Lenovo Outlet, truly "new"?

I'm interested in anyone's experience with the Lenovo Outlet. I see some good deals on "new" notebooks and I may be interested. I know ZaZ highly recommends it, but what are any experiences anyone has had with them? Are they truly new, unopened?

 

Yup, there are orders that people configure and buy but end up cancelling before it's shipped, so essentially it's new. It's cheaper because now it's preconfigured.

 

I've heard nothing but horror stories about actually receiving a unit and that the descriptions are inaccurate, so it's really a major exercise in patience to save a few bucks. Some are very tolerant and are willing to do that, but if one values one's time over money in any way, then the outlet is not the way to go. That said, I still find myself browsing the outlet alot and wondering if I'll get lucky.

 

See that's what my initial hesitation was. I'll probably pass on the outlet...

 

keep in mind that happy customers rarely go out of their way to post good experiences online.   as soon as something goes wrong though, watch out... it's on ten forums, twitter, facebook, youtube, and the 11 o'clock news.

the key is in knowing how to read products in the outlet by looking up their machine type and serial number.

these two threads should help:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=57171
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305542

 

i'm a happy outlet customer. i received exactly what was described and it was new and beautiful and i love it. i'd order again from the outlet in a heartbeat.

 

Thanks for the links erik, I read them. Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, to maybe get what you ordered, then go through the hassle of contacting Lenovo. I think I'll pass on the outlet, but hope this information can be of use to others!

 

"New" is new. "Redistributed" is cancelled order. "Refurbished" is returned order, works perfectly but may have minor cosmetic damage. "Scratch and dent" is confirmed to have cosmetic damage.

I had purchased a refurbished T61 from them before, and it looked basically new. Didn't have any cosmetic damage on it.

The only problem with the Outlet is that it's processing and shipping time is very unpredictable.

 

If you're looking for value, the outlet is the real deal. The X200 I got for $600 is probably a $950 notebook even with the 20% coupons. Every item I've bought they're from the outlet has looked new to me and you're still getting the full warranty. What's not to love? Even if you don't like refurbed machines, there's good deals on new or redistributed machines as well.

 

I was wondering when you'd show up. I'm getting a mixed bag of opinions here, I don't know what to think...

 

at least you have an outlet store !! In Europe we pay about triple the price ... an X200s is still quoted about 1,700 Euros here *including VAT", that is over U$2,200. So if a little patience is required ... well I sure would want a cheapie ! Any cheap US sellers who ship to Europe ?