T60p build quality (problem with it)

Well, I had a Dell Latitude D600 which worked very well for me for the last 3 years. I knew there were better laptops but for the dollar and for what I paid for the D600 when new (not much), I was happy enough.

Well now 3 years later it's time to upgrade. I'm an IT manager for a living and was tired of my IT friends having superior notebooks, so I decided to go 'all out' and get a T60p w/ 15" IPS screen, centrino duo, gig of RAM, etc (nicely equipped)... which I had heard great things about, especially in terms of durability and taking abuse - which I dish out plenty of.

Well I'm typing on it now - in fact I've had it for about 2 months now I think and overall I'm very impressed with the build quality and 'solid' feeling compared to my dell, with one GLARING exception. The right hand front edge of the laptop when open - effectively when the laptop is open, it's to the right of where it has the "IBM Thinkpad" logo - right where the hard drive is installed. Well the 'lip' at the edge of that portion of the laptop flexes.. a LOT it even squeeks when I rest my wrist on it (which is about where I rest it normally when surfing the web (I surf a lot with the pg up/pg down/end/home keys).

Is this a known defect in the design or just a defect in mine or am I just being too **** picky and expecting that if I pay twice as much for a laptop with some super duper integrated frame for rigidity that the entire thing would be rigid? If this is a known issue is there a known fix for it? I'd like to be able to rest my right hand wrist there without it creaking and feeling like I'm going to break it eventually.

 

Yes, you are being picky. The rigidity is supposed to be in the inner shell; unless you get a notebook which has an outer shell made of the same material, you cannot expect rock-hard rigidity. It is after plastic (albeit, very durable good-quality plastic). The squeakyness is just the result of a small gap between the plastic shell and the alloy frame within.

You can remove the palmrest and slip in a piece of thick cardboard underneath at that location to prevent the squeaking.

I've only seen the plastic shell break when a Thinkpad falls on its edge or receives a very strong sharp blow. In both cases, the Thinkpad carried on working perfectly.

 

If it squeaks when you simply put your wrist on it - it isn't an unreasonable complaint. That means that something somewhere is loose or wasn't manufactured/assembled correctly, you don't spend 3K on a machine and get squeakly palm rests naturally; if you feel and prod for it, that's one thing, but when it happens on it's own...call Lenovo, see what they can do

 

I agree with Nick-m. What's to lose? Call and see if they can fix it or compensate you.

 

i hear there customer service is great. good luck