New Potential Lenovo x201 Buyer. Advice Please !

Hello,

After being an owner of a Dell XPS m1530 for two years, and living through the horrible tech support of Dell and 6 motherboard replacements among other things, I decided that it was time that I switch over to something else. I'm a full time linux user, and I don't do much intensive 3d. If I play games, it's usually 2d games, or basic 3d, the dedicated card in the m1530 ended up just being a battery eater. After doing some research, I've found the x201 to be a perfect candidate for my next system. It's very portable, and has great battery life while still keeping the CPU power I need for some of my tasks.

First, here is the system configuration I am considering :
Thinkpad X201
Intel Core i5-540M Processor (2.53GHz, 3MB L3, 1066MHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (32 bit)
12.1" WXGA (1280x800) 16:10 aspect Anti-Glare display with LED Backlight, 2x2 UltraConnect II antenna, Camera and Wireless BroadbandUpgradable
Intel HD Graphics
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
TrackPoint with Fingerprint Reader and Touchpad
500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
9-cell battery
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 AGN
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable
1 Year Depot/Express Warranty
1Yr Onsite Warranty Next Business Day

Without the coupon code, it's $1,598.00. When I add the coupon code, it's $1,209.50. I'm buying from Canada, and the amounts are in Canadian currency. I heard that I could get maybe a better discount if I ask on the phone. If anyone has any good coupon codes, or discounts or something, please tell me !

Also, I want to know how the Lenovo experience compares to the one from Dell. If I buy online, do I have to wait a month to get my system shipped like Dell ? Or is it much faster with Lenovo ?. Also, does anyone know of canadian retail stores that might sell the system ? Finally, I plan on buying Onsite warranty like I did with Dell, it prooved very useful. Does Lenovo have good tech support ?

Finally, I'm curious about Lenovo's build quality, I heard it's top of the line. I have seen older Thinkpad's in the past, and they felt quite solid. Is it still the case ? Also, does the X201 with a 9-cell really get 11 hours of battery life (I'd imagine it has to be tweaked correctly, and limited usage) ?. Lastly, any general tips of advice on owning a Lenovo in general, or on the x201 ?

Thanks for the help. If all goes well, I'll be soon purchasing that system.

 

I paid a total of 1129 USD for the system below... ( includes nearly 300$ extra for onsite warranty. From my experience this is must )
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7 PROFES.64 $0.00
60Y7932 SBB GWIN7PROF64 US ENGLISH $0.00
60Y7816 SBB 12.1WXGALED2X2UCIIAW/C+WBU $0.00
42X6309 VBB 4GBPC3-8500 1067MHZ2DIMM $0.00
44C5216 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH $0.00
60Y7818 SBB TRACKPOINTWITHTOUCHPAD $0.00
60Y7834 SBB 320GBHDISKDRIVE,7200RPM $0.00
60Y7826 SBB 5-1MEDIACARDREADER+MODEM $0.00
75Y1342 SBB THPADX200SER 6CELLLI-IONBAT $0.00
41W1787 SBB CPK NORTH AMERICA $0.00
60Y7824 SBB BLUETOOTH W/ANTENNA $0.00
45M4804 SBB IN.CENT.ULTIMATE-N 6300 $0.00
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR $0.00
60Y7853 SBB WIN7LANPACK US ENGLISH $0.00
41C9338 3YR ONSITE + 3YR TPP


THis is in USA so may not apply for you

But when i was in canada i got x201tablet.

What i found was that compared to dell ( i have 2 dell laptops for more than 3 years from canada) these are very sturdy.
However when i got dell i took the accident protection with onsite warranty.

I had my laptop parts replaced so many times now and it was a pleasure dealing with dell agents...

I had dropped my laptop twice and had it nearly completely replaced.

Downside with lenovo : The customer service is terrible.
Secondly after the initial order u have to wait for nearly 2 weeks for a customized laptop to get to you

 

Customer Service... It really depends on your own experience/luck. Regardless of mfr, there are always people who are happy and others who complain. Go over at Dell's forum and see for yourself. From great to terrible!

Edit: there is actually a forum dedicated to "Dell Shipping Order Status and Customer Service Issues"

That being said, congrats on your new system! Did you get a processor with that??? (can't see it anywhere)

Also, no webcam right? (judging from the 3x3 WLAN)

Lots of questions... Here are my 2 cents:

1) I am not familiar with Lenovo Canada so I can't really help with coupons, retailers, etc.
2) What about the T410s with Optimus? Also portable and may better serve your occasional 3D/gaming.
3) As I said above, Customer Service is predominantly a matter of luck, imho! This applies to all mfrs. Consider getting a 3-year warranty if you are concerned.
4) Build quality: concrete! I’ve had mine for 10 days and I am very satisfied. Rock-solid compared with consumer laptops. I've see similar quality only with top-of-the-line asus and sony's in the past.
5) 9-cell battery: Mine runs for 10 hrs out of the box, without any tweaking at all. But with light usage (Office work and browsing).
6) Other: i) Get a thinkpad sleeve to protect it from scratches for $15 and off you go! ii) consider the laser mouse which is great for horizontal scrolling, iii) the in-ear headphones (which to my pleasant surprise, they have a mic as well) for the time when background noise is just too much or you want privacy.

And last but not least, congratulations on your new system!

 

@OP,

I haven't had issues with mine, so I didn't call tech support. I can imagine it can hardly be worse than Dell. I have X200 which is very similar to X201, and the build quality seems pretty good. There are some minor quirks that you'll notice if you really notice details like me, but overall I like the little things - e.g. hard drive bay will have little rubber protection etc. It's also really easy to take apart.

