Thinkpads Forum

Recently I acquired a X60 with bad motherboard and cracking case. The crack is on the palmrest bezel near the heatsink vent area(the left rear side) and the same area on the bottom casing. During the process of replacing the motherboard I removed the palmrest and realized how fragile they designed the case. Even without the crack, the upper and bottom case actually receive lots of stress (especially the left side) every time when the screen is opened. Whoever designed the case must have lots of confidence in the plastic. They did a nice job securing the LCD metal hinge to the bottom case(by two screws on each hinge) and they really did a nice job on securing the LCD cable(with two screws) so it won't have the LCD cable problem like the old 240 did. However I really dislike the bottom case design around the left LCD hinge. I mean if the case material is metal/alloy than it's fine but with plastic, the laptop really can't take frequent screen open-close.

I called the EZserv and the guy said the cracking on the case is not covered with the standard 3-yr warranty so I guess this problem is not big enough to become a recall yet.

The structural integrity of the entire machine is intact when everything is screwed together. All the parts work together to accomplish this, including the palm rest bezel. If you remove a palm rest or keyboard, it is VERY important not to flex the system board too much by twisting the frame, or by moving the LCD back and forth. Many times the maintenance manual will warn you of this. Often it is recommended to remove the LCD prior to board removal, even though it is not in the way. I suspect this is intentional to avoid board flexing by the repairer. Some machines are more susceptible to board flex issues than others.