general case/keyboard build query

yesterday i popped into my local store and had another look at some vaio's. they had a couple of CR's, FW's and a SR. i noticed on all of them that when you put any weight on the centre keyboard area that it feels like you can push it down. it seems quite soft and was a little disconcerting to me. also all the keyboards looked they had a slight curve to them, not 100% flat and straight. i've never noticed this before and am unsure if something has happened to all the models at this particular store, or if this is a sony trait? i can't recall this on the TZ i've played with at another store.
edit: the SR seemed the worst of the lot for this

other brands seemed to have a much stiffer chassis around the keyboard.

can anyone enlighten me as to whether this 'softness' is normal for the sony's?

thanks

 

Personally I have noticed it many times. Even with their desktop keyboards I notice they have a very nice design but there is a noticeable amount of flex.

 

ahh cheers
thanks for quick reply

i would like to note to everyone i didn't dislike it, but just wasn't sure if it was meant to

 

The only flex on the SR, from my personal experiences, has been the right palmrest, and as such, slightly the right keyboard area. It requires you to press down with your fingers hard to see it flex, it will not flex from resting your palm on it and typing...

Good luck!

 

i agree it wouldn't flex down under normal typing. only in the process of actually picking the SR up and having a good stickybeak at it i discovered that pushing on the keyboard made it 'flex' as you say. previously having only tried to type on the keyboard i hadn't noticed it.
as i have no intention of banging away on the keyboard i can't see it being an issue but thought i'd check.
still not sure why they all seemed curved to me - but they were all pushed back under the lights today and i'm wondering if i was seeing some sort of optical illusion instead with lighting.

thanks for the post input

 

my thoughts exactly six: had the same impression on my BZ keyboard but when I look at it from the palmrest view (horizontally) ther's no curve. the keyboard on this model has still the more classic keyboard layout (no spacing) and also a very light flex but definitly not what I'd classify as build -or assembly flaw (something which would be eligible for a recommended sony service check)

 

hi travelspace, glad to see i'm not totally imagining a curve .
thanks for the confirmation there really isn't one there, just lighting or whatever.

i believe i can live with some flex, some of the dells i use seem to have bendy keyboards to and they're ok to type on still.

 

All of the manufacturers have known typical defects:

Sony's keyboards have flex when you purposely push really hard in the middle of the keyboard.
HP suffers burning and scorch marks when a blow torch is used anywhere on the surface or internal components.
Dell's hinges are natoriously flimsy when hacksaws are used directly in between the casing and the hinge itself.
Lenovos? Lenovos are great, as everyone can attest to, but your warranty will be voided if you ever take it wake boarding, sky diving, caged ring death matches, or ever use it as a cake pan.

By the way, other than micrometers, micron lasers, and nano tubes, I think a straight edged ruler would be a good tool to test for curvatures.