T60p Purchasing Questions

[greynolds]

As I'm in need of a new laptop because my ancient (750MHz P3) Dell Latitude has issues that are quickly becoming serious, I've been looking at the various options and have decided that a Thinkpad is probably the best choice for me.

I'm pretty sure I want to go with a T60p, but have a few questions / comments I'd like to run by people first....

1) With the new Merom CPU's coming out, should I expect the price for T60p's with the current Core Duo CPU's to drop any time soon or will the new ones with Merom CPU's simply cost more? Based on what I've seen about the Merom, I'm not sure it's worth paying extra to get one, but if it will bring down the prices of current systems, waiting would be worth it.

2) I've been pricing out a system on the Lenovo site and some of the options are a bit odd - the T2500 and T2600 CPU options come with Verizon or Cingular WWAN, while the T2700 option doesn't come with either. I don't really have a use for the WWAN, but don't want to pay the huge premium for the T2700 CPU. I'm also a Verizon Wireless user, but want the T2600 CPU so I can get the 15" display. Basically, this forces me to get the Cingular WWAN that I realy don't want. Seems odd that the WWAN cards aren't separate options.

3) There doesn't seem to be a way to order 2 of the Advanced Mini Docks through the website. You can order one while configuring the system, but they don't show up when you go to look for accessories. I need one for home / one for the office. I'm assuming I can solve this issue by picking up the phone, unless maybe they're currently in limited supply and people are limited to buying just 1 for now.

4) Is the Lenovo web site (or calling them) the best place to purchase a system, at least in terms of price AND warranty support if something should go wrong? Through my company, I'm supposed to be able to get a 10% discount, though the T60p doesn't show up as an option when I go to the Lenovo "special" site for our company - I'm hoping that calling them instead of ordering on the web site will enable that option for me. Are there other reliable vendors where I'd be able to do better than a 10% discount (factoring in that shipping is also free for now and I have to pay MA 5% sales tax)?

I think that's about it. The config I'm looking at is T60p with:

- T2600 CPU w/ Cingular BroadbandConnect
- Windows XP Pro
- 15" display
- 1 GB RAM
- 100GB 5400RPM drive (free upgrade for now)
- DVD Recordable slim drive (free upgrade for now)
- Intel Wireless
- 9 cell battery (free upgrade for now, I'll go with the 6 cell if the free upgrade goes away)
- 2 Advanced Mini Docks

I've read of issues with the Advanced Mini Dock, so that's a bit of a concern, but it's definitely the best dock option for my wants / needs.

[christopher_wolf]

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

There might be a price drop, but not for certain. IBM/Lenovo has deals that appear during the end of the year, traditionally. Sometimes, there are pretty good sales that appear for a short while almost randomly. In any case, if you are talking about the Napa Merom, it is compatible with the Yonah chipsets and you can, technically, do a swap of CPUs if you want to upgrade. The Santa Rosa Merom, coming out in 2007, is different and supports 64-bit and, from what has been ascertained, cannot directly be dropped into something like a T60 without a new board. The price drop will probably happen in 2007 with the Santa Rosa release; there will likely be one for the Napa Merom, but it won't be quite as large.

Have you looked through the tabook.pdf? That will give you just about all of the configurations (minus CTO and highly specialized setups) that you can get. You also should be able to get a dock if you are willing to pay for it; so if you are having any trouble with the Website purchasing options, you can always call them up directly.

There are also other vendors that will give you a discount better than 10%. Various reviews of them are in thread in this forums so have a look through there, Euclid computers is one to start off with; you could also ask Bill to see if he would have that model in stock.

HTH

[greynolds]

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

Thanks.

There might be a price drop, but not for certain. IBM/Lenovo has deals that appear during the end of the year, traditionally.<snip>

Ok, that's good to know.

In any case, if you are talking about the Napa Merom, it is compatible with the Yonah chipsets and you can, technically, do a swap of CPUs if you want to upgrade.

I'm not really concerned about having the latest CPU as the current Core Duo CPU's should be more than sufficient for my needs for quite a while, but rather more interested in if it is worth waiting a month or 2 if a price break was expected on the current Core Duo systems. Based on what you're saying, there's probably no reason to wait, as the short term price drop probably won't amount to much.

Have you looked through the tabook.pdf? That will give you just about all of the configurations (minus CTO and highly specialized setups) that you can get.

Yeah, I took a quick look at it the other night when I was tired and it quickly made me more tired - there's a lot of info in there. I'll spend some more time with it.

You also should be able to get a dock if you are willing to pay for it; so if you are having any trouble with the Website purchasing options, you can always call them up directly.

Makes sense - there web site isn't very good, IMO. It keeps timing out and seems to make it hard to find things.

There are also other vendors that will give you a discount better than 10%. Various reviews of them are in thread in this forums so have a look through there, Euclid computers is one to start off with; you could also ask Bill to see if he would have that model in stock.

Thanks - I assume Bill is the forum owner? I didn't realize he also sold them (obviously have some more reading to do...).

[greynolds]

After a bit more research I ordered a T60p today. I ended up ordering from Lenovo - the 10% discount I get through my company seemed to get the price in the same ballpark as the other reputable sources I checked - and most other sources have more limited choices available (only offer certain preconfigured systems with "popular" options).

I ended up with:

• - T60p 2613HAU (Core Duo T2600)
  - 15" Display
  - 9 cell battery
  - 100 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
  - INTEL PRO/WIRELESS 3945ABG
  - XP Pro
  - 1 GB RAM
  - Dual Layer DVD Recordable Ultrabay Slim Drive
  - 2 Advanced Mini Dock Port Replicators

It also came with the Cingular BroadbandConnect which I mentioned in my first post that I really don't want, but it looks like it really isn't a factor in the price and I have no commitment with Cingular to sign up for the service, so I guess it's really a non issue. I still think it would make a lot more sense to let the user decide if they want Verizon, Cingular, or nothing, but what do I know .

It's supposed to ship around the end of the month, so I'll have to wait a few weeks. With the 2 docking stations, the price I'm paying is pretty competitive to what I saw for very similarly configured systems (perhaps with the 7200 RPM hard drive but without the docking stations) elsewhere, so it made sense to buy from them.

Based on what people have said about tabook.pdf, I was surprised that my system doesn't seem to be listed in there - clearly that document only lists some of the possible configurations.

[nofuture]

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if you are talking about the Napa Merom, it is compatible with th.e Yonah chipsets and you can, technically, do a swap of CPUs if you want to upgrade. The Santa Rosa Merom, coming out in 2007, is different and supports 64-bit
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Hi, its bit of topick, but..
...do you meen that Napa Merom will not be supporting 64-bit?

I was hopping to wait untill Merom chip will be released in IBM T60x laptops, just to add 64-bit processing power. And if Napa Merom will only support 32-bit its too long to wait for Santa Rosa, i'll need to buy now.

If you know such information can you tell where you got it from?