What's with the sharp-edged T500 palmrest?
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:18 pm
I've had my T500 for a week, and really like it. The LED backlit screen is so much brighter and easier to work with (than the T60 screen). I'm running with 6 GB of RAM, a 500 GB Momentus 7200.4 HDD, and 64 bit Vista Ultimate. This laptop really moves.
I have also been pleasantly surprised with program compatibility. Just about every program that I own runs fine on the 64 bit Vista system. I was expecting more difficulties along those lines.
My only complaint is the palmrest. Unlike the T60 palmrest, the one on the T500 has a sharply defined front and right side edge. I find this to be very annoying. I am continually scraping my palm against those sharp edges. I think that it also gives the palmrest (and the whole laptop) a cheaper feel.
Perhaps I just have a "Monday-morning" palm rest. I'd be interested in hearing whether others have noticed a similar problem on their T500s.
I finally took off the plamrest to see if I could repair the situation. My "tools" were a piece of fine grade sand paper and a bit of fine steel wool. I stroked the edge of the palmrest at a 45 degree angle lightly with the sand paper. The emphasis here is LIGHTLY. It does not take much pressure at all to sand off that sharp edge. I couple of light strokes is all that you need.
I then buffed it lightly with steel wool. The result was very satisfying. The palmrest now feels like the palmrest from my T60.
If you plan to "try this at home" be be sure to remove the palmrest before doing this. Otherwise you may get plastic "dust" under your keyboard.
Regards,
FRANK
I have also been pleasantly surprised with program compatibility. Just about every program that I own runs fine on the 64 bit Vista system. I was expecting more difficulties along those lines.
My only complaint is the palmrest. Unlike the T60 palmrest, the one on the T500 has a sharply defined front and right side edge. I find this to be very annoying. I am continually scraping my palm against those sharp edges. I think that it also gives the palmrest (and the whole laptop) a cheaper feel.
Perhaps I just have a "Monday-morning" palm rest. I'd be interested in hearing whether others have noticed a similar problem on their T500s.
I finally took off the plamrest to see if I could repair the situation. My "tools" were a piece of fine grade sand paper and a bit of fine steel wool. I stroked the edge of the palmrest at a 45 degree angle lightly with the sand paper. The emphasis here is LIGHTLY. It does not take much pressure at all to sand off that sharp edge. I couple of light strokes is all that you need.
I then buffed it lightly with steel wool. The result was very satisfying. The palmrest now feels like the palmrest from my T60.
If you plan to "try this at home" be be sure to remove the palmrest before doing this. Otherwise you may get plastic "dust" under your keyboard.
Regards,
FRANK
Nice-speced machine btw... 
