From: Shawn R. Lin (slin01_at_mail.orion.org)
Date: Thu Aug 03 2000 - 15:06:13 EDT
John Goodman wrote:
>
> I'd really like to know what's going on with these reactions.
> How can plated plastic acquire a durable flat-black finish just
> by skin contact? What I hope is that newer models have a far
> more durable "finish", or are much more resistant to this kind
> of trouble. Is this the case? I don't mind matte plastic finishes
> being burnished to glossy by usage over time, like my TP space-
> bar where my thumb touches. But graceful aging is important
> for expensive machinery, is it not? At least the letters on the
> keys have yet to wear away.
I've seen this before, but usually on other brands of laptops.
I think your 600 is made of black plastic which has an outer aluminum
plating for shielding purposes. It is then painted black. I deal with
older 3-4 year old ThinkPads and it seems like in the "old days" IBM did
have a more durable finish. Older ThinkPads like my 560X and 760's
usually use metal shields inside the case so that the outer case is just
molded in black plastic without any aluminum plating. The 760's I've
had have had a rubbery coating right on the black plastic. My 560X is
nothing but black plastic that was molded in color and unpainted. Only
reason I can think of that the 600 might have that aluminum plating on
the exterior is that IBM thought they could reduce the size of the
laptop by using plated shielding instead of metal shielding.
My friend has an old 386SX laptop that has a similar problem - the paint
doesn't adhere well to the plating, so it is peeling away in spots.
After that, you're just wearing through the plating to the black plastic
underneath. That's somewhat disappointing to hear though. I was
thinking of going from my 560X to a 600, but it sounds to me like IBM
has cheapened up a bit on their exterior casing.
Shawn
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