Thinking about an X31 ...

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kodell · #1 Post by **kodell** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:10 pm

I noticed that www.retrobox.com seems to have a bunch of these for around $425 shipped (including the expansion base). Does this seem like a reasonable price? From what I can see, the ebay prices are significantly higher. I've read a couple of mixed reviews about retrobox - has anyone dealt with them? Most of the units are marked as grade "B"/good, but there are a couple that are grade "A"/excellent.

Kevin

pianowizard · #2 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:30 pm

I noticed them too earlier today and found them very tempting. Too bad I already have so many laptops. I expect to receive a 400MHz TP240 tomorrow.

kodell · #3 Post by **kodell** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 7:48 pm

Speaking of too many laptops ... the reason I'm looking right now is that my wife bought me a new Compaq laptop. After we got it I realized that I just wasn't ever going to like it & that I needed something under 4 lbs. So now I just have to explain to her why I'm returning a brand new laptop that she got a fantastic deal on in favor of a 3 year old one with no OS/no battery.

pianowizard · #4 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:38 pm

No battery? Are you sure? Then it may not be as good a deal as I thought.

dizzyspell · #5 Post by **dizzyspell** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:37 pm

Pretty good deal I'd say. They're even 1.6 Ghz. Only downside is they have no wireless installed.

JHEM · #6 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:50 pm

dizzyspell wrote:Only downside is they have no wireless installed.

The antennae are already installed, you need only install a miniPCI WiFi card.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-42461

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-43404

Regards,

James

dizzyspell · #7 Post by **dizzyspell** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:58 am

I take back my earlier 'pretty good deal' comment, I now think it's a _great_ deal. (If they're in decent shape, that is.)

JHEM · #8 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:37 am

dizzyspell wrote:I take back my earlier 'pretty good deal' comment, I now think it's a _great_ deal. (If they're in decent shape, that is.)

They come in varying degrees of condition, with the $332.62 ones being the worst with scratches, Trackpoint impressions, bad pixels, etc., to the $441.32 units which are allegedly "perfect". I've ordered one of the "perfect" ones and will let everyone know how it looks when it arrives.

Yes, it's a great deal! Especially knowing what one of my clients will pay me for this puppy if it's in good shape.

Regards,

James

kodell · #9 Post by **kodell** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:01 pm

Just to clarify my comment about no OS/no battery - they should come with a battery with no guarantee that it would hold any sort of charge ... my assumption was that worst case I would need to buy a new battery.

I looked up the model number/serial number for the system that I ordered & it shows that it originally shipped with a wireless card (but someone may have pulled it) and that there was (is?) a 3 year warranty that expires 12/1/06. This seems to my like it could end up being a pretty good deal if the warranty could transfer.

JHEM · #10 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:09 pm

Warranties stay with the machine, no "transfer" required.

Mine has the same on site warranty until 12/1/2006.

Here's the info on the machines: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... y=2673-NU8+

Regards,

James

pianowizard · #11 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:01 pm

JHEM and others who have ordered one: When you receive it, please tell us how it looks. I have wanted to order from retrobox a few times but without knowing exactly how they grade their systems, I didn't want to take the risk. If their grade A machines are as "excellent" as they claim, then I will certainly order from them in the future.

kodell · #12 Post by **kodell** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:00 pm

I'll post a review when I get mine. I went a little crazy and ordered a second one for my daughter (even though she may not be happy with the performance when it comes to playing games!).

The shipping on them shows an estimated delivery time of about two weeks so this may not be the best option if you're the impatient type. I had problems with their web site when placing the second order & had to email their customer support & they took care of the issue pretty promptly.

On the other hand, some of their descriptions seem a little inaccurate on their site (when compared to the actual models) so I'm still a little bit skeptical.

JHEM · #13 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:33 pm

pianowizard wrote:JHEM and others who have ordered one: When you receive it, please tell us how it looks.

I'll be more than happy to report on the unit when it arrives.

Just for the record, the last X31 I had and let go was one of the few instances where I was left with seller's remorse. That little puppy was sweet!

Got an unused COA (and memory cover for the X31), along with a set of recovery CDs and an extra Atheros a/b/g card, so I'll have it up and running shortly after receipt.

Stay tuned to this channel.

Regards,

James

revolutionary_one · #14 Post by **revolutionary_one** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:49 am

I honestly can't wait to hear reviews on how the transaction went. You probably couldnt find deals like this on ebay. The only kicker being that the warranty is through retrobox and NOT through IBM

Now I get to convince myself (and parents) that this T42 isnt enough and that ontop of the new CDJ-100's that I'm looking into getting, I'm gonna spend another 500 on a new x31 (+parts).

