Good Starter ThinkPad?

[SiLy]

Is this a good place to start getting into the world of ThinkPads? Spec wise it's more than enough for what I'll be using it for, and XP is what I want.

http://www.thinkpaddepot.com/Product/32 ... urner.aspx

Thanks
~SiLy

[pianowizard]

$279 is about two times the actual worth of this unit.

At this point, the best "cheap" Thinkpad to get is the T60 with 14.1" 1400x1050. This one looks fairly good and is reasonably priced, and the seller has 100% positive feedback: http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Lenovo-Note ... 4845152478

[ajkula66]

Agreed with pianowizard entirely.

Not to mention that you can do a LOT better in this forum's Marketplace...

[SiLy]

Alrighty then... As soon as the rest of my gear sells I'll hit the marketplace and see what I can come up with! Thanks to everyone for the help!

~SiLy

[elray]

Don't overlook the opportunity to buy the 2-year Squaretrade warranty.

[ajkula66]

Don't overlook the opportunity to buy the 2-year Squaretrade warranty.

Have you ever actually used it on an eBay-purchased-ThinkPad?

My not-so-modest opinion is that it's a waste of money, especially on a sub-$200-five-year-or-more-old-beater laptop...

[elray]

Have you ever actually used it on an eBay-purchased-ThinkPad?

My not-so-modest opinion is that it's a waste of money, especially on a sub-$200-five-year-or-more-old-beater laptop...

Quite the contrary. I've never. But I have regretted not doing so. I generally do subscribe to the same calculus you're applying, and your hardware opinion is um, revered. If I have a product I like, I tend to buy a spare, or put the "warranty" money into a replacement fund and self-insure, planning to do my own amateur board swaps if necessary - which I have, several times, at great peril!

But the OP asked for a "starter", not a "beater", system. I'm inferring he isn't planning to do his own hardware support. I could be wrong, but there was no mention in the thread.

For $25/year, having a 3rd party made responsible for repair of a 5+ year-old system seems like really cheap insurance, that SiLy will have a good outcome with his new Thinkpad, not curse the day he bought a beater based on an advice column.

I would be amiss if I did not mention, he would best advised to pay a bit more and shop "locally", buying from you or one of the other reputable forum sellers, even if that means having to wait for limited inventory selection. Expertise and after-sale support has to be worth something.

[SiLy]

Oh I will definately be doing all my own hardware support, I'm watching a few lot sales for spare parts. As stated in my previous post, this laptop will mostly be used for my "IT Student" stuff. I just need something I know I can get parts for, and can keep running through various OS's and not worry about it falling apart or wondering if it's gonna boot everytime I open it.

Thank you all for your replies, I will be keeping an eye on the marketplace and the outlets.

~SiLy

[tonepaq]

Have you ever actually used it on an eBay-purchased-ThinkPad?

I purchased the one year warranty from squaretrade for a T61p purchased from Ebay. Good thing I did, for $44 I'm getting my $279 purchase price refunded. Stupid Nvidia gpu. Too bad, I really liked the machine.....

[TuuS]

Square trade warranties are a rip-off. If they would actual fix a computer, then I might consider buying one, but all they do is buy the computer back "if" they can't find a way to deny the claim. I'm sure they might fix something extremely minor, but in most cases they just buy it back and liquidate the computer, so if 1000 warranties are sold, that's $44,000 and odds are about 2% will fail, costing them $5,580, then they recoup about $100 for each unit as salvage reducing their total loss to about $3500... net profit of $40,000 plus.

These warranties are the biggest source of income anywhere, but to run a company like this you can't be a "nice person", they don't feel sorry for people, they will deny a claim if there is any legal way to deny it, and even if they do pay, they are protected by a ceiling of the purchase price. If you want to spend money, get a lenovo service contract. They will fix the computer when it breaks, not just take it from you and hand you a check, after all, what is $279 these days.... hardly anything, and about half what a genuine refurbished motherboard costs. If you want to buy insurance, get it on your house, your car, your life, don't insure something of so little value.

As far as the laptop dying, ebay is full of improperly repaired nVidia computers and boards. It's very easy to get one to boot up just long enough to dump it on ebay.

[tonepaq]

Once again, its $44 very well spent in my eyes.

[ajkula66]

Once again, its $44 very well spent in my eyes.

Well...$279+44 = $323.

I'm fairly certain that the given amount would've yielded a T61 that you wouldn't have to return had you bought it in this forum's Marketplace...

This is a quote from a *very* old post by brainpicker, one of the folks whose presence on this forum I sorely miss...come back, John...

Maybe this is out of place but I had to rant.

For some reason I decided to read all of this thread and many others, and it seems to be the same sad story played over and over and over whether buying or selling any item these days. There are people who are smart, and people who think they are smart. I'm not making judgement on specific forum members, but think about this when buying or selling, reading posts, or posting yourself. I am in support of the seller here as I have had fair trading with him and when I read his sales threads his pricing always seems fair to me, someone who trades a LOT.

Smart people know that value is in the eye of the beholder, as many factors determine a fair price. People who think they are smart only look at the price vs. what others have paid for what they believe to be a similar item.

People who are smart know that the quality of the seller is often one of the most important aspects of the purchase and thus adds value, whereas people who think they are smart discount this heavily. Whether you are a buyer or a seller a smooth transaction has enormous value that only smart people realize.

