T4X IBM Japan Sleeve available in the UK

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suba · #1 Post by **suba** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:56 am

As a newbie, I have trawled the archives and learnt so much.....

I particularly liked the thread entitled T42 Sleeve from IBM Japan
and I wanted a black sleeve with red lining and hopefully an IBM logo too! I even emailed Ideastyle in Taiwan but they did not reply.

Well, good news for UK forum members! I got mine today from www.mymemory.co.uk for £11.99 post free.

Go to the website and enter Ideastyle in the search box, then scroll down to Laptop sleeves and click on the icon.

Top left is the black and red belt sleeve (click on the dropdown to reveal the 14 inch model for your T4X) and top right is a reconstituted leather version at £10.99 post free.

From a happy T4Xer

#2 Post by **Johan** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:30 pm

Nice find!

Some time ago I was too chasing another sleeve - and I wanted some identical to those previously offered by member riverwater in the thread FS: Thinkpad sleeve for 15'' and 14'' T60 and T4x and finally found one.. see the link in this post pointing to eBay shop wlanservice where I bought a few. They turned out to be identical to riverwater's. There are a wide variety of IBM sleeves on eBay; see e.g. these.

Johan

Radioguy · #3 Post by **Radioguy** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:07 pm

The plush and neoprene IBM branded sleeves you're discussing are generic sleeves that also come unbranded, or with other logos or text. DealExtreme has an assortment of generically branded ones as a much lower price. That has always kept me from buying one of the IBM-printed ones. It seems like too much of a premium for the same bag. (I'd pay a little more, but not that much)

Troels · #4 Post by **Troels** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:01 pm

Hmm claimed to be made or designed by a company by the name of IdeaStyle...

What an adorable quality homepage they have... that is, until you click "Designs":

http://www.ideastyle.net

No, nothing offensive there, but it looks like they are hacked.

I'd love to know if the leather case is available in 15" though...

Immortal LuD · #5 Post by **Immortal LuD** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:23 pm

I have one with the strap for my T42, and I love it. I always put my ThinkPad in that, before it goes into my laptop bag. Everybody at work and that I know think I'm so crazy for taking care of a 4 year old laptop... But again, that's why it looks brand new and never used.

I bought mine off eBay quite a while ago, and it is still holding up.

Radioguy · #6 Post by **Radioguy** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:29 pm

Troels wrote:Hmm claimed to be made or designed by a company by the name of IdeaStyle...

The black/red one too? I'd be surprised they had a site considering the fact those come with PC logos they have no right to use

suba · #7 Post by **suba** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:11 pm

Well, prepare to be surprised!

As an OEM Taiwanese supplier, it is more than likely that Ideastyle was THE original source of the IBM Japan black and red sleeves.

It is typically Taiwanese to illustrate past OEM commissions with or without acknowledgements!

In the older days, they would have been made in Taiwan but many low-cost items are now made in China albeit with Taiwanese QC.

In China, everyone wants to be the boss so people leave then start up their own companies in the same area poaching staff and producing cheaper knock-offs. These can be of variable quality and are often for sale on Ebay.

Charitably, they are paying royalties or are selling off a cancelled order.....

Uncharitably, they are just making a buck.....

Radioguy · #8 Post by **Radioguy** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:40 pm

suba wrote:Well, prepare to be surprised!

As an OEM Taiwanese supplier, it is more than likely that Ideastyle was THE original source of the IBM Japan black and red sleeves.

Can you show us evidence these were sold by IBM or Lenovo? I tend to doubt it, but I'd like to know for sure.

suba wrote:It is typically Taiwanese to illustrate past OEM commissions with or without acknowledgements!

In the older days, they would have been made in Taiwan but many low-cost items are now made in China albeit with Taiwanese QC.

In China, everyone wants to be the boss so people leave then start up their own companies in the same area poaching staff and producing cheaper knock-offs. These can be of variable quality and are often for sale on Ebay.

