Thinkpads Forum

I have the X60s L2500. You'd think that they've fixed the heat problems by now but no. they just want to sell these babies.

For Atheros users, I'm wondering if the left side of the X60 palm rest heat up to the point where it's uncomfortable to type.

Right:sometimes...left:never

The heat on the right side is nearly unbearable.
Vista and the preload are so bad I'm having fits. I am thinking of telling Lenovo to send me XP or take it back.

Try reformating the hard drive and do a clean install XP (or Vista) and forget about the lenovo software junk - pardon my langauge.

With a clean vista install, the number of processes running on my X60s after boot went from 90s to 50 (there abouts) and my machine feels much faster now.

On the heat issue...the right side palm rest always run hot.

Does this heat problem occur even with undervolting?

smvp6459 wrote:Right:sometimes...left:never

I agree.

gator wrote:Does this heat problem occur even with undervolting?

First, you can't "undervolt" the processor - there's a floor set in the BIOS that isn't user changeable. However, if you set the processor to the lowest usage level or change voltage settings for 7x 8x 9x and 10x levels (in NHC), the right palm rest remains warm. The reason it is warm is that the wireless card is directly below it; in addition, the harddrive is on the right side of the machine but more towards the screen. The CPU is on the left side and starts at the screen.

I just bought my ThinkPad X60s two weeks ago. I looked up some reviews on the web before I decided to buy this model, and although all of them were very enthusiastic, none of them mentioned the heat problem which is a major disadvantage. I am now quite angry about the heat under the right palm and it might be very well my first and last ThinkPad ever.

I followed the other posts on this forum and changed mobility and transmission settings of the Intel WiFi card to the lowest. As I am connecting with the Internet via WLAN only I cannot keep the card switched off when I am using the computer.

Can a replacing an Intel card with other one like Atheros really reduce the heat under a right palm? Is there any plausible solution at all to this problem ?

Regards,

Michal

Boberro wrote:
Can a replacing an Intel card with other one like Atheros really reduce the heat under a right palm? Is there any plausible solution at all to this problem ?

My x60s gets hot sometimes on the right-hand side of the palm rest even without using the WLAN card (i.e., switched off)....

Boberro wrote:Can a replacing an Intel card with other one like Atheros really reduce the heat under a right palm?

I found that the Intel card is a little cooler than the Atheros card.

Boberro wrote:Is there any plausible solution at all to this problem ?

You might consider removing the internal WiFi card and using a PCMCIA wireless card.

Has anyone tried removing the internal wifi card and using a common PCMCIA wifi card instead?

And if so... did it remedy the problem (no wifi, no Verizon cards under the right wrist pad)?

not to threadjack, but besides the right side of the palm rest becomig hot, does your a/c adapter become unbearably hot as well?

after 30 mins of charging, i can't hold my a/c adapter longer than 10 secs without feeling burn pains.

The hot right palmrest issue, which I documented on my first X60

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... t+palmrest

is a real issue in this laptop. Lenovo replaced the first one for me, and the second one is a bit better but still the right palmrest becomes obnoxiously hot when using the laptop connected via WiFi.

At home, I always use it with WiFi, but on a recent month long trip, mostly in France, I had occasion to use the laptop about 10 days on wired ethernet connections. When used with a wired ethernet connection, the right palmrest is WAY cooler, although it is not as cool as the right palmrest in my X32.

The heat in the X60 right palmrest is a near-fatal flaw. For the sorts of things I do most of the time, which are not particularly processor intensive, I'd honestly rather use my X32.

This is not to say that the X60 isn't a nice laptop and that it does not have some advantages over the X31/X32 that it replaced (the X4x series was more of a detour in the road, on account of its anemic 1.8" 4200rpm hard drive). In some ways, the X60 is superior. But joy of usage (unless you have a denervated right hand) or use it with a mouse all the time -- is not one of them.

Although using a separate mouse does help a lot with this hot palmrest issue, it doesn't help much if you are typing, or at least if you are touch typing. In that circumstance, your right palm is in constant contact with the palmrest, and you will then experience the X60 at its WORST.

i've been using a usb wifi lan.

berlin wrote:i've been using a usb wifi lan.

Are you saying that it doesn't get hot using a usb wifi adapter? As I had mentioned in a previous post (as did Ken Fox), the x60 gets hot even when the internal wifi card is not in use. I can have my atheros card switched off, and the righthand-side palm rest still gets toasty warm (while the lefthand-side is cool)...

efrant wrote:

berlin wrote:i've been using a usb wifi lan.

Are you saying that it doesn't get hot using a usb wifi adapter? As I had mentioned in a previous post (as did Ken Fox), the x60 gets hot even when the internal wifi card is not in use. I can have my atheros card switched off, and the righthand-side palm rest still gets toasty warm (while the lefthand-side is cool)...

When disabled through the switch, mine does NOT get hot.

It appears that Lenovo has not solved the heat problem - that the right palmrest gets uncomfortably hot when using wifi for a while and may or not get hot when not using wifi - seems to vary by individual?

I may be better off keeping my x31 for a while.

I do not think there is any way fix this heat issue it is just a bad design. I switch to there Z61t its little bigger but no heat issue.

I guess they did not think about putting the wireless card under the palm rest when there were designing it

Maybe a new X61 will fix this issue. Sucks for all the X60 owners....

some have complained that even turning off the switch will not take care of the heat.

i have a friend that did the following.

removed the internal wireless card

bought this
http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/deta ... 3CRPAG175B

for me, this would be the only solution. as usb devices need to be plugged in on use and pulled/stowed away when traveling.

with the 3com card, all you have to do is push the antenna in and you're good to go...

it's money that a user shouldn't have to spend but there is no viable solution to the heat problem...

jkahng wrote: i have a friend that did the following.

removed the internal wireless card

bought this
http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/deta ... 3CRPAG175B

How was your friend's experience with this particular card?

he likes it very much...
this is very popular for the S30 (which is very popular here in korea...)