Very Disappointing R61

update: I used some Monster screen cleaner with a microfiber cloth..
...it worked wonders! all the marks are gone!

From what initially looked like an awesome laptop is starting to turn out to be a disapointing buy.

After a month and half worth of use I am noticing scracthes along the casing. they are skinny scratches that run parallel up and down the side of the keyboard from the lcd casing rubbing against it when the lid is closed. there are also scratches near the front of the casing that run along on either side of the touchpad mouse buttons, due to the same thing.

Also, I noticed about a week ago that the space bar is just slightly raised higher than the rest of the keys. and today i noticed that this is actually causing blotchy scratches (about 1/3 of the size of the spacebar now) to appear on the LCD screen!!!

Thirdly, the laptop arrived upon shippment with a bent and scratched plastic cover; this is the cover that is overtop of the integrated webcam.


Please let me know of any opinions/comments etc. you may have. But as soon as I am done final exams in december I am hoping to return/exchange the laptop. (just FYI, I live in Canada, and the laptop was purchased through www.visaperks.ca the model is R61 77441AU)

I am hoping to get an either a) an exchange that is free of the problems listed above, or b) an exchange to a different model ie a T61 or c) a complete refund

...do you think I will have any problem with lenovo getting this sorted out? Thank you!

 

man that sucks. i was thinking about getting the R61 too

 

i dont know if this is a problem with all R61s or even all thinkpads... I hope not. but at the very least i will not be buying another R61 again.

 

In order to lower the prices, Lenovo had to make some compromises (understandably) and unfortunately you will see that a bit more common than before. I would still take a Thinkpad over a Sony or Apple if toughness is a priority.

 

Understandable yes...

...but there has to be a point where build quality becomes so poor that it ends up costing the company more in the end... ie due to recalls, returns/repairs under warranty.

On a laptop that comes with a baseline 3yr warranty, one would except the laptop to last 3 years. I understand that with use (some) scratches build up. but not this quickly (<2months), and not solely the result of poor manufacturing.

 

I wonder if these problems are specific to R61, or if T series is having similar issues. Anyone have experience with both?

Comparing the R61 and the T61 (both 14.1") together at the university computer store, I found, if anything, that the R61 has thicker plastic and a sturdier overall feel and look. Could be a biased opinion as I am awaiting an R61 any day now :]

If it's any consolation, my friend's m1330 has significant scratching on the screen after only a few months of use, and he really babies that thing.

Anyone know of strategies to prevent body/lcd scratches? (I mean, if you were super ocd about it you could put a cloth napkin on the keyboard every time you shut it, but there's got to be a way to insure that hinges, clasp, etc. are sturdy enough to prevent movement under normal conditions, no?)

 

I have a T61 and I don't have any of your scratch problems. I don't know how careful you handle your laptop though. As for the space bar, mine is slightly raised also and it does touch the screen a little and creare a smudge, but the smudge is like a small, light streak 1mm thick and maybe an inch long. I just put a piece of cloth between the keyboard and LCD to prevent this whenever I close mine.

 

I have a friend who used to have an older dell 1210 (i think that was the model, 12" xps) and after about 8mo of use he said that the touchpad bottons created a little scratch on his screen.

but i agree. there should be away to build the notebooks so this does not occur in the first place. its one thing to have a scratch on the casing. but to have some big blotch that's right infront of my face all the time is ridiculous!

If this a more common problem, then maybe companies should be changing the structure of their product, or shipping a little cloth with it.

....lol i dont know... but such a problem seems like it would be so easy to prevent on the manufactures behalf, i dont understand why it's still a problem.

 

I agree that every company should privide a small microfiber cloth to wipe their notebooks.

 

that's kinda crazy. You buy rugged notebook to carry it around with you, not to wipe it twice a day or put a cloth between spacebar and screen everytime you close it (i close mine notebook ~5 times a day - it would drive me crazy). Shame on you, Lenovo

 

I have a T61 and a R61 and I have not the problem you mentioned.

 

Thank you for confirming that I'm doing the right thing in staying away from the 61 series. Goofs such as:

- off-centered screen
- ill-positioned USB ports
- Ctrl key in the wrong place

are suspicious enough and should never have made it to production. How can anyone trust a design team that comes up with these "improvements"?

 

The slightly off-centered screen does not bother me... infact I didnt notice it until a couple weeks after owning the machine

The ill-positioned USB ports? I have not noticed anything weird about them. There are ports on either side of the machine, and I have had no problems inserting any USB device

The Ctrl key... OMFG! yes that is annoying to the extreme! although to be fair, I have not found one notebook that has all of the keys in a position that meets my needs.

