What would you do?

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laundromatt · #1 Post by **laundromatt** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:37 pm

hi - long time reader, first time poster here.

i'm looking at getting a 2623-D6U (14.1, sxga, 1.83 ghz, 512 MB...) and wanted some advice.

would you go with a third party vendor for 1442 - 200 current mail-in rebate + 0 sales tax = 1242

OR

lenovo with EPP for XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX?

as i see it, if i went with lenovo, i'd be paying $XXX extra for 1) not having to deal with the mail-in rebate, and 2) the option of returning it within 30 days for any reason (in case i get one with a dead pixel or two). i personally don't mind paying for the extra piece of mind, but i don't want to shell out the extra $$ if it would just be throwing away money.

what do you guys think?

thanks!

Note from Moderator: I'd start with reading the Rules of the Road and not violating them by discussing EPP pricing...

[edit] my apologies to the moderator - i've read it now.

christopher_wolf · #2 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:53 pm

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

I would go with Lenovo simply because there is no rebate hassle and they have the 30-day return policy; if, however, you need it in a jiffy at the lowest price, you might want to go with the re-seller.

#3 Post by **Kyocera** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:01 pm

I would go with Lenovo (and just recently did so I put my money where my mouth is). I have had good service, and customer to tech relations with them as IBM, I hope it remains the status quo for a long time to come. If I'm wrong then it has been a great five year relationship with IBM. But the times they are a changin.

BorisKV · #4 Post by **BorisKV** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:32 pm

AFAIK if you go with EPP program you loose the ability to return laptop withing 30 days for refund, so read agreement/return policy carefull first.

laundromatt · #5 Post by **laundromatt** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:44 pm

BorisKV wrote:AFAIK if you go with EPP program you loose the ability to return laptop withing 30 days for refund, so read agreement/return policy carefull first.

hmmm... thanks for pointing that out - i'll definitely check. though, from the looks of the other posts here, it looks like you're right.

oh well, with the 30 day return option out the window, i guess it's just down to not having to deal with the mail-in rebate, and the better reputation of lenovo's customer service. still worth it to go with lenovo?

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:27 pm

christopher_wolf wrote:if, however, you need it in a jiffy at the lowest price, you might want to go with the re-seller.

That's the way I would look at it. Warranty service is the same. In fact, that's what I did when I bought my T42 about 1-1/2 years ago. I bought mine from Cost Central. Cost Central and Euclid Computers are both good sources. That said, I just helped my wife buy a T42 from directly from Lenovo last month during their anniversary sale because it was such a good deal.

laundromatt · #7 Post by **laundromatt** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:02 pm

thanks, all.

any other opinions?

Antioch · #8 Post by **Antioch** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:48 am

You lose the ability to return the laptop within 30 days for a refund - but do you still have the ability to send the laptop back and get a replacement, no-questions-asked, during the first 30 days?

If you do indeed lose BOTH benefits, then I'd say go with the cheapest price.

However, please post a response about which benefits you still maintain - because I'm thinking of purchasing with an EPP but I'm not sure of the rules.

Thanks!

laundromatt · #9 Post by **laundromatt** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:02 am

Antioch wrote:You lose the ability to return the laptop within 30 days for a refund - but do you still have the ability to send the laptop back and get a replacement, no-questions-asked, during the first 30 days?

I called Lenovo, and according to the person I spoke to, the answer is no, you don't have that ability. She said that all EPP sales are final.

Question for everyone else - could it be that if I got it from Lenovo, I would be getting one with newer/more refined parts than one that's been sitting in a stockroom somewhere?

Thanks!

#10 Post by **RonS** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:59 am

Within the last two months, I've returned two T60's purchased using EPP. One was for a refund (which I received), the other was a swap-out. I wasn't hassled at all.

I swapped them out because of the screen flicker problem, which I thought was a x5200 hardware problem, but turned out to be a BIOS problem.

baraider · #11 Post by **baraider** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:08 pm

I did look at Costcentral for this model and their $200 rebate is not listed with D6U model
http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/L ... 6U/J49840/
Whereas the rebate is listed with the D4U model
http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/L ... 623/2623D4

The rebate form here http://rebateplace.com/forms/9289.pdf clearly states that any 2623 T models will eligible for this rebate...I'm on the fence here. Need to order sometime this weekend.

Any one order the 2623D6U from costcentral?

laundromatt · #12 Post by **laundromatt** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:02 pm

the rebate covers the d6u as well. i called lenovo's rebate line.

baraider · #13 Post by **baraider** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:07 pm

laundromatt wrote:the rebate covers the d6u as well. i called lenovo's rebate line.

Thanks for the quick respond. I got EPP as well but I think i'll go with Costcentral as the price is much better.

laundromatt · #14 Post by **laundromatt** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:15 pm

baraider wrote:
laundromatt wrote:the rebate covers the d6u as well. i called lenovo's rebate line.
Thanks for the quick respond. I got EPP as well but I think i'll go with Costcentral as the price is much better.

cool. let us know how it goes.

baraider · #15 Post by **baraider** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:17 pm

I'm in NY and it took about 1 week for the laptop to ship from HK to NY. I think we can get the laptop faster as it's in the warehouse somewhere in the east coast.

baraider · #16 Post by **baraider** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:32 pm

ok, took out my CC and just order. I'll post when i get it. Next stop is to order 1G ram from newegg for 71 AR, transcend brand.

