MacArthur Park, or Why I bought a ThinkPad

[tbdbitl]

You know the song MacArthur Park, which contains the line "Some left a cake out in the rain...." last Sunday I found out what happens when you leave a Thinkpad out in the rain.

I was sitting on my deck in the mid-afternoon, using my T-420, and waiting for my wife to get ready for our departure to a local casino, not to gamble, but to take in a WNBA game. As the time approached, I put the T-420 in hibernation, sat it on a bench, and took a minute to cover up the deck furniture. We then left for the game. While at the game, a summer storm passed through - not sure how much or for how long, but there was definitely a lot of wind and rain. I came home to find small branches broken, and there on the bench where I left it was the T-420 - water on the closed lid, and all around it. I immediately turned it over, and removed the battery, then took it inside to dry it off. Following some tips I had seen on the local news about electronics on the beach, I opened the top, dried off what water was on the keyboard, then removed the DVD drive, and 2 access panels, one from the bottom center, and one from the left side. I then placed the laptop, battery, and DVD drive on a bed of minute rice spread on a tray, and sealed the whole thing as best I could with Press and Seal to make the whole thing as air tight as possible - not completely, but reasonable, I hoped. My wife, bless her heart, was not optimistic.

This afternoon - 48 hours later - I unwrapped it, replaced the covers, the DVD drive, and then the battery, and then turned it on. It came right out of hibernation without any indication that it had been through anything unusual, let alone having been left out in a rain storm. I am using it to post this. Needless to say I am very happy about all of this - I have seen the You-tube videos of water being poured into the keyboard, but I was still concerned about water splashing into open ports, especially the "always on" USB port.

Has anyone else had this type of experience?

Many thanks to the Lenovo designers and engineers!

[wolfman]

Amazing and thanks for sharing. It definitely is one of those things you try and convey to folks who ask why they should pay a little more for a Thinkpad - and something I think we all hope won't change over time - the engineering quality.

[dr_st]

This story doesn't really say much about the engineering quality of a Thinkpad.

If anything, it says a lot about the skills and patience of tbdbitl who went through the proper and careful procedure of drying soaked hardware.

99% of electronics which get wet when they are off will be just fine if you dry them properly before trying to use them.

[tbdbitl]

Update -

The machine worked fine for about an hour or two, then I heard chirping noises - at first on an irregular basis, but then it got more regular, and then a blue screen of death - sure enough - the hard drive apparently has a vent or two that accumulated some water. Even though it was dry, the residuals left by the water was enough to cause a head crash - doesn't take much to cause one.

So a new drive is on order.....

[agarza]

A shame on the drive, but the damage limitation was there, good you put the parts on rice, I've never had a disaster with my Thinkpad and knock on wood.

As a matter of fact I'm waiting to get a T420, can't wait to start using it.