T400s pricing in UK...

[LondonConsultant]

I just checked online prices for the T400s in UK and they seem more excessive than usual when compared to US. For example, the same T400s (2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, integrated camera, 5300 WiFi) is $1720 in US (eg from Lenovo's site) but £1935 in UK (eg from http://www.oyyy.co.uk with several in stock). Given the current currency conversion rate (£1 = $1.63), that $1720 notebook in US has become a whopping $3150 notebook in UK. Perhaps the UK's third-party online retailers are profiteering while Lenovo UK's site doesn't sell the T400s... So, anyone know when Lenovo UK's site will start selling the T400s?

[Dead1nside]

Lenovo's prices in the UK are ridiculous. The fact that individuals have to seriously consider importing from the US, even given import duties it's significantly cheaper a lot of the time. We don't get the same discounts that they do at the US online shop either, which would actually make it worth buying from official channels.

[georgema]

As far as I'm aware there is no import duty on laptops imported from the USA to the UK. There is of course VAT (a misnomer if ever there was one) and all of the 'normal' handling charges by the shipper.

I purchased and imported a T41P, which I'm using to type this post, back in March 2004. It came with an International Warranty. I'd happily do it again if the price discrepancy between the UK and USA was still as bad. I'd make sure I spec'ed model with the international warranty though. Keyboard swap is easy enough although I used a US keyboard for several years without any problems.

Cheers,

George

[ssd_thinkpad]

I purchased and imported a T41P, which I'm using to type this post, back in March 2004.

Where did you buy it?

[georgema]

From Bill Morrow, who runs this site. I'm not sure if Bill still sells thinkpads these days. If not then there are certainly US retailers who will ship to the UK. You may not be able to purchase a CTO (configure To Order) system but you should be able to get one of the TA Book models which you can then modify as required. You always need to check the warranty situation on the Lenovo web site based on the machine/model number, e.g. 2373GEU.

All, feel free to add any US retailers you have dealt with and feedback on service etc.

Cheers, George

[SZQ]

Hi,

I found this forum whilst searching for info on the T400s which seems like the ideal laptop for me. I also cannot believe the amount they are charging for this in the UK. The cheapest I found for the SSD version is £1828 (www.digital-fusion.co.uk). Hopefully that will come down once more retailers have them in stock.

Importing from the US would be an option so if anyone knows of any reputable US retailers that ship internationally that would be great. Even with 15% VAT, shipping costs, and handling fees you could save around £600!

Cheers.

[dr_st]

Note one thing:

The ultra-cheap models purchased from Lenovo's site usually come without international warranty, or with warranty that's only valid in the Americas and Japan, not in Europe. This is all part of the nasty game Lenovo plays.

[georgema]

Here's a link to the warranty page. Click on International warranty service and this should take you to a page where you can enter the machine type, e.g. 4062 for a W500 as listed in the July TABook. This particular machine type has warranty in the UK. You need to check this for the particular machine type/model that you are ordering.


http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yle=lenovo

Cheers,

PS: Here's a couple of companies that will ship interntionally but never having used them I can't vouch ofr their quality or customer service. It would be worth doing a search through the forums for any references.

http://www.provantage.com/lenovo~880LENV.htm

There was also http://www.euclidcomputers.com/ but their web site seems a bit odd and only seems to be showing 5 laptops for sale.....?

Check any adverts in the forum as well.

[SZQ]

Thanks for the links. I can't believe how much cheaper they are. I have decided that this is the laptop I want, just seems to have the perfect specs for me.

I am going to Japan for a year in October so I have got about a month to get the laptop, make sure it is ok etc...

That provantage site only accepts American Express or Bank Transfer for international shipments though.

Hopefully there will be a few more places shipping internationally, haven't found any yet though.

Couple of questions I have:

1. Is it possible to buy/extend an international warranty after I purchase it irrespective of where I bought it from?
2. Will I be able to power the laptop in the UK/Japan with simple adaptors or will I need a different power brick?

Thanks.

