Thinkpads Forum

After years of Toshiba and Dell laptops, I'm finally upgrading to a T60p-- can't wait!

Since I transport my laptop a lot and use the keyboard even more, I've always had problems with paint wear on the outside of the case, as well as on the palmrest and mouse buttons. Is this ever a problem on the T-series Thinkpads?

Also, does anyone have a tip on cleaning dirt and finger oils off of a keyboard? I'd like to keep my computer looking brand new as long as possible.

On most thinkpads, there is no real paint. The black color is generally just the color of the material used. Its not like silver paint on a dell or anything.

Some places might get a tad shiney as the texture is worn off, but that only really happens on some highly used keys.

the top model thinkpads all use a rubberized paint..
T series for sure.. up to T43 series..
and the T60 series will also i suspect..
the R series and some other lower cost models do not..
the p[aint will rub through if your carry case has abrasive fabric on the inside..

BillMorrow wrote:the p[aint will rub through if your carry case has abrasive fabric on the inside..

That is exactly what happened to the corners of my 3 month old Thinkpad.

BillMorrow wrote:the top model thinkpads all use a rubberized paint..
T series for sure.. up to T43 series..
and the T60 series will also i suspect..
the R series and some other lower cost models do not..
the p[aint will rub through if your carry case has abrasive fabric on the inside..

Bill, do you know if the rubberized paint is more wear-resistant than whatever is on the R series? It would be ironic if the top model thinkpads were the ones that wore out more easily.

And Hanson, when the corners wear down, what color is it below? I was surprised to find white plastic underneath my silver Dell...

Guess I'll just have to be careful when buying a carrying case...

It doesnt sound as if the rubberised paint is more durable than the one on R series. I guess i'll have to be really careful when i buy a T series laptop in the near future. My new R51 cover seems very durable and i dont think any laptop bag could damage it.

My T43 is scratch free, period. Any angle I look at the top or the sides, I fail to find a scratch; I find this somewhat amazing considering it has met zips in less-than-optimal conditions most of the time, pens and pencils that have met the lib in such ways, other debris. It is pretty safe in my Thinkpad case, though.

I have a Dell where the heat from the battery *faded away* the color of the paint, it turned out to be a gray plastic in this area, yet in another area where the paint simply degraded on the Dell, the plastic was white....Go figure

bmfyxpp wrote:And Hanson, when the corners wear down, what color is it below? I was surprised to find white plastic underneath my silver Dell...

Guess I'll just have to be careful when buying a carrying case...

It is a shiny black plastic - not white.

bmfyxpp wrote:Bill, do you know if the rubberized paint is more wear-resistant than whatever is on the R series? It would be ironic if the top model thinkpads were the ones that wore out more easily.

The R series is just plain plastic. But it has a rough surface that prevents scratches. If you keep rubbing the surface with something rough, eventually the rough plastic surface wears out and the plastic becomes smooths, but that could take a long time. The T series' rubber coating is actually less durable in this aspect.

But under normal usage, the T rubber coating prevents or hides small scratches, and feels better than plain plastic.

Hanson wrote:It is a shiny black plastic - not white.

I think this is true on the 15" ThinkPads which have a CFRP or plastic lid. The 14" are Magnesium alloy and when the coating wears off (only in the corners usually) the exposed parts are silver.

I've had a 14" TP for a year that has seen about as much use as a laptop could and the only result was a very small portion of exposed metal on the two corners on the latching edge of the screen. They are so small as to be almost unnoticable.

Caveat: I don't cary my TP in a carrying case and I don't have experience with laptops beyond a year because I usually upgrade within 9 months. Still, I sell / support ThinkPads and I have yet to see one with any more wear than I describe.

-darren

darrenf wrote:

Hanson wrote:It is a shiny black plastic - not white.

I've had a 14" TP for a year that has seen about as much use as a laptop could and the only result was a very small portion of exposed metal on the two corners on the latching edge of the screen. They are so small as to be almost unnoticable.

-darren

Hi, that is exactly what I have on my 14.1 laptop - I apologize if I didn't describe it correctly before. I guess it is actually more metal-like than plastic-like.

I'm getting a 14.1" model, so I'll have to be careful of those corners...

Has anyone experienced any wear on the palmrest or mouse buttons? I've always used a mild alcohol solution to clean my keyboard, but it would melt the paint on my old Dell's mouse buttons like the Wicked Witch of the West...

This forum is amazing! I'm thrilled to have found it.

I have had my 701C for a good while now and, whenever I used it, I always used the Trackpoint buttons; so far, I cannot detect a bit of wear on them like fading or flakes. Much the sam can be said for my T43, of which I use the Trackpoint buttons even when I am at a desk, for a little over half a year now.

I have been using an R40 for 2.5 years now and am convinced that the case plastic is black through and through (not painted). I dropped it recently and the screen bezel cracked -- inside the crack the plastic is black.

The keys have a fair bit of a "shine" to them now, though.

Judging from the side-by-side images of the T43 and T60 here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2767

... it seems the T60 doesn't use the same paint as the T43. Then again, it might just be the lighting. The T60 looks as shiny as patent leather on Lenovo's 3D product tour.

bmfyxpp wrote:Judging from the side-by-side images of the T43 and T60 here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2767

... it seems the T60 doesn't use the same paint as the T43. Then again, it might just be the lighting. The T60 looks as shiny as patent leather on Lenovo's 3D product tour.

Unless I'm overlooking the picture(s) you're talking about, the only side-by-side pics are of the T60 and a Dell.

The difference in color between the T4x and T60 pics can be entirely attributed to the lighting used for those shots. They don't appear to have been taken in the same studio setup. Black is very hard to photograph.

-darren

Here is one tip for how NOT to clean a keyboard.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12824

The title says it all!

bmfyxpp wrote:Judging from the side-by-side images of the T43 and T60 here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2767

... it seems the T60 doesn't use the same paint as the T43. Then again, it might just be the lighting. The T60 looks as shiny as patent leather on Lenovo's 3D product tour.

Here's another NBR review, where the T60 surface looks more like that of the T43:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2702

I noticed also in the 3D tour that the T60 palmrest looks like it's all super shiny. But that image is obviously highly photoshoped. It almost doesn't even really qualify as a photo anymore. The shininess doesn't seem to appear in any actual images of the T60.