People who are smart know that a delivered price is a true price. People who think they are smart are busy telling fair sellers how the item price is too high compared with deceptive sellers (and their outrageous delivery charges).

People who are smart know that 500-watts doesn't make an amplifier better, a speaker is not just a speaker, RAM is not all the same, etc. People who think they are smart think most everything is a commodity these days. Quality parts, quality build, reputation and track record mean little to nothing to these people.

People who are smart treat rebates like playing the lottery (if you really DO receive it in a reasonible time with little effort then yippee!). People who think they are smart treat rebates like they are an important part of their long-term retirement saving plan!

People who are smart see a fair deal quickly and spend their time USING the item purchased. They know time is money. People who think they are smart have no comprehension of this. They will search and search, hour after hour, to find something, anything, "cheaper". They have to brag about getting a better deal! It's their thing and their way. They don't realize that if they value their free time at only $10 an hour spending an extra 10-hours looking for that "deal" costs them $100 plus time they could have had using the item (assuming they find it in only 10-hours). I can't value another's free time, but I can say that most people undervalue their own!

People who are smart know that there are "blips" in any market, sales that go off at prices much higher or lower than others in the whole of the market, and while they pay attention to these blips they give them proper weight when determining value. People who think they are smart live by these blips and feel if they don't buy (or sell) at these prices they feel they are truly being cheated. These people will wait so long to be able to get the same "deal" that someone else bragged about receiving (whether true or not) that they may never buy (or sell). They are paralyzed by constantly comparing market price to these unusual sales and can't act. If they can't get that price or better then *****Expletives removed by Moderator***** it they are not going to buy (or sell)!

People who are smart all but ignore the advertised price for an item that is not in stock (or is seldom so), and they ignore retailers who regularly live by the practice of claiming the "best price" by selling a couple of items before stock mysteriously dries up (but the advertised price stays). People who think they are smart will always use these artificial prices to tell legit sellers how high their prices are. People who think they are smart all but worship sellers who offer low prices with little or no stock, while complaining how legit retailers are cheating their customers.

People who are smart know that ANY difference in the sale of two seemingly similar items can be important, to them or someone else. A minor issue to one buyer can be a big issue to another, therefore no two sales are really the same unless all details match. They are good people to buy from or sell to. People who think they are smart also know that differences have value, but they drastically overvalue differences when they sell and heavily undervalue them when they buy. Their items are priceless (and seemingly never depreciate!), while other seller's items are highly inferior. And while they want all the extras and goodies top line items include, they never want to pay for them so they will do their best to tell a seller how little value they add. These people are like ticks and whether you buy from them or sell to them you will be lucky to end the transaction without an issue (blackmail and fraud are serious issues that are far more common in transaction with these people in my experience). It's truly buyer (or seller) beware, and my level of desperation (and medication!) determines if I pick one of these folks as a trading partner.

These are just a few examples I felt I had to state. I'm sure there are more (and possibly better ones). I frequently buy and sell all over and these observations were formed after much experience.

The man said it all...five years ago...

[TuuS]

Well...$279+44 = $323.

Back in November I sold a really nice T61p that I got on a trade, it was built in may 2008, a few months before Lenovo disposed of all their boards to weed out the bad chips and I sold the unit after extensive testing and it now belongs to an English gentleman who lives in Madrid, and it's still working. He paid $239 and got a very nice system that he well understood has risk.

At the same time I had several cases of T61p units built on august 2008, I think about 20-30 sold in this forum and I believe every one is still in service and probably will be for many years to come. These units didn't have the less reliable chip so are worth considerably more. They sold at $350 each (less hdd).

I'd say any of these buyers did far better then to spend 323 and get back 279, and despite if you think the $44 was money well spent, the real point ajkula66 is making is that the $279 was NOT well spent, and the point I was trying to subtly make is that you (most likely) purchased a computer that had it's motherboard baked in an oven, or some other crazy stunt to scam someone. I've seen a staggering disproportionate number of ebay nVidia units failing and there is no other logical conclusion to make other then people are selling them knowing they are bad because quite frankly, they just don't fail that often but I can't even begin to describe how many times I've heard someone buying one on ebay and it died... but they always blame the manufacturer, not the person who did the shoddy repairs.

I imagine you could make quite a good amount of money buying failed units and spending less then an hour getting them to boot up and dumping them on ebay. You make $200 on each one and sell a few hundred a month... well, you do the math, and then if one doesn't last the 30days, you tell the person how sorry you are and give him a refund, then sell it to someone else, you'll probably get good feedback too and you'll also make money from square trade, the seller gets commission on those warranties.

Anyway, I mean no disrespect and I sincerely apology if anything Ive said may sound insulting, but in my mind, the $44 can only be seen as a good investment in that it "partially" made up for another bad investment. Obviously I don't have any intimate knowledge of the seller, or the conditions or contract involving this sale, but it sure sounds exactly like dozens of others I've heard and if something looks like a dog, smells like a dog, barks like a dog, then it's probably going to bite like a dog too...


@ajkula66, I have to agree with pretty much everything that member said.

[RealBlackStuff]

To the OP, SiLy:

after reading all the above, you should not hesitate any longer and make a quick decision about my T61 here, they don't come this good this often!

[SiLy]

I know RBS, I'm still waiting for my music gear to sell... I'm leaning towards one of of yours or a T4X0 from the IBM outlet... Hopefully my gear sells soon, my iBook is about shot...

~SiLy