Custom motherboard designer Franck Deng has created a new motherboard for the IBM Thinkpad X200 and X201 laptops, originally released at the end of the last decade and featuring Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor.
The new motherboard comes with a range of upgrades, including a new 11th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, DDR5 memory, M.2 interfaces for SSDs, USB-C with Thunderbolt support, and screen upgrade options.
These upgrades are not cheap, but the designer claims the new motherboards are a substantial performance upgrade on the dated hardware the laptops shipped with 18 years ago.
This is not the first time Thinkpad fans have sought to create bespoke new motherboards to bring new life — and new hardware capabilities — to these classic laptops.
