Configuring online / Express CTO

[boilermakerinatl]

I've been reading the forums for a few weeks now, and came across the IBM site that gives discounts for students and alumni(http://www.ibm.com/education/us/). For the most part these are the best prices I've seen so far, most Thinkpads are discounted 10%, some 15% and some not at all (they're offering an extra 6 cell battery for free right now too). I came across the "let me build it" option which has some very good prices on models without hard drive, wireless, optical drive, and OS. By doing this the configurations are hundreds cheaper than the pre configured Think Express models. Yesterday I called the 800 # to ask a few questions, I was told that they would not sell a computer without a hard drive and OS. But I don't understand this, since it will let me add it to my cart and go as far as asking for my credit card #. Maybe I should call and ask someone else? Has anyone experienced this before? It would be ideal, so I can piece together exactly what I want and buy components from good retailers (Newegg, ZipZoomFly, Buy.com, etc.) to save even more over the IBM prices. If I could do this, I could get ~$1,500 compuer for less than $1000 (I just have to intstall a few parts). Feedback would be appreciated...this is what I am trying to build.

R51 or R52
15" SXGA
256mb ram (will add more later)
40gb 5400rpm
wireless B/G
CDRW/DVD combo

Eric

[Aroc]

Sorry I don't have the answer, but I'll bump your thread since I'm curious about the answer myself. I plan to get myself either a X or T series CTO for about $900, then add the 3yr TPP on top of that. The wife wants a CTO R series. In both cases we should be able to get a fast hard disk, caddy, and some RAM from a 3rd party to save serious money. Then as finances permit, we'll add extras like optical drives and wi-fi cards. But for now I'd like to just buy a bare chassis. I was led to believe this was possible if you just called in and specifically (I assume you need to be persistent) and clearly asked for such a unit.

Aaron

[boilermakerinatl]

I placed my order for an R52 18494TU on the 26th. Original ship date was 7/11, changed to 7/12 and is now 7/13. I would think if there was a problem with the order I would have been contacted by now. So far so good, as long as the ship date doesn't keep getting pushed back.

[thisdude]

Any updates?

[emorphien]

You should double check what you're getting in the cart. They are adding base hard drive, optical and ram components to it. Any upgrades you do later wont be covered by the warranty I believe.

I got a T43p CTO (2687 E4U) and upgraded the RAM myself and pretty well loaded the rest of it through IBM. Still a better deal than anything else I could have gotten.

Upgrade your ram elsewhere, but you'll still have to get one hard drive and optical drive whether you want to or not. I chose to get those upgraded to what I wanted when I customized the machine.

[boilermakerinatl]

You can definately order a computer without hard drive, memory, optical drive, and OS. BUT...my computer is still on order...the ship date has changed something like 16 times, but I have lost track. The reason I was told is because of chip set issues from Intel. I have picked up some super deals on eBay...so my R52 should be about $900 with CD/DVD combo, 60gb 5400 rpm, 1gb ram, wireless A/B/G, built in bluetooth and 15" SXGA, etc. A lot cheaper than any configuration you could do from IBM.