T420 and T520 available in Europe

T420 and T520 are now ready to order on both UK and German Lenovo site.

Prices? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

ThinkPad T420(i5) starting at 899 dollars on US site, starting at 1250 euro's at German site. At todays exchange rate that would be 1810 dollars!

Upgrades:
i5(2540) US $50 Germany €59 ( $85)
HD+ 1600x900 US $50 Germany €82 ( $118)
128GB SSD US $350 Germany €314 ( $454)

Had it with Lenovo.. As much as I would like to get a X220 or T420(s), for that kind of money I rather buy 3 Dell laptops and glue a trackpoint on them myself.

Glad i don't have to chose between 12" or 14", I'll just get Dell or HP and buy one of each and still save money over a Thinkpad

EDIT: Did I mention that there is no such thing as Coupons in Europe?
EDIT2: Hate to say it, but even the fruity company does better, they don't bother calculating 1 dollar is 1 euro in their world.

 

T420, T420s, T520 and X220 are already being sold in Japan too.

 

I don't think you going to do much better on the other manufacturers to be honest, Europe have always been expensive for business notebooks in comparison with the US. Doesn't really help with the taxation we get in the region too.

You may find that within the region Lenovo is actually competitively priced against Dell and HP for similar notebooks. I would suggest looking comparatively with their other lines and make you own mind up whether its worth it (for one the Dell Latitude E6420 and HP Elitebook 8640 is not as cheap as you think to be against the T420).

But for sure I understand your frustration with the regional pricing structure, not to mention the stackable coupons that are so elusive in our region. Makes me wonder if we're subsidising our US friends out there!

 

yeah.. well

I do get frustrated over the enormous price difference, like I said even Apple does better then Lenovo. Second thing is, even when I do order from Lenovo Germany or Lenovo UK, I still don't get a 'usable' laptop as I have to change keyboard and Win7 version (ordering from Germany) or power adapter (ordering from UK)

I do however still have a few other options, student discount over here or order one from US (Ebay) and pay around 300 euro's of taxes.

With the 16:10 16:9 change and the huge prices over here, getting a (refurbished) T410 or T410s even seems to be a good option.

 

Can that be done?
Buying a laptop from US (from a relative or by going there) then bringing it back to Europe and just extend the warranty?

 

Everything has always been more expensive in Europe. Doesn't help with a crazy VAT.

Yeesh, good thing I live in the US.

 

There are some model that are cover by the IWS, I don't think you could actually upgrade a model that doesn't have IWS. You could always check to see if the system has IWS.

Below is a forum entry on the International Warranty Service.
Checking for International Warranty Service (IWS) - Lenovo Community

 

As per my cursory investigation, it appears that buying a ThinkPad in India is cheaper than in the UK. I did a comparison last evening (which I posted someplace) based on my newly received X201. My comparison included a 3-yr IWS, but no coupons (which are certainly not available in India and I am not sure if they are available in the UK).

 

The options I've been considering are:
- Buy a student-discounted one from Germany (lapstars.de will give me a Swedish keyboard for €35, and possibly also change to a different-language preload - haven't verified that yet)
- Order from Lenovo US using Borderlinx (and thus paying taxes and duties) and buying and installing a Swedish keyboard myself
- Order from Lenovo US and letting a friend living in the States bring it home to me (with or without declaring it at customs) and handling the keyboard myself
- Flying to the US myself to pick up a computer there (legally or not) and handling the keyboard myself

Interestingly, all options except flying there myself while also being legal (paying taxes and duties) end up cheaper than buying the machine locally. In some cases much, MUCH cheaper.

In the end, it seems that the German option works out costing more or less the same as the non-smuggling US options, while also being easier (keyboard replacement done for me), why I will almost certainly be going with that alternative.

Now, the question is only whether to get an i5 T420 for €1150, an i7 T420 for €1300 or an i5 T420s for €1300 (spec otherwise identical, except the T420s having a smaller HDD)...

 

I see what you mean on the prices VectorX, here in the UK their online shop prices for CTO's does include VAT on the price.

I'm just seeing a pre configured T420 on the NL site with the following specs:

- Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Processor (2.30GHz 1333MHz)
- 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
- Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
- 14.0" HD AntiGlare 1366x768
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
- Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 1000
- 320GB HDD
- DVD Recordable
- 6 Cell Battery

It has a price of €1,149.00 exc VAT. Now VAT in the Netherlands is 19% which is €218.31, the total price would be €1367.31 which is approximately £1,209.08 or $1,980.48 USD! A similar CTO config in the UK will incur a cost of just £927 (or $1,518.43 USD / €1,048.31) including our 20% VAT rate!

I wouldn't be surprised if some people are interested in parallel importing the ThinkPad from the UK to the EU, as an EU trading bloc member there's no custom duties to worry about and there's huge potential savings to be made!

 

Only thing that you do have to 'worry' about is the power oulets that are used in the different countries in the EU. Other then that 'importing' from the UK is definitely an option.

 

You can always change the cable that lead from the the adopter to the wall.

 

Not necessarily, you can order an EU adapter in place of the UK version. Apparantly opting for the "Country Pack EU Generic (WWAN enabled) with Line cord & 90W AC adapter" is a free option despite having a more powerful adaptor than the standard 65w version.

 

Yep the T410i can be configured with Core i3 and HD+ in the UK which seems perfect for your needs! Plus it isn't actually that expensive, especially when you select Home Premium as your OS which saves you another £67 off the list price compared to the pre-config systems where Windows 7 Professional is the default OS.

 

Borderlinx can help there, too.

 

Does Lenovo check your stated address against what your bank has on file? Wow, that sucks. There are a number of reasons why you might want to ship something somewhere else. I would've thought the various new security measures put in place by the CC companies and banks would be considered enough. Are you sure this is a problem with Lenovo UK and not just the US webstore (my thinking being that things may be a bit more sane in the EU)?

Not a problem. After all, you are allowed to relocate to another country (provided the model in question has international warranty coverage to begin with). If you want to be completely safe (and convenient), then just buy an onsite warranty upgrade.

They stopped doing that? Bummer. I suppose you could always get yourself a prepaid credit card (google it to find options) just for this purchase.

It's always easier to do things domestically. Problem is, when the price diff is big enough, it's hard to justify. Myself, I've decided to go with the German student discount option. It saves me roughly €5-600 compared to local prices.

 

It's been long known that Lenovo doesn't give a rat's behind about sales in Europe.
For avid Thinkpad users, it often has been cheaper over the last 15 years to fly to the US (from NL f.i.) and buy an IBM Thinkpad there.

Yes, friggin' flying to the US and buying a notebook would often be cheaper for crying out loud.
That would indicate, to me at least, that (now) Lenovo by and large doesn't give a Scheisse about European customers.

For German buyers, I'd recommend to always keep an eye on lapstars.de, especially interesting for scholars and students.
They offer a T420 for €1,130.00 (inkl. 19% MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten)/(incl. VAT, excl. shipping). link
Check the Studi/MiWi/UNI/FH special prices...

 

VectorX, check your PM. I maybe able to arrange something for you.

 

If you are interested, you can actually import the laptop from US. Some companies (including in ebay) ship internationally. For example, this one:

Lenovo 41789RU TOPSELLER T420 I5-2410M 2.30G 4GB 320GB DVDRW 14IN BLUETOOTH WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL 64BIT (ORDERED AS NEEDED FROM MFG) (NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES) - BLT Catalog!