Thinkpads Forum

When the screen of my X60 tablet is latched closed, it can still move left and right just a little bit, maybe a few millimeters. Is this normal?
When I look down the slot where the latch goes into, it looks like that there is supposed to be a vertical piece which would mate with a slit on the latch. I suspect this piece has broken off on my machine, but without anything to compare to, there's no way to tell.
Could someone take a few macro photos looking into the latch slot?

Thanks in advance.

I have the same issue in both my X41T and X60T, it never bothered me too much, but now I'm curious if my latch slots are both broken as well. I can try to take some pictures over the weekend...

Evidently it is normal and probably has to do with allowing the LCD latch to slide easily into place when in laptop mode as well as tablet mode. There must be some Lenovo white papers somewhere which discuss this aspect of the latch design. I think it must be an inherent part of the design because four x41 Tablets, one x60 Tablet, and one x61 Tablet I checked all have the same "issue." The front of the LCD will slide just a couple of millimeters from left to right or vice versa when the latch is securely closed. This also holds true when the screen is locked into position in Tablet mode. Just a few millimeters, no more... so I think it's part of the design.

Once the latch itself is intact and locks securely I think you're in business. I have found many x60/x61 Tablets which have a missing latch as I'm sure you have also. I have only once found an x60T which had a slight crack in the palmrest area of the slot where the latch inserts and as a result the latch seemed to slip loose sometimes when locked into place. But I think that's very rare. Once the latch is there it usually locks securely into place. The slight swivel from side to side seems to be part of the design we will have to live with.

twistero wrote:When I look down the slot where the latch goes into, it looks like that there is supposed to be a vertical piece which would mate with a slit on the latch.

If you are referring to the single "slit" which is in the middle of the latch on the side closest/visible when closing the lid I think that is just a mechanism used for smoothly guiding the latch from one side of its housing to the other, and is not part of the mechanism used to lock the LCD to the palmrest. All of the locking mechanisms seem to be on the other side of the latch.

Daniel.

Good to hear I'm not alone with this "issue". Maybe it is normal after all, but the OCD part in me will probably still be annoyed...

Thinkpad Lover wrote: If you are referring to the single "slit" which is in the middle of the latch on the side closest/visible when closing the lid I think that is just a mechanism used for smoothly guiding the latch from one side of its housing to the other, and is not part of the mechanism used to lock the LCD to the palmrest. All of the locking mechanisms seem to be on the other side of the latch.

Actually, no, I'm talking about the slit on the other side of the latch, i.e. nearest to the screen. The opening of the slit is ~ 3mm wide, and it narrows down to ~ 1mm. In the hole on the palm rest, there seems to be a vertical "wall" (which is actually part of the bottom cover) that will slide into this slit when screen is closed.