Experiences with IBM Certified Pre-owned notebooks?

[Norway Pad]

I am looking into buying another Thinkpad within the next year, and by coincidence I came across the IBM Certified Pre-owned netbook site. I had no idea that IBM still had anything to do with laptops at all, so I was surprised to see this. The prices didn't seem to bad, even though the laptops I found was listed as "Slightly blemished".

Does anyone here on the forum have any experience buying anything from here? Do the computers you buy here appear to be properly tested, and where do they come from to begin with? And is anything of this in stock at all? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[ajkula66]

If you were to search really hard, you'd find a couple of threads dealing with these...

The experiences reported have been mixed at best, and more on the lower-end side of the spectrum...

There are also some warranty caveats associated with these machines...

You'd be much better off buying a ThinkPad in this forum's Marketplace, and I'm not tooting my own horn...

[Norway Pad]

Thanks for the reply.

I did actually do a search in the recent posts, and found the story with the person who was dissatisfied with the type of screen in his T60. That might not be all IBM's fault, but from this and another previous thread I got the impression that you don't know what you actually get from them. And no one there can tell you if you ask..

Hard to tell for sure from reading only those two threads, but your answer seem to confirm my initial thoughts. In that case this forum is indeed a better place to buy. You actually deal with persons, one to one, and you buy from someone who knows what they sell.

[RealBlackStuff]

This forum's Marketplace is indeed by far the best place to buy a used Thinkpad, especially if you buy from reputable, established forum members such as ajkula66, underclocker and harryc, to mention but a few.

[Norway Pad]

Your advices are appreciated. I have a good experience with buying parts from people on this forum, so if buying an entire laptop turns out just as fine, there will be no problem. I will post a WTB note as soon as I think the time is right to let the T43 retire.