Yes! That’s what I’m saying. Unit to unit variation and likelihood to end up with a “good” unit.
For example, I learned from this thread that I am one of the very few people who report rattling and other weird noises on the keyboard. Decided to investigate how it fits…
…There you go. I’m not particularly surprised about key-to-key error and “hollow” sounding keys with a fit like that. The keyboard is bent in basically all directions, with the highest point of the bend on where the above-NVMe pad is. I’ve seen someone in this thread have to use a small paper shim because it doesn’t sit on the mid plate on a spot on the top left but I’m not sure there is saving this. It also looks to rise above the left spacer in the center, and from there, gradually bend back to the top and bottom edges. Sheesh.
I am pretty sure this is not what the intended device looked like. My first laptop unit that had to be replaced had a much better fit. The second never had good keyboard to mid plate fit. This is already a newer mid plate and keyboard - it worked okayish at the beginning (except the new keyboard having very inconsistent backlight, another nitpick) but it looks like we are back at being completely bent now. I honestly don’t know why. My guess is that it must be the bottom cover - it might be not perfectly straight itself in some point, and if that’s that, I can replace the mid plate and keyboard as many times as I want, but they will never fit right. The picture doesn’t show it but it’s also bent down in the same spot as where the touchpad module bends down in the bottom, pushing down the keyboard.
This shouldn’t happen. You shouldn’t have units that more or less approximate the “ideal unit”, they should all be way closer.
Especially at this price point! It would be more justifiable if the price for the specs was more in line with the competition. At that point, being in the same price class, you would have the option to trade some build quality off for repairability. At double the price, it makes sense to be unsatisfied about the fact that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, IMHO.