What is the Max Zbook 15 G1 Upgrade possible without major alterations

Your configuration is with the cheapest display. Small angle of view and small color spectrum. It is a good idea to upgrade with a better display.

 

Someone, somewhere, had gathered all the possible modifications, specifications and so on. and all manufacturers and types of displays for Zbook G1 and G2.
I can't find it, I forgot where it was.
By memory, there are three manufacturers for these two models and 4-5 types of displays.
But I'm not sure!

AU Optronics like yours i think there are 2 models, Samsung like mine http://www.panelook.com/LTN156HL06-C01_Samsung_15.6_LCM_overview_24666.html - a good level of display and maybe LG.

You may notice that Samsung's panel is 6bit, but it has 100% sRGB.
Samsung achieves this with Frame rate control /FRC/.
The effect is really real and stunning.
The screen is great!
But have beter displey panel /no Dream color/.

 

I've checked the display online:
Around 385nits which is pretty average.
Brightness is actually very good.
Adobe RGB coverage is 53.8% uncalibrated but reaches around 80% when calibrated!!
sRGB is 83.4% which is decent on it's own.

So the display is not bad per se - just among the worst this laptop can offer

Interested to see the versions and models available to see what would be the best fit.
I am defo not considering a Dream color display as it does not work with switchable graphics afaik and it would hit battery life significantly.

Additional info for the model: (according to HWinfo)
AU Optronics B156HTN03.5

http://www.yslcd.com.tw/docs/product/B156HTN03.5.pdf


Yes the Samsung panel you mention is far superior:

Contrast ratio 800:1 compared to 400:1.
Display color is 16M vs 256K
6bit vs 6bit + FRC
Viewing angles are 85/85/85/85 vs 45/45/15/35
Color coverage is 12-20% higher in all aspects.

 

HP's implementation of that mSATA slot is... I'll just say it, downright stupid. It was meant for accelerated SSD cache, because they did not have enough money for proper engineering

There were some reports of successful swaps, with Intel 530 series mSata drive and some Sandisk iirc. They could be used as a primary drive.

I think maybe an optical drive to M.2 or just SATA adapter would be a better choice. Or an Expresscard to M.2 adapter - hopefully coming soon https://thinkmods.store/

AUO used to be great on older Elitebooks, the ones in the Zbook G1/G2 are terrible - I can see the vertical space between pixels and it's driving me nuts. LG is better, but has weird backlight bleeding :/

 

Yeah I was looking at MSata to M.2 adapter the other day - this might be a good option if it works properly ...
The express card adapter sounds interesting as well ... lol 2 HDDs + MSata/M.2 + Expresscard M.2 hdd

For what is worth the display is a big upgrade from my old Lenovo qHD display ... viewing angles are better as well but it is not great when compared to really good displays I guess.

 

i7 4940MX (i7 4810MQ+ is enough to max out the cooling system)
GTX 965M MXM A or WX 4150 MXM A
(GTX 1050/1650 MXM A might work?)
32GB RAM DDR3L RAM, 2133mhz maybe?
2 5TB 2.5" drives, 4TB MSATA SSD (extremely expensive, anything above 1TB is insane)
1080P Dreamcolor panel, 4K 60hz or 1080P 144hz with ZBook 15 G2 motherboard swap.
I believe that is all

 

I know you specifically requested options without major alterations, but this might interest somebody maybe.

I put a full-size GTX 780M into my Zbook G2 (which has the exact same dimensions of pcbs and casing as the G1). I got it working stable after a lot of work, but haven't finished the cooling setup yet.

The card won't fit the case or motherboard without some destructive modding, mainly the plastic supporting the keyboard, but also the optical/sata port, are in the way.

The most frustrating part was forcing Windows to accept self-signed drivers without having testsigning set to on. That stuff took me ages.

I burned a motherboard when playing around with this (inserting/removing the GPU without disconnecting power). I can't really recommend trying this stuff out unless you're a bit more competent than me--but it does work. I'll probably switch this for an eGPU solution in time, unless I manage to get this stuff working reliably with all the bits in place.

 

If you get it to fit, you can use that empty space for a fan, imo.

Interesting work!

 

does the dreamcolor monitor have two antennas or 4

 

There are only 2 antennas because there is no WWAN module!