Is palm rest flex normal on a T61?

I've been very happy with my T61 thus far, but have noticed that the palm rest flexes a bit when I press down on it (not even that hard). My friend also just got a T61 (slightly different config), but he says his palm rest is solid.

Is the flex supposed to be normal? I thought Thinkpads were built like tanks...

 

I have a little flex. I think it is normal. However it really depends how much your palm rest flexes. You can remove your palm rest to see if you can find any problems, but I have a feeling your experience is normal.
Tim

 

I've heard about this palm flex before, it's pretty common but I don't think its suppose to happen

 

Particularly on the right side, right? Make sure that the flex really isn't your laptop having bad plastics on the bottom. My T61p had some bad plastics that caused it to be a little bit wobbly on a table and made it seem like I had a flexible palmrest. If you can slide a piece of paper under the rubber feet on your Thinkpad while it's on a table, then you have an issue with the plastics, but otherwise the palmrest "flex" is more an issue with the fact that the palmrest has nothing in between it and the harddrive. In that case, a number of other users have this issue on the right side where the harddrive is. You can try to fix this by putting some shims in between the palm rest and the hard drive though.

 

Yes, this is sort of normal. I was surprised too because I too thought thinkpads were supposed to be solid. It happens more with people who don't have the fingerprint reader. For me I can set the palm rest nicely but once I put the screws in the right side gets out of line making it flex a little. It makes the lower right of my keyboard bouncy too. Which is more annoying since that's where the arrow keys are an I'm pressing them all the time.

Putting in a shim would solve the issue like mentioned by dohuy.

 

You know what? My T61 has slightly worse flex on the LEFT side...weird, huh?

I think it's because one of the screws on the left side doesn't go in quite as tight as the ones on the right side (the fingerprint reader side).

Would you recommend a piece of rubber or something as a shim? Thanks

 

same issue here, cut up an index card, folded it several times and tapped it to the recessed edge

 

Everyone with ThinkPad keeps on saying how strong ThinkPads are with roll cage compared to IdeaPads, but yet none of the IdeaPads has this flex issue with the palm rest nor the keyboard. In my experience, I will still say the IdeaPads are built better than some ThinkPads, especially the R series.

 

Left side is stable as a rock for me. I guess those with fingerprint readers might not have this issue. I happen to not have one because I didn't think I'd ever use it, but in hindsight, I should have gotten it. Anyways, you can use anything for a shim as long as it's not something that'll insulate too much and cause temperatures to rise. An index card seems to be a good idea as suggested by batman5315.

 

I'll try the shim idea, thanks

I just checked my laptop today and while the rubber feet on the left side make full contact with a flat surface, those on the right side only touch partially (the little round part in the center of the feet touches, but not the rest).

Is this a cause for worry?

 

Definitley not a cause for worry, but you can certainly have Lenovo replace the plastics on the bottom for you if it's bothersome during use. Just say that the case they sent was warped and that it can't sit flat on your table. Might not be able to justify having to send it to EZServ at this point though. It's up to you.

 

Well, since I got the 2 year warranty, I can still send it in next summer, right? College is about to start, and I really don't like the idea of having to redo my Vista Ultimate/XP SP2 dual boot on this laptop.

 

When you send it in I believe you can remove the harddrive unless the problem is with the harddrive.

It doesn't sound like your issue is really big. It might even correct itself after usage.

 

I have a T61p and my palm rest flexes a bit on both sides. actually in quite a few places I noticed the plastic is a bit flexible. I think it is normal and it is flexible rather than stiff so it is less likely that the plastic will shatter if you drop the laptop.