T400: Developing Crack on Case (Display Exterior)

I got my T400 back about a month ago from Lenovo due to the bottom having a crack in it. Thankfully, they replaced the entire bottom casing, under warranty.

Today, I noticed that the rubbery exterior, right in the middle between the Lenovo and ThinkPad logos, is developing a vertical crack, which sorta looks like a scratch.

When pressing on it, the left side of the crack feels solid, and the right side presses down, as though it's hollow underneath. Lenovo's sending me a box so they can take a look at it (again), and decide if it'll be covered under warranty or not.

Does anyone know how this could happen? I was under the impression the magnesium rollcage is on the display as well, and as a result, thought it would be solid.

I bought the T400 over a MacBook Pro (still have an old white MacBook) for durability reasons, as I'm a law student and take the computer to school everyday in my backpack. So far, however, in less than a year, I'm not exactly impressed with the supposed durability of this ThinkPad.

 

you can escalate the case if they refuse to repair the laptop under warranty.

 

That's something to take into consideration. I'm also frustrated as I'm a law student and it's a royal P.I.T.A. to send it to Lenovo and not have it for a minimum of three days. I do have my MacBook as backup, but I take my notes in OneNote, and running Windows on this old MacBook can be a little rough at times.

 

well i'd think it's precisely the rollcage working - seems like you don't know how rollcage works. look up roll cage for racing cars - it works in a similar way

but in a nutshell, a rollcage is an endoskeleton structure (like a sports car rollcage, or, well, us human. you can damage the fleshy bits but you're still structurally intact - your bones support your whole body. what you're thinking , with the whole exterior case solid, is an exoskeleton, something like a turtle, with a hard shell on the outside, and fleshy bits inside.

 

I know what the rollcage is and does. But it does seem that, even if that's where there's a hole in the rollcage, the plastic should not be so cheap that it's already cracking from whatever pressure is on it (which isn't much, and if it is, it's not small or concentrated in that little area to poke through the plastic).

Basically, I'm just ranting about buying an expensive Windows laptop primarily for durability reasons, only to find I've had to send it in twice in less than two months (although it is 10 months old) to have physical cracks repaired.