Anyone with battery upgrade experiences on recent Thinkpads?

[tabascosauz]

Anyone here have experience with upgrading batteries/other internals on newer Thinkpads? (e.g. any gen of X13, T14(s), E14, L14, P14) Please chime in if you can.

I'm waiting on a X13 Gen 3 that I ordered with the 6850U, but it was a pre-configured flash deal not a custom config. Quick visit to PSREF confirms that it regrettably comes with the 41Wh battery, not the 54Wh pack. Seeing from other X13 owners on Reddit the battery upgrade seems to be pretty common. I can buy the new 54Wh pack for about $100 which is fine by me. Overall the battery replacement process itself looks very straightforward, however...

Lenovo details everything pretty well in its maintenance manual but how well does the bottom panel/entire laptop fit back together afterwards? After I had my XPS apart a handful of times the fitment of the clips on the bottom panel became quite poor and the whole thing never went back together quite the same again.

This late Gen 3 model has the slightly heavier and stiffer aluminium body and aluminium bottom panel as opposed to the magnesium base of the early Intel Gen 3 model. But otherwise the layout seems to be the same. Of course, few things are as atrocious as Dell's serviceability, but while the panel doesn't look nearly as difficult to pry up as on the 9370, the X13's panel still uses a few clip tabs in areas.

Thanks in advance.

 

[R-T-B]

Lenovo details everything pretty well in its maintenance manual but how well does the bottom panel/entire laptop fit back together afterwards?

I have a T14s gen3 AMD, Magnesium composite body. The bottom panel came off on mine immediately to install an upgraded nvme. It was a cinch and fits back perfectly. 4 screws, phillips, nothing hard at all. One thermal pad which I didn't even replace, for the nvme.

YMMV of course but I doubt you'll have a hard time at all.

 

[tabascosauz]

I have a T14s gen3 AMD, Magnesium composite body. The bottom panel came off on mine immediately to install an upgraded nvme. It was a cinch and fits back perfectly. 4 screws, phillips, nothing hard at all. One thermal pad which I didn't even replace, for the nvme.

YMMV of course but I doubt you'll have a hard time at all.

I'm surprised all T14s G3 share the same case while they decided on a bunch of different models for X13 (alu+alu (grey), PPS+alu (black AMD), PPS+Mg (black Intel))

6650U or 6850U?

 

[R-T-B]

6850U?

Big one. Runs slightly hot but great for decoding h264 streams in software at 444 chroma, so no regrets.

 

[LabRat 891]

Lenovo details everything pretty well in its maintenance manual but how well does the bottom panel/entire laptop fit back together afterwards? After I had my XPS apart a handful of times the fitment of the clips on the bottom panel became quite poor and the whole thing never went back together quite the same again.

Not saying "ya did it wrong" but, I often had the same happen before using purpose-made sprudgers. -also, trying to 'actuate' the clips, rather than 'pop' them.
Sometimes, deforming is unavoidable, with plastic. Too-thin of metal, and you're gonna have compounding problems with fitment, the more you try to 'fix it'.

Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of working on very many laptops since the win8.1-era.
All the metal-cased units I ever (recall) working on were both 'beefy' and the screws provided good fitment on their own (even with snapped-off 'tabs' in a couple cases.)

As an overabundance-of-caution: You may want to check ahead of time on the price of a "money-back guaranteed" replacement back-cover/lid. Sometimes, they're very affordable.

This late Gen 3 model has the slightly heavier and stiffer aluminium body and aluminium bottom panel as opposed to the magnesium base of the early Intel Gen 3 model.

I don't have any experience with that model-series/chassis but,
as late as a 2021-new Legion 15: Lenovos are built better than XPSs and Inspirons.
Between my 'general experience' with Lenovo's build-quality, and your mention the covers are now a heavier Al; I'd not be too concerned.
Follow the maintenance guide (in cross-ref w/ user-shared images/guides), go slow, use the right tools.
ThinkPads, and meant-to-be-serviced, after all.

 

[tabascosauz]

Big one. Runs slightly hot but great for decoding h264 streams in software at 444 chroma, so no regrets.

How hot we talking peak temps in the ~20W middle profile? Lenovo lumps the X13 and T14 together for a lot of things (seemingly cooling too) so I'm trying to get a sense.

I don't have any experience with that model-series/chassis but,
as late as a 2021-new Legion 15: Lenovos are built better than XPSs and Inspirons.

Yeah, I'm counting on it, that's why I switched the XPS 9370's predecessor was an Inspiron 7437 and both had problems with screws that stripped immediately upon first time disassembly. Even though build quality on both is superb, they're only meant to look nice, not work nice.

I guess worst case I'll add an extra bottom panel to my battery order.

The picture you linked is the Intel with the 41Wh battery, fortunately fitment is identical, they just fill the empty space with plastic on the 41Wh.

 

[R-T-B]

How hot we talking peak temps in the ~20W middle profile? Lenovo lumps the X13 and T14 together for a lot of things (seemingly cooling too) so I'm trying to get a sense.

Only bad when you fully load it. My decoding work does unfortunately. If you are doing more mild less threaded work my feeling is it won't be bad at all.

Core temps get up there when I'm decoding and it does throttle a bit, and the right of the keyboard gets hot to the touch (not enough to burn but noticable). Not sure why that area in particular.

I use it mainly for streaming full chroma 1080p gaming. Ironic I know.

 

[LabRat 891]

Yeah, I'm counting on it, that's why I switched the XPS 9370's predecessor was an Inspiron 7437 and both had problems with screws that stripped immediately upon first time disassembly.

Oh, yeah. There's always THAT too. (design-level problems regarding internal maintenance)

I guess worst case I'll add an extra bottom panel to my battery order.

If you feel the price is 'affordable', I'd potentially-suggest to clear-coat or 'vinyl' the bottom of the replacement; Metal-bottomed laptops often 'wear ugly' on their bellies.
Yes, most-any additional material will hurt heat dissipation (to an unknown, but typically small degree)
-keep the original as 'backup' or 'mood change' (if it's as easy as it should be with ThinkPads).

 

[tabascosauz]

Only bad when you fully load it. My decoding work does unfortunately. If you are doing more mild less threaded work my feeling is it won't be bad at all.

Core temps get up there when I'm decoding and it does throttle a bit, and the right of the keyboard gets hot to the touch (not enough to burn but noticable). Not sure why that area in particular.

I use it mainly for streaming full chroma 1080p gaming. Ironic I know.

Core temps are we talking 80s and 90s, or straight to 100C a la Intel?

 

[R-T-B]

Core temps are we talking 80s and 90s, or straight to 100C a la Intel?

Mid 90s. But really only on full load with threads. When gaming on the surprisingly agile igpu, it doesn't surpass 80s usually even in hot weather.

Bear in mind also mine may be at the point where it needs a dusting of the air vents. 1 year of ownership now in a cat infested home.