[georgema]

I'll pass on 1) although I'd be interested to know the answer to this one myself.

For 2) you should be able to get away with adapters in Japan as the power supply brick is usually multi voltage. Rather than adapters purchase a new plug line cord which fits into the brick. Much better than carrying around yet another plug adapter.

In fact looking at http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm it looks like Japan uses the US plug type. So if your laptop is shipped from the US the line cord should be fine for Japan. For UK simply buy the correct plug cord from any electrical retailer.

Best of luck with Japan...wish it was me...!

George M-A

[gar_uk]

There is definitely no point buying from UK. I just got mine from US, shipped by a friend, all package, including shipping, tax + 160gb intel x-18m + 8GB of ram is still much cheaper than the cheapest UK version. All the resellers seem to be supplied with the same stock and it seems that sales are going extremely slow for Lenovo UK and I'm not surprised. The only time UK thinkpads were comparable in price is when t61p just appeared , other than that Lenovo/IBM UK was always hugely overpriced.

[SZQ]

georgema, thanks for the info. Looking forward to Japan, just need to sort out this laptop!

gar_uk, may I ask how much you paid for it? This still looks like the best route for me although I don't know anybody in the US.

I have tried looking for alternative laptop models but can't seem to find anything that offers the same set of features in the same thin & light package. I noticed the Dell Studio 14z that looks pretty good, probably not the same build quality and totally different style, but that isn't even available to purchase in the UK.

What I really want: durable, lightweight laptop (2 Kg or less), good quality 13/14" display, 1440x900 or 1600x900 resolution, 4hrs+ battery, eSATA would be nice but not essential, for £1200 or less. Maybe I'm asking a bit much but the T400s has it all except the price in the UK.

Thanks.

[gar_uk]

SZQ, the actual laptop including tax, shipping etc cost me just over a thousand pounds and then some on extras. You can ask Bill, the admin of this site, maybe he can do it.

[SZQ]

Thanks gar_uk.

Just noticed that these are now available on the UK site, unfortunately:

Base model starts at £1,763.29.
SSD model starts at £1,958.84.

Bugger! I'm going to wait a few more weeks incase prices come down then decide what to do.

[LondonConsultant]

Well, at least the cost of buying a T400s in the UK has dropped approx £200 now that the Lenovo UK web site is selling them. It seems that the third-party online retailers were indeed profiteering beforehand...

[SZQ]

LondonConsultant, are you thinking of getting one?

I am still deciding. The model from the US I was thinking of importing (from Provantage) doesn't seem to have international warranty and I am not sure if it is possible to purchase the warranty separately.

[gar_uk]

LondonConsultant, are you thinking of getting one?

I am still deciding. The model from the US I was thinking of importing (from Provantage) doesn't seem to have international warranty and I am not sure if it is possible to purchase the warranty separately.

The site was updated, check again.

[LondonConsultant]

LondonConsultant, are you thinking of getting one?

Yes, but only after the prices have settled down in UK. For example, Oyyy is now selling a high-end T400s for £2000, but is still selling a low-end T400s for £1935 (so only £65 difference for upgrades including 2.4GHz to 2.53GHz and 250GB HDD to 128GB SSD). I therefore expect T400s prices in UK will lower as they settle over the coming weeks. A good time could be when the machines come with Windows 7 in October...

[georgema]

Had a look on the Provantage site and there are two T400s models listed on the main screen when searching for T400s:

2815-2ZU $2100 Warranty UK but NOT Japan.
2808-C4U $1428 Warranty UK and also Japan.

This is why you always have to check the model number on the warranty web site as at first glance the list of countries eligible for warranty looked very similar.

[SZQ]

That's really odd. I entered 2808 into the IWS page a couple of days ago and it said it was not eligible for IWS. Can they just change it at will? What if I buy it and it then changes?

