Upper panel slightly larger than the body?

[jh]

I recently found out that my TP(T42f fvu)'s upper panel (which cases the lcd) is slightly larger than the body(main unit).

When I close the laptop, I clearly see the panel's left and right corners in the front are jutting out, although fractions of an inch. In most of the laptops I saw/used, the upper lids fitted seamlessly to the bodies when closed.

This left me with a couple of questions. Is this a flaw of my TP or all TPs have slightly different sizes? If the upper panel had been forged slighty larger on purpose, why did IBM do so?

[dvorak]

Mine has that small quirk also, near the hinges, the left side is even, the right one is a bit off too.
There simply may be different companies manufacturing the bezels, the LCD cover put to ours may simply be a bit worse than others, it does have that crack on the right side too (where the LCD meets the edge). Maybe they're related...

[jh]

Thanks, Dvorak.

I tried measuring the width of lower and upper cases. The upper panel was actually wider at the palm rest edge.

Whether, it is the design or inconsistency in parts, I think it is not suitable for a laptop with such a good reputation.
I've seen a few Compaq and Sony laptops and they did not have this little flaw.

[CChoi83]

I have it too but I think it's part of the design. Not to mention that although it isn't flush with the edges of the palmrests, you can be rest assured the outer casing is thicker and stronger than most other manufacturers. Also, I'm assuming that it's a little bigger since the outer lcd casing needs to fit in the two antennas for 802.11x, the ThinkLight and dual locking mechanisms. Alot of other notebook/laptop manufacturers only fit their equipment with a single latch instead of two. Just my 2 cents.

[dvorak]

One latch or two, but mine are still a bit loose :)

Well, one just has to realise, that perfect things hardly come by, and an IBM laptop is just a tool, should not be considered as a friend :)

Overall, it IS plastic and it still is flexy, creaks, bends etc, maybe one day we'll have light laptops made from strong steel, but atleast now there's not much we can do about it.

[aamsel]

It looks like it was designed that way to me.
Also, the top panel sticks out more in front, to create a "lip" to cover the lower panel where they meet.
All in all, it appears to be the way that IBM intended it to be.

Andrew
Austin, TX