Lenovo X60 - Purchasing refurbished 8-cell battery from Outlet

Hey all,

I've been looking for a replacement battery for my Lenovo X60, and noticed that the Lenovo Outlet was selling them for a much lower price than what you usually find from the Lenovo store, Amazon, etc. I was just wondering what everyone thought of buying refurbished batteries and whether they can be as relatively reliable as going for a new (albeit more expensive) one.

Also, the hinge that connects my screen to the base has become very loose, I've researched a bit and it seems to be some sort of screw/spring that you can tighten on the inside/back of the screen. Was just wondering if anyone has done anything like that before, and if this can be done by following the HMM/videos.

Thanks.

 

you mean the X60 normal laptop or the tablet laptop? when you say loose, is the hinge loose, or the how screen assembly moving?

The battery is okay, i haven't heard anyone saying anything bad about them, they are mostly new batteries from what i can gather.

you can try tightening the screws and see whether helps, it doesn't cost anything for you to try.

 

My little experience with refurb outlet batteries has been good (as good as new). Maybe you can expect a couple of cycles during testing...? Thing is you cannot have them tell you the mfr date or the cell mfr. Have you looked over at eBay? You may be able to find a good deal (for genuine) and ask all the questions you want before buying.

 

Yes, it is the "normal" X60 laptop, not the tablet.

By loose, I mean that the moniter/screen has no tension at some angles (especially those close to horizontal), and tends to fall flat on its face literally. I'm thinking the culprit might be within the 2 metallic silver "hinges" supporting each side of the screen as seen in this pic:



As far as I can tell those are the only two parts connecting the screen to the base/keyboard of the laptop (apart from the display cables, but that doesn't "support" the screen), so I'm thinking I need to tighten something within those hinges to restore the tension. Just wondering if my suspicions are correct and if anyone else has seen anything like this before.

Thanks.

PS: I will try eBay, but frankly I've never bought anything off of there and would like to stick to more trustworthy places/retailers.

 

you would need to replace the hinge, there is nothing to tighten for the hinge tension, it is simply worn out.

IBM parts sell them, they are the official aftermarket parts depot for Thinkpads in most countries where Thinkpads are retailed (both IBM and Lenovo Thinkpads).

 

Wow, really? That totally sucks, I thought Lenovo's were built of higher quality, especially on such a "low" tech part.

Any chance you have the part # for the hinge part, and/or approximately how much it costs?

Thanks.

 

hinge design may look simple, but they are far from low tech, this part is a feat in reliability engineering. To make a highly reliable hinge with the moving mechanisms are not easily done, this is why there are only a few suppliers for these parts.

X60 is already 4 years + old, some bound to fail.

Lenovo Support & downloads - Hardware Maintenance Manual - ThinkPad X60, X60s, X61, X61s

the hardware manual in the above link lists the replacement procedure and the part no. You can buy the part from IBM parts (depending on your country).