 

First of all, the off-centered screen is not a goof. Try again. It's only there because of the addition of the roll cage in the lid. That's an improvement.

True, the USB ports are all vertical, but Lenovo never stated it was an improvement.

The Control key has always been like that, Lenovo didn't change that from the past.

There are more valid concerns than those you just listed that should cause you to stay away from the '61s. I may sound like a fanboy here, but those aren't good points to have against the '61s.

 

I've had my R61i for about a month now and I have not noticed one blemish/scratch on it yet, and mine travels daily with me in a bag.

I only have one vertical USB port, the other 2 are horizontal. I dont see this as a problem, and never have with any other laptop.

Off centered screen? You don't even notice it while it is on. If you're that picky go for some other plastic looking toy. It's a wonder you haven't mentioned the different sized screen hinges too!

I am sure the designers at Lenovo don't have distorted symmetrical vision. There are obviously reasons behind this particular design.

 

Try plugging in 2 USB keys in the vertical ports at the same time. Report on your findings.

Yes, I'm picky. When I pay a premium price I have the goddamn RIGHT to be picky. Good to hear you are such an easy guy to please, I bet you wear pants with one leg shorter than the other.

Did I mention?
- a 4:3 touchpad matched to a 16:10 screen
- delivery times and customer service (the less said the better)

I love people with "certainties". I can sell anything to them, at any price.

 

We all know that Lenovo probably screwed up vertically orienting the USB ports.

If you're so picky, why did you buy the Lenovo without looking at it first? Sounds like you're just trying to discount it. The off-centered screen is a result of the roll cage. If you don't want that extra protection then go with another laptop. Besides, spending your time staring at the bezel instead of the screen is your own prerogative. As has been said, most of us don't notice it till we actually look for the incongruity.

The smaller touchpad is only as a result of the TrackPoint.

Their customer service has always been not too good; so have their delivery times.

Seems odd to me how you would just join the forums to start posting about the Thinkpad's misgivings.

 

Owned?

 

It’s funny you’re so upset over something you’re going to ‘stay away from’…. have you actually had one of these 61 series or is this all theory?

Consider Louis Pasteur: “The universe is asymmetric and I am persuaded that life, as it is known to us, is a direct result of the asymmetry of the universe or of its indirect consequences. The universe is asymmetric.”

Good luck with your linear thinking pal.

 

1) BAHAHAHAHA! OWNED!

2) Isnt this thread about me people? ME!!!!! ..stop the fighting!

 

1.)

2.)If the keyboard is still bothering you so much, you should call in for a keyboard replacement and complain about your keys touching the screen. Lenovo is very lenient when it comes to keyboards.

About the scratches though, I don't know what to tell you but be more careful? Sorry.

 

LOL perfect!!

Though I dont have two vertical ones like that.... I have one on the left side that is vertical and another two on the right that are horizontal.

 

Do you have the T61?

 

Oops I didn't notice your sig.... I have a r61i. That would be the reason

 

It's because you have a 15.4" R61. The R/T61s concerned here are of the 14.1" variety.

 

LOL dude I am not going into an all out brawl with you, but I want to ask you why even consider a ThinkPad if you have all these concerns?

 

I too have the same machine of the OP (TP 77441AU).
Although, I've had the thinkpad for less than 2 weeks, I've noticed 2 things:

1) the ram displays as 1006 megabytes in Vista (not 1024), although:
- the bios says it's still 1024
- i've ran memtest86+ v1.70, and it's passed 3 times

2) the battery recharges every time I plug the AC in, even though I explicitly tell Power Manager not to do so unless it falls below 10% (and I've upgraded to v. 2.08)

3) the battery drops by a bit everytime a plug in the power supply - usually by 7%


4) hairline scratch on top left-hand corner of screen - manufacturing flaw

 

1) It usually doesn't show the full amount of RAM. This is also present in XP. I have 2GB of RAM but my system says 1.96GB RAM.

2) This is a glitch in the program, it doesn't always follow the setting. I resolve this issue by setting the battery to stop charging at X%.

3) I don't think I completely understand what you're saying. Are you saying that you lose 7% of battery everytime you plug it in?

 

What does "owned" mean, sir? That it can be done? That capability means convenience? That filling both ports and wiggling your ears at the same time is an easy and confortable operation? In the spirit of reporting your findings, could you post the same picture taken from the TOP, with a full view of the bent connectors and thumb drives in a V shape?

Not to strike too fine a point, but your picture reminds me of the T61 props on the Lenovo website (lots of 3/4 shots with half the screen in the shade --if off-centered screens were a feature rather than a hack they wouldn't go out of their way to hide it, you would think).

 

Brawl? Not me, man.

