> the mainboard is split (sound + rhs usb are on a separate board) and the small part has pretty flimsy attachement inside the case
That's however the same with the stock design and I've never had an issue with that. IIRC there are a couple pins from the lower casting holding it in place and then it's sandwiched using IIRC two or three screws between the lower casting and the palmrest. That's pretty solid.
The old x60 mainboard was a single part. I don't know about the x61.
It's not a big issue, but makes assembly pretty annoying because everything sticks out: There is no screw-hole from the lower casing in the extra attachement, and the flat connector cable has enough tension that the entire contraption bulges out and flaps around, until everything is fitted together. Or maybe I am just bad at this kind of stuff.
Just praising with faint damnation, really.
It would be so awesome if someone in the 51nb circles made an attempt to make money by properly marketing their stuff: make ordering easy in the west, possibly sell pre-assembled modded barebones (screen mod + 51nb mobo + new battery in place, chassis bought in bulk in china), put some modest markup on top and try to sell in the 10k units instead of the 100s. There really are a lot of people who think t60/x60/x220 are the pinnacle of laptop design and would love to get a machine with similar quality but modern hardware. The set of people who are motivated to spend their time modding is much smaller.
I am under no illusions that you could sell enough modkits to recoup engineering costs, if this was a truly commercial product. But you don't really need to: The development is a labour of love.
That's however the same with the stock design and I've never had an issue with that. IIRC there are a couple pins from the lower casting holding it in place and then it's sandwiched using IIRC two or three screws between the lower casting and the palmrest. That's pretty solid.