Thinkpads Forum

I just bought a 15.4-inch LED backlit T500 from Lenovo's UK site for UKP751.38 (see spec below). Seems about UKP400 cheaper than I'd expected! What am I missing?

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) 25W1
Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate
15.4 WXGA TFT, w/ LED Backlight
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology
Ericsson F3507g Other - Wireless WAN card
9 cell Li-Ion Battery

That looks very good. There was a 700$ offer from lenovo us but it did not include VAT as I assume the offer from lenovo.co.uk includes. You also have Vista Ultimate, LED, DVDRW and WWAN (UMTS) included.

It does look good doesn't it? I was gobsmacked (note for non-English English speakers: this means 'more than a little taken aback') and, since I've been waiting for this spec (LED backlight in particular) to show up since last November (!) - and I've bellyaching about it here ever since...I just had to jump at it.

This is really an exceptional good deal. In the next few month I do not think you will find a better one

I think you're right.

Not only did the price I paid include VAT (which I can claim back) - I went onto the site this morning just to doiuble-check the price, specced up a T500 identically and the result was a price of UKP1034.96. Maybe they had a bad day. Maybe it was a special offer that ended yesterday. Or maybe someone inside Lenovo screwed up....

A little later....

I see now the source of the low price - and I think it's a screw-up. Go into the Lenovo T500 configurator, specify a discrete graphics Thinkpad, and then delete the discrete graphics option, which the option says should subtract UKP371 from the price. Instead it deducts about UKP558, leaving a base price of around UKP747.

Cheap Thinkpad T500s anyone?