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My refurbished ThinkPad (L390 Yoga) came with wrong rubber feet (too thick) not allowing it to turn into tablet mode. (i.imgur.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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They clearly show wear.
I am not sure if they were replaced from another older device, or the entire cover is from L390, but that one would have a plastic cover for where this one has a stylus. It doesn't seem like anything was snapped out of there.

I couldn't find replacement ones online, and I am not sure if contacting the shop is a good idea. See, the L390 Yoga has a touchscreen with better colors and seems to be a bit more expensive (but not much).
However, I bought this as "L390". I noticed the description said "Touchscreen: yes", which I realized meant they likely mistook the Yoga version for the base version. Indeed, that is the case.
Currently they have one L390 Yoga in similar condition and same configuration, but the screen has some white spots (this one is flawless), ...and it's €46 more expensive.

If you're curious, i5 8365U, 16GB RAM (single-channel), used 256GB Samsung SSD (I don't remember if SATA or NVME), €180 and 2 year warranty.

Also, if you're wondering what that port with network symbol is, it appears to be a proprietary connector used on ThinkPads requiring an "Ethernet Extension" adapter to be usable.

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[-] [email protected] 58 points 1 week ago

Exacto knife and carefully slice them down?

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

The correct answer.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Could also use a double-ended safety razor and shave it down, if you really want to try to pull just enough off.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

And then cut the garlic to make red sauce.

[-] [email protected] 50 points 1 week ago

Well, return it. While being refurbished, it doesn't necessarily need to be in perfect shape, it still needs to work as it would when you buy it originally.

[-] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago

Return it and get your money back or have them send you the correct feet. This is unacceptable

[-] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I have an L390 Yoga (i7) and these feet are indeed way too large.

The device is painful to use even with the correct feet, though - at least if you're using Windows. It's constantly overheating, because the cooling system is just reused from the L380 and can't handle the heat of my i7 8565U processor. But hey - at least the marketing people were able to put "4.6GHz" into the specs.

I have to undervolt the CPU to make it run cool and prevent thermal throttling, which is not possible anymore if you're running a current Windows version.

That thing is probably the last Thinkpad I've ever bought, to be honest.

Also, if you’re wondering what that port with network symbol is, it appears to be a proprietary connector used on ThinkPads requiring an “Ethernet Extension” adapter to be usable.

Yup, the port is called "MicroLAN" and the adapter was 30-50€ back when the device was new. It's of poor quality (the rubber of the cable on mine is turning into a sticky mess) and entirely passive.

Lenovo must've looked at Apple's accessory profits and thought they wanted to make money off of crap, too.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's of poor quality (the rubber of the cable on mine is turning into a sticky mess) and entirely passive.

Maybe ten years back, a whole ton of consumer electronics were made with some rubberized coating which felt great when new, but over the course of several years, degraded into an incredibly sticky mess.

I had a Grundig shortwave radio covered in the stuff. A couple of other gadgets.

Eventually, after I went to a lot of work with different substances, I discovered that isopropyl alcohol and some elbow grease could get it off. Didn't look or feel great anymore -- just plasticky, no rubberization -- but it was a lot better than being sticky. But if this is the same stuff and it's just a cable, I'd probably just replace the cable.

EDIT: Probably the same stuff as here:

https://old.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/6fznfp/cant_companies_stop_using_coatings_that_make/

The main reason why this happens is the "soft touch", rubbery coating that gets put on plastics is a substance called "TPE".

TPEs are popular for this sort of thing because they're quite cheap to apply, look and feel good and quite importantly compared to genuine rubber coatings, don't smell bad.

The problem with TPEs is that they experience a chemical reaction when exposed to oils which causes them to degrade into a goopy-sticky mess.

The way to avoid this happening prematurely is to ensure that your hands are clean when using your mouse/headset etc., both bodily oils and environmental (food etc.) oils can and do affect the TPE.

It still happens after some time: I bought a rangefinder in a sealed plastic box at a fleemarket and it was somewhat sticky. It was the kind of welded box that needs scissors to open it and it was manufactured only a decade ago.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

As somewhat of a retro '90's-2000's electronics collecting nerd, this stuff is the bane of my existence.

It seems like in the early 2000's there were only three types of finishes applied to electronics products:

TPE "soft touch" coatings that turn into snot after a few years (many game console controllers, binoculars and other optics, some portable tape/CD players, etc.)
Crappy metallized silver paint that starts flaking off immediately (basically every digital camera ever made from 1999-2006, and quite a few computer input devices)
White or Bondi Blue plastic under a clear acrylic layer trying to ape an early iMac or iPod, which gets dirt trapped between the layers and then turns yellow (the Nintendo 3DS Lite, innumerable computer mice, USB hubs, and knockoff MP3 players)

You just can't win.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Crappy metallized silver paint that starts flaking off immediately (basically every digital camera ever made from 1999-2006

Oh, man, yeah, I'd forgotten about that. Had (have?) a camera with that.

White or Bondi Blue plastic under a clear acrylic layer trying to ape an early iMac or iPod

Hah, I avoided those. I think I had one translucent device at one point.

That being said, from the 1970s and 1980s, you had all those light beige things that yellowed. It wasn't the worst kind of aging, and it was treatable, but there were so many items whose age was visible...most of those later trends weren't as universal across items.

https://www.henningludvigsen.com/index.php/2020/06/03/sun-fading-old-yellowed-plastic/

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Hmmm, did you get it new?
I've checked a review of this laptop and it had correct ones:

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Yes I bought it ~3 years ago directly from Lenovo and the rubber feet look just like the ones in that photo.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

It looks like the feet are on the opposite side of the hinge in this photo and on the same side as them in your photo?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

There are feet both on the side next to the hinge and on the side opposite the hinge in the photo. Like, one one each corner of the underside of the laptop.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

You can buy them online for a few bucks

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

you should be able to cut them down to the right size

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

My guess: the person who returned it put those on.

this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024

188 points (97.5% liked)

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