Well, i had and have thinkpads in use and like them. Usually i got them in used but still very mint quality. Now i decided to get a new one and since i am a student i found one that actually had a competitive price that i could afford.

Then i was a bit disappointed. The display casing is open (has a gap) at the top of the casing at the edge and the backlight did shine through that gap.

So i returned that one and now i just recieved another one but that also looks almost worse than a used thinkpad. It looks as if was used, cleaned, still dirty and yet it was sold as a new device. Is this the declining thinkpad quality i heard of or is it just bad luck?

The display also does not look that solid and is kind of loose on that one. Did anyone experience that with his thinkpad? The devices were built 2011/11 and 2011/12 so they are 'state of the art'.

I am very disappointed by the lenovo quality. Since 2 devices in a row can't be a coincidence.

Any advice? Can you check your display and tell me if you see similar quality issues? I also checked some thinkpads of other students and they seem to have 'normal' quality..

I will return that one also.

I have never heard of a brand new computer that was dirty out of the box. Where are you buying these things from? Do they have the white sticker over the Lenovo tape on the box?

All of the T520's and W520s's that I have seen have been top notch build quality other than the creaky palm rest thing. Two bad ones in a row would be quite a lottery to hit. I think you might have something fishy there. Can you put photos on photobucket for us to see?

My new T520 is as solid as a bank vault. Perfect 1920 x 1280 display. Terrific 802.11 reception and transmit and no creaks, blemishes or problems at all. I think you need to discuss your problems with the vendor you got your ThinkPads from.

Well, i made a picture and uploaded it for you to see:


I also compared it to the Thinkpads i already own (acutally quite old ones from IBM) and to later T500, L410, and even another T520 and none of those had an open gap at the display.

The first one actually was worse. That had a bigger gap compared to this.

That small gap is present on all of the T520 and W520 models that I have seen, however I have never been able to see light from the LCD panel show through like you described on the first one.

The dirt looks like it could be cardboard box dust. A little more than usual.

When you received the computer, was there any evidence that it have been opened before, such as a white sticker over the Lenovo tape on the box, or a broken red security sticker on the plastic bag that the computer itself was in?

Thank you for your answers. Could you show a macro picture of the gap of other T420 or T520 you see? Or describe if the edge is 'movable'

There is no white sticker. The red sticker was broken but that has a reason. I bought it from a lenovo partner seller that made a memory upgrade and they claim that they just did that. The dust and overall look of the packaging and all were strange at first but that's not that much bothering me at this point.

I have not even turned that one on so far so I can't say if it was in use once beyond the memory check they also might have conducted.

I have heard of others that claim that the T420 for example does not have a gap there.. so I am still not so sure if i should keep it. If that is not that uncommon, did anyone have trouble with the gap? And yes. The first one had a big gap. This one has a small one in comparison.. I think it was a T420s i saw some weeks ago that also didn't have a gap.