Case wear issues on a T40

[sfaoldun]

Hi all!
Recently got a T40 to go with my X21 and one of the first things I noticed was that there is a crack (large enough to push itself about 1mm out on one side) under the touchpad's LMB and RMB, right at the edge of the wrist-rest. There is also another hairline fracture just to the right of the touchpad - is this normal in a T40 with original parts? It's a 2373-75G iirc, I'm not sure how old it would be. I'm looking at a replacement wrist rest from eBay at the moment though, but I'm not sure whether this is normal wear and tear that I should expect or something else ...

I suppose it's worth mentioning that my X21 is in top condition, even after a few knocks. Kinda shocked at the difference in build quality so far.

Thanks all!

[richk]

There is a spot below the touchpads that sometimes cracks if the touchpad is removed by someone "less experienced". Often, when it is cracked there, the touchpad buttons don't work quite right. That isn't normal wear. Somebody broke it.

[Chris001]

I'm looking at a replacement wrist rest from eBay at the moment though, but I'm not sure whether this is normal wear and tear that I should expect or something else .

I've seen it happen to quite a few T41 (2373 series) laptops. I consider it normal wear and tear. IBM knows about it and issued a service bulliten about it.

Chris

[fkelly]

I had that same hairline crack on my T40. After I had purchased it, I was changing the wireless card and discovered this crack. I realized that whoever tried to remove the palmrest before me didn't remove all the screws and pulled up to much, thus cracking it there.

Later when the motherboard needed to be replaced the IBM tech ordered me another one. Not sure how much they cost but while it was broken it never was a hindrance.