X61s build quality issues

[Dominican]

Hey guys, just thought I'd post this on here to maybe get some feedback from you guys. I'll start off with some background info then go into explaining the issue.

skip this paragraph if you want no back story =)

My first thinkpad was an X40, and boy did I love it. I couldn't think of a better laptop than that. Since it was a school loaner (computing services manager), I bought a T60 14.1 inch, and wow, another great product. My main purpose for these machines are travel, since I have a powerhouse at home. The X40 faired perfectly in my bag. It was even dropped by PO, evident from the dent on the lid and the exposed magnesium alloy. It was a tank. I then bought a T60 on the premise of it being a tank. For the most part, I was right, but since I travel daily into new york city, it got stressed, and the plastic right next to the battery started to crack. Fine, I sold it to one of my friends, and since I wanted something lighter with a brighter screen, I went with the X61s, with everything except wwan. It took forever to get here, so I bought another tank, the X30, and used that on my commute for about a month, awesome, no signs of stress, even after all these years. After my X61s arrives, I give the X30 to the girlfriend for school use and start my adventures...



The X61s I ordered had the 8-cell battery, wireless N + BT, Ultra light (and bright!) screen, 2gigs of ram, L7500 CPU, and fingerprint reader, no wwan. It's been fine except for the problem of wireless connectivity sometimes being shoddy, requiring an IP reset (probably due to terrible intel N drivers) it was great, and I loved it. That is, until last weekI discovered one of the lid locks, the left one, gone, and the bezel right above it bent out of shape. The bag I use and always used since the T60 is the leather attache case, the one with blue suede inside (aka the most expensive leather bag available) with all of the padding in. On top of that, I put a patch of foam inside with it, just for extra padding. Although I can agree that my laptop gets very heavy use (I drain all 9-10 hours of battery life every day), it should be up to the wear and tear of everyday travel and heavy usage at least for a year, maybe 2?

I've only had the laptop since the middle of September, and find it quite annoying to see this happening, because if this can't hold to the normal wears and tears of usage for a few years, then no laptop fits my wanting (tough books are way too heavy). I don't care for looks, if keys get shiny and tiny, unobtrusive cracks develop over time, I'm fine with that. But to have a T60 crack in such a way where I could see inside and to have the LCD bezel be bent and lid lock be broken on an X61s is just not up to my standards.

just for reference, the reason I got into thinkpads was durability after seeing how good the X40 was. I've also carried a dell 5150 back and forth, a sony viao TX series, thinkpad X30, t41, apple macbook pro, and a 13.3 inch screen toshiba. all got the same treatment for different amounts of times, all came out well.

End of rant, sorry for those who braved the longer read. I expect a lot from my products, especially when I pay premium for them, and get less than optimal results. anyone have any suggestions, I have a feeling easyserve is going to laugh and then charge me for the lcd bezel and left lid lock.

::sigh::

--Elias

[iamdmc]

Sorry to hear about your X61s.

How did the lid lock come off? Have you ever dropped it, or has it been mistreated (maybe by a girlfriend - they're synonymous with broken things)

There have been reported problems with bezel separation, but only on the X61T model.

I'd say get it repaired under warranty.

Myself, I find the built quality to be excellent. I've owned quite a few thinkpads, and Lenovo has been doing a great job with the Thinkpad line, in my opinion (hardware-wise, not software-wise). I couldn't be happier with the laptop.

Good luck with your Thinkpad.

[Dominican]

The laptop has never been dropped, abused, and the girlfriend hasn't been allowed to touch it. Also, just to be clear, I also think Lenovo has been doing a great job at making these laptops, I just think that there are a few design flaws in them, as there were when IBM made them also.

The only thing I can think of is that I constantly put my bag on the floor of the trains. The thing that bothers me is that I've always done that with every laptop, no issues. The laptop itself is in its own compartment, but there are books in the other compartments, making it for a tight fit, but again, this has always been the case.


annyone else experience any of the same problems?


--Elias

[apbudha]

Sorry to hear about your X61s.

I'd say get it repaired under warranty.

Good luck with your Thinkpad.

I second the motion. By the way whenever I needed my x31 fixed I opted to get it fixed at a local place that is certified to work on these systems, as opposed to sending it out to Lenovo. That way you don't have to worry about it getting rejected for misuse. Those guys just bill Lenovo.

In one case, I spilled tea directly into the keyboard, and it stopped turning on despite efforts to dry it out before testing it. I was so worried the repair guy would figure it out, but they didn't care and simply fixed it by replacing the motherboard. I know for a fact Lenovo has specific tests where they can discover "spill-damage".

[Dominican]

how would I be able to find one of those repair centers?

[apbudha]

how would I be able to find one of those repair centers?

what is the expression? "let your fingers do the walking" I would grep for authorized warranty service provider AND lenovo AND thinkpad ....

oh here's something:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44986

[Dominican]

very nice, thank you for your help.


--Elias