Thinkpad takes a dive, comes out nearly unscathed

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DavidNY · #1 Post by **DavidNY** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:20 am

I took my Thinkpad T60 to the airport, took it out of its protective case and put it in one of those trays at the security line. I needed a few trays for other stuff, so things got a bit cramped, trays were moshing with other trays as they were pushed forward towards the x-ray machine. The tray with the T60 fell off the table and the laptop crashed upside down on the tile floor, three feet below.

It survived with only a small nick on an outside corner of the LCD bezel.

The laptop was in standby at the time. The person behind me thought my laptop was toast, but I showed her the lit moon and we both knew my T60 was going to be alright.

img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/5044 ... 612faa.jpg[/img]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidny/504477200/

bontistic · #2 Post by **bontistic** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:35 am

One of the many reasons why we love these things.
Have you tested out the drives (HD and Ultrabay) to see if they have not been damaged?

Edit: You might want to add a **PIC** warning on your title.

okashira · #3 Post by **okashira** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:12 am

#4 Post by **jdhurst** » Sat May 19, 2007 12:45 pm

My T41 fell (open and running) onto the floor whilst in a hotel in London England in 2005. The floor was carpeted but the drop was 3 feet. No ill effects and no cosmetic damage. I picked it up and kept right on going.

Of course, this is one of the reasons we die-hards buy these things. A two-pound Toshiba Libretto aside, I have bought nothing but IBM since 1981.
... JDH

yqwen · #5 Post by **yqwen** » Sat May 19, 2007 1:08 pm

great to hear the story, then how about mac notebooks, I heard that they also boast good quality, so how would a mac survive a dive like that, I would love to hear what people have to say.

DavidNY wrote:I took my Thinkpad T60 to the airport, took it out of its protective case and put it in one of those trays at the security line. I needed a few trays for other stuff, so things got a bit cramped, trays were moshing with other trays as they were pushed forward towards the x-ray machine. The tray with the T60 fell off the table and the laptop crashed upside down on the tile floor, three feet below.

It survived with only a small nick on an outside corner of the LCD bezel.

The laptop was in standby at the time. The person behind me thought my laptop was toast, but I showed her the lit moon and we both knew my T60 was going to be alright.

img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/5044 ... 612faa.jpg[/img]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidny/504477200/

#6 Post by **ryengineer** » Sat May 19, 2007 1:51 pm

I dropped my old A31p severely many times and it survived to live to see the bright light of sun since 2003 until I parted it myself to someone last year. I am pretty sure that robust machine is still living on.

shalliday · #7 Post by **shalliday** » Sat May 19, 2007 2:09 pm

It is stories like these that continue to prove the Thinkpad is a very durable and well constructed system. There are many adjectives you can use to describe a thinkpad. Nice to know "Fragile" is not one of them.

DavidNY · #8 Post by **DavidNY** » Sat May 19, 2007 6:53 pm

bontistic wrote:One of the many reasons why we love these things.
Have you tested out the drives (HD and Ultrabay) to see if they have not been damaged?

Edit: You might want to add a **PIC** warning on your title.

This happened over a week ago, the 7K100 and DVD multiburner in the Ultrabay are just fine...

People can click to the flickr page to see the damage... its worth the trip

agarza · #9 Post by **agarza** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:13 pm

Suppose a T4x laptop is more prone to damage since it doesn't have the roll-cage on its entrails.

Temetka · #10 Post by **Temetka** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:54 am

I've dropped my T41P more than once. It has been ticking along just fine. I love my Thinkpad.

#11 Post by **gator** » Sun May 20, 2007 1:52 am

Temetka wrote:I love my Thinkpad.

Temetka, I love your thinkpad! hee hee! With those specs, grrrrrrr ....

(hope my T60 hasn't heard that!)

Thinkpads are awesome.

NS · #12 Post by NS » Sun May 20, 2007 10:54 am

Now, i know why thinkpads costed that much of money. But it's worth it doesn't it...

BTW: @Sri,
I have settled my private stuff and everything is fine for me now. Will be bonded to some company after graduation for years... *uhhmmm!*:-(

jjesusfreak01 · #13 Post by **jjesusfreak01** » Sun May 20, 2007 2:44 pm

Unfortunately, I just took my TP apart (it had a bad fall the other day) and I found out that I cracked the frame in two places. Of course, it took taking it apart to realize this, because it still works fine. I think I am going to wait until I kill it completely to invoke my insurance so I can get it replaced, since if I did that now I would only get the frame replaced.

furrycute · #14 Post by **furrycute** » Sun May 20, 2007 3:34 pm

I don't know the details about the construction of Thinkpads, but I think you should glue those cracks together just in case one of those sharp edges cuts something critical.

jjesusfreak01 · #15 Post by **jjesusfreak01** » Sun May 20, 2007 7:02 pm

furrycute wrote:I don't know the details about the construction of Thinkpads, but I think you should glue those cracks together just in case one of those sharp edges cuts something critical.