2808 version is considerably cheaper and the one I would go for. I'm trying to figure out why it's so much cheaper compared to the 2815 model they have there. All I can see is:

120GB HDD vs 128GB SSD
2GB RAM vs 3GB RAM
XP Pro vs Vista Business
No bluetooth
No camera

Seems about right for $600

$1428.69 + $58.45 Delivery = £900.83 + 15% UK VAT = £1036 (£1 = $1.65085)
My Bank Transfer charge £25 + $35 Provantage charge
Customs admin charges £20-30?
So in total it comes to about £1110, still quite a saving.

Is there anything that I am missing? Provantage seem like a reputable company, anyone use them before?

Many thanks for your help.

[georgema]

I imagine the warranty doesn't change much however I'd always take a screen snapshot or printout of the IWS countries listed for the particular model and keep this with the other purchasing documents. Have you checked again to see if the countries are listed as I'd want to make sure we were both using the same web page to find the information.

Out of interest what's the UK price of the equivalent machine?

The only other consideration about buying from the US are any issues of the system being DOA, damage during delivery or something like stuck pixel's on the screen. I'm not sure if they are warranty issues or whether this would require the system to be returned and replaced by the supplier. You might want to check this kind of stuff with Provantage before ordering.

Cheers,

[SZQ]

I emailed Provantage regarding returns etc... and they replied with "...we do not ship IBM products outside the US/Canada as per manufacturer's instructions...". There goes that plan then. I imagine other stores in the US have similar restrictions.

Similar models in the UK start at about £1750 from various websites. It's not that widely available yet.

Thanks.

[SZQ]

Lenovo have just dropped there prices in the UK! Only directly through Lenovo's site though.

Cheapest one is now £1,326.29. Still about £300-£400 more expensive than similar US models but a bit more reasonable. Includes IWS as well. I imagine nobody bought them at the previous prices. Going to think about this over the weekend.

[SZQ]

Spoke too soon. T400s models have been removed from Lenovo UK shop.

[georgema]

Unless IBM/Lenovo have had a general clampdown then I wouldn't give up on the US option as there were always shops that wouldn't ship abroad. If I get a few minutes I'll have a dig around and see if I can find any other retailers outside of the UK that will ship.

As for the Lenovo UK web site see my previous comments at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=70209 If the price differential is small enough then it makes sense to buy from Lenovo UK. I don't mind paying a small margin for peace of mind and a local supplier but it has to be reasonable. Charging an extra £1000 for the same laptop in the UK is NOT reasonable.

To be honest I'm constantly surprised at the lack of a pan european retail market with the associated competition between retailers and price reductions for customers. With all of the blather about single market blah blah free trade blah blah etc. all we get are country specific outlets geared to their local market. The whole european single market didn't really seem to start at least for normal retail. A pity really as it could have been good for consumers. Anyway rant over...

George

[SZQ]

Totally agree George. I don't mind paying a small premium for a UK model. I really wish they would sort out there website, it's not brilliant. It seems to change every time I look at it.

I have got another 3-4 weeks before I really need to buy a laptop. Hopefully Lenovo will have sorted themselves out by then. If you do find any other stores that ship to UK then that would be great.

Many thanks.

[emconuk]

Spoke too soon. T400s models have been removed from Lenovo UK shop.

They seem to be back now. 12th August at 16:38

[SZQ]

They seem to be back now. 12th August at 16:38

Thanks, I stopped checking. I was thinking about using one of those services that give you a USA address, e.g. Bongo US, Borderlinx etc.

UK site is slightly cheaper now but still a bit more expensive than US prices. However, I think I may get one from UK now.

[Quicklite]

Just had a look, and I'm susprised any UK buyer would directly purchase from them... Then again, it's mostly large corporate businesses would buy Thinkpads at their RRP.

[georgema]

Here's an alternative service that should open up more opportunities to purchase from vendors who don't ship internationally. Can't vouch for what the service is like but might be worth a look. This should let you purchase from the Lenovo website in the US and let you build a CTO model and even use any discount vouchers that come up occasionally.

Anyone on the forums ever used them, or a similar service?

http://www.shipito.com/

Cheers