A question from VPC Z1 owners!

Does any area on the palmrest make clicking sound when you put pressure on it?(pressing a finger on it)? (left side near stickers, right side near ODD, near CTRL and SHIFT keys!) I am just confused! I have opened and closed the casing thousand times but can't get these clicking sounds to go away! Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

I believe mines used to do that(it used to click occasionally, when i went to type) but i think it's just a little loose or something because when i had my palmrest replaced it went away.

 

Hope it's not a palmrest flaw! Not sure if I can afford to change one! It's getting some how irritating!
Anyone else experiencing the problem?

 

well considering the palmrest is simply a piece of plastic with a touchpad in the center, there's not much that can really go wrong... i mean if you open up your Z, you can see that there's only 1 cable going to the palmrest and it's in the center (connecting the touchpad to the keyboard) so there's nothing being caught. I think it's just a little loose and after time maybe it's started to flex a bit. I wouldn't worry too much about it

 

I hate you for pointing this out to me! I have never noticed it before and it doesn't make any sound at all when you are typing - only when I press on the right side (only) palmrest do I hear these irritating little plastic creaking sounds!!! Now I can't stop pressing on it and trying to get it to re-seat and stop making those stupid little sounds, they way no Apple product ever would! And I hate Apple! Please erase this thread and I will try to forget I ever knew this!

 

Haha, yeah.. My right palmrest makes that creaking sound as well. :C

 

When was it ordained that a device made of so many moving parts made of different materials would make no sounds of material against material?

 

I hate myself for finding this out! I was in library and I just heard it! Now I can stop pushing & hearing those clicks!

 

Resist the temptation to push on them! In regular use, they never make a peep!

 

So you mean my Z1 is not defective?! I can live with it if it is epidemic!!! Is it?

 

It is.

I fixed mine by putting a piece of paper between the palmrest plastic and the aluminium base. Dead silent since then!

 

Do I have to open palmrest assembly to do so?

 

I use headphones!

 

You open the laptop and take off the keyboard/aluminium baseplate assembly. Then flip it over and detach the screws of the touchpad/palmrest assembly. They are hidden under black tape. Take the palmrest off and take care of the clasps so they don't snap. Put your scotch tape/paper/kapton foil etc. between the aluminium baseplate and the palmrest borders where it squeaks. E.g. stick the tape on the flat edges of the baseplate where the palmrest sits in. Tighten the screws and check if the squeaks are gone.

Pictures:
Left side:
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg532/scaled.php?server=532&filename=dsc01076d.jpg&res=landing
Right side:
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg704/scaled.php?server=704&filename=dsc01078z.jpg&res=landing

Source: ZoinksS2K's thread here - Check it out for details: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/478061-how-protective-film-application-z11.html#

 

All doable ^ and entirely successful, but I'd still go with the approach of not pushing in on the palm rests with your finger, just use them as palm rests and you will not likely ever hear the creak. If yours is worse than most, I would do what Pyr0 did to his, not the links to far more extreme measures.

Remember, everything made by humans has to have one flaw because only God is perfect. Were it not for the flaky plastic creaky cheapo fake metallic paint palm rests, the Z1 would be perfect, and therefore could not exist.

Edit: Cautionary tale: a few months ago I lucked into an "open box" new Z13 well equipped (sig) and essentially "started over." I immediately put an SGP skin on the lid and palm rests and one of those infernal silicone covers over the keyboard. Result: no harm cam come to my Z13 in normal use (tho' I still managed to make a dent in the barrel hinge!) and a really unpleasant typing experience (those silicon covers are nothing like the Moshi ones made for Macs) and weird feeling of "ultrasuede" on my palm rests. Thinking of taking it all off and using Invisible Shield clear skins for all but keyboard, or maybe just keeping the lid covered and enjoying using this wonderful laptop as it was intended to be done, wear be damned! (Wash your hands like you were playing a Steinway piano and you won't cause nearly as much wear!)

 

Thanks pyr0! Some how fixed mine!