RAWR

JHEM · #15 Post by **JHEM** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:30 am

revolutionary_one wrote:The only kicker being that the warranty is through retrobox and NOT through IBM

That's not the case with the unit I purchased, which has on site warranty coverage from IBM until 12/1/2006. I've already checked it online.

Regards,

James

IBMXFan · #16 Post by **IBMXFan** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:01 am

I bought from them X31 too. First of all it took almost 15 days (!!!) to ship and the unit came scratched, "oily keyboard" almost dead battery (+another $60-70). The condition was A-excellent .... no IBM warranty left on the unit. If you want to return the unit they charge 20% restocking fee and do not refund the shipping. So i guess you were lucky. Congrats!

JHEM wrote:
revolutionary_one wrote:The only kicker being that the warranty is through retrobox and NOT through IBM
That's not the case with the unit I purchased, which has on site warranty coverage from IBM until 12/1/2006. I've already checked it online.

Regards,

James

kodell · #17 Post by **kodell** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:01 am

They do seem incredibly slow in shipping. They don't guarantee the battery (which is the case with pretty much most places on eBay also), so you may not have much cause for complaint there, the oily keyboard seems a little strange, but easily corrected.

As far as scratches ... I'm interpreting the "excellent" condition as being "excellent for a used notebook", so some signs of use would be normal. If there are deep gouges/cracks/marks on lcd I would take this as a significant misrepresentation of the units condition which is covered under the "fair credit billing act". You can dispute the charge with your credit card company after making a good faith effort to resolve the issue with the vendor. The company sells on eBay also and has a 98.3% positive feedback rating (not horrible, but not particularly impressive either).

IBMXFan · #18 Post by **IBMXFan** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:18 am

well, i've been through a couple of credit card disputes and that was not fun ... lost a lot of time and nerves. the condition of the lappy was ... well used, not excellent IMO. add the new battery and power adaptor price, and no warranty after 30 days ... not that attractive anymore.
Overall im pleased with IBM x-series, this forum was really helpful i've done a lot of reading here ... just wish the laptop was in better condition or with IBM warranty in case the HDD or motherboard dies.

kodell wrote:They do seem incredibly slow in shipping. They don't guarantee the battery (which is the case with pretty much most places on eBay also), so you may not have much cause for complaint there, the oily keyboard seems a little strange, but easily corrected.

As far as scratches ... I'm interpreting the "excellent" condition as being "excellent for a used notebook", so some signs of use would be normal. If there a deep gouges/cracks/marks on lcd I would take this as a significant misrepresentation of the units condition which is covered under the "fair credit billing act". You can dispute the charge with your credit card company after making a good faith effort to resolve the issue with the vendor. The company sells on eBay also and has a 98.3% positive feedback rating (not horrible, but not particularly impressive either).

brainpicker · #19 Post by **brainpicker** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:12 pm

I'm not feeling as good about my purchase as I did 2 days ago. I haven't yet been given a serial number for my machine though I've asked (and the online system was down at time of purchase too). I suppose the worst case is that I return it to them within 3 days for a full refund less shipping if it's really misrepresented, then eat the $50 in shipping as an "educational" expense. Or I could just cancel before it's shipped. My "clients" are students so the $50 I might make on this (and then likely donate) isn't close to what James might receive, so my risk tolerance isn't as great nor my feeling anywhere near as optomistic.

I was puzzled by the slow shipping too, but my "salesman" said each unit is re-tested and then cleaned before shipping, and if any issues were found they would be corrected prior to shipping or I would be notified. The time involved varied from 10-15 days depending on staffing and amount of business. So possibly the listing condition is nothing more than a glance at a representative unit from an incoming batch, with all the real work done after each is sold (and if it doesn't meet the listed grade... oh well... what exactly IS excellent anyway?)? That could explain the drastic difference in condition from like listed units as reported here from past buyers

Here's hoping for the best for everyone! After buying laptops off eBay for years I'm not expecting anything to come in clean enough, or ready to use out of the box (but for an OS install). I've learned 99.99% of other's standards are far different than mine and their "excellent" or "grade - A" is usually just OK or a B-/C+ to me. Truth is something most sellers of most any merchandise have yet to grasp, because we as buyers let them get away with it far too often (the hassel isn't usually worth the time & effort needed to make things right, IF it can be made right at all). For instance, Feedback on eBay is useless as many times, even when sold stolen merchandise, we might not leave negative Feedback due to fear of certain retaliation, which is most always ignored by eBay and ends up hurting US and not them, defeating the whole purpose. If some of us get correctly evaluated units (read: truely excellent) and others don't (as other buyers have represented recently), even if we all report it here there are still going to be many forum members who will take the chance and buy from this company to save a buck. It certainly would NEVER happen to them! And there are enough people who think like that to keep dishonest businesses afloat. Of course I'm making NO opinion myself on this Retrobox until my unit arrives.

