Recommended reading

How They Test the ThinkPad Hinge 30,000 Times

News
By published

Laptop use hinges on durability.

ThinkPads have a reputation of being the tough, durable laptops that are all business. Forget fancy or stylish, the ThinkPad lineage is all about being reliable and dependable.

Anyone who has had a loose hinge on his or her laptop can attest to the fact that it makes it very hard to use the computer. Lenovo demonstrated at the Venetian in Las Vegas how it tests the durability of its ThinkPad hinge. The hinge is designed to endure at least 30,000 opens and closures throughout its lifetime. Assuming that you own a laptop for five years, that's over 16 lifts of the laptop screen hinge per day.

It's a simple, piece of mechanical engineering, but a vital part to the computer.

See more Laptops News
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
23 Comments Comment from the forums
  • seboj
    It's kinda reassuring knowing that at least some notebook manufacturers put their products through extreme repetitive motion tests like that.
    Reply
  • scook9
    Agreed, now if we could just get Dell engineers to actually use the M17x before selling it to beta testers, I mean customers
    Reply
  • aracheb
    I always love IBM product..
    Reply
  • KBentley57
    I can verify this. I've got a thinkpad from 2001 that still works fine with all original hardware (though I've replaced XP with ubuntu.)

    The hinges on this thing are huge. It appears to be quarter inch hardened steel, and that is only the part you can see.
    Reply
  • headscratcher
    arachebI always love IBM product..Go try Lotus Notes
    Reply
  • blackwidow_rsa
    the hinge lasts way longer than that... Hardware gave out 1st (thanks to idiot users)
    Reply
  • danimal_the_animal
    LOL

    what about the g530 model....yeah the hinges last forever but the screws that hold the hinges back off over time ( a few months ) and then they pivot from within the chassis causing the video cable to go bad!!!!

    we have over 400 of these on our campus!!!

    at least they learned from their mistakes on the next model update....
    Reply
  • The G530s are not that great, but they also are not the same tier of laptop the Thinkpad is in. The G530 is consumer grade garbage similar to an Acer Aspire, HP Pavilion, or Dell Inspiron. However the Thinkpads are a more rugged laptop designed for people who are harder on them. In return they are more expensive. In the end, you get what you pay for.
    Reply
  • ProDigit10
    I thought they would open/close the lid at a rate of 100 flips per second or so...
    Reply
  • jinxlab
    Is that guy holding a wine glass?? Thats reassuring!
    Reply