Charitably, they are paying royalties or are selling off a cancelled order.....

Uncharitably, they are just making a buck.....

While what you say can be true of certain manufacturers, in certain fields of production, this doesn't seem to be the case here. In fact, when it comes to products like these, the opposite has been established quite often. Just look at eBay, there are tons of generic HDD cases and bags that have been around for years, that suddenly popup as branded with Sony, Apple or IBM logos. No royalties are involved here, since virtually all of these products have never been produced for the companies in question.

Even more brazen is copying of actual products, like the older IBM laptop HDD enclosure (shown to be counterfeit), and the options case that comes with it. (sold on eBay separately as well)

Now that bothers some, but people knowingly buy them anyhow. Even I would probably buy 2 or 3 of the sleeve in question, provided the IBM-branded ones were comparable in price to the ones without those iron-ons.

suba · #9 Post by **suba** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:18 am

I am a buyer by profession and deal with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan on a daily basis, visiting each regularly.

All three Ideastyle sleeves I have are of excellent quality and consistent in terms of fit and finish and clarity and application of logos. In my opinion, they are very professional and smack of customer input and QC as if they were OEM.

A further scenario could be that they developed samples with IBM Japan to the required standard but failed to land the contract but then produced them anyway. I have seen that happen before...

I read all the extensive posts on sleeves and the comments on poor stitching and blurred logos on some sleeves from China - both indicative of low-quality copies.

Many such copies are visually strong but mechanically weak or have sloppy and inconsistent tolerances.....

Often, you get what you pay for.

yak · #10 Post by **yak** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:37 pm

I will be able to add my opinion to this topic as I have ordered one in this MyMemory UK store.

Btw. they ship to many countries, not only to UK, and it is always for free (read: already included in price).

#11 Post by **schen** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:51 pm

suba wrote:All three Ideastyle sleeves I have are of excellent quality and consistent in terms of fit and finish and clarity and application of logos. In my opinion, they are very professional and smack of customer input and QC as if they were OEM.

Many such copies are visually strong but mechanically weak or have sloppy and inconsistent tolerances.....

Often, you get what you pay for.

I have one of the Ideastyle 14" sleaves for my T42 and bought because it looked really well put together vs. some of the others that I saw as well as the fact that it didn't have a zipper. All I can say on it is that I agree with suba in that it doesn't look or feel like a case made to make a quick buck. Even the packaging that it came in had an "extra" plastic sleeve for it that you generally only find in OEM products.

I'm not saying that I know anything more than anyone about it, but "if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck"........

Temetka · #12 Post by **Temetka** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:56 pm

Maybe someone can help me out here then.

I had a 14.1 T41P years ago and I had the sleeve for it also.

Now that I have a 15" (non widescreen) T60, I would like to purchase another IBM labeled sleeve for it.

The one I had before was black and red and had a strap on the front where I would fold the flap over/under.

This is what I want for my T60.

Is it still available, and if so could someone throw me a link?

Thanks.

#13 Post by **Johan** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:24 pm

See the post above - the one of Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:30 pm. That's what you want! It looks exactly like this one, and is also available in the 15.0" format (4:3). Just e-mail the seller, as explained above!

Johan

yak · #14 Post by **yak** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:05 am

Ok, I got the sleeve today. Shipping was quite fast from the UK to Germany.

I have to say that the sleeve if great. High quality. I read many posts about some of these IBM branded sleeves having a strong chemical smell but mine has no smell at all.

It has an IBM logo seen when opened up with an URL to japan IBM site and a ThinkVantage logo.

Mine T60 with a 9-cell battery fits perfectly.

I made some photos for you, check them out:
http://picasaweb.google.de/arkadiusz.wa ... ptopSleeve

suba · #15 Post by **suba** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:58 pm

Hi yak,

Thank you for posting your images.

So glad that your like the quality!

T4X IBM Japan Sleeve available in the UK

T4X IBM Japan Sleeve available in the UK

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