 with excellent Docking Station battery 40 % wear ok excellent wonderful machine Love it works every day like new!

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Personally i prefer to swap out the DVD drive with a Blu-ray drive. The only reason to add a Ultrabay HDD / SSD would be to use it as a Mini-RAID. Also, if you do a BIOS Mod you can remove the WIFI hardware & Battery Whitelisting and also enable the full SATA speed. Something that is sadly locked and throttled by default.

[@penguinpropaganda]

Regarding the BIOS mod: When this was made we were in the middle of the pandemic and the BIOS chip clip was selling for 400 USD which is why I just never picked one up to do it. I plan on doing this at some point and making a video on it but life has been busy.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

@@penguinpropaganda Oh you don't need extra hardware for that. Just a Linux Distri on a USB stick and the modded Bios files. It's purely software mod.

[@jons2447]

@@KRAFTWERK2K6 KOOL! So where can we find the modded BIOS files? Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

[@MojoCuba]

Can you give some info and links for battery whitelist and Sara speed hack plz? Thanks

[@cristiansalazar5398]

dont be me...wtf.. if we see it is 'cos we love this fantastics machines, and share that feeling bro. nice channel

[@low_re8094]

Sweet rig. W530 is also a beast. 4 RAM slots in that thing. :D More than enough power in these old ThinkPads, and very Linux friendly. Like you said though, not very portable.

[@zingyyellow554]

I've only got a E530 (£35 off ebay), but max'd out the ram to 16GB changed to cpu to the i7-3632qm 500gb ssd boot and 1tb spinner in the dvd bay, runs PCLinuxOS sweet..

[@surajpokharkar8571]

Nice works ...waiting for your new wideo about t430

[@gamescomputer5464]

Very cool personally I enjoy Linux and windows

[@Jan-VH]

I have 3 SSDs in my T430

[@penguinpropaganda]

we live in the greatest timeline

[@InterstellarLord]

I put a i7-3740QM on my T430 (no dedicated GPU). On Linux (the only OS I use) good temps all the time.

[@artur19846]

Hi! I heard the battery doesn't get charged with i7 45W cpus unless one plugs in a 90W charger. Does your 430 work with the regular 60W charger?

[@InterstellarLord]

@@artur19846 I am sorry, I am not using battery on my laptop, just to the power grid.

[@JairFernandez-tu5mq]

Hi, what type of linux are u using?

[@JairFernandez-tu5mq]

@@InterstellarLord tysm, yeah, sorry for that am a begginer in Linux :')

[@darconp]

Good video. Thank you.

[@penguinpropaganda]

Glad you liked it!

[@DoctorAlex1]

Hi! I've been doing similar things with my T430, but I was curious why you went for the 3632QM vs the 3740QM? The latter is a bit quicker and pretty darn cheap on ebay :)

[@penguinpropaganda]

I believe there was a huge cost difference at the time I made the video. The goal was to upgrade as effectively yet cheaply as possible.

[@jons2447]

GREAT video, "THANK YOU!". I really appreciate the part nos., as I'm about to upgrade my (2014?) T430. I don't have the cash yet, worse, I don't know enough to know which is the better upgrade. I bought a keyboard but I think its a fake, it does not light up & it types worse than the one I took out. Good thing i saved the old one but I'll try to find one of your nos. I'd like to find a good option to upgrade the display but I can live w/ stock for now. I've heard there are good screens that fit the T430 but I haven't really looked into it. That would make another good video! Oh, BTW, could you make the title longer? I don't think 14 words are quite enough to completely describe the video. Keep up the good work, looking forward to more of your videos. Have a GREAT day, Neighbor! PS I'm old, I don't like windoz, MX runs like a champ. But I'd like to learn more about linux, too.

[@penguinpropaganda]

to be clear: I'll be making titles more concise in the future, also videos are getting an overhaul on style

[@playboixronaldogaming6815]

Yoo hows t480 in your opinion??

[@godfatheryt7626]

Sir nice tattoos and should buy this machine for programming python C and bash scripting and to learn linux i have x230 X220 in my option too, please let me know

[@GG-py9fe]

Why? 😭 It's already old and no gpu the parts are gonna be harder to find each year. 🤧

[@penguinpropaganda]

You're not the boss of me

[@fryindoubt2226]

so why do you change one dGPU heatsink to the same dGPU heatsink?

[@haatemee6966]

Why not add a converter board and a 1080p screen? I thought that was possible too 🤔🤔

[@tomsun3159]

Yes i upgraded from the HD+ TN to a FHD IPS Panel, but most productive work is done in the docking station with a 1440p UW Monitor attached.

[@johnjohnston1086]

Great discovery today need some advice please?. Is it a must to replace the heatsink for Intel core I7? My goal is to speed up software tasks and get more done before battery discharges completely. I run my T430 daily for specific work, not my primary laptop. I currently have 16RAM 246GB i5-3320M. Just looking to make it better/faster on a budget if I can. Thanks

[@penguinpropaganda]

I am not under the impression it is a must, but from what I have read if you don't update the heatsink the system can throttle. Mine still gets pretty warm on the heatsink side.

[@johnjohnston1086]

@@penguinpropaganda Thanks for the reply. Are the Intel i7 3632QM got ebay or elsewhere reliable. Looking at costs brand new is around 300 here in UK. Pricy. Is there any others that work as good? Thanks

[@penguinpropaganda]

@@johnjohnston1086 I bought mine on ebay from a reputable reseller. I can't say which one is reputable for your area, (also I'm loathe to give out recs anyways because companies change), but my recommendation is to do some research on the seller and get a company that is recycling / parting out items. This is how I got the keyboard as well.

[@johnjohnston1086]

@@penguinpropaganda cheers for reply i understand will look more into that. 👍

[@agustinvillagran8102]

Is the hard drive caddy size 9.5mm or 12.7 mm?

[@abishekrode8268]

can you upgrade an ideapad 320

[@penguinpropaganda]

it's a lot less modular but if I had one I would certainly try

[@BurgerParty]

Is this with nvidia or just intel ?

[@penguinpropaganda]

This machine has the nvidia / intel chipset. I forced nvidia to run on the latest linux update I did but I haven't been able to get the mini hdmi to reliably work along with the other screen. I can get one or the other though.

[@MobileDecay]

No Rambo knife? Fail. 🙄

[@eylonemuskson4177]

F: Porsche 911 has a flat-6, that'd be a hexa-core. :D

[@RocketNation07]

Hi, can we upgrade the processor to i5/i7 8th Gen?

[@iwanhaniyoto]

Some people choose to buy old ThinkPad and upgrade many of these part to the max. Some people choose to sold they old ThinkPad and buy the newest one. And some people choose to sold they old ThinkPad and buy used and and better specs ThinkPad (that's me).

[@Sourpusscandy]

I’m trying to upgrade to a msata 1tb in the msata spot. The bios does not recognize it, do I need to initialize or clone it in an external usb case first? Help please!

[@penguinpropaganda]

not sure on that one, I only used a 500GB on my system

[@kafir5801]

any solution to add more RAM above 16 GB ?

[@penguinpropaganda]

new motherboard?

[@ElianderPerez]

holy s i don't know this channel deserves many suscribers! Penguin Propaganda!

[@talbeckbarlstilskin7452]

I AM GLAD TO HAVE FOUND THIS CHANNEL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[@jm036]

Can't believe people are still doing the dGPU heatsink mod. Lmao.

[@fryindoubt2226]

why you can't believe?

[@alexf1515]

What is wrong with this in your opinion?

[@jm036]

@@alexf1515 useless meme mod

[@alexf1515]

@@jm036 why?