T410: The loudest laptop plastic I have ever owned

Anyone else getting to have a ridiculous amount of plastic rubbing noise coming from the bezel where you rest your hands? Every part of my thinkpad squeaks. The hinges and screen squeak and plastic rub every time I adjust the screen. An absurd about of rubbing and squeaking is coming from right by the trackpad buttons if I so much as move my hands.

I was aware of the problems some of you had early on with the left side "tapping"... this is about 20 times worse and gets worse by the day. I thought these were supposed to be quality machines, but I can't even find any screws for that front lip of the machine where all of the noise is coming from. Is it just held on with junky clips?

The front lip top and bottom pieces on my machine move about 2-3mm when any kind of pressure is applied -- and they rub the whole way.

Between this and the absolute worst screen contrast I have seen on a laptop, I'm strongly considering not buying another Thinkpad any time soon. I love the keyboard, but the rest is just not worth it. I keep getting BSODs from the intel wifi drivers too.

 

The screen bezel also rubbed a large smooth line into the palmrest which is very ugly (not enough rubber feet on the lid I guess?). That was pretty shocking too.

 

I can't address the plastic, but have you tried the wifi drivers from Intel's own website?

 

The problem in Current Thinkpad line of laptop is that the exterior of the machine in made up of roll-cage, to reduce weigh on their machine they use thin layer of plastic. That's why their palm rest creaks when you press hard on it. I remember reading somewhere that if you put double-sided tape under the creaking area the problem will go away.

 

currently, Lenovo is paying more attention to inventory control and manufacturability of the Thinkpads, in order to decrease costs of assembly and stocking parts. I don't really like the one piece palmrest and keyboard bezel design on the T410, T510, W510...

 

It's not the same creaking as others were complaining about. This is distinctly coming from the front lip of the machine, where top and bottom bezels overlap instead of mating like every other machine ever. Still, I might try that solution anyway. Is it just double sided foam tape?

 

I had a similar problem. This used to happen at the righthand side of the machine. I worked with Lenovo on this problem and eventually after trying to replace the palmrests (an effort which ended in failure), they replaced the machine altogether.

As of now, my machine does not creak or make any kind of noise. I am currently using a R400.

 

Yes, it is a little creaky, but I've not got the screen rubbing a line into the palm rest.

That sounds like a case alignment issue to me.

I would contact the support group and talk them through that.

 

I don't have a T410 but a W510 instead. I have those rubbing / creaky sound coming from my palmrest on both right and left side like some of you described. After taking my palmrest off my machine carefully, I found that there is a "gap" (1~2 mm) between the metal chassis boarder and the plastic palmrest boarder. I end up putting some masking tape (3 layers) around the palmrest where the metal chassis boarder meets the palmrest. That solved the problem completely. I am a happy camper now.

 

They initially sent me a defective unit with a bad screen. When they replaced the screen, I think they bent the screen bezel, which led to the bezel rubbing a line into the palm rest.

I took two weeks to get a repair on a brand new machine which was defective out of the box. I am not the biggest fan of lenovo support. As such, I don't think I will be bringing my issues to their attention, lest they try to charge me for a new case or something when I send it in.

 

Weird, I cant read second page of this topic?! It just reloads this current page.
Now when I posted this, it loads 2nd page with my post only.

My question to OP - was your laptops issue resolved?

 

Seriously, you should try and see if Lenovo would fix the problem for you. There is no reason why you should accept a unit that does not meet your expectations though, of course, YMMV.