How much to offer for a new T43 1871-4AU w/1GB?

[PH0ENIX]

Hi all, long time forum reader and first time poster here. I've been using a company provided T41 (2373-7JU) w/2GB ram for over a year now, and it has made an avid ThinkPad fan out of me.

Now I need another laptop to do some side work, as I don't want to use my employer's laptop for this purpose. I will be doing some remote database admin work, so I don't need anything super fast and powerful. I do, however, want to be able to use my T41's dock, extra batteries, etc., so I'm looking at a T43 for that reason (plus the reduced cost compared to a T60; I'd like to spend under $1000 if posible).

I found a new T43 1871-4AU being sold by a local seller with specs that meet my requirements (1.86GHz Centrino, 1GB ram, 40GB HD, 14.1 XGA, CD-RW/DVD), plus a 3-year EasyCare warranty good through 2009. What is a reasonable value for this machine? Most of the eBay auctions I've seen have high asking prices and no bidders, so I am having trouble gauging fair market value. Here is an example that pretty closely matches the specs except for the ram (512MB vs 1GB), but there are no buyers:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0021205466

The seller is asking $1050, but I'm pretty sure can be persuaded to go down lower.

Thanks for your help.

[djpharoah]

Well the warranty is pretty sweet on that. But the specifications arent that great - I mean its only a normal T43.

[PH0ENIX]

Thanks for the feedback. It's good enough for what I plan to be using it for, and I'm not looking to spend that much to begin with.

Regarding the warranty, do you have to register with IBM in order to activate it? I usually never register products that I buy, unless I have to in order to validate the warranty.

Thanks.

[alexzabr]

This is the refubished unit, not the brand new one. The warranty period sound indeed pretty generous, but mot of it by third party provider, not the IBM/Lenovo (they offer very short warranty periods for their refubrished units).
Once I was on the market for my T43, Ebay was one of the options (and the actual one I went at the last) and I noitced 2-3 large sellers on Ebay who is specializing in refub. units offered for a fair prices.
However, I targetted brand new units only (mainly due to international warranty restrictions), so any refub was out of my consideration.
At last I found a deal for a brand new T43 of higher series (2668 that is in my sig) priced (Buy It Now) even better then most of mid-specified refubrished units, so I went for it.

I think more patience will buy you a brand new bit higher series machine (2668, 2669, 2687) priced concurently with similar refubrished units.

[PH0ENIX]

How can I tell if a unit is refurbished? I got the serial # from the seller that I'm considering, and called Lenovo to verify that the warranty is good through July 2009. Furthermore on the box it says that the T43 was manufactured July 2006 for Lenovo. Is there some other tell tale sign that a ThinkPad is refurbished? Thanks!

[alexzabr]

Just read carefully his action page, especially apy attention on the bottom part of teh description:
"Limited warranty
Warranty period: IBM Global Financing 180 Day Parts And Labor

IBM Factory Grade A Refurbished Certified L Claim Product. These Are Factory Sealed computers Some Are Excess New Products-Surplus Units That Are Still New, Duplicate Orders, Canceled Orders And Systems That Have Been Returned Because They Didn't Meet Customers Specific Needs And Some Are Discontinued Products In Perfect Working Condition they All come complete with all original accessories. "

Besides, I'm aware that the particular seller (as well Thinkpadworld and few others) specializes in refubrished units and he doesn't hide this fact.
The IBM/Lenovo warranty holds for just half year, the rest is provided by soem third party provider.
The fact that he has provided you with S/N of the particular unit and following your check-up you figure it is brand new and covered by IBM original warranty till mid 2009 contradicts his own facts in the auction page. It sounds weird.

[PH0ENIX]

Oh, my bad. I'm not dealing with the seller in the link I provided above. That dude is in New York, the seller I found is here in Phoenix. I just included the link because it was the only eBay auction I found with the same specs, and there were no buyers at the $979 price. But now that I know he's hocking refurbs, that explains the lack of action. Thanks!