To answer your question: Linux like Thinkpads better than other models, so what can I say. For the records, I cancelled my T61 on order after they pushed back the delivery date one time too many, and I don't regret passing on that turkey. I may end up shelling out for a T60. Or I may not.

 

I'm happy for you, your Thinkpad and your three-legged dog (as to your tastes in women, I don't want to know).

 

Right; so let's say I charge it to 100%. Then I turn the machine off, and unplug the AC adapter. I leave no USB devices or ethernet cable attached to the Thinkpad so there's no possibility of any device sapping the battery while the machine is off.

I wait 5 hours, and miraculously, when I turn it back on (with AC power) the battery's gone down to 93% and charging!

 

A dog can have four legs and still be asymmetrical. Marks on a dog are not the same on both sides as well as ear formations or eyebrow raises. And as for humans, that's what makes us unique, one of our limbs is slightly longer than the other and both sides of our face are not the same. That's the beauty of nature.

Anyways, have you even sat in front of a ThinkPad 61 series? After a while, the left bezel isn't even noticeable. The overall quality and build of ThinkPads exceed any notebook that I have ever tried, and I have tested notebooks from popular names such as Acer, Dell, Asus, HP, etc.

The problems could be this:
1. Glitch in your power manager. Are you using the OS one or the ThinkVantage one?
2. Defective battery.
3. You're in sleep mode, but I doubt it since you clearly said shut down.

Let's try to troubleshoot it. I suggest next time you're going to leave your computer for 5 hours, take the battery out when it's 100% charge and leave it in a cool, dry place. Once you return, plug it back in and see if it still reads 100%.

If it does, then we know that it's not the battery. If it doesn't then it must be a software issue.

Please report back here.

 

How many times does it have to be explained that it is a result of the internal roll cage? If you seriously spend your time looking at incongruities in bezels instead of at the screen, then either your priorities are messed up, or you just like finding things to nitpick at.

 

I do not notice what is around the screen as I am concerned on what it is display on it. Can you please grow up? It is off-center so what..BTW, I rather have it that way than have the grainy screens of the Dell

 

Hi,

I have had the R61i for about 2.5 month now.

1)The off-centered LCD is not a problem, you don't notice it at all.

2)The reversed Ctrl, well that was a bit of an issue initially since I use ctrl+c/x/v and other ctrl shortcuts alot, and I'm just used to hitting the leftmost key at the bottom, without aiming for it lol, so even after this time I find myself holding Fn sometimes and wondering why won't it Paste lol.

At work I type on a regular keyboard, I think since Ctrl is used so much more than Fn, I think lenovo should stop going against the grain and just reverse those two keys. I don't understand the logic of putting the fn key at the bottom leftmost position, since it is obvious that corner keys are supposed to be the ones that are used a lot, since corners are the easiest keys to hit while performing any operation. Just look at ESC, Backspace, and right CTRL and arrows...

3) I don't have that much wear and tear as OP, even though I carry this laptop around a lot, in a thinly padded messenger bag, and when it is used it is moved around frequently, and it is being open/closed often

4) I am happy with R61, very cheap, tough, black casing, good buy.

5) All the above said however, I think my next laptop will be a business model HP, since I recently had a chance to use those, and I think they are great, I would have bough one myself, but the casing was gray on the 14'' model, not a good color for me.

 

just and update... ive noticed a permanent mark on my screen which is an exact outline of of the trackpoint....

something is obviously screwed up here.

never mind.. something is completely F'ed up!
if i hold my screen up to the light, at the right angle I can see an outline of EVERY key on the keyboard on my screen!!!! (not this is not dust, or grease etc.. it's permanent!!!!!!!!!!!!)

please tell me that this is not normal for laptops

 

Sorry to hear about that.

No, that is not normal at all but permanent? What have you tried to clean it? I suggest a piece of microfiber cloth. They're pretty inexpensive from Walmart or something.

And my trackpoint also touches my screen as well as a small part of the space bar. I place a piece of cloth between the screen and keyboard to prevent marks. I guess it's slightly annoying but once you get into the habit, it's not a problem.

If you don't want to do that, and I don't blame you, you could probably call Lenovo and tell them the issue. They're very lenient about keyboard replacements, since I've never read a negative post about keyboard replacements.

As for your screen marks being permanent, I guess you can always send it in for repair/replacement.

 

O man micro fiber cloth..... sounds like Mac users...

 

You have a 3 year warranty I suggest you call Lenovo and see what they can do about this. Have you checked the keyboard screws in the back of the computer? Are they screwed down all the way? FWIW, I have a T61, treat it like the durable beast of a machine it is and I have ZERO problems, cosmetic or otherwise.

