T440s - keyboard imprint on the screen

Already posted this on T440s owners' thread but there is a lot of discussion going on there and this would easily slip through the cracks.

Now that I have used my T440s for about a week, I am noticing a possible manufacturing defect. I specifically want to hear from folks who are using the non-touch version. I think the clearance between the screen and the keyboard (when the laptop is closed) is not enough and I am starting to see keyboard imprints on the screen. I have not travelled extensively with this machine so cant say that it has been exposed to too much pressure while its inside a case or backpack.

I have posted a picture below but its not of the best quality. Try to look at the centre of the screen and you would notice the keyboard imprints.

Could you folks look at your screen carefully, especially with a black background and against an external light source at an angle and observe if there are any keyboard imprints on the screen?

EDIT: I have a non-touch version and thats why I was more specific about hearing from users who have a non-touch version of T440s.

 

SInce the screen is very thin, you have to be carefull with it if you transport the T440s closed. To prevent this you should lay a small "towel" or something like that between the keyboard and the screen when it is closed.

This is not a manufacturing defect. This could not happen with the Touch models.

 

Having used Thinkpads for well over a decade and never had to resort to using a towel, I do not agree. My ThinkPad T440s does what is described in the photo and I am VERY careful how it is transported. Having said that, it doesn't appears to be doing any long term damage, yet.

I do think the keyboard should have been slightly lower, or they should have engineered the pegs into the screen bezel to prevent this like all of my previous ThinkPads.

This is what happens when they search for the holy grail of thinness.

 

@ibmthink, I respectfully disagree with you. I have only had the T440s for a week and as I mentioned in my original post, I have not travelled with it at all. The machine has been sitting on my home desk all this while.

In the longer run, I can see that the dirt on the keys would rub against the screen and cause more permanent scratches.

Seriously? Are you freaking kidding me?

 

Well, even my R60 with a very thick screen or my L520 with a thicker screen I had sometimes some light imprints from the TrackPoint or the keyboard. I always used a towel to prevent that.

This is one of the reasons why I would choose the Touchscreen option if I would buy the T440s again today.

No, why should I. This is a well known tip in our german ThinkPad-forum. Like using a sleeve when traveling.

This is weird, because their should not be any imprints if you don´t travel with it. Maybe your keyboard is higher than normal.

 

There is no way one can justify this issue "as designed". Using a protective layer between the screen and keyboard (such as a towel) is not acceptable for a business machine. Maybe it is for consumers but not for people who use it in a business environment. People buy thinkpads for their ruggedness. Mine has been sitting on a desk with bare minimum use and its screen is starting to get scratched up due to poor design/engineering tolerance levels.

I am not saying that everybody with a non-touch T440s has this issue since there are varying levels of tolerance levels during the manufacturing process. I am interested to learn how many more users on this forum have started to face this issue.

@ibmthink, could you look carefully at your screen and let me know if you also observe the same imprints? (I am assuming you have the non-touch version as per your T440s review).

 

I took my T440s several times with me in a bag and I have no imprints of the keys. All I have is an imprint of the TrackPoint, but thats because I use an older TrackPoint cap and not the one that was delivered with the T440s, because the default one was a bit too low for me and I like it more if the TrackPoint is a bit higher, so thats my fault. It is also not an real scratch, it is more like a "grease imprint", which can be cleaned away. But no imprints from the keys.



The T440s may be a "business-rugged" Ultrabook, but it is not a Toughbook or something like that. The user has to be careful.

 

I always thought that this doesn't really apply to Thinkpads... i remember that video with with motorcycle driving/standing over a thinkpad... pretty long time ago though...

But seriously, put a business laptop in my backpack and be concerned about it? I have no words...

 

I have non touch T440s FHD screen and noticed the same imprints right around the exact center of the screen. Cleaned them off and there doesn't seem to be any permanent scratches.. for now. But yes, completely unacceptable for a "business" class laptop. With all these issues people have had (AUO vs LG, trackpad problems, bezel being a plastic sticker, fan grinding, and now keyboard imprints) it really has the feeling of being built down to a price, and yet what they charge doesn't properly reflect that.

 

I don't own a T440s but the imprints seen in the OP are likely to become permanent after a while.

Without getting into UltraBook/ToughBook and acceptable/non-acceptable debate, all I'm going to say that these have worked wonders for me for many years now:

Laptop Swiper | Microfiber Screen Protector & Keyboard Cushion Cover

No, I don't get a cut from their sales and YMMV.

 

That is nothing. It is simply dirt that you can wipe off. My brother has a Sony VAIO with a IPS screen and the lid is very thin so it is easy for objects to press against the lid and have it touch the keys. The T440s has keys that stick out pretty far and it would be more common. Over time, you can just simply wipe off the small amount of dirt. You can't expect a screen to be able to not flex under pressure unless it is thick.

 

That is the exact reason I didnt buy the Sony VAIO Pro. It flexes like a bunch of loose sheets held together. But it is also an extremely thin and light ultrabook, so you pay the price for that. The T440s isnt that.

As I have mentioned in my original post as well as a subsequent reply to @ibmthink, the laptop has not done any travelling at all...let alone in a backpack or case to experience pressure. This has mostly happened as the laptop was sitting on my desk. I dont see how in the longer run dirt trapped on the keys would rub against the screen and cause permanent scratches.

 

I carry my non-touch T440s around a lot and do not see anything resembling a key imprint on my screen.

