Can you tighten laptop hinges?

[Jayce]

I have a Toshiba Satellite A215-S7422. I just bought it, it's brand new, but I'm just curious if in the future if I can crack the case open and get a screw driver to crank down the hinges some more to tighten them up.

Come to think of it, my girlfriend has a Dell Inspiron 6000 that is very loose. Perhaps I can try to tighten that one up... if possible?

 

[Nitestick]

generally, yes you can. sometimes though the hinges become loose for other reasons such as plastic fatigue. in those cases, there isn't much you can do other than replace the weakened part. that's normally only in poor designs though.

 

[Jayce]

It normally takes a good while before hinges tend to wear out to the point that whenever you adjust the screen it flops forward half an inch, eh?

Cause when my laptop sits on my desk and I bump the desk, the screen wobbles quite a bit. When it's in my lap, it doesn't wobble at all. I guess due to the fact the desk is solid whereas my lap isn't exactly solid oak wood.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

My laptop's an 8 year old Thinkpad I bought used on eBay...the hinges are nice and sturdy. Thinkpad's are built very well if they feel like-new 8 years later...however, Dell Latitudes on the other hand...we have those at school, and for 2 year old PC's, the screens will flop a whole inch from a simple touch.

But I don't see why you couldn't adjust it. If it doesn't fix it, then replace the hinges.

 

[peterhuang913]

My Inspiron hinges flop an inch. Anything past 45 degrees causes the screen to topple over.

 

[Jayce]

Peter, have you considered on tightening up the hinges?

 

[peterhuang913]

Peter, have you considered on tightening up the hinges?

No, it doesn't bother me.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

My new vostro has gotten this way to quickly you ask me... around an inch of play, and it ****es me off big time...

 

[Kharn]

You can't tighten the hinges for the most part, but if you feel your laptop is defective in any way an it's still under its warranty take it back to where you got it from an you might get it fixed.

 

[Jayce]

How positive of that are you? I have a sony vaio that has a busted plastic piece off of the hinge, so I can look down in and see how the hinge operates, and it looks fully tightenable.