Lenovo Outlet store: Want to buy a refurbished laptop

I am planning on buying a refurbished Thinkpad through the Lenovo Outlet and had a few questions.

- Do coupons apply to refurb machines?
- How good are Lenovo refurbished laptops? Are they refurbished properly and are they reliable, are they held to high standards? Would the machine be to new standards? For example, when I was looking to get an IPOD for a great price, many people told me to buy from Apples refurbished section. I was told they were very good at refurbishing their stuff and the stuff was held to high standards and was well tested. Well I have had my refurb IPOD for 2 1/2 years and use it daily without a single problem.

Please provide me with any personal experiences or thoughts. Thanks.

 

No.

I bought a couple refurbed machines for others. They looked new to me, but YMMV.

 

Currently using a refurbished Lenovo 3000 n 500 in great shape like new.

 

I'm sure Lenovo does a decent job with refurb-ed machines, though they also have a category of "Previously Ordered New" (or something like that). When I ordered my T400, they sent out two, even though I'd only ordered one. I had to send one back; it will probably be sold in that category. So if you're uncomfortable, you can go that route.

The problem I have with Lenovo's Outlet is the site is a mess. You have to check every single laptop within, say, the T series; you can't say "Show me only T500's with discrete graphics and a DVD burner". It's also hard sometimes to tell whether smaller features are included with a model. Then when you order, it takes days for them to ensure the model is still there, then assign it an order number.

IMO, Lenovo needs to steal a page from Dell's playbook. Check out http://www.dell.com/outlet and go to Small Business Laptops. You can choose the model you want, and then optionally filter by CPU speed, minimum HDD size, minimum RAM, minimum graphics RAM, optical drive, included operating system, etc. And you can THEN look at individual laptops to get additional configuration info like which battery is included. And Dell has a Just-In-Time ordering config like their new product, so if you order, you know the system is in stock and you're getting it.

Lenovo's Outlet machines should be good quality --but their selection and ordering process is crap. And with the discounts you can get on a new machine through CPP and additional coupon codes, I'd compare very carefully to make sure you're saving money, since the ordering process is smoother as well.

 

Thanks guys. So no coupon on Outlet products, good to know. LoneWolf, I can't agree with you more. Their outlet products selection is a mess and I have done as you have, going through every single machine and even then their specs are incomplete and incorrect. I read on the Thinkpads.com forum that you should take screenshots/make pdf documents of all the ordering info and confirmation screens, since the rep has no way of confirming any of this . Pretty crazy. I guess I will have to put of with some frustration to get a good deal. Thanks.

 

Hi Fire Snake,

I have no transaction experience with Lenovo Outlet.

Everyone can tell that the site does not give accurate and detailed information. In fact, seeing that they can label Ultranav (TrackPoint & TrackPad) as a spec for X-series machines doesn't give me much confidence if they can make such a basic mistake.

In addition, feedback from this forum seems to indicate that it's the luck of the draw what exact specs of the machine you are getting.

I'd say the price discount has to be rather steep in order for me to risk NOT getting what's essential for me.

Knowing a machine's Model, Type and Serial no. is important for me to verify its warranty status and specifications. Better yet, I prefer to eyeball a machine hands-on through a local sale. Nothing beats handling the actual thing I'm gonna buy. I pay ready cash or ATM transfer on the spot once I'm satisfied.

Price alone should not be the sole deciding factor.

Of course, if one enjoys the thrill of not knowing what exactly he/she will get and likes to be (hopefully, pleasantly) surprised, then go for it.

Good luck on your purchase.

 

FireSnake,

Not that I'm anti-Lenovo or anything (since I've owned two ThinkPads now), but I also forgot to mention --Dell has coupons for their Outlet from time to time. It's possible that Lenovo does occasionally (I usually check Dealigg.com for some of the most accurate Lenovo coupon info in addition to the forum here) but if I were you, I'd at least go to Dell's Outlet for Business and check out the Latitude E6400 and E6500. You still get a Trackpoint with those models, and you know what you're getting; there's no ambiguity. No UltraNav perhaps, but solid machines. We're a Dell house at work, so I've had experience with them, and aside from a bad spot about five years back, they've been very good.

Otherwise, I'd just go with Lenovo's CPP program and try and stack a coupon or two. Once you've done that, there's not a lot of difference in price between new and the Outlet.

 

I agree with you but as you know price is very important in the decision factor. My uses with the laptop have become very little. I thought I was going to do a lot more on it, but that has not been the case. I would also love to see the laptop I was to buy in person and hold it/play with it, but with the Thinkpads that is not so easy. Even with that being the case I found one place that had Thinkpads on display(a college bookstore) and played with a couple of models they had setup in there. This is what really solidified my decision to buy my T61p. But I can't look at Lenovo's full selection of machines, as I would like, but I am ok with that since I like their design philosophy and loved my T61p more than I thought I would.

With that being said, lets come to price. The Oulet refurb section does in fact have very good deals. Some of the deals are as good as being 50% to 60% off. If you are willing to deal with these annoyances and are ok with a refurb machine, then it seems to be a good deal. For example in my specific case I want to get an X series tablet. The prices on the refurb X61 tablet are very good and are a couple hundred dollars less than the X200 tablet. As you know the X61 is no longer produced, so this is a good place to get one.

If however I get a very poor condition machine(why I stated this thread, to find out the condition) with incorrect specs then no, the price reduction is not worth it.

All in all, nothing is off the table, just trying to find the best possible machine I can buy with the money I am willing to spend and given the additional factor of my modest usage requirements.

 

LoneWolf,
Thanks for the advice. I used Dells business laptops(Lattitude series D820 and D620) before buying my Thinkpad. I still like the Thinkpad a lot more. But I agree Dell's Business series is nice. I have been to the Dell Outlet store before and it is much better organized. I think that I have decided to stay with the Thinkpads though.

I priced out a machine on CPP and it is a great discount, but the Outlet seems to be better(obviously not new). In my personal experience, I found very few coupons to stack with the CPP discount(ex: pay with Paypal is one I can remember). Do you know of coupons that do stack?

Right now I am thinking that I want an X series tablet. The X200 is very nice but seems to be a bit out of my price range. So, I am looking a generation back at the X61t and since they are not being made any more by Lenovo, I thought of looking for them in the Outlet. I am also checking ebay as well.

But thanks, you gave me a few more options.

 

I used the 5% off "USETSAVINGS" coupon at the time I purchased, but I think that one has expired. You can try it though. That discount, along with the CPP savings, brought my price way down from anything other configuration I tried (Visa program, .EDU program, regular coupons, etc.). I didn't have any other coupons.