I mention this because I'd suggest doing all the upgrades on your own, which will be way cheaper than buying it of Lenovo. Also as for the price, look through the previous posts of a user ZaZ, and you'll find lots of discounts. He (and few other people) pointed out to me the one I use and I got a pretty good deal (X200 in my sig) for $650 and 3 year warranty. I upgraded RAM from 1 to 3GB for $25 and bought and SSD for $210, and dock station for $100.

 

Fem - Learn how to edit your posts instead of making multiple posts one after another.

 

Thanks for the info so far. You seem to have answered most of my questions. I think later on I'm going to contact sales and see if they have any sort of student discounts and what not. I'm pretty sure I can get something pretty good. Also, most of the coupon codes here apply to the US stores, not the Canadian ones. I'm quite confident a bit of googling will find me some good codes.

 

I know, I know... I just posted separate here because I was addressing a different user in each. Anyway, sorry!


mod note: that's why there's a multi-quote button.

fem: I just figured out how that works! thanks!

 

What docking station do you have? and does it come with an optical drive?

 

This one - X200 Ultrabase:

Lenovo Support & downloads - ThinkPad X200 UltraBase - Overview

Optical drive ("Ultrabay") has to be bought separately. I don't ever use optical drives, so I never bought it. I think I might rather get SATA bay and put in extra hard drive, in case I'll need more space.

 

its the same processer in Op first post
yes there is a webcam

 

drgopoos, I have the exact same system, but with XP downgrade, and N6200 instead 6300 but with Gobi. Have it for 10 days and I love it!

For anyone interested in the x200/201 Ultrabase, they sell new at eBay for <$200 (DVDRW included).

 

That's a cool configuration. That i5 540M is capable, no need to spend $150 more to get the i7 620M. But I would select W7 64-bit, though. Also, you could save $40 by selecting the 320GB drive -- will you be carrying that much stuff around?

The current CAPSAVEINOCTOBER allows you to save 25%. Last long weekend, Canadian Thanksgiving, the CAPSTHANKSGIVINGDAYSALE offered 30% discount, and a system similar to your configuration was around $1000 -- final discount was 45%!!! Check with them on the phone.

With Lenovo, I had to wait 10 days -- placing order on Sunday, receiving notification of shipment from China on Saturday, opening the box from the UPS guy on Wednesday or Thursday. My experience with Dell was similar, around 10 days.

There are no retail stores that I know of in Canada, even in major cities like Toronto and Montreal, where you can actually see and touch the ThinkPads. There are local resellers like Metafore and Insight that carry IBM products, but they have no show rooms for individual consumers, unfortunately.

Tech support? Hmm, Dell, Lenovo, HP, they are all "so so" in their own ways. Buying Onsite Service Warranty is wise.

ThinkPads are awesome. The keyboard is legendary. IBM quality was superior. Lenovo quality is very good, but IMO trails IBM quality of the past. I still adore my old T41. Realistically, the 9-cell battery gives 8 mobile hours under "normal" load. I'm sure you will enjoy the X201.

 

160GB to 320GB HD upgrade is $60 (+tax). On Newegg, 320GB HD is $40. I would minimize the upgrades on the Lenovo web and get them yourself. They charge $140 for 500GB HD upgrade. For that you can get an SSD. With 6cell battery I get 4-6 hours.

 

The Lenovo Canada page for X201 configuration shows this:

Hard drive

• 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• 250GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm with Full Disk Encryption [add $20.00]
• 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm [add $40.00]
• 128GB Solid State Drive [add $280.00]

​

You're right, the best bet is the default. (Why don't they list 256GB SSD as the default, eh? )

 

You will receive email confirmation after you place the order. You can create an account at www.lenovo.com/ca/en/ to check the status (and to maintain a "wishlist" ). The initial status will be Submitted, then change to Process and stay there for a full week or so. You will receive email notification about the shipment, at which point the status changes to Invoiced.

Two days later, place a call to Sales Support and request a UPS tracking number. That way, you'll know when to be available, or ask someone over 19 to be available, for UPS delivery! You have to ask -- Lenovo does not send you an email for the tracking number, nor the (not so hot) website shows it when you check the status.

This is bad. Dell (1) shows the tracking number on the status page, (2) sends you an email with the tracking number, and (3) calls you nicely to tell you please kindly be at home on such-and-such date to receive your beloved system. No kidding! Why not, Lenovo? Shaving off a buck here and there? Listen, we spend big dollars for great ThinkPads. Treat us accordingly.

And, this is very important: Make your Recovery Disks as soon as you see Windows 7 desktop. Hold back your excitement and proceed to make the Recovery Disks now. But, but... the X201 has no optical drive, you say? Right, you must get yourself a USB external CD/DVD writer. You will need 3 disks: a CD for the first (boot) disk, and 2 DVDs for the data disks. Or 3 DVDs will be fine.

This is unfortunate. Most brand new laptops prompt you to create the Recovery Disks at the earliest opportunity! But ThinkPads don't. Go figure. I guess Lenovo would rather work hard on such wonders as "Access Connections" utility!

 

Lenovo US sends you a confirmation email after purchasing, online order shows InProcess, then changes to Shipped (you also receive an email here) and also shows the UPS tracking number. The UPS then calls you to inform you about the delivery day and time.

 

Not in Canada. (The initial question was by a Canadian, and I shared with them the Lenovo experience in Canada.)

Lenovo country-specific websites don't seem to share the same backend systems.

 

I brought it in US and dint the phone calls. However i used to keep track of the item online nearly every day