The cracks are generally away from any critical parts (on the left and right of the laptop) but I glued one of them already.

scottkeen · #16 Post by **scottkeen** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:57 pm

I was at the Dulles airport and someone ahead of me also dropped his ThinkPad at the security checkpoint (OP, was this you?!)

He said, "Oh (expletive)!"

I said, "Is that a ThinkPad? Oh, it'll be fine!"

My ThinkPad 240 has been dropped, sat on, stepped on (by me) and survived 8 years of abuse. The last time I stepped on it getting out of bed, the screen cracked but it still lit up with a black LCD puddle and it still booted and I continued to use it until I bought a replacement screen from a recycled 240 on eBay.

When it was time to buy another laptop, I saw it as only two choices. ThinkPad T-series or ThinkPad X-series. I got a T60p.

I have absolutely no interest in any other brands out there. Totally sold on ThinkPads.

DavidNY · #17 Post by **DavidNY** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:55 am

scottkeen wrote:I was at the Dulles airport and someone ahead of me also dropped his ThinkPad at the security checkpoint (OP, was this you?!)

No, this happened in Albany, NY. They need a litte rim on the table so trays don't fall off easily... at least for those without Thinkpads.

seeplus · #18 Post by **seeplus** » Mon May 21, 2007 11:58 pm

My notebooks have shown themselves to be more durable than I would have expected. My T60p has been stepped on (while closed) a number of times now. (not by me :) Still perfect.

My girlfriend also dropped my 17" Dell XPS (a beast) on concrete from a ledge almost four feet up. It survived with only scratches to show for it.

pianowizard · #19 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:53 am

seeplus wrote:My girlfriend also dropped my 17" Dell XPS (a beast) on concrete from a ledge almost four feet up. It survived with only scratches to show for it.

Now that's truly amazing. Such a large and heavy object tends to be much more vulnerable, but only scratches???? Who said Dell laptops are crap?

#20 Post by **gator** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:06 am

pianowizard wrote:Who said Dell laptops are crap?

Dell laptops have improved in quality a LOT compared to an year or two back. The e1405 has a pretty good keyboard, and does not flex one bit anywhere. It is heavy though, and not slim, but it is unfair to label dell machines 'crappy'. They are not bad at all.

turnerpr · #21 Post by **turnerpr** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:19 am

For those of us newbies who have just purchased their first Thinkpad... this is a fantastic thread. Nothing like confirmation that you made exactly the right purchase....

pianowizard · #22 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:26 am

turnerpr wrote:Nothing like confirmation that you made exactly the right purchase....

Thinkpads offer the best balance of cost and quality. Panasonic Toughbooks are even tougher, but also much more expensive. Dells are cheaper, but even though they have gotten much better recently (as Gator pointed out), they are still a notch below Thinkpads in terms of quality. From what I've read, Sony laptops have the lowest quality for the highest cost!

#23 Post by **gator** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:43 am

pianowizard wrote:From what I've read, Sony laptops have the lowest quality for the highest cost!

Not only is the quality under par, so is the support with drivers. One student here bought a sony FE590 (last September) and he had to reinstall windows, and he spent a lot of time to get the drivers - the tech suppor was terrible and sony refused to send him recovery disks, even he was willing to pay for them! He finally got hold of someone in an online forum and got the drivers.

If you have trouble finding drivers for machine that is barely an year old, then there is nothing to say

goldman60 · #24 Post by **goldman60** » Mon May 28, 2007 12:09 am

My old T30survived 6 years of abuse, multiple falls, and it racked up over 10 thousand miles on plane without any protective case before it finally gave out. Further testament to how well thinkpads are designed.

SkiBunny · #25 Post by **SkiBunny** » Mon May 28, 2007 12:11 am

goldman60 wrote:My old T30survived 6 years of abuse, multiple falls, and it racked up over 10 thousand miles on plane without any protective case before it finally gave out. Further testament to how well thinkpads are designed.

Yep I've been using them for about 15 yrs, but in the last 2-3 years I've had a lot of failures. Before that I never had any.
And my last T60 arrived dead in the box.

Thinkpad takes a dive, comes out nearly unscathed

Thinkpad takes a dive, comes out nearly unscathed

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