I can definitely understand the cult following Lenovo ThinkPads have garnered over almost two decades of robust laptops. But as a PC gamer, I am perhaps less convinced by external graphics cards, i.e. eGPUs. Still, I've stumbled across a modding project combining the two things that I simply can't look away from.
It turns out Instagram is a surprisingly good place to discover neat hardware projects. Case in point, user KabutoKunai has brought their 2008 ThinkPad up to date with an RTX 4070 Super. Opting for the chunky desktop version of the card, it will have to run outside of the laptop's chassis like an eGPU—but how does the modder hook up all of this hardware, released decades apart?
Simple: via an OCuLink cable and a 'sneaky' internal M.2 slot. They first lifted the ThinkPad's classic keyboard out of the way and removed the daughterboard beneath to get at the M.2 slot. They plugged in the OCuLink before replacing the daughter board. To better situate the OCuLink's PCIe port, they created a custom, 3D printed socket to sit in the hard drive bay. This is arguably the most elegant half of the hardware mod.
English (US)