Hi JazJon
My was randomly shuts itself off since I got it,it sometimes hangs 10-15 seconds and then shuts off itself and sometimes it shuts off in a fraction of a second. Mostly occurs when computer is in idle or low load, never happend so far when I was running some heavy duty apps.
I have mine W520 about 6-7 weeks, I realized the shut off problem about 1 week afte I got it. I was not sure whether I should send it for repair since it occurs not very often, 1-2 per week. and I thought it may be a software issue i.e. drivers eyc. But now I think I will send in for repair. It is unbelievable that a nearly 2000 dollar business laptop will need to be repaired after a few weeks.
To your question about the battery: yes mine is loose too, but it seems to be normal, many of my co-workers have thinkpads from mant different series, T series, R series, Edge etc, I checked their laptops, all of them, no matter 6- or 9-cell battery, they are all loose and giggles around slightly. But it hasn't caused any troubles so far according to my friends and co-workers who use thinkpads.
My speakers are not that outstanding but they seem to be fine, I haven't realized any off-balance problem. A friend of my just got a HP pavillion dv6t with i7 quad core, but his batteries both 6 and 9 cells falls out sometimes by itsself. And another friend of mine is struggling with her new dell xps also some random shutdown problem. So I guess there are always something in any brand of laptop. However, the other 2 machines cost a few hund dollars less than a W520.
Back to our random shutdown problem, I couldn't get my random shutdown problem solved so far, we may both got lemons, so if you still can swap it with a new one, I would do it if I was you. Good luck!
