Thinkpads Forum

I just received a T61 made to order from Lenovo. Prior to ordering I asked if I could get Business 64 (in the middle of January this was not an option in the radio button list, now it is). I was told it was not and would not be available pre-sale. Well like anything else in life - surprise! Now before anyone asks, yes we do need the 64 bit due to custom software for gene modeling (biotech industry) and it works like a charm on Vista. Anyway, I called Lenovo which has always been very helpful with any problem we've had and explained that I just received this notebook, that vista business 64 was not an option a couple weeks ago but now it is and asked if I could obtain RR discs in the Business 64 version, even if I had to pay for them. Well after spending most of yesterday morning being bounced around from sales to tech support and back and forth several more times, and of course with the promise they would call back after all my trouble (they never did), this morning they tell me they cannot do this and my only option would be to return the T61 and order a new one. Of course I have to pay a 15% restocking fee to boot!

Now why they can't send a Business 64 disc when I offered to pay for it is beyond me and would infact make me a very happy camper. And yes I do have a Business 64 disc handy to do a clean install but what really gets under my skins is (1) the pre-sales answer, (2) that days after the order the option was available, and (3) lack of accomodation by sales support.

We really like our Thinkpads here at work but this situation has really got us to question the business support of Lenovo, especially at the level of business we do with these folks.

Is my position unreasonable?

If you do the level of business that you're implying, why aren't you dealing with your dedicated sales specialist? S/he is more likely to be able to help you.

You can always just download the Vista x64 Media, burn it to a disc, then Browse the following forum topics, and supposedly it will transfer your 32bit activation to 64-bit. I'm currently in the process of doing this for my Ultimate 32-bit.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=56106
View topic - vista 32-bit 64-bit questions for x61s

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783
Clean Install Guide (works for 32-bit or 64-bit) - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

GL, but I agree, that is an oversight by Lenovo. The sad fact is that most sales reps don't know very much about the company and are not even told very much about upcoming releases (ie. Penryn).

Well situation solved to a point where I'm happy. Sending the T61 back w/restocking fee of 15% and ordered what I originally inquired about and told pre-sales was not available.

This time however I get the: Intel Core2Duo T9300 (Penryn) and my Vista Business 64, which they did not have listed two weeks ago.

Only change in configuration was the CPU and 64 bit OS. Best of all even with the 15% restocking fee I saved almost $300. Go figure.

I didn't know the Penryns were released to be sold in Thinkpads yet. When did you hear this, and can you post a link?