What is the best way to buy a thinkpad?

[thaque]

I am very interested to buy a T42. Can anyone tell me about some good online vendors who you have expeience with?

How can I get 64MB ATI 9600 video card with 14.1" screen? the customizable T42 in IBM website only shows 64MB video card as an option with 15" screen. But I do know some people has it.

Thanks a lot for helping a newbie here like me.

[wanna_IBM]

I just purchased one from this person. Have not received yet (just bought tonight) but he has been alot of help and has answered every question in detail. This is 700.00 more on the IBM site than he sells it for, nice savings plus great feedback.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 44390&rd=1

There is also www.thinkpads.com and www.newegg.com

[MadeInJapan]

This guy has great rating...I think that's the key on eBay!
I also have bought on eBay with great results, but if someone's rating is really high, you should still actually go and see his latest ratings. Sometimes, someone who is good for awhile goes downhill too. I've seen guys with 98 and 99% rating who have sold thousands have really poor last few month ratings. It's scary to discover this after you've bought...then all you can do is keep your fingers crossed.

I've found a few guys I've bought from, starting on eBay and then have continued our buy-sell relationship off of eBay. At that point, the main things are trust and accessability. This one guy I buy from who is in Raleigh, NC, I can pick up the phone and call him anytime...we're on first name basis and I've probably bought 10 or so ThinkPads from him. It's nice to be able to do that....no eBay, so there's a risk but once the relationship is built, it's very nice!

One last though on buying from the web...I often go here to compare prices with eBay: www.pricewatch.com On some items, PriceWatch is cheaper.

[JaneL]

>I am very interested to buy a T42. Can anyone tell me about some good online vendors who you have expeience with?
>

Hmmm... let me think... Perhaps Bill Morrow at http://thinkpads.com could help you? After all, this is his forum...

[muffd]

I want to share my experience with Newegg buying a T41 for a friend of mine. I had this thing within 2 days after placing the order. The only thing that delayed it was my credit card company who just needed to call me to verify i was making a large purchase. Plus, they carry over the 3 year warranty from IBM.

[shutchinson]

Bill, who owns and run's this site as well as Thinkpads.com is the guy to buy from. I've been buying laptops from him for a long time. His prices are great, and you can't beat the service. Besides it also helps keep this board going.

Scott Hutchinson

[VC15]

Definitely contact Bill for a quote. Great and fast service.

[JHEM]

I just purchased one from this person. Have not received yet (just bought tonight) but he has been alot of help and has answered every question in detail. This is 700.00 more on the IBM site than he sells it for, nice savings plus great feedback.

According to this guy's feedback, he sold a 2373-GVU to someone for $.99???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 6705948724

I hope you'll let us all know when (and if!) your Thinkpad actually arrives!

Regards,

James

[kass73]

oops..pls delete this post
sorry

[Briusk]

According to this guy's feedback, he sold a 2373-GVU to someone for $.99???

Yes! But as you say it's just for feedback purposes, the price was agreed offline and pretty-really competitive according to the market rates.

This fantastic seller shipped me the item also pre-configured with a customized/optimized XP SP2 installation plus some bonus S/W all in

The transaction was smooth and the delivery fast, even down to Italy...

A great catch overall: trust and reliability still exist guys...