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Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
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kfzhu1229
- Senior ThinkPadder

- Posts: 2659
- Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
- Location: Toronto, Canada
Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
Today I saw someone having a harder than expected time with repairing a Thinkpad E590 that's barely a few years old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IXAqExcsi4&t=2124s
Is this normal kind of quality that one should expect from a ThinkPad E series? If so this is quite disappointing in my opinion.
I can't comment on the charging port, but the fact that the daughter board connector didn't even have its stress relief soldered in place is just rather disappointing for a ThinkPad.
Also, if you look at the internals of that ThinkPad, there is no metal support to be seen whatsoever. In fact the internals resembles closer to a Lenovo Ideapad instead of a ThinkPad T5xx series! This stuff is gonna lose screw threads with a few years of use!
This is unlike the T580 for example whose internals is absolutely filled with PCB, and visible magnesium midframe support on the inside. Now that's the ThinkPad kind of quality I come to expect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IXAqExcsi4&t=2124s
Is this normal kind of quality that one should expect from a ThinkPad E series? If so this is quite disappointing in my opinion.
I can't comment on the charging port, but the fact that the daughter board connector didn't even have its stress relief soldered in place is just rather disappointing for a ThinkPad.
Also, if you look at the internals of that ThinkPad, there is no metal support to be seen whatsoever. In fact the internals resembles closer to a Lenovo Ideapad instead of a ThinkPad T5xx series! This stuff is gonna lose screw threads with a few years of use!
This is unlike the T580 for example whose internals is absolutely filled with PCB, and visible magnesium midframe support on the inside. Now that's the ThinkPad kind of quality I come to expect.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)
Re: Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
E-Series is not like the T, X, or other flagship Series in quality or features (although differentiating features of the ThinkPad continue to dissappear, it's really just the TrackPoint at this point, everything else is standard (backlit keyboard and whatnot). And it has some questionable compromises built in such as limited hinge angles. So it has a TrackPoint but not the quality of the T-Series or other flagship models. The trade-off is you can get a brand new E-Series ThinkPad with a modern chipset at a lower price than the premier models.
sent from my iPhone
Registry Tweak To Enable 2 Finger Scroll On Old Synaptics Touchpads
Registry Tweak To Enable 2 Finger Scroll On Old Synaptics Touchpads
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RealBlackStuff
- Admin Emeritus
- Posts: 24727
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
My wife used an E-machine E-Series laptop when she still had her own shop, to do bookkeeping etc. on it.
She actually liked it, because it had the numeric keypad as well.
It was an E530 Type 3259-78U, which came with i3-2350M and 15.6" HD screen (1366x768).
I upgraded the CPU to i5-3340M, which improved the GPU from HD3000 to HD4000.
That machine has held up remarkably well, the only thing I ever needed to replace was the keyboard.
Shortly after however, she sold the shop and retired.
For home-use she also had an X230 and a desktop-PC, so her E530 was 'retired' as well.
When we moved from USA back to Ireland, we sold the desktop but kept the E530.
It is still in great form and would work well for people who need to work/school from home.
If anyone is interested, let me know.
She actually liked it, because it had the numeric keypad as well.
It was an E530 Type 3259-78U, which came with i3-2350M and 15.6" HD screen (1366x768).
I upgraded the CPU to i5-3340M, which improved the GPU from HD3000 to HD4000.
That machine has held up remarkably well, the only thing I ever needed to replace was the keyboard.
Shortly after however, she sold the shop and retired.
For home-use she also had an X230 and a desktop-PC, so her E530 was 'retired' as well.
When we moved from USA back to Ireland, we sold the desktop but kept the E530.
It is still in great form and would work well for people who need to work/school from home.
If anyone is interested, let me know.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
But I actually prefer Murphy's from Cork!
But I actually prefer Murphy's from Cork!
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kfzhu1229
- Senior ThinkPadder

- Posts: 2659
- Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:59 pm
- Location: Toronto, Canada
Re: Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
By E-machine, you mean ThinkPad E series or the el cheapo e-machines back in the early 2000s?RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 03, 2020 3:58 amMy wife used an E-machine when she still had her own shop, to do bookkeeping etc. on it.
Dell Lat CP MMX-233 64mb 40gb W2k
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)
600 PII-266 416mb 40gb WXP
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
Precision M4300 X9000 8gb 160gb WUXGA Ultrasharp fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10 (Sharp)
Lat C840 P4-2.5 2gb 60gb W7 (Ultrasharp)
-
RealBlackStuff
- Admin Emeritus
- Posts: 24727
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
- Location: Loch Garman, Éire
Re: Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
Oops!
Corrected it.
Corrected it.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
But I actually prefer Murphy's from Cork!
But I actually prefer Murphy's from Cork!
-
cadillacmike68
- ThinkPadder

- Posts: 1494
- Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 9:19 pm
- Location: Florida
Re: Is this normal quality for a ThinkPad E series?
kfzhu1229 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 03, 2020 9:59 amBy E-machine, you mean ThinkPad E series or the el cheapo e-machines back in the early 2000s?RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 03, 2020 3:58 amMy wife used an E-machine when she still had her own shop, to do bookkeeping etc. on it.![]()
Hey, I have an old e-machines mini desktop. Never use it.
600 600X
760LD FUBARd
T21 2647 T22 2647 1@ 1GHz SXGA+ 4 more; T23 2647 1@ 1.2GHz SXGA+ 3 more
T30 2366-88U 2GHz; 2366-83U 1.8G; 5@ 2366-LU0/66U; 2367-KU6 FUBARd
T41 T42 T43
T60 T61 8897 2.4GHz SXGA+; 8898 2.4Ghz; 6463 2@ WSXGA+; 7658 2.5GHz; T61p; 6 more T61s
T500 2
T530 W530
760LD FUBARd
T21 2647 T22 2647 1@ 1GHz SXGA+ 4 more; T23 2647 1@ 1.2GHz SXGA+ 3 more
T30 2366-88U 2GHz; 2366-83U 1.8G; 5@ 2366-LU0/66U; 2367-KU6 FUBARd
T41 T42 T43
T60 T61 8897 2.4GHz SXGA+; 8898 2.4Ghz; 6463 2@ WSXGA+; 7658 2.5GHz; T61p; 6 more T61s
T500 2
T530 W530
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