Thinkpads Forum

Hello fellow thinkpaders, sorry to start off my first post on a sour note.
My new X60s is off to the service center now and my impression of lenovo and the new thinkpad line is less than stellar.

First it took 3 weeks to ship my order and it came without a wireless card. Then I had to wait for another 3 weeks for my wireless card to arrive. Things seemed to be good then my wireless started to cut in and out and finally my whole thinkpad died. Dead, no boot screen, no power up at all. So it's off to the service center again for another few weeks to try my luck again. I really hope it works this time because otherwise I'll have to just take the loss and return it and wait for merom. Oh yeah and it runs hot, very hot, the screen is flimsy and flexes and the trackpoint cap leaves a mark on the screen whenever I close the laptop and its filled with bloatware. The keyboard was nice than most laptops but still a lot different from my old thinkpad.

Is my expirience common at all for new lenovo thinkpads? Was this just a rare dud? I'm worried because I will be storing important data on my laptop that a can't afford the lose so easily. If my x60s still doesn't work could you reccomend me another light, reliable ultraportable.

Are you sure you don't have a toshiba?

What is the model number of your X60s?

house wrote: First it took 3 weeks to ship my order and it came without a wireless card. Then I had to wait for another 3 weeks for my wireless card to arrive.

Did they ship you the wrong machine or did you order a machine without a wireless card?

So it's off to the service center again for another few weeks to try my luck again. I really hope it works this time because otherwise I'll have to just take the loss and return it and wait for merom.

Typically service is only a few days including shipping time. They replaced the entire planar card (motherboard) of one of my machines and it was sent back to me the same day.

Oh yeah and it runs hot, very hot, the screen is flimsy and flexes and the trackpoint cap leaves a mark on the screen whenever I close the laptop and its filled with bloatware. The keyboard was nice than most laptops but still a lot different from my old thinkpad.

You sound pretty down on the machine in general. It sounds like it may not be a good fit for you. Can you be more specific when you say that it runs hot? Is it the whole machine or just parts of it (e.g. the right palmrest)?

Is my expirience common at all for new lenovo thinkpads? Was this just a rare dud? I'm worried because I will be storing important data on my laptop that a can't afford the lose so easily. If my x60s still doesn't work could you reccomend me another light, reliable ultraportable.

I've always had good experiences with Lenovo customer service and repair. As with every highly complex piece of equipment, there will be duds.

All harddrives go bad eventually. So if you are storing important data, then you need a good backup methodology.

house wrote:Hello fellow thinkpaders, sorry to start off my first post on a sour note.
My new X60s is off to the service center now and my impression of lenovo and the new thinkpad line is less than stellar.

First it took 3 weeks to ship my order and it came without a wireless card. Then I had to wait for another 3 weeks for my wireless card to arrive. Things seemed to be good then my wireless started to cut in and out and finally my whole thinkpad died. Dead, no boot screen, no power up at all. So it's off to the service center again for another few weeks to try my luck again. I really hope it works this time because otherwise I'll have to just take the loss and return it and wait for merom. Oh yeah and it runs hot, very hot, the screen is flimsy and flexes and the trackpoint cap leaves a mark on the screen whenever I close the laptop and its filled with bloatware. The keyboard was nice than most laptops but still a lot different from my old thinkpad.

Is my expirience common at all for new lenovo thinkpads? Was this just a rare dud? I'm worried because I will be storing important data on my laptop that a can't afford the lose so easily. If my x60s still doesn't work could you reccomend me another light, reliable ultraportable.

I think you have just been unlucky - the X60s systems are great IMHO, the only known issue is the palm rest heat which Lenovo are trying to help (although heat is difficult to remove on such a small system) - at least its heat and not flames like DELLs and Apples seem to produce

foodle wrote: Did they ship you the wrong machine or did you order a machine without a wireless card?

The sent me the right model but without the wireless card I ordered.

Typically service is only a few days including shipping time. They replaced the entire planar card (motherboard) of one of my machines and it was sent back to me the same day.

Actually it only took them a few days this time . I'm typing on it as we speak.

You sound pretty down on the machine in general. It sounds like it may not be a good fit for you. Can you be more specific when you say that it runs hot? Is it the whole machine or just parts of it (e.g. the right palmrest)?

Yes it's the right palmwrest, although I think I can live with it.

I've always had good experiences with Lenovo customer service and repair. As with every highly complex piece of equipment, there will be duds.

Well I hope my case was a rare exception. I really like the machine now that it works. It shipped originally missing the wireless card. When I contacted them about this it took 3 weeks to get it installed presumably because the card was on backorder and right after I finally recieved it the motherboard failed. Repair was alot faster this time, only taking a few days. I'll give the thinkpad another chance but you have to understand its discontenting to have a motherboard fail so quickly. Well wish me luck.

As with everything that's made in China, the Quality Control is a bit flaky. Basically - while most of the Lenovo thinkpads are absolutly excellent, quite a few crap-ups also make it out of the factory.

