Thinkpads Forum

Just wanted to post my experience with the rubberised coating.

I agree that my X61 tablet has a very nice rubberised paint and out of all my laptops this one looks new despite having dropped it a couple of times, breaking the tablet screen once and with 2.1/2 years of use.

However I have noticed that if my hands are very slightly oily or greasy (from chips/fries-I guess we all love McDonalds) then the oil stains show on the coat. But that is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that these stains do not come off with a damp/wet cloth. These seem to come off only with alcohol/spirit wipes and I really don't want to use this method to avoid damaging the paint.
Light soapy solution does not seem to work well.

I wanted to ask the other forum members regarding their experience regarding the same and whether there was a gentle way of cleaning the thinkpad.

My options seem to be

1) Don't drive through McDonalds when you are using thinkpad
2) Keep soap solution/ wipes in the car for hands
3) Clean the laptops cover only once in 6 months

Another thing which worries me is that can the oil stains get absorbed in the rubberised paint coating and then never come off? (if I dont clean them immediately)

(PS- I love my thinkpad-I just share too much of my life with thinkpad )

I use rubbing alcohol all the time. Granted, I forget what the paint looks like new, but why do you think that alcohol causes damage?

tamasrepus wrote:I use rubbing alcohol all the time. Granted, I forget what the paint looks like new, but why do you think that alcohol causes damage?

I dont know whether alcohol causes damage or not.

But i always wonder

water>soap water>alcohol as far as being gentle on the paint, would be my thought.

But yes I have no idea.

Till now nothing seems to have happened to the screen atleast which i have to clean with alcohol wipes all the time. But the rubberised paint- how does it behave towards different chemicals over long time is difficult to say.

Generally on a polished surface of other laptops the oil marks come off easily with a damp cloth but on the rubberised thinkpaint any amount of gentle cleaning with a wet cloth will not get the smudges off- does that mean that it gets partially adsorbed (or absorbed) in multiple layers.

I always wonder whether if I leave the oil smudges on will it a) get absorbed in the paint b) cause the paint to deteriorate focally at that point over time.

On the other hand if I use alcohol- then whether I am doing more harm than good to the laptop over time.

(sorry for the long clarification)

try your soap and water with a microfibre cloth.