Thinkpad T500 bad experience - Rant

Is it just me or does anyone else think that Thinkpad quality is not the same?

I had recently ordered a new Thinkpad T500 a couple of weeks back. But I am sending it back for repairs for the second time within a week. The main problem being that the palm rest area is very very warm. It is very uncomfortable to work long hours.

Also the keyboard seems to have a lot of flex and is not the same as older thinkpad keyboards. I have an old T41 at home and the keyboard is awesome. Whats up with the new Thinkpads? Its is not as easy to type as it was before. It needs a lot more effort and the flex on the left side makes it worse.

I sent it for repairs once and nothing got fixed. I am having the same problems. The service technician seems to have replaced the fan and the keyboard, but it has not solved the problem? Don't the technicians try to diagnose whats wrong? Or atleast give a call to the customer to understand what they are complaining about. I am sending it back again. Lets see how it goes this time.

Has anyone else had the same experience with lenovo?

 

Hi pepermint,

I have to say I've been quite happy with my T500. In fact, it's nearly the coolest-running laptop I have (aside from an R500).

Could you post your machine type (7 digits XXXX-YYY from label on bottom)? I think it's quite unusual for a T500 to run hot. Is your entire palm rest hot, or only the left or right side? Is it hot at idle or when you are just typing a text doc?

About the keyboard, I've heard that if you call and ask nicely, at least sometimes you can get Lenovo to send you a T61-style keyboard with solid backplane. If that fails and the slightly flexy keyboard is driving you nuts, you could just buy one on eBay for $30 or so. I don't have the part number in front of me, but the one you'd look for is the NMB from the T61--you can find the part number in the Hardware Maintenance Manual.

Good luck,
Frank

 

which side of the palmrest? The keyboard on the T500 have perforated backplate unlike the T41 which use the solid backplate design, so if they replace it with the T61 type keyboards then this problem will go away.

The left side is your card slots while the right side is your hdd, so what type of hdd are you using? 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm platter or SSD?

 

Its the left side. Although the right side is slightly warm too. Its slightly better if I use the integrated display adapter (intel) insted of the ATI one.

 

Do you put it on a flat surface while you use it?

If not, some internal components might be defective...

 

Yes. I use it on my desk. The rest of the laptop is running relatively cooler..

 

How do I get the T61 type keyboard? Using a 7200 rpm platter..

 

Left side? That's really odd.

What is the temp you are getting for the HDD? Nothing's blocking the vents?

 

There's basically nothing other than wireless, ram and the Expresscard slot under the left palm rest... If both palmrests are warm though, then it's probably your wireless because it does get hot after of use. This does happen to me sometimes, though usually when I've been downloading things. The keyboard... well, I guess the only sign of flex would be around the W. It's not flexy, just makes a weird sound when I press it, like it's hitting something. I tried getting a lenovo rep to replace it but the refused and acted really ridiculous. The rep was like:
"No, sir, we do not replace anything that isn't broken. See? Don't you think I know this rule well? It's because I'm well trained!" in a weird voice that sounded like a 12 year old...
I guess Lenovo products are great, but their customer service is horrible. I doubt they're going to actually replace the keyboard with a nonflexy T60 keyboard.

BTW, the fact that using/not using integrated graphics would help for you is strange, because they generate basically no heat at idle and are at the very top left corner. Maybe it is a defective motherboard. Could you get something like HW Monitor and check your computer tempertures and post it on here?

 

Do you have WWAN? That's on the far lower left corner of the keyboard, just north of the express card slot. For that matter, are you using an express card?

 

Yes I have WWAN and Smart Card slot and reader on the left side. I took hwmonitor temperature measurement after 30 mins of use, here are the numbers.

I noticed that the RAM modules are present just below the trackpad. I have 2 DIMMS of 2GB each. Are they generating the heat?

--

Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 54°C (129°F) [0xCC8] (THM0)
Temperature 1 51°C (123°F) [0xCAA] (THM1)

Hardware monitor Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700
Temperature 0 46°C (114°F) [0x36] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 46°C (114°F) [0x36] (Core #1)

Hardware monitor ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
Temperature 0 50°C (122°F) (GPU Core)

Hardware monitor HITACHI HTS723232L9S
Temperature 0 33°C (91°F) [0x21] (Assembly)

Hardware monitor Battery 1
Voltage 0 12.21 Volts [0x2FB4] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 84240 mWh [0x14910] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 84240 mWh [0x14910] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 82280 mWh [0x14168] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 n.a. [0x64] (Wear Level)
Level 1 98 pc [0x61] (Charge Level)

 

Nothing there is abnormal, and actually quite good. I'll bet it's the WWAN, those things can get hot, and it's right there. Try disabling it in the BIOS and seeing if the problem goes away. Obviously that's not a long term solution, but at least it might identify the problem.

 

That's strange, since my T500 is probably the coolest running laptop I have ever used.

When you do not need the ATI graphics card, try to stick to integrated graphics and see if that improves things, as the ATI card does output more heat.

Under the left palmrest, the only 2 heat generating components are the RAM and wireless card. At the moment, I am downloading several files and streaming music, and both my palmrests are cool to the touch.

Try disabling wireless for a while and see if that is the issue.

 

You might be able to 'fix' keyboard flex with a tiny little bit of glue, or double-sided tape. Just enough to make it stick to the base. I had to do that with most of my laptops, including the T61p.

 

Some people have successfully solved the issue with some felts pads glued to the bottom of the keyboard, but that is not something you should consider if you have heat issues.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have sent it for repairs today and will update when it arrives. Hoping for the best..