Certified Used X60s - what do you think?

[tselling]

There are two models of X60s forsale on the IBM Certified used site with 6 months warranty. The prices are pretty low so I have to have one... 6 months should be enough to get the kinks out.

17023QU comes to $1202.93 with tax.
170469U comes to 1498.83 with tax.

Both have the 8-cell battery which is important to me. 512mb vs 1gb memory difference. 60GB vs 100GB difference for the HD. Also the 69U has bluetooth but the 3QU doesn't. And the 69U comes with the DVDRW drive and ultrabase. No ultrabase or drive with the 3QU. Only thing I don't like about the 69U is it has the Verizon WWAN which is too pricey for me. I have a T-Mobile MDA I can use as an EDGE modem when needed.

Has anyone upgraded a non-bluetooth model with bluetooth? Is it even possible?

Would the ultrabase and DVDRW be worth $250 or so if I sold it? I have a USB DVDRW drive so I don't really need the ultrabase and drive.

Does the WWAN use up any battery when not in use? I imagine it adds to the weight to the unit. And I'd rather not have the antenna sticking out either.

[getlow]

at first i thought having a little antenna sticking out on the side would be visually annoying, but i hardly ever notice that the antenna is there..

for those prices i'd say that the 69u is the better buy

[tselling]

Yep, I was thinking the 69U was a better buy. I am thinking I will order both and check them out. I have 7 days to call to return so plan to keep the one I like best (best screen, runs coolest, etc).

[asiafish]

The 69U sounds like a terrific deal.

[pianowizard]

I would also go for the 69U.

[snife]

69U is a much better buy - you want an Ultrabase with an X60 IMHO and the antenna is nicely located on the X60 so shouldn't be too annoying. I'm not sure how it is in the US, but in Europe we can get the WAN cards unlocked so you could put your T-Mobile card in it

[dfumento]

I'd get the less expensive unit with a portable USB drive instead of the base. If you want to spend more money, go to costcentral or some other low cost site and get a unit with a 3 year warranty. I find the 3 year warranty extremely valuable and it helps with resale as well as a unit out of warranty has much lower resale value.
Good Luck!

[tselling]

I received both Certified Used X60s Thursday. Both show warranty good until Aug 2009 when I checked online. Not sure if that is a fluke or if the norm now or if they just haven't gotten around to modifying the warranty online. It used to be that Certified Used had the remainder of original warranty... then they started changing serial numbers and warranty length. Maybe its back to the old way.

The 69U seems to get a bit warmer on the right palmrest. I have read the thread on that and I am guessing the WWAN and Atheros wifi card are the culprit. Both are uncomfortably warm when on AC.

I think I will wind up returning both. I picked up an open box 1704-3DU on Ebay for under $1000 shipped so the 3QU seems a bit pricey at $1200 since basically the same as 3DU except for 512mb vs 256mb memory. Since replacing with 2gb memory doesn't really matter whether 256mb or 512mb originally.. 60gb hd will eventually be replaced with 160gb when available.

One thing I have not found is if the non-bluetooth models can be upgraded to bluetooth. Anyone have some definitive knowledge on that?

[madana]

I received both Certified Used X60s Thursday.

Could you comment on the overall condition of the two certified used X60s's you've received? Are they visibly worn down
or in any way blemished?

Just curious as to Lenovo's quality threshold for certified used computers.

[tselling]

Both look like new. Different packaging than new ones. They are not double boxed. No dead or stuck pixels that I noticed. The 3QU model came with a 90 Watt adapter instead of the 65 Watt one. No extra trackpoint caps just the the installed dome one. One of the keyboards has a noisier left mouse button than the other one but same FRU keyboard. No wear on the keys that I can see. Lotus SmartSuite CD is included. One of them came with the outside Thinkvantage sticker, the other without. Both have Intel and Windows sticker on the palmrest.

The ultrabase for the 69U seems a bit difficult to dock. But I guess that is fairly common. The key to the ultrabase is missing. I called EZServ and they said I would probably have to return the machine because they didn't think a replacement key could be sent.

Overall if I wanted the the WWAN and ultrabase, the 69U was a great price on the Certified Used site. They were out last I looked though. They still have the 3QU model though it is incorrectly listed as an X60 instead of an X60s.

BTW I was able to clone my T60 drive to the X60s and then just update drivers without any problems.

*** One note: You have 7 days from when you receive the Certified Used Thinkpad to call for a refund. So this is alot different than the 30 days from when a new Thinkpad is invoiced.

[madana]

***One note: You have 7 days from when you receive the Certified Used Thinkpad to call for a refund. So this is alot different than the 30 days from when a new Thinkpad is invoiced.

Thanks, but I won't get any of those if I buy laptop on EPP (which I want to do).

Do you know if it's possible to get a warranty extention for a used certified X60s beyond the offered 6 months? It did not give me such an option when I checked on the site, but maybe if there is a will there is a way?

[ibbo]

I am also interested to know whether the certified used warranty can be extended. I found a thread that said it could but it was close to 200 dollars/year.

Also, I had a chat online with a Lenovo representative and he said it was not possible to extend the warranty.

It seems that many ppl are recieving the remainder of the original warranty on their machines. I'm assuming that almost all x60 machines will have at least 6 months warranty since it was only introduced this year.

[tselling]

I know it used to be that the warranty for Certified Used could not be extended, but Lenovo may have changed that.

[SkiBunny]

IBM certified used products do NOT have the manufacturer warranty anymore because the manufacture is now Lenvo. It is also not possible to extend the warranty like with a new product.

Typically these are re-sold by IBM Global Financing off-lease, often 6 months new. Then they are re-serviced to "refurb" stauts. They should look and work almost new, unless otherwise noted. The drives are set back to purchase state, with windows customization required.

The 6-month warranty is with IBM, not Lenovo. That's a good thing. Although it's short.

Some of the T60's units have been great bargains... i've seen 15" T60p for $1200 lately.

[Nebrie]

6 months is the minimum. All of my certified used have come with whatever was leftover of the original warranty, even if it had on-site service.

[SkiBunny]

6 months is the minimum. All of my certified used have come with whatever was leftover of the original warranty, even if it had on-site service.

I can assure you that things have changed. (I called and asked because there was a T60p flexview on Cert Used for ~$1XXX (with EPP) last week).

The warranty is now 3-6 months MAXIMUM, it is NOT an inernational warranty, it is NOT a manufacturers warranty (it is warranted by IBM Global Financing), and the warranty can NOT be extended ever, period.

Note from Moderator: No EPP price discussions are permitted.

[ibbo]

You are able to get a ServicePac for the notebook which is similar to warranty service. Howerver, it's pricey at 169/year or 321/2 years. I have email confirmation that this can be done.

I do wonder though, if one could purchase a ServicePac from CostCentral and apply it. Their 2 year post warranty ServicePac is only 141/2 years or something like that.

[SkiBunny]

You are able to get a ServicePac for the notebook which is similar to warranty service. Howerver, it's pricey at 169/year or 321/2 years. I have email confirmation that this can be done.

I do wonder though, if one could purchase a ServicePac from CostCentral and apply it. Their 2 year post warranty ServicePac is only 141/2 years or something like that.

There is more 170469u X60s on there for $1469
(they were $1248 last week when all cert used were on-sale).

But without the warranty, considering the dollar value of the 3-yr international warranty on a new one, you see the used one isn't such a great deal. It costs $400 minimum for a service call on these thinkpads, for starters for anything.

And if they're substituting parts, like that AC adapter mentioned in a post above, I'd be very peeved... if i got the 90-watt instead of the much smaller & lighter 65-watt which the X60 is supposed to come with.