chassis bad fit?

[MartinB]

Hello,

The chassis (or case) seems to have a slightly bad fit on my T42. It is regarding the chassis area surrounding the "arrows" on the keyboard. If I push on the chassis left to keyboard arrows (more specifically the corner where the chassis meets the keyboard) it bounces a bit, nothing serious, but just enough to make a small clicking noise. It is not an irritating problem during normal use, I just want to know if this is regarded as an "acceptable" tolerance in the chassis design? Does your T42s have this issue?

[losmeme]

Martin,

I have experienced the exact same thing I think you are describing on several different models of ThinkPads, going all the way back to the 570!

I feel that if the palm rest is moving slightly, and making a slight clicking noise, that is perfectly acceptable. The case has to "give" a little in certain areas in order not to break under normal usage.

I have also experienced the keyboard not seating completely in that same area, resulting in the keys moving as you depress them. I took the keyboard out, and realized that that corner was a little bent, and not exactly flat on a table. I very carefully bent it back into a flat shape, installed it, and the problem went away.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Losmeme

[MartinB]

Martin,

I have also experienced the keyboard not seating completely in that same area, resulting in the keys moving as you depress them.
Losmeme

Hmmm, I think I have the same issue as well. The keyboard sounds different when pressing the keys on the right hand side of the keyboard. The arrow keys are especially noisy, making loud clicking noises. Perhaps this is due to the improper seating of the keyboard in the right side? Or is this a faulty keyboard?

I talked to IBM customer service regarding this problem, but they will not do anything about it as long as the keyboard is not faulty (I guess this means "as long as the keyboard works"....) Instead they see the problem as my expectations being too high regarding the sounds from the keyboard But my old T22 did not have this issue, I guess the quality of the keyboards have just been lowered since then?

Martin