- Yak

pianowizard · #20 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:30 pm

IBMXFan wrote:I bought from them X31 too. First of all it took almost 15 days (!!!) to ship and the unit came scratched, "oily keyboard" almost dead battery (+another $60-70). The condition was A-excellent ....

Sounds like a Grade B unit to me.

dizzyspell · #21 Post by **dizzyspell** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:35 pm

If the units turn out to be B-quality, it still is a great deal, it seems to me. C'mon, an X31 with dock for 450? On Ebay, they go for much more.

brainpicker · #22 Post by **brainpicker** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:53 pm

dizzyspell wrote:If the units turn out to be B-quality, it still is a great deal, it seems to me. C'mon, an X31 with dock for 450? On Ebay, they go for much more.

If it were for ME I'd agree. Appearance isn't everything. I have an 11-year-old Tecra 500 that is held together with foil duck tape and silver nail polish (don't ask) and it suited me fine. It was the 1st non-Thinkpad I'd ever bought (I bought my 1st Thinkpad in '92) and the Toshiba was so nice that I continued buying Tecras right through the 8000 series before returning to Thinkpads when T's & X's came out. But that's off topic. Anyway, I bought the X31 for my stock so that when the summer session starts in a month and the kids come begging for something small I have at least one in stock. If this one was sweet I was going to buy the rest too. Now I wait for the 1st report, or mine to arrive, whichever comes 1st. I really DO think we're worrying for nothing as I'd like to think these folks are a fair business that occasionally lets some fall through the cracks. It's just that I judge a business by how it handles it's mistakes, and from what I've heard so far that's not too well.

- Yak

zyphria · #23 Post by **zyphria** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:01 am

I ordered one of these from Retrobox as well. I noticed they're showing up on Ebay as well (starting at $300 and they don't look cleaned up from the outside) from RetroBox's ebay account. Hopefully the ones they're selling direct are the better ones.

Also, they e-mailed me the serial number, how can I find out more information on the system (left over warranty, etc)?

Edit: Noticed gigabit ethernet on the specs, sweet! At this point the price + features are making me seriously overlook any moderate cosmetic issues I might have.

stickman · #24 Post by **stickman** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:29 am

I also ordered one of the X31 from Retrobox. It seems like a great deal.

I checked in the IBM website and it seems to have valid warranty until 12-01-06.

What's your shipping date? Mine is 4/21/2006. That's more than two weeks... man, way too much

BTW, I also noticed those in Ebay, but as you can see in the description, most of them don't have charger, or have broken latches, I believe these can't be A class laptops. Judging from the photos they should be B- or maybe C...

zyphria · #25 Post by **zyphria** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:43 am

I haven't gotten a shipdate yet. I'm thinking that they must be selling those units on Ebay more as unsorted parts than as full systems.

stickman · #26 Post by **stickman** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:51 am

Well, I didn't get an email either, but in the retrobox website, if you check your recent orders, maybe you'll find your shipping date as I did.

On the warranty issue. You can check it for yourself here

zyphria · #27 Post by **zyphria** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:58 am

Sweet, thanks Stickman, same 12/1/2006 Warranty too. As I'm sure Lenovo has retained all of the same warranty/customer support departments I'm feeling exceedingly confident in this purchase now.

I'm giving serious consideration to buying another one at this point....

Edit: Looks like they're out. Blast.

stickman · #28 Post by **stickman** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:09 pm

Don't worry, maybe you'll be lucky and at least one more will be available (mine), it seems there's a problem where their system won't take my Spanish issued card.

I hope the problem will be solved otherwise the deal is off for me

zyphria · #29 Post by **zyphria** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:28 pm

Well that's a shame man =/ Good luck.

I went through the hardware service manual and about the only thing lacking is the ability to through in a Bluetooth Daughter Card (BDC).

Anyone aware of a Bluetooth 2.0 CompactFlash adapter?

JHEM · #30 Post by **JHEM** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:43 pm

zyphria wrote:Anyone aware of a Bluetooth 2.0 CompactFlash adapter?

Google is your friend! Just search for CF bluetooth, there's tons available from every manufacturer you can think of and even more from ones you've never heard of.

Regards,

James

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