I have an x200 that I absolutely love, but has since kicked the bucket Everything is in great shape, it just won't power on anymore and I assume the mobo has died. Now, I could try to buy another x200 mobo to repair it, but if the chassis is compatible with the x201, I'd really like the upgrade to an i7 cpu. I'm looking at replacing it with the 63Y2067 or 63Y2066 motherboard with the i7-620m cpu (I can't really tell the difference between the two) for $400 on ebay.

Is this something that's pretty straightforward? Just pop one out and insert the other? The diagrams in the service manual look very similar, but still slightly off. I was curious if anyone has tried it or otherwise has first hand knowledge.

I haven't done this with x200/x201 but I did exactly same thing with x31 and x32 MB. It was pretty straightforward replacement. So if the chassis are the same then go for it. By the way there was no need to remove LCD in order to fit MB. And of cource you will need to do a fresh install of the OS.

Well, I completed the upgrade. The motherboard fit perfectly, although I think there are a couple less screw holes in the x201 mobo. I had to buy a new wifi card because the x200 wifi card wasn't on the x201 whitelist. I also found the perfect, new HV121WX4-120 IPS panel for it. The screen now looks absolutely beautiful. If only I could use the other mini PCIe slot for an SSD like you can with the x220, this would then be perfect. The only original parts left are just the frame of the laptop now

Nice stuff. I was going to do the same thing, until i got to use my friend's X201 with the i5 CPU, it ran pretty hot under load.

Yeah, the first-gen mobile Core i chips are a bit power-hungry compared to Sandy Bridge. Too bad the X220's got a different planar design...

Its mainly too bad x200 machines don't have any digitalvideo out.

The x200 ultrabase has a displayport out.

Good feedback~ I thinks this is also applicable to x200s to x201s i7 board

I mean this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-LENOVO-X201 ... 20bc37cfa3