Ordered a thinkpad

Sick of waiting mostly. I wasn't going to go through with it after the lenovo cs rep told me the estimated ship date was 3 weeks, but she talked me into it saying that most actually ship in a few days.... we'll see whether my vostro or t61 sends me a shipping notice first... the other one will get canceled. Hearing about all the problems with dell's 1520 inspiron... but knowing the dell has the better components and better price, I don't know who to root for .

 

I ordered a T61 on Saturday (21st) and the estimated ship date was in September.
I ordered a Dell 1420 the next day because I didn't want to wait, and it looks like a good laptop. Needless to say, the estimated ship date is over a month sooner than the T61 was, and it seems like many people's Dell notebooks ship before the estimated date, while it the ThinkPads do not. Plus the Dell is over $300 cheaper with slightly better specs.

I hope it all works out well for you, but Lenovo seems to be slow to ship. (Just look at how many configuration upgrades "may delay your shipment," on their website.

 

I'd recommend waiting for the one you want, whether it be the lenovo or dell. Letting whichever one gets to you first is not a great basis for making a decision imo, because the frustration from delays is significantly shorter term (week or two) than from not having the notebook you wanted (YEAR or two, or more).

Not to say you wouldn't be satisfied with either, but if you are an enthusiast, surely one or the other best matches your preferences.

 

Patience is a virtue

 

I'm fine with either. They have basically the same gpu and they do have the same cpu, and everything else can easily be updated later. The t61 has a much more solid reputation and support line, and likely much superior build quality- if the vostros are really just repainted 1520s. The dell has double the hard drive space and windows xp. The t61 is more portable at 14". But the t61 is more expensive. Everybody basically just uses the same parts in different cases, computers aren't all that different one from another. I'll let time be the deciding factor. Rippon, I hope you checked the lenovo forum before you canceled the thinkpad.... apparently there's a glitch in the system that shows an estimated delivery date much later than it should be. People are getting them shipped within a week of ordering. I ordered my dell on the 16th, and the thinkpad on the 24th. It might be close.

 

Lenovo has a restocking fee and often even if you cancel your order they still ship it to you.

 

The Lenovo T61 that I ordered back in May hadn't even moved by the middle of July, so I wouldn't expect anything fast from them. They pushed back my order three times and the second level support person who was going to "stay on top of it until it shipped" started ignoring me completely after 1 call. Fed up with the whole thing, I tried to cancel and even then it took them over a week to clear the order. Delays I can understand and live with, but an inability to manage their own supply chain just smacks of incompetence.

Best of luck though - please keep everyone posted on how it turns out.

 

Only if you open the box and sealed bag. And actually I DID hear about the thing where they send it to you anyways. But they don't charge you until it ships. I got a new credit card with a better interest rate and perks, and I was going to cancel my old credit card that I used to order the t61 with anyways. If the dell ships first, I'm going to cancel the old card and the t61 order. Then if they want to ship me the t61 without being able to charge me, I'll just thank them for the free computer.

 

Watch your credit score

 

Both Dell and Lenovo have a short supply of the 15.4' widescreens. I guess they are using the same supply chain. To me most of the internal parts are the same. Both use intel processor, Santa Rosa, Same kind of hard drives, Intel ABGN wireless, etc.. Most of the difference is external and looks. The T61 is the better build. Dell Latitudes come close to the T61's. Dell Precissions are on par with the T61p.

 

I wish you all the luck in the world with the Thinkpad. Have owned many laptop brands and the Stink-pad was wrought with many mores problems than the others. Had motherboards fried / replaced on a couple of them. And from an ease of use / ergonomic standpoint, I simply loathed them- loud, clanky keyboard and that stupid red zit thingy in the middle!

 

So you're trying to say Dell inspirons are going to be more well built and reliable than Thinkpad?
It won't affect my credit score... they get a canceled order and try to put false charges on a dead credit card anyways, it's on them.
I also ordered the 14" screen, not the 15" like on my dell.
So we'll just see which one gets here first. Dell did upgrade me to next day shipping today though.