T430s Upgrades

[nachetb]

Hey guys. Ive just bought a T430s and im curious about what upgrades can be done on this laptop (outside of the basic ram, ssd, classic keyboard...). Is there anything that "needs" to be done with this laptop (I owned an X61 before this and updating to a custom bios was a must)?
I want to change the wifi card to one more modern (wifi 6), is there any whitelist or any bios that can fix it?
I also replaced my battery with a generic one, I know there can be installed a battery in the dvd bay which ill do at some point, but regarding the back battery, I saw there were 3 different cappacities for different models, do any of these models stick out the back of the laptop?

[dr_st]

I would consider the IPS FHD (or QHD, if you prefer higher resolutions) upgrade, if you can find a kit.

The T430s (as opposed to T430) battery is at the front, not the back. Therefore, there is no version that sticks out the back, and that is also why the capacity is so low, and requires the Ultrabay battery to get meaningful battery life.

[RealBlackStuff]

If T430s has a wifi-whitelist, it can be removed with Ivyprep/1vyrain, see the 'Stickies' in this forum.

[nachetb]

I would consider the IPS FHD (or QHD, if you prefer higher resolutions) upgrade, if you can find a kit.

The T430s (as opposed to T430) battery is at the front, not the back. Therefore, there is no version that sticks out the back, and that is also why the capacity is so low, and requires the Ultrabay battery to get meaningful battery life.

Well, to be honest, the screen on my T430s doesnt feel that bad, coming from a stock X61 it feels like a day and night difference. Luckily i got an HD+ screen so I dont think Ill be replacing it in the near future. I used to have an HP Elitebook from the same era with the same resolution and the panel itself was way worse.

Then I assume if the price is reasonable the best thing is to get the highest capacity battery? Any clue if there are unbranded ones from those?

Thanks as always

[nachetb]

If T430s has a wifi-whitelist, it can be removed with Ivyprep/1vyrain, see the 'Stickies' in this forum.

I see. Im thinking about simply buying a more modern card accepted by lenovo, not sure if they have any wifi 6 in their list.

If im correct the bios flash without additional hardware is pretty recent and im not that tech savy or willing to risk bricking my only laptop for a wifi upgrade, I will investigate more about it though.

[dr_st]

Yeah, I'd expect even the stock HD+ T430s screen would be night and day over the X61 stock screen.

Then I assume if the price is reasonable the best thing is to get the highest capacity battery? Any clue if there are unbranded ones from those?

There aren't really any options. There was only one kind of base battery for the T430s (6-cell) and only one kind of Ultrabay battery (3-cell).

There are unbranded ones, and also counterfeit ones sold as "genuine", with a authentic-looking fake label and all. They should all work, but I cannot attest to their longevity or whether they have other issues.