Roisin · #17 Post by **Roisin** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 9:34 am

RonS wrote:Within the last two months, I've returned two T60's purchased using EPP. One was for a refund (which I received), the other was a swap-out. I wasn't hassled at all.

so can anybody else confirm that this is still possible?

baraider · #18 Post by **baraider** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:27 pm

received my t60 today, less than 24 hours after it shipped...sweet...

laundromatt · #19 Post by **laundromatt** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:59 pm

baraider wrote:received my t60 today, less than 24 hours after it shipped...sweet...

cool - how is it?

baraider · #20 Post by **baraider** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:28 pm

nice...i like the feel of my T42 better but i guess it was love at first sight and i was very fond of my first T42...This T60 seems very fast, even with only 512MB....i uninstalled all the garbage and spent the last hour install firefox, nod32, office 2007 and some other stuff i need.
My 1G ram is shipped from newegg and my T60 should scream.
I did look at my parts and it show TMD lcd 13N7063 (no dead pixel, I checked) chicony keyboard 39T7178...and sanyo battery. I used the software updater to update all the MS fix and all the newer software for TP. I updated to the new BIOS.

laundromatt · #21 Post by **laundromatt** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:16 pm

Got mine from costcentral today. No bad pixels, so I'm happy.

Now, onto see what parts I've been given...

guYom · #22 Post by **guYom** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:27 pm

I got my 2623 d6u a couple days ago from costcentral... I am new to TP, but love it so far, especially thanks to this forum and its wealth of information.

I did an 'auto-detect this system' on the Lenovo site, but it does not tell me the manufacturers of the vraious parts, I am just getting the specs.

How do you see the parts tha you 've been given?

For the dead pixel, besides a 'naked eye' inspection, is there a tool for that as well?

Thanks laundromatt !

christopher_wolf · #23 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:42 pm

guYom wrote:I got my 2623 d6u a couple days ago from costcentral... I am new to TP, but love it so far, especially thanks to this forum and its wealth of information.

I did an 'auto-detect this system' on the Lenovo site, but it does not tell me the manufacturers of the vraious parts, I am just getting the specs.

How do you see the parts tha you 've been given?

For the dead pixel, besides a 'naked eye' inspection, is there a tool for that as well?

Thanks laundromatt !

For a dead pixel? Nope; have to do it by eye.

guYom · #24 Post by **guYom** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:07 am

Thanks Christopher. I don't see any dead pixels, but I do see some discoloratoion in the upper right corner and only when I use my browser -- I don't see this discoloration on the desktop, or when I use Word for instance. It's kind of white going to orange, not sure how to describe it better.

For the manufacturers of the various parts in my T60, how do I go about that? I'd like to know about the keyboard, HDD, battery, etc.

I seem to be able to get only the specs from the Lenovo site when I enter my serial number, and not the manufacturers.

Thanks for letting me know.

baraider · #25 Post by **baraider** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:11 am

guYom wrote: For the manufacturers of the various parts in my T60, how do I go about that? I'd like to know about the keyboard, HDD, battery, etc.

I seem to be able to get only the specs from the Lenovo site when I enter my serial number, and not the manufacturers.

Take the part numbers that you got from levono website and do a search here, people have posted the part numbers with respective manufacturers.

guYom · #26 Post by **guYom** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:04 pm

Miust be doing somehting wrong when I am searching here on the board, I can't find my parts. Are all parts listed for the T60 in one post / or archive here? Or it is scattered all oover the place?

Let's say for these I have

LCD : 13n7060
keyboard : 39t7148

What are the manufacturers?

Thanks baraider !

baraider · #27 Post by **baraider** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 1:31 pm

the keyboard you have is Chicony...i think i have the same keyboard too...not sure since we have the same model

This thread discusses keyboard http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ht=39t7148

Do a search here or google for the part number for the lcd. I'll leave it to you to do it.

#28 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:07 pm

In http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=26473

codek wrote:1953d6u(like)
39T7148 39T7178 KEYBOARD FRU YES
2623d6u(do not like)
39T0988 39T7118 KEYBOARD FRU YES

irfan replied

irfan wrote:check this to find out which keyboard you have http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-61374

The fist one you have is CHICONY. The second one is ALPS.

I myself have NMB. I like this keyboard. The travel distance is longer than CHICONY and it has a nice feedback. Also, I need to push the keys harder than the CHICONY.

So you have the English, U.S. 39T7178 Chicony keyboard. Note that the second number is the one you can find.

See following page for keyboard part numbers:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62728

In http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=21686

serpico wrote that he has the following.

serpico wrote:13N7060 13N7061 14.1 INCH LCD DISPLAY FRU YES

So you have the BOE-Hydis 13N7061 LCD

See following page for LCD part numbers.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62784

It takes a little digging with the search button to find some of these part numbers. I had the same problem finding my keyboard manufacturer.

guYom · #29 Post by **guYom** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 4:25 pm

Thank you baraider and GomJabbar, this is all very usefull for a newbie.

I'll dig all my parts that way here or in Google.

baraider · #30 Post by **baraider** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:34 am

Has anyone received their $200 rebate check from IBM yet? I bought mine from costcentral in july and haven't got anything.

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