 

lol this guy will defend these newer TP's till the day he dies, so stubborn he chooses not to accept the fact that these are not real TP's and that they are just becoming some consumer laptop that legogo throws a TP sticker on, honestly you have to use a towel? after you spent at least a grand on a machine that can't even keep prints off the screen like a 300 dollar acer ultrabook can, come on, at what point are you going to accept **** like this, it may not and probably is not a engineering flaw but more of a manufacturing defect but it is obvious that legogo is cutting some serious corners

 

For many generations of Thinkpad I have seen trackpoint prints on my screens. The keyboard print is a new one, but not unexpected considering how rubbish the lids now are on the T-series -- thin, flexy and with no latch mechanism.

 

I have a T440s and purchased a keyboard / screen protector from Radtech.com for the 14" PC and it fits perfectly. It can also be used to wipe the screen down safely for touch and non-touch versions. Its about $16, and a solid invest for any laptop owner... not just the T440s.

 

How would a latch mechanism change anything if the keyboard is just sticking out too much? How would you make the screen less flexible without using aluminium (MacBooks) or making the lid thicker.

 

Why would the dirt scratch the screen? I would be rare for your keyboard to scratch the screen since the dirt is just sticking to the screen and not rubbing across the screen. The only problem you will have is the dirt sticks to the screen so you have to wipe it every once in a while.

 

When you have a conventional latch mechanism in place, it usually leaves the tiniest of gaps which is in most cases suffiecient to prevent the contact of keys with the LCD unless something heavy is sitting on the lid.

While this is a valid question, I prefer a thicker lid to pressure marks on the LCD for a slew of reasons...but that's me.

 

If you look at the T430 and earlier, the top part of the lid "frame" (for want of a better term) has a firm stop on the body when it latches and the lid itself is thicker and therefore less likely to flex down when closed. With the new lid design, it just flops shut with the screen bezel simply resting on the palmrest (the two rubber nubs/bumbers on the bezel are so thin as to be virtually useless) and the lid itself (at least on my T440p) is so flexy that the slightest pressure could probably push the display into the keyboard.

Having seen the inside of the lid of my T440p when the display panel was replaced I saw enough room for some molded bracing of some kind (there's probably 1/8" gap between the inside of the lid and the back of the panel). But there was nothing... the lid is just a single piece of smooth plastic (supposedly reinforced with glass or carbon fiber or whatever Lenovo claims)

 

either get the keyboard protector ajkula mentioned earlier or buy an rubber stopper and cut to size and stick it on the edge of the screen.
my T420 has no imprints on the screen but i do see some on the bottom screen bezel, that's not a concern for me tho.

 

Ordered the protective keyboard cover to be on the safe side.

 

I see keyboard marks on the screen of my T430 and saw it with my W500 - I am being extra careful with my T440s (since it is my personal laptop and not my work laptop)

 

It feels like a three way problem. Lenovo wants the lid completely shut so dirt doesn't come in thus forcing the lid closer to the palmrest and keyboard. Next, they want the device to be thin so the screen doesn't have much support for direct pressure. Last, Lenovo wanted to have as much key travel as possible thus the keys stick out. Either way, it is just annoying to have dirt on the screen but it doesn't hurt the device.

 

Andddd this is where they have failed again. Take a look at the picture below of my T440s. See the uneven lid profile where there is a bigger gap in the center as compared to the sides?

 

This is a feature: Why is the top cover of my T61 ThinkPad bowed? - Lenovo Community Matt Kohut explains it there in this video (from 0:00 to 0:38, then he explains the Clamshell design). It is the concept of an Arch bridge: Arch bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

didn't have marks on my t430, obviously defects

 

I have used a T61p, T400, W530, X230 (typing on it right now) and a Yoga 2 Pro and none of them had this issue.

 

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Will this work?

 

I have the same issue, honestly I am very disappointed by the amount of issues I am facing with this laptop
first the long 2 months shipping ! then the screen, then the keyboard imprints, I also have the wifi signal drops issue
for a $1k+ laptop I was not expecting these many issues

some common issues I am having with the T440s :
- T440s speaker noise
- T440s, major WiFi and Bluetooth instability

 

Irrelevant to this thread, but I too have the speaker issue.

 

Return it if it's not too late.

 

Same problem with the new t450s.
The keyboard touch the screen when closed.
There is no space between the keyboard and screen when closed, not even a millimeter
Grease and dirt are transferred on the screen simply by closing the screen .
I asked lenovo and they told me that everything works as designed!!???!!!???!!!

Then the project is to scratch the screen after a few weeks ?

 

If this is dirt now, it will definitely wear away soon if not already. I have a W530 that has a misaligned keyboard which damaged the screen. It is basically a hard plastic touching your screen under some or less pressure... i think this is a major design defect.

 

I agree , it is a major design flaw.
Cleaning and looking screen thoroughly I noticed that the areas in which the keyboard touch the screen are already starting to get shiny .
A € 2000,00 notebook, but especially a thinkpad, can not have a similar defect.
Since for lenovo everything "works as designed" I'm afraid that even replacing the problem is not resolved .

 

This is one of the reasons I sold my T440s, before perm damage occured.

 

and now what do you use?
Possible that Lenovo has not solved the problem ?
Maybe it only happens with some keyboards too " high " ?
Here I have a Dell E7450 and HP 840 g1 and neither has the screen touching the keyboard when closed .
The Dell takes a little pressure , while 840 hp requires strong pressure before he could to touch the keyboard ( almost break it ) .
Hp 840 has a thickness on the frame to avoid the problem .

 

Using a W530 and T420. Trying to decide what ultralight class notebook is next.