Thinkpad DEMO units??

[xenocide]

Hey guys I just bought an X60 off craigslist that is labeled as a DEMO unit. Looked up the warranty, has onsite until 9/2011, is this a legit laptop, would I get in trouble for trying to make a warranty claim on it if I ever needed??

The guy I bought it from said he bought it off another guy on craigslist and did not know its history.

[rkawakami]

Where/how exactly is the unit marked "DEMO"? If the system is/was a factory demo or loaner, then the warranty lookup may report that it's a "Lenovo internal asset". If so, then there might be some questions about the chain of ownership even though the warranty is supposed to follow the system and not the owner. You could also be looking at a system that was part of some company's fleet (not Lenovo) that was physically marked as being a demo unit.

[xenocide]

It is marked as a DEMO next to the model number. It is reported as a Lenovo asset

[rkawakami]

This recent post by George may shed some light:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 29#p506029

[ajkula66]

The warranty of de-commissioned ThinkPads that show up as "Lenovo's internal asset" is useless to us non-employees. Period.

Having said that, I've owned quite a few ex-demo units and prototypes, and none has ever failed on me...

Given OP's location, the machine is most likely clean.

My $0.02 only...

[BillMorrow]

the X300 lenovo loaner i have is labeled DEMO..
its not mine to sell..
i would think that X60 belongs to lenovo..

its easy to find out, just call support and ask for warranty service and see what they have to say..

[Radioguy]

Yes, but use a payphone.

[ajkula66]

BillMorrow wrote:

the X300 lenovo loaner i have is labeled DEMO..

As is the W500 loaner that I'm typing this on...

The biggest problem here, as I've stated in the other thread, is that Lenovo doesn't update their records in a timely manner. I'm aware of at least two legitimate online liquidators that sell dozens, and on occasion hundreds, of such units at the time. There is no way these people would still be in business after several years if the ThinkPads they were disposing of were shady in any respect...

Having said that, I always make sure to have a strong paper trail for any such unit in my possession, and would not buy one on CL, although there is a very slim chance that there's anything wrong with OP's X60...IMHO, that is.

Lenovo is a huge company, and these machines come from a variety of sources. Some are genuine "demo" loaner machines that are used for testing/reviews etc. The other ones are a part of "IBM Loaner Program" which Lenovo obviously participates in. The third segments are testbeds, which are the easiest one to identify in most cases, because they'll either have a completely meaningless model number, or a senseless warranty information. I've owned (and sold on this forum) a most unusual T43 which shows up with the warranty that had expired four months after its start date, something I have never ever heard of...

Now, to make the situation even more confusing, I've owned liquidated machines that pop up with normal warranty info, although they're labeled as being a demo, or a part of a loaner program...

One can't really rely on the machine's age either. I've seen units as recent as T400/500 and R400/500 being liquidated by one of the sources I had mentioned earlier...although, in all fairness, the older the machine, the safer it probably is. It's kinda weird when you see vintage ThinkPads like 600x and A21e being a part of the same liquidation offer as a T400...and next to anything and everything in between...

Chances are that OP will wake up one morning (if the machine is still in his possession) and find out that the warranty had expired overnight, with no mention of "internal asset" anywhere...that is the most likely scenario which I've seen on quite a few occasions, but it takes time, and often a lot of it...

My experiences only...

[jwthinkpad]

I'm in a similiar situation as a few others here. I'd appreciate any help.

I just found out that I am using a "lenovo internal asset", I also found out (from this discussion) that the warranty voids when the laptop was sold to me. However, I've had servicing for this laptops a few times over the past year. No customer service rep has informed me of this before.

Also, I would check the lenovo warranty self-check site, and the expiration date moved to the future by itself, without any action on my part. Have you ever come across a similar case before?

Thanks
jw


**UPDATE: question resolved. thanks

[sparta.rising]

I purchased a DEMO T42 that was still under on-site warranty. I called support and it was fixed without any problem. Only annoying thing is that model type doesn't show up in lenovo's databases so Software Update doesn't work and I can't use the quick path to download drivers.

[crashnburn]

....

Who are these online liquidators you talk of? Would sharing that info be of an issue to your business?

[ajkula66]

crashburn wrote:

Who are these online liquidators you talk of? Would sharing that info be of an issue to your business?

BTW, I'm aware that these units do get serviced occasionally. What everyone else should be aware of is this quote from an official Lenovo representative which was the part of the answer I got when I had inquired about the given issue:

Official answer - no warranty. Contact your point of purchase for any warranty they want to provide, or if they would provide you with some statement saying these were supposed to be in warranty

So, if you're buying one of these machines, roll the dice with caution...