Ridiculous wait times for T43p

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rocketman · #1 Post by **rocketman** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:06 am

I placed an order for a T43p (2668G2U) on March 8th. I was given an estimated ETA of April 15th delivery but my online status has never moved past "In Process". I called customer service this morning and was told delivery would not be for at least another 5 weeks. Meanwhile I believe Dell is shipping 2.13 GHz Sonoma Processor laptops already.
This is a crazy amount of time to wait, I hope customer service is wrong.

Steve007 · #2 Post by **Steve007** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:14 am

rocketman wrote:I placed an order for a T43p (2668G2U) on March 8th. I was given an estimated ETA of April 15th delivery but my online status has never moved past "In Process". I called customer service this morning and was told delivery would not be for at least another 5 weeks. Meanwhile I believe Dell is shipping 2.13 GHz Sonoma Processor laptops already.
This is a crazy amount of time to wait, I hope customer service is wrong.

Shortage of components might be to blame, there's a shortage of 60GB 7200K drives at the moment....

fefland · #3 Post by **fefland** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:54 pm

rocketman wrote:I placed an order for a T43p (2668G2U) on March 8th. I was given an estimated ETA of April 15th delivery but my online status has never moved past "In Process". I called customer service this morning and was told delivery would not be for at least another 5 weeks. Meanwhile I believe Dell is shipping 2.13 GHz Sonoma Processor laptops already.
This is a crazy amount of time to wait, I hope customer service is wrong.

Rocketman, I feel your pain. I ordered my T43p on March 7th. I just received a reply to an ETA request email and was told they would not ship until Late April, due to processor shortage. There was/is a shortage for parts according to some articles:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/02/ ... ply_1.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22222
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20050322A1001.html

I guess the only other choice is cancel the order. I bought mine through EPP. Nothing else on the market can beat the price for the same configuration/warranty.

Oh well, I guess I wait.

Leon · #4 Post by **Leon** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:40 pm

except a T42!

craigg · #5 Post by **craigg** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:50 pm

There is an easy solution. Do like I did an order a 2668-72U. When you get it add your own 7200rpm drive and an extra 512mb of memory and you have 99% of a T43p.

I had my T43 6 days after I placed the order and have been very pleased with the performance!

wn0x · #6 Post by **wn0x** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:46 pm

Same story here guys. Ordered my T43P March 9th (2668G1U), the status finally changed from backordered to "Shipping 4 to 6 Weeks" this Sunday. I noticed that the current status is "Processing" with an estimated ship date of 5/4.

I was hoping to have the unit in time to work on a term paper, looks like the trusty old Dell with 800X600 display will have to do.

This is an EPP purchase, so the discount was pretty deep. This was also the first time I was charged for shipping, $50. The rep claimed IBM no longer offered the free shipping because of the heavy discounts available.

I added Thinkpad protection to the order today, and had to play games to get the EPP discount on that. I'm not sure what was going on. Are we getting ready for Lenova?

arwuah · #7 Post by **arwuah** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:56 pm

I too feel your pain. I was soo excited when I first placed my order on Wednesday, February 2, 2005. I just couldn't wait to be apart of the many TP owners and show all my friends with other laptops what IBM is like, but my excitement has since faded. I sure hope these machines ship sooner than May!

As of now my order status for the 2668H2U is: "Your product is currently back-ordered, please call for further information."

rocketman wrote:I placed an order for a T43p (2668G2U) on March 8th. I was given an estimated ETA of April 15th delivery but my online status has never moved past "In Process". I called customer service this morning and was told delivery would not be for at least another 5 weeks. Meanwhile I believe Dell is shipping 2.13 GHz Sonoma Processor laptops already.
This is a crazy amount of time to wait, I hope customer service is wrong.

trikster2 · #8 Post by **trikster2** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:45 am

I finaly gave up on my T43P and went over to the dark sided and ordered a sonoma based Precision M70. Significantly better 256mb graphics chip at almost 1/2 the price of an equivalent T43P (35% off list, free shipping and $200 docking station throwin it for free, available now, how could I resist? ), and it shipped 10 days earlier than what dell originaly estimated. Dell seems to have no problem getting parts. You would think with IBM selling out to the chinese gov (lenonov is 55% red) they could get better priority than dell on chinese parts. But the fact is dell is so in bed with intel they get first dibs on almost everything. Still have not recieved it but we will see if the performance is worth the extra pound or so to lug around. If not I have 21 days to return it and get a T43P. By that time the T43P may be more than just a gleam in a thinkpads.com forum members eyess.....

