T400s from outlet

So I just purchased a T400s from the outlet last night. I have been browsing the outlet for a few weeks now waiting to jump on a good deal, because my T410s is going to someone who needs it more than I (for a fair price). It showed up briefly with a few other T400s' and I picked it up for around 780 taxed/shipped as a refurb. I really needed a laptop ASAP and had a tight budget, so I couldn't afford the few extra hundred dollars to get a refurb-ed T410s and I definitely could buy new, and I couldn't afford to wait and save up either. I bought it quick... maybe even impulsively, but I'm pleased with the specs in retrospect. It has the FRU's for a Panasonic battery, NMB keyboard and Samsung panel, and even for a Qualcomm/Verizon WWAN card which wasn't in the generic specs listed on the outlet website.

I've never bought a refurb before, from lenovo or anywhere else. My only concern is the shipping date being pushed back (as I've read about often) and how 'used' the laptop is. Will it look used, or have poor build quality... how many cycles have been put on that battery. The original warranty expired earlier this month, so it was probably ordered around September of 09... 1 year is a decent amount of time. I hope that it spent most of it sitting on a shelf rather than being used and returned at the last minute.. Most posts seem to indicate that the refurbs they received were almost new-in-box looking. Will have to wait and see. The ship date is currently listed as 9/28, and I've received no emails since placing my order. I did take screen shots of the machine/specs/parts lookup/order process as well. The funds on my card have been made unavailable, but the transaction has yet to post, so I assume my card has been charged and will post when they actually ship it.

After reading numerous reviews, all now ancient, for the T400s.. I don't think I feel too bad about buying (relatively) old tech. the SP9400 will be more than adequate for my needs, and its near identical to my old T410s. I'll transfer my SSD and RAM upgrades and I'm sure I won't feel a real world difference in speed.

All the reviews consistently show the T400s getting slightly better batter life than the T410s, and I found a few that even suggest a lower power consumption at load than the T410s (although load at idle was similar). Similarly, I found most reviews gave the T400s better marks in quietness and heat compared to their own reviews of a T410s. Why is this?

As long as the delivery process isn't too chaotic or delayed I think I'll be pleased with the machine. Good buy for the price?

 

Well to share a good outlet experience:

Ordered Wednesday, shipped by Friday, at my door by Tuesday. Everything is in order. I have 2 questions:

1) My battery has about 107 cycles on it. Is that normal for a refurb?

2) There is a small hairline crack on the left side of the palm rest by the centrino sticker, about a centimeter long. This is a common problem with the T4x0s and has been talked to death on lenovo and thinkpad forums. Now if I knew it wasn't going to get any larger I wouldn't let it bother me, and would just buy a new palm rest later on and replace it myself. However I'm worried it will grow in size as many others' cracks in that area have. I know people have had problems trying to get lenovo to give new palm rests because they say that it was due to mishandling. However I just got my laptop and it was like that out of the box so it couldn't be mishandling - I didn't pay for scratch and dent, I paid for a refurb. On the flipside, I can't really be with out my laptop for too long and don't want to send it in to the depot. Everything else works perfect. Is the palm rest a CRU part that they will send to me even if I have only depot? And since it's a new purchase they wont try to tell my I manhandled and broke it within 24 hours will they?

Is it suggested I try?

 

I would try to get it repaired. Just get it all over with at once and be done with it!

 

1) not in my experience, but with it being a refurb anything is possible.   if it has issues holding a charge then it's under warranty.

2) the palmrest on that system is not considered a CRU as there are no user-serviceable parts underneath (technically speaking, of course).   however, you might be able to convince service to send the part since it's easy to change and would save internal costs.