Spill protection and battery life questions...

[simms]

I have read elsewhere in the past from other sites that Thinkpads feature a system that prevents spills from harming your laptop. It would have holes or some form of protection that would allow the liquid to clear out. Ive searched on the forum and there is really no proof either way, so if someone can point me in the right direction...

Found this.. http://www.moneysense.ca/spending/credi ... ent=986628

If you happen to have an IBM ThinkPad released since April 1999, note that the keyboard is water-resistant. That includes the T, A and X series as well as the newer R series mobile computers. But the I-series ThinkPads do not have this rubber-ducky-like quality.

If you spill water or other liquids on the keyboard, you can remove it by unthreading a couple of screws on the underside of the unit. (There are instructions on how to do this in the ThinkPad's manual.) The keyboard can then be dried off.

If you spill coffee, cola or some other sweetened liquid, you can rinse it off under running water. An IBM spokesperson said the computers can withstand up to 1.5 fl. oz of spilled liquid thanks to a rubber seal around the keyboard.

The second situation was just found when I was trying to solve the first one.
Lenovo states here: http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... K-3X4GSR#4

that you should only charge when the battery is fully discharged. I thought you should NEVER let it fully discharge with Li-ion batteries. It also says to power cycle 3 times at first, and to only use your Thinkpad after it is fully charged.

What is the right answer?

[K. Eng]

There IS a spill protection system on the T4x. If you look at your keyboard, between the left ALT and SPACE key, you will see a tiny gap in the tray that makes up the keyboard base. This gap allows liquid to pour down a drain hole built into the palm rest. Liquid exits out the drain on the bottom of the ThinkPad.

This should prevent minor spills from getting inside the system, but I wouldn't try pouring water on the keyboard

The Z60t series ThinkPad has two such drainage ports.