So what is this adding to anything? Just a suggestion, if you "can't wait' for sonoma, go get a dell, and if you don't like it just return it in 3 weeks. You will be more justified in your Thinkpad fanboyness, plus have something to play with while you wait for a T43P......

Steve007 · #9 Post by **Steve007** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:38 am

Some people need more patience - pathetic how some people [censored] and moan just because they have to wait a few extra weeks for a [censored] PC!

rocketman · #10 Post by **rocketman** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:55 am

wn0x wrote: This is an EPP purchase, so the discount was pretty deep. This was also the first time I was charged for shipping, $50. The rep claimed IBM no longer offered the free shipping because of the heavy discounts available.

On the EPP site it specifically says standard shipping is free, I just checked. You should call your rep and if you chose standard shipping have the $50 charge removed.

pae77 · #11 Post by **pae77** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:14 am

rocketman wrote: On the EPP site it specifically says standard shipping is free, I just checked. You should call your rep and if you chose standard shipping have the $50 charge removed.

I believe it also says somewhere on the EPP site that the free shipping only applies to orders placed online, however, some people here say if you ask they usually or frequently will give you free shipping anyway.

wn0x · #12 Post by **wn0x** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:47 am

trikster2 wrote:I finaly gave up on my T43P and went over to the dark sided and ordered a sonoma based Precision M70. Significantly better 256mb graphics chip at almost 1/2 the price of an equivalent T43P (35% off list, free shipping and $200 docking station throwin it for free, available now, how could I resist? ), and it shipped 10 days earlier than what dell originaly estimated. ......

Yep. A really cool unit, AND its has a serial port which I would like. Plus, the graphics are phenominal. I configured a machine that I liked, but ended up with nearly a $4000 configuration by the time I added A/B/G and Bluetooth, 7200 RPM drive, 2.13 Ghz WSXGA+ video and 1 GB of memory. No discount evident when I checked out. and this number did not include tax or shipping.

fefland · #13 Post by **fefland** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:16 pm

pae77 wrote:
rocketman wrote: On the EPP site it specifically says standard shipping is free, I just checked. You should call your rep and if you chose standard shipping have the $50 charge removed.
I believe it also says somewhere on the EPP site that the free shipping only applies to orders placed online, however, some people here say if you ask they usually or frequently will give you free shipping anyway.

They should give you free shipping since it is not possible to order the T43p online. I didn't even ask, they just told me free shipping.

As for the Dell M70, I configured one close to what my T43p will be (when we eventually get them) and it was about $800 more than the EPP price I got for the IBM.

I will wait. Gotta figure they will eventually be shipped. Plus it has given me time to modify my order from preloaded Office to more RAM. I may even tack on Thinkpad Protection. With the extra time, I have been doing more extensive research of other laptop alternatives and reading reviews/forums.

Leon · #14 Post by **Leon** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:23 pm

Get the Protection.

cchsiao · #15 Post by **cchsiao** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:03 pm

After reading this thread, I checked my order (actually it's my friend's order) for 2668G1U, and its ETA is... today!!! Wow... I can't believe that. It looks like the waiting time is now ended. I will suggest that all of you wait a little bit longer. I believe that you will get your T43p soon.

By the way, I placed that order on Feb. 27, maybe that's why the machine is coming so soon. Another order I placed (for myself) is on Mar. 2, but the ETA is May 5. So... it's really up to you to decide to wait or not.

trikster2 · #16 Post by **trikster2** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:54 pm

> one close to what my T43p will be

no you didn't. Graphics are no where near the same. You get what you pay for.

I'm not actually sure how you could pay more for an M70, unless you actually buy Dell ram (up to 3 times more expensive then buying separately) and pay list price. If you are comparing your 35% EPP discount to dells list price you are not comparing apples to apples.

When I was shopping everything maxed out including ram was $3000, equip the same system with 3rd party ram and the price (for a maxed system 2.13Ghz Centrino 3years warant, accident protection the works) was $2300 (1gb DDR2 SODIM kingston value ram is selling for $154 direct from kingston).

When buying the M70 I had a 35% coupon, but I also can get 35% off the T43P so its a wash (except for the free docking station), when shopping I was comparing apples to apples. I figure the dell will save me money IF I can survive the dellyness. If not back it goes and I may try living with the graphics on the T43P.

Maybe by then there will actually be a T43P review?

Slow roll out lackluster graphics, it's like IBM just did not care very much on the last true IBM thinkpads. Oh well it gives the chinese Govt laptop company (lenovovoly?) a chance to shine......

