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When You Really, Really Want to Upgrade a Tiny Notebook
Benz145 writes "The famous Sony VAIO UX UMPC may have been cancelled a few years back by Sony, but the community at Micro PC Talk won't let it die. Modder Anh has carefully removed the relatively slow 1.33Ghz Core Solo CPU and installed a much faster Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 (a process which involves reballing the entire CPU). On top of this, he managed to install an incredibly small 4-port USB hub into the unit which allowed for the further instillation of a Huawei E172 modem for 3G data/voice/SMS, a GPS receiver, and a Pinnacle HD TV receiver. All of this was done without modifying the device's tiny external case. Great high-res pictures of the motherboard with the modded hardware can be seen through the link."
Looks like hi-res does not mean the same thing for everyone...
Then why link at umpcportal.com instead of linking directly to the story at micropctalk.com?
That modem and and tv tuner may only have Windows drivers available.
I'm even willing to shell out 5k
That's an excellent start when it comes to wishing for products from Apple.
Unfortunately, most MBAs are beyond hope. Sure, in our polite society we like to shuffle them along, giving them middle management positions and places in government bureaucracy, but we have yet to understand the fundamental problem that drives people towards getting an MBA.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
Just fucking wow.
This is some cool hardware hacking, and for all the right reasons. He just wanted to see if he could.
I tip my hat to the man.
_
Who cares about updates to the Macbook Air?
All that matters is that it can fit in a manila envelope.
Someday we'll hit the human carrying capacity. And the band will just play on.
Let's suspend the "Redundant" mod for this particular occasion. This is really, really beautiful work, and if a bunch of Slashdotters offer Anh all kinds of applause for this mod, he deserves every bit of it.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
What is "reballed" as in "reballing the CPU"? I am assuming it's repackaging the CPU or something, but I'm not sure. I read the article but that didn't offer much more insight than the summary.
BGA or "Ball Grid Array" chips don't have a standard socket and are attached to the board using literal balls of solder that melt when the whole thing is put in a re-flow oven. The chip is then soldered to the board. A good video on reballing a CPU is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97nxZwHG5bA
"Bah!" - Dogbert
Well, I googled it, and - whoops! NSFW! NSFW!!!
That is badass! I wish something like this could be done with the MacBook Air. I'm in love with mine - unfortunately, Apple hasn't updated it in forever. If there was a service out there to help folks with MBAs, I'm sure there would be a long line of people.
I think there is probably more involved than switching out the processor. You'd have to replace the current with another one that would be okay with existing cooling/power requirements. Otherwise you'd melt something. I suspect that's why they went with a 1.33GHz Core 2 Duo as opposed to a more powerful processor. I think Apple last updated the MBA mid 2009 but it was only a processor upgrade from 1.6 GHz to 1.83 GHz and 1.83 GHz to 2.13 GHz.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
We apologize that this was not a Serious and Constructive article about the Serious and Constructive uses of Serious and Constructive computers.
We humbly suggest that if you are keenly interested in Serious and Constructive uses for Serious and Constructive computers, that you seek out Serious and Constructive forums.
Those of us that appreciate what is known as a "cool hack", on the other hand, will not miss you one little bit.
"I would not trust this long-term."
As it's not YOUR computer, it's not your worry, is it?
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
That is badass! I wish something like this could be done with the MacBook Air. I'm in love with mine - unfortunately, Apple hasn't updated it in forever. If there was a service out there to help folks with MBAs, I'm sure there would be a long line of people.
Heck, I'm even willing to shell out 5k for a powerful MBA, but oh well.
Ye gods! Apple came out with the 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Book Air on June 8, 2009. "Forever" is 16 months for you? What kind of culture hath Apple wrought?!!? Oh, right...
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
The original 1.2 GHz Core Solo (I think it was the Core Solo U1400) drew 6W TDP. The new Core 2 Duo U770 draws 10W. The lowest wattage Core i3 or i5 draws 18W. It's probably safe to assume the tripling the power requirement is a bit risky. As for the socketing, the original and new processor use the BGA479 whereas the ultra low wattage Core i3 and i5 use uPGA-989. So there would definitely be some work in socketing.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
From the video that Cheerio kindly linked to, it does look pretty easy and straightforward though. But, come to think of it several years ago I was watching a glass blower in a shopping centre and that looked pretty easy as well but when I tried it at home I had to go to hospital and try and explain why I had burnt lips and a glass all over my nether regions :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97nxZwHG5bA
I just watched that video. The BGA reballing process appears to be:
0) Remove all the old solder. First he melted it with a soldering iron and got a ball of solder, which he rolled off. Then he applied a solder wick (with the soldering iron to heat it) and scrubbed gently all over the chip package surface. Finally he wiped the chip package with a cloth soaked in some liquid (a solvent I'd guess).