And I'm not being rascist, even people in China agree ;D

gearguy wrote:As with everything that's made in China, the Quality Control is a bit flaky.

Could you please back up your statement by citing relevant research?

Well the X60S died again, compleltly dead on startup. Tech support thinks the memory is bad now and it will take 4-6 weeks to get in stock.

I guess my foray into thinkpads is over, I can't have a machine that will fail every few days. Any tips on returns guys? Will they refund shipping?

house wrote:Well the X60S died again, compleltly dead on startup. Tech support thinks the memory is bad now and it will take 4-6 weeks to get in stock.

I guess my foray into thinkpads is over, I can't have a machine that will fail every few days. Any tips on returns guys? Will they refund shipping?

While I certainly understand your level of frustration I would give them a chance to replace the computer. Call them immediately for an RMA (return authorization), they are really good about returns and will get a new one out to you the moment they receive your unit. Just remember that it's a faulty computer which is mass produced like all the rest. This is not a normal ThinkPad experience. The new one they send you is highly likely to be just fine. Once you receive the new one in good working order, you will be pleased you stayed with the ThinkPad brand. There is simply no substitute if you need a high quality long lasting computer. Take this from someone who has purchased and used _a lot of different laptops_ and still uses ThinkPads for their reliability and performance.

Unfortunately it sounds like you got a lemon. If you are within your 30 day return period, just tell Lenovo that you are not satisfied with the machine and want to return it. Like Archer6, I would suggest not giving up on Thinkpads and asking Lenovo for a brand new replacement machine.

It is quite silly that they are claiming a 4-6 week wait on memory as there is plenty of PC2-5300 SODIMM memory for sale (e.g. at Newegg).

I'd just call them and demand a replacement machine, whether you are at 6 days or 6 months shouldn't matter, you just have to get escalated from the $6 per hour phone rep to a manager with the authority to make things right.

I once had a 2 1/2-year-old T20 replaced with a brand-new T23 because it had real problems and I was insistant. My MacBook was recently replaced by Apple as well, so manufacturers will replace a clearly defective product, but they prefer to cheap out if the customer doesn't complain loudly enough.

You should definitely go the replacement route, there is no better product than ThinkPad on the market today.

asiafish wrote:I'd just call them and demand a replacement machine, whether you are at 6 days or 6 months shouldn't matter, you just have to get escalated from the $6 per hour phone rep to a manager with the authority to make things right.

You should definitely go the replacement route, there is no better product than ThinkPad on the market today.

I agree completely.

I believe that if you are calm and matter of fact in your approach that with addition of endless perserverance on your part they will issue a replacement. I would state my case and my acceptable solution (new replacement computer) and be willing to continue to escalate calmly up to the decision maker that can and will replace your computer. Also be willing to allow them some time to escalate the case (days) as I understand the inner workings of Lenovo and they can be a bit cumbersome. However I think it's worth it, because as you are hearing from other members of this forum who care, there is nothing like a ThinkPad.

Good Luck...

Two messages were removed from this thread as being off-topic and not useful. Don't go down that road again.

Well I went with your guys advice and giving it another go, but understanbly I was a little frustrated. There isn't any ultraportable that fits my needs better than the X60s and it seemed like a great machine when working. Lenovo is going to credit me for my current machine and I ordered a whole new setup to make sure I get a new one. Build time is 15 days, wish me luck!

house wrote:Well I went with your guys advice and giving it another go, but understanbly I was a little frustrated. There isn't any ultraportable that fits my needs better than the X60s and it seemed like a great machine when working. Lenovo is going to credit me for my current machine and I ordered a whole new setup to make sure I get a new one. Build time is 15 days, wish me luck!

House...
Nice work! You will be very happy that you chose to stick with it and get this done. My prediction is you will get a good one, based on the now nearly 40 X60s models that I have purchased for my company, they are simply terrific computers.
Keep us posted...

house wrote:

foodle wrote: Did they ship you the wrong machine or did you order a machine without a wireless card?

The sent me the right model but without the wireless card I ordered.

Hey House,

Your comment above makes me think you somehow customized your machine to have a non-defaut wireless card. Not sure if this is accurate, but I will say that i've found it is typically always best to stick with the default configuration in any situation where you can deal with it. Especially with a laptop.

This isn't so much a lenovo comment as much as it's a technology in general comment. Customized configs typically aren't tested as well as the defaults and quality support becomes hard to come by.

Of course if you did select a default configuration and they left it out, well that's just shoddy...and disregard my post. =] BTW, i've found that my x60s is probably the best manufactured piece of computing hardware I've ever purchased ::dives to knock on wooden coffee table::

Good luck with your new machine!!
Bill

there should really only be 2 wireless cards that go in the X60 - the Intel one and the ThinkPad (Foxcon) one. They are both fully tested but it is getting more and more difficult to get a high spec system that doesn't have an Intel card in it and I regard the ThinkPad card as the better one so this may be a reason for replacing the card.