T400 keyboard (with new backing plate) flex fix

I just received my T400 and I love it! Seeing it in person, it's a very serious notebook. No nonsense. All business. Just how I like it. I can't wait to get Ubuntu Jaunty on it and wipe off the joke that is Vista that it came with.

Anyways given how we're all critical of the keyboard, I noticed there's still a little flex between the new backing plate covering the heatpipes on the left side and a bit on the upper right. When typing the keyboard flexes down to the backing plate. Same thing with the left click button. It's strange when they made the alteration that they didn't just resolve the flexing once and for all by sticking in some foam.... which I've shown in the pics attached.

I used 3M double side foam tape that's about 2mm in thickness and just used one of the sticky sides. Your keyboard may be different so adjust the tape length and position to however you like but just test it one piece at a time. I found that if I put too much tape in it made the flexing worse. Put the keyboard and wristrest back, screw everything together, try typing and repeat until satisfied. Just be careful not to cover the heatpipes or push the tape down through the grating which will stick to the DVD drive. Notice that I stuck little strips under the plastic part between the space bar and the buttons to make that tight.

Thanks to all you guys on here who made my laptop purchasing decision easier. Thought I ought to give back.

 

If you're planning on using Ubuntu, do note that you will not have access to the on-the-fly graphics switching. You'll have to boot into the BIOS to swap. Also, you'll probably get much less battery life out of it on Ubuntu, if it matters to you.

Thank you for the suggestion, it'll be useful for those complaining about flex in the newer revisions.

 

Why is it that Ubuntu gets much less battery life than Vista? I noticed this as well (Win7 RC and Ubuntu got about the same, which is half of what I get in Vista).

 

I went with the LED WXGA+ display, the 25w CPU, the Intel SSD, and the integrated graphics just to keep it simple and hopefully more efficient.

Here are some Ubuntu links on installation and power saving:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Install_Ubuntu_9.04_(Jaunty_Jackalope)_on_a_ThinkPad_T400
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Save_power_with_Ubuntu_9.04_(Jaunty_Jackalope)_on_a_ThinkPad_T400

SSD installation tips:
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/09/04/four-tweaks-for-using-linux-with-solid-state-drives/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=832006&highlight=intel+x25&page=2

I haven't tried these yet so I'll post back when I get to it.

 

Linux lacks the same hardware support for all the power management features because the hardware needs to be open to aid developers. That being said power management has gotten much better in linux...

 

After messing with power management features I started to appreciated Vista for those savings options. I dual boot Ubuntu and only did so to fool around with compiz-fusion and webcam enabled head tracking (takes up too much CPU).