Edited by moderator: Deleted 20+ lines of excessive quoting. Trim your quotes, guys.

TimWang · #17 Post by **TimWang** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:59 pm

If I"m not mistaken, the deal has not yet officially gone through because it's being investigated by the U.S. senate? So doesn't that mean that IBM is still operating under the plans that they had before the sale.

fefland · #18 Post by **fefland** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:04 pm

cchsiao wrote:After reading this thread, I checked my order (actually it's my friend's order) for 2668G1U, and its ETA is... today!!! Wow... I can't believe that. It looks like the waiting time is now ended. I will suggest that all of you wait a little bit longer. I believe that you will get your T43p soon.

By the way, I placed that order on Feb. 27, maybe that's why the machine is coming so soon. Another order I placed (for myself) is on Mar. 2, but the ETA is May 5. So... it's really up to you to decide to wait or not.

How did you get an ETA of May 5. Was it online or via phone?

craigg · #19 Post by **craigg** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:22 pm

You really are not comparing apples to apples when you compare the Dell M70 to a Thinkpad T43. That fully loaded Dell will weigh in close to 8lbs, about 60 - 70% more than the T43. When it comes to battery life you will be lucky to get 3 hours run time in normal operations, almost half the T43. There is nothing wrong with the M70 but it is not worth anywhere near $3000. I would think that $1500 would be a good target price assuming you add your own upgrades, and that is only if you really need such a large machine. I have an HP 15.4" widescreen that is very similar to your M70 and it is sitting on a shelf now ready to be sold. I have bought quite a few Dell computers and I even like their servers but I have to admit I mostly buy them for the low price

trikster2 wrote:> one close to what my T43p will be...

no you didn't. Graphics are no where near the same. You get what you pay for.

Leon · #20 Post by **Leon** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:26 pm

DUDE!!!!

P.S. @TimWang The deal went through.

ncoday · #21 Post by **ncoday** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:04 pm

Call me ignorant, but what does EPP stand for??

#22 Post by **K. Eng** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:13 pm

Employee Purchase Plan. Work for IBM? Get $ off!

ncoday wrote:Call me ignorant, but what does EPP stand for??

#23 Post by **K. Eng** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:16 pm

To be fair, I don't think one can conclude that IBM did not care about the T43.

Better GPUs with more pipelines consume more power and need more cooling. I am guessing that an X700 class GPU would probably need to be severely underclocked to fit in a 14" T4x, and battery life would suffer.

trikster2 wrote:> one close to what my T43p will be
Slow roll out lackluster graphics, it's like IBM just did not care very much on the last true IBM thinkpads. Oh well it gives the chinese Govt laptop company (lenovovoly?) a chance to shine......

asiafish · #24 Post by **asiafish** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:16 pm

It could also be that games are the ONLY place where there will be a difference, and that IBM didn't build the T43 as a gaming machine.

Steve007 · #25 Post by **Steve007** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 3:43 am

asiafish wrote:IBM didn't build the T43 as a gaming machine.

We've never built ThinkPad's for gaming. They are a business tool. We're still shipping machines with ATI Radeon 7500's!!!!

asiafish · #26 Post by **asiafish** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 3:52 am

Don't tell my T42p that, it kicks butt on Rome: Total War and doesn't do a bad job at Doom3.

cchsiao · #27 Post by **cchsiao** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:32 am

It seems that I made a mistake.

First of all, I checked my order status online instead of calling IBM. So... all my information is from the web.

The estimate shipping date (instead of ETA?) is Apr. 6, but according to the "STATUS", I still have to wait for another 2 to 4 weeks in order to get my friend's T43p. I don't know what's wrong with that. Maybe that's because T43p is shipped from HK, and needs 2 to 4 weeks to arrive the states. I don't know if there are any guys ordering T43p before Feb. 27. Maybe he can say something more about the availability of T43p.

davidlg16 · #28 Post by **davidlg16** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:11 am

mine got picked up yesterday in HK, and is out for delivery around 6am this morning

cchsiao wrote:Maybe that's because T43p is shipped from HK, and needs 2 to 4 weeks to arrive the states. I don't know if there are any guys ordering T43p before Feb. 27. Maybe he can say something more about the availability of T43p.

cchsiao · #29 Post by **cchsiao** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 11:04 pm

I found that the shipping date becomes "call" from "Apr. 6". Does it mean that I have to call them in order to get the thinkpad shipped or I can just wait? I don't quite want to call IBM because of my poor English...

Leon · #30 Post by **Leon** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 11:41 pm

You don't have to call. It's just the way their system works. It will come on its own with no call.

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