Z61m Damaged or design flaw?

I was one of the unlucky ones waiting for my Z61m for eternity. Ordered last November.

Anyways, after climbing the complaint ladder, I found a helpful person. She was able to arrange a shipment from an online retailer. It arrived quickly but I have concerns.

Looking at the DVD drive area, there is a gap on the right side. The lower benzel looks to be bowed in that area. If I put pressure on the bottom, it all lines up nicely. Removing the drive is difficult possibly due to binding.

Also, if you run your hand over the botton of the laptop, you can feel a warping in the base. It is difficult to photograph but here are a couple pics.

I have shown this to a few people and they agree that something is not right. I can't imagine build quality is that poor for such a pricey laptop.

 

That is not right, I would get on the horn with IBM/Lenovo immediately.

 

Watever He Said.

 

I thought so. Time to jump through some more hoops.

Can anyone tell me if there is an appreciable difference between the weight of the Z61m widescreen and the T60 wide? The user that is getting this commented that is was a little large. The Lenovo rep offered me a T60 as a replacement for my original order.

 

Yes, my t60ws is noticeably lighter than my z61m. I believe the specs are roughly a pound different. It is also thinner...

but some will say any 15.4 is too large to tote around. I don't mind it at all...

 

My T60 Wide has the same thing. I guess, it's a design flow of the whole widescreen lineup, but I am not sure, because I didn't see other laptops.

My friend owns a HP dv6000t and it's build quality seems much better than my Thinkpad's , of course the screen of dv6000 ripples when pressed but overall it is more sturdier than mine.
I am starting to hate Thinkpads.
I don't know why I went for thinkpad. Some people adviced me that , but I am not happy with it at all.
The biggest compliant is screen! I just hate the screen.
I wonder why they use magnesium lid for such a poor screen.

EDIT: Btw, the palmrest area creeks when I lift it. T40 didn't creek at all!
I think they are starting to make Thinkpads more consumer oriented.

 

I agree that that is damage to your laptop; are you sure you got a brand new one? Possibly the laptop was stored in a hot place during shipping? Anyhow, definitely give Lenovo a call to get it fixed.

@hotboy: My T60 WS is solid. No gaps around the Ultrabay and a tiny bit of flex around the fingerprint reader and the IBM logo, but nothing serious. The LG screen is very crisp and colorful enough, though it is noticeably dimmer than the Samsung 19" LCD Monitor I have. I, too, have a friend with a dv6xxx (she bought it from a store, and I'm not sure what model it is) and while it is built solidly, it doesn't feel quite as substantial as my Thinkpad. Mostly the lid feels flimsy, much flimsier than the lid on my T60.

 

I bought a dv6000t once. I hated it within 4 hours of use. The mousepad buttons are noisy and have to much travel. The RAM buzzed and the keyboard was flimsy in construction.

I returned the first one only to get a second one with the same problems. I would take a comparable IBM over almost(not my R1F ) any laptop any day.

My roommate has an x60 which I love.

Long story short, HP consumer laptops suck IMHO. The biz side has a better feel.

 

The thing I've learned so far is that I will NEVER BUY THINKPAD again.
Next time I will stick with hp's business class notebook

 

I have a T60 and I do not have this problem.

hotboy, you're going to learn the hard way that HP Business class is one step down from the Thinkpads. That's my honest opinion.

 

DVD Drive: looks the same as mine. no problem on removing the drive.

battery: did i see it right?! your battery seems warped, curving down to the center...

bottom (front): are the grills the ones warped? can't see them in the pic, but mine does not have the warp.

 

The entire underside appears to be warped. At first I though it was just curved that way.

The cover under the DVD drive just seems distorted. You can put a little pressure downwards and it flexes badly.

I am waiting to hear back from Lenovo.

 

cover same as mine, thats the design, made for easy removal to swap with other devices

 

I've had mine since July 2006 and it looks exactly the same as yours. I have heard this from at least one other person and I am under the impression that all, or many, Z's have this due to design imperfection.
Personally, I could care less because I have not had problems using or removing the drive. I am a bit obsessive though, not about this, but I can understand how something small can make you cringe.

 

I can probably live with the poor drive fit and finish. However, my main concern is the bottom cover. When you run your hand over it, you feel the deformation.

I don't know. I've bought and repaired more laptops than I can cound. Pretty much every brand there is. I've never seen anything like this on a new unit.

I do remember one of the excuses I was given for the delay was a shortage of bezels. Perhaps they had a bad batch but send some out anyways.

The pictures do not represent the issue well being 2D. Everyone I've showed it to see it right away.

Anyways, thanks for all the input. I still have not heard back from Lenovo. Big surprise.

 

personally i think ur a little too picky, im pretty picky in a laptop but the design? thats the design, although mine does not look warped like ur 3rd pic shows, my $0.02

 

Time to move on Hotboy. If you have cut your tie to Thinkpads, why continue posting?

 

Blah, blah, blah. Cry me a river and stop hijacking other people's threads.

 

OK Guys i have similar problem with Z61m.

Mine is a bit unstable and i felt some flexiness, especially in the left near the speaker area. I felt flexiness in CD tray too. I felt flexiness especially when bring the laptop with my hand when moving from a room to another.

I bring it to my local service center in my town. And they found that nothings wrong with it and said my laptop perfectly normal. BUT the technician told me that i HAVE NOT TIGHTEN THE SCREW UNDER THE LAPTOP (sorry for the caps lock).

He tighthen the screw, all under the laptop that is visible. Every screw that we see. For CD tray or Ultra Bay there is a special screw hole under it without any screw (just blank hole). He said that hole actually left blank to make the change of the ultrabay easier. You just unlock the drive and pull out. With a screw then you have to unscrew it first, unlock and pull out. Some people, who oftenly switch ultrabay find it a bit hassle. But the technician told me that the screw should be there because without it would make the body less firm.

After all is done, he turn up the laptop and give it back to me. "Here you go, touch it".

Surprisingly, that flex Z become more sturdier and somehow feel harder. Everything feels stronger. The speaker grill is firm, the palm rest is firm, the CD tray feels firm. I pull the laptop with one hand and the Z more stable and harder. I showed a disbelief face i think, because i see the technician smile at me.

He said some reseller and some assembler usually take precautions when built the laptop based on certain spec, they tend to put the screw not too tight as it should.
Z series have abs plastic outer case that covers the roll cage skeleton. The abs should press and unite firmly with the roll cage structure to give overall strength across the laptop. One way to achieve this to make sure that you have everything in place, including properly assembled screws.

I asked him how can small screw underside would create an impact on the upperside of the laptop? He answered that is the beautiful of rollcage design. Everything is connected within the structure.

This my solve or not solve your problem, but you could try.

 

2 Tay and mjacob
I have a freedom of speech and I can express my opinion without anyone's permission.

 

OK, whatever. This is a web forum and not a sovereign republic. Nobody wants to listen to you complain all the time.

 

Some addition :

About tightening the screw, please be notice that the screw must placed really really tight on the body. Not just standar placement.

 

2 mjacob
Ok. Let's not fight here

 

I agree with you that the 15.4" T60 has a bad screen. I returned mine for that reason alone. However, the middle of other people's threads is not the proper place to post about the screen. It's just rude to interrupt the flow of the thread.

 

aaaaah so thats what that extra screw was for! didnt come with no intructions or anything, just a screw in a plastic bag

 

hotboy did not do his homework before he dropped $1500+ for his T60WS.

If the screen was that important to him, he should have looked at the Flexview screen for the standard 4:3 T60, or elsewhere. End of story.

 

Exactly. I am glad you have figure it out