T61 woes -- need some feedbacks from ya guys

Hi,

My T61 is a great disappointment. The build quality is very different from T60.
Let me list down my complains against my T61.

1. Loose palmrest which makes squeaky sound when I rest my palm on it.
2. The palmrest plastic feels really cheap.
3. The left touchpad button is also squeaky -- like an old wheel turning when pressed. Squeak louder at certain angle.
4. The thin plastic covering the left speaker is also squeaky when pressed.
5. The screen has small gap between the lid plastic and the LCD screen.
6. The laptop doesn't snuff completely when closed. When I press from the lid from top I can hear plasticky sound when it closes the gap.

I complained to Lenovo and now waiting for my new palmrest to arrive. The technician came earlier and checked on my "noisy" palmrest. I was really disturbed when he told me that my problem is actually not a problem at all.

"It's normal" he said. He advised me not to make so many complains because they will just keep sending me the same stuff and the end result is the same "noisy" plastic.

I don't have any T61 with me to compare except the ones I tried at the shop. Is this the general case with all the T61? Or am is my T61 really sucks?

Is it a good idea to keep complaining until I get my T61 to my expectation -- even if it has to be replaced part by part? I plan to anyway.

Well, other than the cheap plastic feeling I get when I use my T61, everything is great!

Actually I started to regret purchasing T61 over XPS1330 -- it just seems that this T61 is not worthy of the premium price.

 

I guess, you just one of few unlucky ones, mine's fine in every aspect.

 

I bought my R61i because I understood that IBM/Lenovo had a reputation for being particularly robust but I, too, find the area around the palm rest flimsy. Today the left hand 'mouse' button had a strange feel to it that has now resulted in one end sticking up higher than the other. It is not secured properly at the right hand end and can be lefted up. It still works, but not as well as it should.
If anyone knows how to resecure it, I'd be interested. The dealer was very poor when I bought it and I'd prefer to have nothing to do with them. I'm certainly not going to let them have it to repair it as I use it constantly and they would likely send it away for days to get it fixed. If I can repair it myself I would much prefer to.

Cheers

Peter

 

Well I have my 3 years warranty and I intend to get it fixed until I am fine with it. I feel that I have every right to get what is paid for.

I am glad that there are people who got a perfectly fine T61 in every way -- gave me hope.

 

I love mines and have no problems with it

 

I have read others post about any or all of the problems you cite. Mine is not perfect but one learns to live with it since in general if the benchmark is the IBM produced Thinkpad then Lenovo falls short. However, if it is any other notebook out there then it is still at the top. Build quality has a lot to do with who they outsource production to. I have a Dell "consumer" notebook produced by Wistron (same ODM as the X series) which I think blows my T61 away in terms of no creaks, tight fit and quality finish. T61's are made by Compal notorious for being more of a consumer notebook design and assembly house rather than enterprise class notebooks. I think Lenovo had to cut corders to bring the price point down to a reasonable level. What your are seeing is now really a hybrid enterprise class/high end consumer notebook for geeks. Price points go down so does quality. Something has got to give.

Remember the intiial Infiniti auto commercials when the company was first trying to establish it as a luxury brand? The guy rolled a metal ball down the edge of the hood. The point was that the hood was so perfectly aligned with the rest of the vehicle that the metal ball rolled all the way from the windshied area "on track" due to the perfect gap down to the headlight area. If you are looking for that then the current generation T series is not it.

 

did you count the bacteria on the touchpad as well ?

I heard that one more person is testing the machine before it gets shipped, so about 614 more bacteria is left on it compared to the older T42

 

I hear that boy t61s have squeaky palm rests. Girl T61s and very well behaved.

 

:laugh:

I must have a beauty queen then.

 

I bet she's kissed a lot of Frogs !!!!!!!

 

You can do that? geez...
lol~

But point taken, either I live with it or do something about it. I rather do something about it now.

 

Seymores,

I dissassembled my T61p once and lost a couple of screws. It never squeaked and has always been very solid BUT, those screws made a difference and I know that appropriate tightening of the screws on the will make all the difference in the world.

Carefully inspect the bottom of your machine, CAREFULLY tighten the screws and see if that makes a difference.

If you find any missing, Lenovo has a comprehensive screw kit for $7.00.

 

Thanks! Will try.

 

Actually, seymores, I agree somewhat with what you said. I think BaldwinHillsTrojan is quite right by

I can deal with creaks and minor imperfections, but do appreciate manufactured goods that are put together properly.

 

I had the 15.4" model T61 and the left and right palmrests (especially left) were a little loose even after tightening the screws. It didn't squeak though, that would be unacceptable. It just felt like cheap, hollow plastic with too much give. I've used some the "ancient" Thinkpad models and agree that quality has declined somewhat. That being said, I've seen most of the consumer laptops at BB and CC and the T61 is pretty solid in comparison. For the price(at least in US) it's amazing. If my screen was acceptable I would have kept it. Gl with your system.

 

This especially seems pretty common.

 

Tighten the screws actually improve the squeaky palmrest. No more old-wheel sound when I press on the plastic parts, but still it leaves a small gap in between and still give the "loose" feel when touch.

Oh well, will ask the technician to tighten the screws to get it right when my palmrest come next week.

Anybody have problem with their T61 screen? It's new and already the "yellowing" is obvious. Either it's too glaring or too dim that make the text blurry. Damn the more I tinkle around the more stuff I want them to replace. X-(
sheesh ...

 

I have a t61 15.4 with all the upgrades and got the same problem as you have. The palmrest is squeaking. It is getting me crazy. All that I hear in my home office when working is the noises of the squeaking palmrest. Why pay 2000$ to get a super cheap palmrest? I wonder why they advertise such quiet fans, Is it for us to listen to the squeaking keaboard?

 

Personally, given the long list of problems, plus the yellowish, blurry screen, I would not ask to have the laptop fixed.

I would ask for the entire laptop to be replaced. It appears to me that these are not isolated problems that can be fixed in isolation. Instead, the entire laptop is bad. Perhaps its frame is warped. I would ask for a replacement laptop. If they refuse, ask for a full refund, and buy a new laptop. "Fixing" the variious problems will probably just create more problems, especially given the attitude of the repairperson.

 

I had the chance to work with my new Thinkpad for long hours for the last few days, and I am getting new problem now when they replaced my palmrest -- electric shock. The shocks were mild but nevertheless it's disturbing!

The replaced palmrest doesn't fix the "cheap plastic feel"... in fact I think it just got better a bit because of the tightening screws.

I'm going to ask for a full laptop replacement tomorrow. I'm quite through with this one.

And I don't dare to recommend any Thinkpads to my friends in the future. Perhaps Dell or HP -- may not be as durable, but with the latest Lenovo Thinkpads screwups I wonder if T61 will be as durable as the rest of the old school Thinkpads.

 

I am happy to report that I have finally solved the squeaky palmrest.

The short of it is I took out the palmrest and stick 2 soft paper tapes on the left and right edge. Close it in and no more problem -- and very happy with the "solid" feel now.

BUT

Today the technician came with my palmrest replacement -- on quick glance I saw some stain on the "THinkPad" logo area. It looked like it's a used item though it came in with the technician in a sealed box.

Not long after that the familiar old-wheel sound from the touchpad left button makes me believe that they indeed have ship my old palmrest back to me.

WTF.

I think regardless of how I feel about the old T series, Lenovo has destroyed what's good about the T I used to like. This is the last.