Before I went to Sydney I wanted to get myself a new notebook. My last notepad was a IBM R50 and I was very pleased with it so I decided to get a similar one, again. I ordered a Thinkpad R52 and when it finally arrived it looked like a great toy. Unfortunately after 30 minutes I discovered this:

As you can see the background lighting of the display is at the bottom of the display completely inconsistent. There are even two small waves. I called the IBM support and they told me that it "works as designed"!. I couldn't believe it. So I spoke with my online retailer and I got the same reaction. So I sent the laptop back to the online retailer and ordered another one. When I started it the display looked fine but after a while the same waves occurred! See the picture:

So I sent the laptop back to the online retailer, again. I still wanted to get a Thinkpad but this time I decided to buy it in a real store. Fortunately I found one and they had one Thinkpad available, right away. I checked the display and it was fine.

So if you also want to buy a Thinkpad than I strongly suggest that you take a closer at the display.