1) Paint the chip package with some sort of goop.
2) Put a shield on the chip package. This shield has holes that match where the new solder balls must go.
3) Apply some sort of metal powder from a jar. The powder appears to be solder balls, each one just the right size to fit through the holes in the shield. He gently wiped the powder this way and that until there was one solder ball per hole (more or less). Then he took a pair of needle tweezers and carefully moved one ball at a time until there was exactly one solder ball per hole, with no holes empty.
4) Apply heat from a heat gun. Clearly this was to melt the solder balls and make them attach to the chip package.
5) Pop the shield off, and hold up the reballed BGA to the camera so we can see its perfection.
I guess the rest of the process is to very carefully drop the chip package where you want it to go, and convince the solder to melt. How do you do that? You mentioned a "reflow oven"? I Googled that, and there are lots of different ovens out there. I even saw a page for using an ordinary toaster oven for the purpose.
Looks like pretty finicky work to do by hand, but not completely impossible.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
this is like 2 years old.
The key part in the begining was to apply a flux for lifting.
This protected the board and assisted in thermal spread.
Likely he was removing that with the solvent because it wouldn't be too helpful to have that on and attempt to re-attache to the surface.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
If you are not sure you want to reflow BGAs yourself, you don't want to.
I haven't got the balls for it.
Following the success of iPad, Macbook Air will be discontinued. Instead, Apple will release an ARM netbook running OSX for the rest of us. Something OEMs have been discouraged from doing as Windows7 requires x86. Stealing thunder from ChromeOS.
multi-core A4 CPU, touchscreen, keyboard and trackpad, OSX-lite for ARM. iOS apps via the store will be available via a compatibility layer.
All the OSX-ARM hardware drivers are available for Darwin courtesy of iOS. OSX apps can be recompiled via universal binaries.
This is listening to one's customers who like the idea of an iPad but would prefer the fallback option of a 'real computer' with a mouse/keyboard and the OSX experience. Stick in an open bootloader or Xen and you may even have a few slashdotters buy 'em!
Or, to be honest, when you bought a laptop.
I think with the newer core i3 and core i5 they got rid of the external memory controller
Indeed the MCH (northbridge) is gone and most of what was previously part of it is now in the processor with the physical layer for the video now in the PCH (roughly equivilent to the old southbridge/ICH). Further the memory type is DDR3 (the majority of core 2 systems used DDR2). Fitting an i series to a core 2 motherboard or vice-versa is just not going to happen.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
In the latter case, you know what you were getting into when you got an Apple, boyo
s/apple/thin and light laptop/
socketing processors takes up vertical space which in the trend of making laptops thinner is at a huge premium. a few millimetres doesn't sound like much but when the whole laptop is only a couple of centimeters thick it's significant.
Replacing a BGA processor is possible as this article shows but getting the chips can be tricky (though interestingly farnell were promoting intel atom chips on thier front page recently...)
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
The envelop, though could be upgraded to linen stock, or even one with internal impact resistant bubblewrap, which even features more air.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
I've got balls of tin.
I guess the rest of the process is to very carefully drop the chip package where you want it to go, and convince the solder to melt. How do you do that? You mentioned a "reflow oven"? I Googled that, and there are lots of different ovens out there.
If you're using old-fashioned lead/tin solder you don't have to be all that careful about the alignment: if you have 10% overlap between the ball and the solderpad on most all the pads, the capillary action of the solder will cause the bga to self-align. (I do this on a regular basis with smaller but similar chips.) Now, if you're using modern no-lead solder it's more difficult. With a BGA you can do an okay job of alignment with a boom microscope set at an angle so you can see under the edge of the chip to the first row of balls: if you have opposite corners on the pads you're good.
And I use a hotplate and a thermocouple taped adjacent to the chip with the tip touching one of the pads. You don't want to overheat the chip itself -- no higher than 260C if you can possibly manage it. A lab hotplate is faster than a toaster oven, and you need to get the heat up fast enough the flux doesn't boil off before the solder reflows. Ideally you'd like it to reflow and hold above the liquidus of the solder (which is about 220C for lead and about 240C for no-lead) for 30 seconds, but managing that without going over 260C is pretty difficult. Then you cool it down pretty quickly. I use a hairdryer with the heat turned off so it's just blowing scads of cool air.
Likewise, by the way, I use a hotplate for adhering the balls to the BGA, rather than a hot air gun -- it's more predictable, temperature-wise.
Well, okay, all the above should be put in the past tense since as of a week ago we now have an OKI bga rework station, with a vision system that aligns the chip/board and places it, and a controllable temp profiler, and it's awesome. But I do have three years' experience hand-placing leadless chips and micro-SMD's, so I know a thing or two about it.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.