T61 DVI? Lenovo After The Sale?

I am purchasing a new laptop, and had intended on getting a T61p. However I have also taken a look at everything else to the extent possible, ie. in the Seattle area there is not one Dell XPS 1530 on display or T61p's either.

Regarding the T61p, does it have a DVI port on the laptop (not talking about the docking station, I mean the laptop itself)? I have been told absolutely yes and absolutely no getting different answers every time I talk to someone at Lenovo. Some are adament that it does, and the local tech at Seattle Laptop, the only place that caries a reasonable inventory of Thinkpads (alas not a T61p) , says no.

This one question has led to another far greater concern. Is there anyone at Lenovo who knows their ass from their elbow?

I got someone in Atlanta's tech support who started off by saying "let me check Google". After five minutes of the most rediculous conversation, ", what is the product number of your system, I can't tell you what port it has if I do not have a number"(does T61p with a Quadro 570M card ring a bell). I finaly asked him if he had ever actually seen or held a T61 in his hands before. The answer was an obvious NO. I finaly got him to go ask a "Senior" tech who stated that the T61p does not have a DVI port unless it is attached to a docking station. My guess is that this is the answer. However when I relayed this madness to my Salesman in Toronto he said nonsense the T61 absolutely does have a DVI port, he is using one and his monitor is conected to his T61 via a DVI port on the laptop, not a docking station.

So aside from this elementary question, which I can't answer for myself because I can't get my hands on a T61p to see for myself, I am wondering what the hell is it like dealing with Lenovo if something goes wrong? I am going to set this up as dual boot Linux/Vista system and I can only imagine the nonsense that will ensue if my system ever needs warranty service.

One thing I have found a welcome surprise is Sony's tech support at their stores. It is the first vendor that actually offered to set it up dual boot, remove unwanted software and make me a recovery DVD that enables me to do a straight install (of Vista). Imagine that!

 

T61s have a VGA port, not a DVI. The Atlanta tech was correct about needing a docking station for DVI. Your salesman was the one telling you nonsense.

 

For those of you with a T61p and are not sure what DVI looks like here is a link with the specific connectors.

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html#Page06

 

Thanks "chubbyfatazn". Have you had any experience with their warranty service?

 

I have, but not like yours.

Basically what happened was that my palmrest creaked and was mushy, so I called in to get a replacement one. Next day when I got home from school, the part was at my doorstep.

Another time, I figured out that my DVD drive refused to read or burn DVDs, so I called in again, and received the part the next morning.

Excellent service on behalf of IBM.