I'm in love with this big guy :)
And here are the upgraded components:
- 1080P IPS Screen
- 512GB SSD
- DVD caddy replaced by a HDD caddy (intalled an additional 512GB SSD)
- Processor upgraded to an i7-4712MQ
- Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste upgrade
- US keyboard replaced by another one with Spanish layout (original, found on eBay)
- RAM upgraded to 12GB (enough for me)
- Brand-new original 9-cell battery (also found on eBay)
I don't think I forget anything... well maybe the best upgrade: I use Arch, btw!
I have a ThinkPad slightly newer than yours. I didn't think about upgrading it until I saw your post. Now that's the route I'm more inclined to take instead of replacing it when the time will be, so thank you for your post!
Did you have any issues with brightness control after upgrading your screen? At least for my model, I heard many people complaining about being unable to adjust the brightness after changing the part.
I encourage you to look for parts that you can upgrade, sometimes it is possible to find them for very little money. And the satisfaction of doing it yourself...
In my case I have not found any problem with the brightness control, I continue to do it as usual, using the specific buttons on the keyboard.