 

LOL. I've never used a Mac notebook in my life. What's the relationship between microfiber and a Mac?

 

DUDE,

first of all, those are all personal preferences and I don't mind them at all

everything you have listed is unique to thinkpads and was engineered that way. It wasn't a 'goof'

We have an official fanboy here....try researching a known issue and then try posting? the ctrl key was part of thinkpad YEARRRSSS ago

 

That there's more of a worry for the looks of the computer and worshiping it than considering it the tool it really is.
(besides mac are so gay)

Anyways this completely veered from the subject.
I recently got a T61p and I'm considering an R61 for my mother, Fortunately the issues people have with the computer don't bother me at all, let alone bother my mother.
I actually love the off centered screen, those designers are brave!! LOL

 

"Owned" means that you should stop posting negative accusations about a notebook without providing evidence to your false claims. "Owned" means that I clearly showed you that the vertical USB ports do not limit the capability of juxtaposed USB flash drives. And once again, sir, that is more solid proof that the design of the vertical USB ports do not bend or flex the flash drives in any way. Oh wait a minute...



Crud...I may have spoken too soon, this is just unacceptable. I mean WILL YOU JUST LOOK AT THAT!? LOOK AT IT!! GO AHEAD! LOOK! It looks like I might be able to squeeze a credit card between that it's so wide. Oh no what do we have here...



Another!? I'm sorry but this is just absolutely unacceptable. You have been completely right all along. That V-gap is just too much. That, along with the off-center screen is just too much. I guess I should return it huh? Boy was I wrong...I guess disco_infern(o) (w)as right agai(n), I fail(e)(d).




Not.

 

Hi Arkit3kt,
So I removed my not-fully charged battery (67%) and continued to use AC power.
A day later, I put the battery back into the thinkpad, and it displayed 58%! That's a sizeable drop (startup saps at most 2% of the battery power)!
Prior to this, I've reset the battery gauge twice. This shouldn't be happening - and Lenovo is NON-responsive - they've had me run that stupid faulty-battery program everytime I've called, and obviously it came up with nothing 0 and they're not going to replace it!

 

It seems you're performing a lot of battery resets. How many cycles does your battery have? When did you make your purchase?

 

My 2 cents:

- The T60 and T61 I have both have a spacebar that sits higher than the rest of the keys. I don't mind it.
- Batteries normally discharge by themselves, even when the computer is off.
- A lot of USB keys don't naturally stick straight out of the computer. A little bend isn't a problem as you'd quickly see if you ever disassembled one. Even out of the box, my MS bluetooth keyboard USB adapter is angled up a bit.
- My keys and the trackstick leave marks on the LCD. They wipe right off with a microfiber cloth and lens cleaner designed for lenses with coatings. I had a T40 for nearly 4 years and never had a scratch from the keyboard or track stick.

Your battery might be defective. My Thinkpad will discharge this much in standby overnight. Still even a properly functioning battery will lose some power with no drain on it.


On the off-set screen, I was initially irritated with it. My T60 15" is only a slight off-set but, on the T61 14" widescreen? WOW! I quickly realized it is because, not so much the roll cage but if you look alongside the screen, there are the textured ridges indicating the antenna's location. I have come to appreciate the T61's superior wireless reception (it is the best of any notebook I have used).

That said, I have/had far more serious issues than some scratches (cosmetic). After only a month and a half, my laptop failed to turn on. It just quit working. I sent it in and within (I think it was) 5 days I had it back, somewhat repaired. It would turn on, but the battery didn't work. Included was a note saying that the battery failed their testing and what # to call to get a replacement. Nice. I appreciated the quick return of the laptop, but not the month it took to get a replacement battery. I also had a squeaky mouse button on the trackpad. I finally gave in and called little over a week ago when the A/C adapter quit working. I called in around 5 PM on Friday and on Monday they had a new A/C adapter and palm rest out.

I have had IBM, Lenovo, Compaq, HP, Sony, Apple, Dell and Gateway laptops. All of them have had some sort of problem, it's just a matter of what degree and how the company treats you. IBM/Lenovo is the only company I have dealt with where I usually never wait on hold (on a few times I've waited 3 minutes) and they are always willing to fix the problem and replace parts. Compaq/HP, Sony, Apple and Dell (I returned the Gateway after a week, it was so poorly built) all have tried their best to wriggle out of replacing parts and fixing issues.

 

update: I used some Monster screen cleaner with a microfiber cloth..
...it worked wonders! all the marks are gone!

 

I detect either a kid or a drama queen (a poor one at that).

Tell you what Arki, you have almost convinced me. Post a picture of your laptop cuddly wrapped in that white microfiber cloth of yours and I'll give you a mod point.

 

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/sarcasm