Thinkpad power socket fixing

From the Thinkpad maintenance department.

Today I received a new power socket for my X230, because the previous one was only working intermittently. I found the ground wire had broken off the socket on the old one, because the socket was loose in the case.

The new one was the wrong type though and didn’t fit. I could have fixed the old one but decided to adapt the new one because I could get a more snug fit and hopefully avoid the same problem recurring. I cut it down a bit and found a way it lined up with the hole just about ok.

When I powered it up I saw sparks in (behind?) the screen. I found the connector grounds were at 20V. I wondered if the polarity was wrong, but eventually worked out positive input was shorted to the case. I didn’t even know it was metal before - the top case is plastic, but seems the bottom is metal. After about three goes at installing it and trying again, I worked it out and now have a working machine again.

This took all day. I was not happy. I seriously considered buying a new laptop.

The problem is, every new Thinkpad I get is worse quality than the last one, so I don’t know what to get any more. Are there any decent quality, repairable laptops? Framework is about 10x the cost of a Thinkpad, and seems to have very limited connectivity (only four ports, including monitors?! It would need nine to match the X230).