How good is IBM customer service really? & a few quick q

[notebooknewbie]

Hi there! I'm a first-time poster here on this site and am currently in the market for a Thinkpad (hopefully a T42). Since I'm not a big computer guy (lets just say I start sweating when my desktop freezes...it's an IBM Aptiva btw), my biggest concern is with the customer service. For the most part, I've heard that IBM has the best customer service out of the major laptop makers (Toshiba is a close second). However, does anyone have any actual experience to vouch for the quality of the customer service. In addition, the laptop I'm looking at offers a "1-year International Warranty/24x7 Phone Warranty Support"...does that mean I can't send it in to IBM to fix? Would it be worth it to upgrade to a 2 or 3 year on-site plan or is that unnecessary?

I also had a few very quick other questions regarding the Thinkpad T42:

1. I heard that the Magnesium cover chips and scratches very easily...is there any truth to that?

2. The advertisement says "Battery Life of 5.5 hours". Does battery life ever reach that number?

Thanks for your help guys...much apprechiated!

[kiig]

I've called IBM tech support a number of times and I can't complain. It takes very few people to actually get one that can help you and is competent to do so. (as opposed to my local telecom where I usually end up dialling in circles because everyone says I need to talk to someone else in a different department)

Usually I call tech support, - they log my call and a few minutes later the right technician phones me back...

Though we use Dell for the majority of our pc's and servers - I think that IBM tech support is better than Dell's.

Kim

[sktn77a]

IBM tech support/service is probably the best there is out there but that may not be saying much any more.

1.. It's more robust than the painted surfaces of most other laptops.
2. And I have some land in florida I can sell you..........................