The build quality of the left side of my T43

[dr_st]

So all this time we were talking about different things... Well, there you go.

I think I'm gonna call IBM support one of these days and just ask. Since I'm not the only one with this issue, they may know about it.

[Thinkerer]

on my T43, the palmrest on top of the PCMCIA slot is a bit (but annoyingly) loose vertically.

Fixed: I put a dab of (regular) hot glue into the space under the loose northwest corner of the palmrest, pressed down for a minute and peeled away the excess glue. The palmrest corner now stays attached to the bezel and gives a tight, clean fit.

[AlanHorne]

I'd just like to comment that I find it refreshing to see this kind of nitpickery about laptops - with my current Dell I'm quite used to all sorts of trim and fit issues. The screen wobbles mightily and the entire machine creaks and flexes (it's basically a big snap-tite(tm) model. ) In addition, the fan vibration tends to create rattling sounds when the machine is oriented in certain ways...

yes, I think I'll be quite happy when my T42 arrives.

[christopher_wolf]

Yup, OCD Nitpickery, especially on the part of the engineers, generally results in a high quality product; however, this also takes its toll...Most often long nights with little sleep.

I too have a large Dell, and it has the same screen wobble caused by, what I think, is a plastic cantilevered beam support for both hinges. It isn't that the hinges rotate much themselves; rather, their support is what moves back and forth. That isn't a good thing to have if you are being mobile and moving it around alot; at some point, the amplitude will get larger and larger then something will give. I had something like that happen to a Dell laptop before; it got looser and looser with the LCD until one day it spit out shredded plastic from the sides of the LCD, which had delaminated, and the LCD just fell over and closed shut. I sat there laughing for....Maybe 10 minutes . That is always why I use the Widescreen Dell as a Desktop. My Thinkpad is my Main Computer.

[dr_st]

I'd just like to comment that I find it refreshing to see this kind of nitpickery about laptops - with my current Dell I'm quite used to all sorts of trim and fit issues.

The point is (as I've found out by testing other people's laptops), this problem is not present on all units, just on some. So those who do have it can say that their unit is a bit faulty. Just like dead pixels. I mean, most of the time you won't even notice them, but you can't help feeling just a bit cheated if you have them on your LCD, while most others don't.

Granted, this bezel problem is not serious at all, but at times it can be just a bit annoying. Then again, I won't glue it, because what happens if then from some reason the bezel needs to be disassembled? With the glue it's gonna be harder.

[rleo25]

I would never ever glue any notebook part, because the dissasembling could result in a worse mess than what you intended to correct... try not to stare at the gap and forget it...

[draco2527]

I have seen this problem before!

There is a tab on the side of the bezel that LOCK into the fan hole, sometimes the tab will not align properly for the tab to lock against the vent holes.

You can try removing the bezel and GENTLY moving the tab (remember is plastic so treat it like it was made out of dust) out a bit; then it should catch on the vent/fan holes and it should not "flex"; the gap is sometimes there, the flex should not.....

For the BULGE that someone mentioned, the audio ports have a screw that comes from the bottom of the thinkpad and fits into a metal plate that is attached to the audio ports, if they put the wrong screw in (19mm that is for the back of the bezel) then I can see it pushing or bulging the bezel up...

My $.02