Upgrading a T530 as /sec/ as fuack

So i just got a new T530 with 4gig ram and nothing special. 1. how much can i improve it? 2. How hard is it to flash the bios, and make it a full secure top to prevent any remote attacks, on top of turning it into a kind of cold storage laptop to prevent loss of work? I want to pitch to my boss that my laptop is a mission critical backup and so he should approve of me upgrading this thing like a goddamm hotrod >tfw you have a 15.6 inch T series thinkpad >even if it's 4gb now, it'll be huge >and this fuarrrking goddam keyboard

>>8127 >1. how much can i improve it? GPU is soldered directly to MB, you aren't going to modify it. CPU can be upgraded to an extreme edition or higher model if you can find one online or from a parts laptop. Keyboard can be swapped for a modified original one if you are willing to do a bit of work on the ribbon cable. RAM can be upgraded up to 32 GB. Can install a FHD screen if you have a lower resolution one present Upgrade to higher capacity battery. Upgrade to SSD, and a HDD/SSD compatible ultrabay in the place of the DVD/CD player. >2. How hard is it to flash the bios, and make it a full secure top to prevent any remote attacks, on top of turning it into a kind of cold storage laptop to prevent loss of work? I want to pitch to my boss that my laptop is a mission critical backup and so he should approve of me upgrading this thing like a goddamm hotrod You're going to lose the GPU. Not a problem if you aren't working on graphical or parallelized computations. It is a Quadro, so it can do double precision math and has features specifically designed for CAD software, as well as 2GB of dedicated video RAM. It is a newer laptop, so it is going to have Intel ME, although you can destroy most of it with the program me_cleaner. It isn't libreboot supported, so you gotta go with coreboot. Might be some closed source blobs present and some functionality lost, so those are some considerations. 170/135 Watt AC Adapter is a must, otherwise you won't be able to charge the laptop while it on (But can while it is sleeping). The touchpad can get worn out after some time and become shiny/lose texture, but it is actually a sticky panel that can be CAREFULLY peeled off and replaced to regain texture and symmetry.

>>8128 LOL Nvm, thinking of the W520. Disregard RAM advice, limited to 16GB Nvidia NVS instead of Quadro, don't know if it supports double precision or not. 95W charger will suffice.

look around Reddit and thinkwiki there's whole guides to building out T530s

>>8129 I want to swap the mobo with a w530 to get a discrete gpu and 4 slots for ram for that 32gb top limit also thanks, the screen is kinda bugging me a BIT...with my cheap 200 HP laptop having a better 15.6 then my buisness laptop. I just want to update to 1080 at least. I like the keyboard so far, i might try to swap it later if it breaks though, i have another old school keyboard laptop so i kinda like the semi-modern chiclet keyboard and it still blows everything else out of the water. only real issue is the double pressing, but that's been an issue ever since model M's. and since you know, how hard is it to make a secure laptop? What model thinkpad do i need to painlessly and easily clean IME and other such issues. >>8322

>>8322 >look around Reddit When did it all go so wrong

First off, the T530 (which I own) is not proven to be Libreboot compatible. It is, however, proven to be coreboot compatible. Run that and Me_Remover first thing you do. Then, there is an easy hack to replace the chicklet keyboard with a better one. (See: https://www.instructables.com/id/ThinkPad-T430T430sX230-Classic-Keyboard-Mod/ ) The only hardware in it which you need Non-Free Software for is the WLAN card, which in the BIOS is on a whitelist. Corebooting removes the whitelist, then you just get a free'd WLAN card to replace it with. Things that may interest you are installing a fingerprint reader (if it lacks one), and getting a smart card reader for it. Other things include a Thinkpad Dock. I am unsure if you can upgrade the screen. My old daily driver had a 1600x1200 screen, so being reduced to a 1366x678 size screen kind of is like kicking dead whales down the beach. If you do discover that the screen is easily upgradable, be forewarned of knock-offs (see: https://xiphmont.dreamwidth.org/90510.html )

>>8127 LOL that when I use Tor and tails OS for my onion Chan such'is.

> T530 https://1vyra.in/ > software-based "jailbreak" allowing all ivybridge-based xx30 thinkpads to softmod custom bios images

my hp probook 450 g1 has better upgradability than modern Chinese pads and is easier to fix and perform maintenance on