A question for long-time Thinkpad owners

After using the Thinkpad for months/years, does the black plastic where you rest your palms wear out and become all shiny compared to the rest of the chassis? I've seen it happen to my friends' HP dv1000 laptop, and it's just the ugliest thing ever!

 

I can't say that the plastic does wear out. My father has been using a 570e and a T20 for about 8 and 6 years respectably and asides from a couple minor scratches, both laptops still look like new. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

The T20 is probably the most available model on ebay. Try searching it and view some of the photos.

 

Uhm, I think it depends on the way you rest your palms. For me, only the right side where my palms touch when I'm using the trackpoint wears out. This happens because when I use the trackpoint my right hand rests down more, but when I'm typing my palms don't stay in place.

Of course, most of my keys are all shiny from typing.

 

no, altho the color begain wearing off the palmrest of an older one after a few years and ibm replaced it with a new piece, which never wore off again.

 

Finger and hand oils just build up over time. It's unavoidable. You'll have better luck though with non-silver colored plastic parts. Silver plastic is rarely produced, it's usually silver paint on top of a different colored plastic.

? Is this covered under warranty? How did you swing that?

 

Yes they replaced the palm rest piece under ibm warranty. 3 years warranty remember. Apparently includes discoloration and/or premature wear.

 

I would wipe down the keyboard every week just to prevent build up of oils.

 

Huh. Makes me think about buying the three year warranty. I wonder if it'll stack with the Visa extended warranty, giving me four years total.

 

My c/card does.

Of course you should buy the 3-year warranty for an extra $100. I dont usually buy warranties, but notebooks breakdown frequently enough and are very expensive to fix. Check out how much the warranty costs for a different manufacturer, lots more.

Until last year, all thinkpads came with min 3 yr warranty.