Ordering a T500 from overseas - US

Hi!

I've been thinking about buying a T500.
Some US online shops that sell the TopSeller preconfigured ship also to the Europe. The problem is so far, none of the model numbers that are there, seem to have IWS (International Warranty Service), wich means that it's no good in Europe or anywhere else but the US of A. BUT I could save about 500-700$ ordering from the US. Yes Thinkpads are THAT expensive in my country.

So could it be worth it? Saving 500-700$ but getting no warranty?

 

Laptop+no warranty = asking for trouble m8. I really would advise against it.

 

Well how long of a warranty are we talking here? I would say, yes. Think of it this way: If you saved $500-700 (or euros) you could always pick up an aftermarket warranty for a couple hundred.

 

So if you purchase in the US, lenovo only covers it in the US?

 

That depends on what model# it has. Mostly the models with IWS are more expensive.

I have a 7664-16U wich I ordered at Euclid. I also live in the EU where the ThinkPads are overpriced. I saved 500 euro (more then a year ago).

Well, with a ThinkPad I would risk it. A 7764 didn't have IWS at the time I bought it, but when I checked last week it showed to have IWS all over the world . Anyway, it only had one year, so it doesn't matter at all.

And I wonder how European Lenovo departments would handle a warranty claim with a non-IWS US-bought model. I think it makes sense to mention that on the Dell Latitudes there is a standard onsite worldwide 3 year warranty.

And the savings are that big that if even 50% of the ThinkPads you buy are defective that it still doesn't cost you more then when you buy in your own country.

So far so happy. My 7664 never need service, and I'm happy with the 500 euro's I saved. ($675 at that time / $750 now)

I have post it before and it's still true, even with a lower US Dollar. Similar ThinkPads in the US and EU are in the US in dollars cheaper then in the EU in Euro's, even with €1.00 being worh $1.46.

You should count with the VAT penalty when you import it. But after that I still saved 500 euro's
That means that you can buy three ThinkPads from the US or two in the EU for the same money. Mmmm...

Also mind that Lenovo has forbidden certain US retailers to ship Thinkpads outside Europe. I discovered that last year when I bought my T61. Some shops said that Lenovo didn't allow them to ship ThinkPads outside the US

Warranty or not, I refuse to pay 30-50% for the same ThinkPad when I buy it in my own country. Oh, and besides; ordering from, say Euclid for example, works faster then ordering locally mostly since next to nobody has a ThinkPad in stock in Europe, especially the higher end configured models.

So, anyone still wondering why ThinkPads are that rare in Europe and why Dell Latitudes are seen everywhere..?

 

Thanks for that input jcv, ver, very helpful.
I'll contact my local Thinkpad warranty service and ask about the warranty upgrade.
And yeah, Thinkpads are waayy overpriced in Europe. Ofcourse everything in the US is cheaper (I'm talking about notebooks and electronics in general) but the Thinkpad price difference is much larger than other notebooks.

EDIT: Oh and, what's the address of this Euclid that tou mention a few times? I can't seem to find an online shop called that.?

 

Mark's Advice About International Warranty Services

 

Well I hope that changes in the future. I have some good reasons to think the prices will drop in Europe. At first, I remember a report some months ago in a German PC magacine (c't) that Lenovo wants to agressively increase market shares of their laptops. Ans secondly, the prices in Germany for the new models are much lower than the prices for the old systems. I've seen a T500 for over 2000€ a week ago and just now an equally eqipped T500 is available here for 1489€! (seen at notebook dot de). Specs:

Lenovo ThinkPad T500 mit Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.40 GHz

- 15,4" WSXGA+ TFT Display, max. Aufl. 1680x1050
- Intel Core 2 Duo Prozessor P8600 (2.4GHz/3MB/1066FSB)
- 2048 MB DDR3-RAM Arbeitsspeicher
- 160 GB SATA-Festplatte 5400rpm
- 256 MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
- DVD+-RW Double Layer Laufwerk (8x/4x/16x/10x/12x/24x)
- 10/100/1000 Mbit Netzwerkkarte integriert
- Wireless-Lan integr.(a/b/g/n)
- Fingerprintsensor
- ExpressCard
- Kleine Leselampe im Gehäuse integriert
- UltraNav Cursor-Steuerung (Touchpad + Trackpoint)
- nur 2,2kg leicht
- Microsoft Vista Business + XP Recovery DVD
- 3 Jahre Garantie

This is with 3 year warranty and 3G (UMTS). The price already includes 19% German VAT. I configured the same system at Lenovos web site and it came out with $1,850.15 USD.

So there might be better prices for topseller models, but when I consider shipping cost, warranty issues and also the German keyboard buying overseas seems like a no go to me.

 

You have a point there ernstloeffel.
Then again some TopSeller configs with better specs (T9400 CPU, 7200rpm HDD etc) cost about 1500$ with shipping, then 20% EU tax (wich makes it 1800$) and it's quite a lot cheaper then in the EU. And I am kinda tempted when I get a Thinkpad about 300-400 euros cheaper...

But, I found something very weird...
I went to Lenovo's site to check wich models even do have IWS - http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...dingpages/hotNewsLandingPage.vm&validate=true
and i turns out none of the T500 types have IWS. I checked all the 4-digit numbers on the last site, on the IWS checking site http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=LOOK-IWS#sw and it turned out bogus.
Is it too early for them to ship preconfiged T500's with IWS or will they never ship them with IWS?
What gives Lenovo?

 

I believe that all the Top Sellers have international warranty.

 

A retailer in EU (In a different country than I) said that I would have to check the model number on the Lenovo IWS page, only then can I confirm if it has IWS...
Hmm, maybe I should contact my local Thinkpad warranty people about that...

 

And also what Nonny posted.
It looks like that the model number is the thing that shows if the machine has IWS or not.
And all the T500 type models do not have it. Very strange move from Lenovo...

 

www.euclidcomputers.com

In my country (The Netherlands) a lot of ThinkPads are being bought at Euclid. You can contact by phone easily outside daytime working hours!! (thanks to the time difference).

No offense, but an almost equal equipped T400 ( 2765T6U ) costs only € 1130 when you import it.

As for the German keyboard: yes, you're right, but if you're from a QWERTY country (like me) then the keyboard is fine. If you are from a QWERTZ or AZERTY country that adds a ~€50 indeed. On the other hand; you directly have a good reason to swap out the inferior T400 / T500 keyboard for the more solid T60/T61 keyboard (a lot of people seem to do that here, although I believe most of them wouldn't when the review didn't mention it).

The keyboard layout problem is also a problem for those from The Netherlands
who order their ThinkPad in Germany (Germany has better prices for electronics).

You might be right on the dropping prices, but that was around time he, wasn't it?.. Still a lot of them are € 400 overpriced (down from €500), but it's still the same percentage since the overall price has dropped.

As far as I see it, Lenovo doesn't want to sell ThinkPads in Europe. Why are they that more expensive and why don't they allow certain US webshops to ship ThinkPads overseas?

If I would not have thought about importing from the USA, I would never had this ThinkPad I have now. If the ThinkPad was €500 more expensive I would definitely have chosen the Dell Latitude D630

Any proof? Link to statement on Lenovo website?

I just as well believe that there is a small need for warranty with a ThinkPad