Laptop models need quick answer

Lenovo Website will provide you with the answers you need. For the 8891-CTO you will need the serial number to get the specs.

this is the best we can do on the S/N:
S/N L3-C87 .............


Can we assume that the 6463 is an older model than 8891

The S/N on the other one is L3-AAB7K  (the 8891-CTO)
The S/N on the 6463-5BU is L3-C87 .............

Those are the specs above. I work for IBM and have not see these in a long time.

We were going to replace the 6463 hard drive with a hard drive from a 8891.
If the 6463 is an older model than 8891 then no good?

The hard drives should be interchangeable. All you have to do is install it in the machine, go into the bios and see if you can see it.

The 8891 is a newer model?

The 8891 is a newer model.... its a T61 and so is the other, I do not think you will have an issue with putting the drive in there. It should take all of 5 minutes to do the move and test to see if you can see the drive in the Bios.

We do not want to downgrade to a model with a lesser graphics though from above the 6463 has Intel and the 8891 had Nvidia before it over heated   and ruined the system.

The 8891 has Windows 7 so it sounds like the 6463 won't get us where we want to go.

We can trash the 8891 or spend $30 for the 6463 and put the 8891 hard drive in the 6463 with the main use being graphics, need for ram, etc. The 8891 hard drive has Windows 7.

The T61p 8891 was a special order laptop purchased directly from Lenovo. I know - I purchased it.

What do you need to know?

The 8891 had an Nvidia video chip that went bad. The mother board can not be replaced it seems.
We see a 6463 which is missing the hard drive and power cord (which I have from the 8891).

If the 6463 is a step down as far as ram, graphics then no value I guess. The 6463 does have Intel graphics.
The shop said that the culprit was not Lenovo but rather the Nvidia video which they had seen go bad in Dell, HP's and others.

What does boot to BIOS only get us? Nowhere?
The OS is not on the hard drives?

That is unfortunate. I had tried to upgrade that machine to Windows 10 and the Nvidia chip / driver was a problem. I restored my most recent Windows 7 image to it and it worked fine at the time.

I guess it is at the end of its road. Sorry. It was not expensive in your hands as I recall.

Can the 8891 hard drive be put in the 6463 and the hard drive contains all data and the O/S (Windows 7) or that won't work because it's an older model (which from above does have Intel graphics and not Nvidia)

John do you remember the specs on the 8891 so we can try to find a match?

There are no documents to recover. We'd like to make use in some way of the parts that we have left. If the 6463 is not a good replacement as we need graphics and ram then it won't work. No way the 6463 has 8 ram and most we see on Craigslist do not have close to 8 ram.

the 6463 max memory is 4GB as per the IBM Website.

The memory was purchased from IBM specifically for that machine. But it is standard memory for that vintage of ThinkPad.

Otherwise there is not really much to salvage, I do not think.

Look for a different ThinkPad of a newer vintage that works.

The 6463 has only 2 ram.

thanks

Good luck. I do suggest a newer ThinkPad working if you can find one. Intel Graphics are good. All my laptops and desktops since have Intel.

I have a ThinkPad X230 (my working spare) with Intel Graphics, 16 Gb of memory and a 500 GB hard drive. It is running the newest Windows 10 insider preview build. This is not for sale but if you can find a good X230, it is fine machine.

a T61 14.1 8891-CTO with the bad Nvidia GPU.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T61-and-prior-T-series/T61-Replacement-Motherboard-Part-Numbers/td-p/1226167