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Minor Issue with Dell M4400

post #1 of 6
7/21/09 at 9:55am
Thread Starter 
I bought this M4400 of off Outlet. It arrived a week ago. It was missing a few screws, but I purchased replacements, wanting to call in warranty service to replace screws.

Now I've noticed another thing. The keyboard palm rest (the plastic piece that sits below the keyboard and has the touchpad in the middle) does not sit flush with the laptop chassis. It is in fact buckling: it sticks up just to the left of the touchpad, and if I push down on it, it does not lock back down.

Is this a commonly occurring problem, can it be fixed easily? Obviously this does not have a big effect on my using the laptop, but, being a former Thinkpad owner, it is annoying having this sort of sub-par workmanship on what is supposed to be a business laptop
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post #2 of 6
7/21/09 at 12:28pm
I would call Dell and have it fixed under warranty

The fact it was missing screws scares me lol
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post #3 of 6
7/21/09 at 1:14pm
There is something wrong with the unit you have as my touchpad sits flush in my 4400. The lack of screws and popped up trackpad tells me the outlet model you have might have been involved in a recent unfinished repair.
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post #4 of 6
7/21/09 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 
OK, perhaps I was not clear. Yes, I realize that this is a fitment problem and hence not normal, I was just wondering if this issue was common.

It is not the touchpad that is popped up. It is a small portion of the plastic panel that forms the palmrest, at the edge, just to the left of the touchpad. It does not sit flush with the chassis. I can post a photo later.

It is minor enough that I didn't notice it for the first few days, until I closed the lid last night I heard a "pop," and noticed the bulge.

As for the screws, unrelated issue, there were 2 (or 3, depending on how you count it) screws missing: 1 screw that holds the left plastic hinge cover, 1 screw that holds the DVD player in from the bottom, and 1 screw that would hold the WPAN card in (I installed a WPAN card, thinking the screw would left in the slot, it wasn't). I am not too concerned about the screws, as the computer runs fine and is stable.
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post #5 of 6
7/23/09 at 12:18pm
The palmrest issue is not normal, it could be due to a bad assembling of an internal component of your notebook that is producing the deformation of the plastic of the palmrest, you should call to Dell service.

I have also a M4400 and I note that it does not have the screw that holds the DVD player, a screw-missing "mafia" in Dell? xD.
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post #6 of 6
7/24/09 at 4:40am
Just to put it out there I own 2x M4400 and neither exhibit this odd palmrest bulge you speak of. Its most likely a QA issue during assembly. As for the missing screws the screw on the dvd player is intentionally left out for the quick eject drive feature so you can swap out for a hard drive that fits in the bay (I own one and its usually in the bay more often than the dvd player). Typically if you do not order a dell system with all the extra goodies they will leave out the extra screws needed for the parts since you didnt order one to begin with and if you did order it from dell it would come with the screw in its own ziplock bag.
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