Thank God we got the 4 year onsite warranty.

In the 3 years since we purchased our T500.
Lenovo has replaced
-1 battery
-2 system boards

and now..the display quit working and they are coming out next week to install a new display and a power inverter!

when is a lemon a lemon?

ps...this is my wifes laptop for her business.
she's asking me to look into a new laptop for her....
I'm guessing the T530 is probably the next purchase (obviously WITH another 4 year onsite warranty).

 

T500 generally has a pretty good track record when it comes to reliability, but there are always exceptions and I guess that your unit would be one of them...but the story itself is not really that unusual...

My first A31p went through three boards, two LCDs and several minor parts over the three years of ownership.

That machine cost $4K when I bought it, and the brand was still owned by IBM.

Regardless of all the failures, it's still my favourite ThinkPad of all times.

As for your T500, when the warranty expiration date comes close just get rid of it and move on.

My $0.02 only...

 

If you need it to be bulletproof, then the added warranty merits consideration. I never get the warranty extension. I've only had a hard drive and a few keyboards replaced, but my ThinkPads have otherwise been very durable.

 

I've had some pretty major repairs over the years on my ThinkPads covered under onsite warranties with ADP. I've never been disappointed or felt that I've waisted money. Something always breaks after year one and it's never a cheap fix. Not having to send my laptop anywhere is great too, I also love sitting and staring as the repairs are done.

 

I've never had a ThinkPad fail, though mostly cause all of mine have SSDs or are so cheap and out of warranty, I would just buy a new one. On-site warranty is handy though, if you can't be without your machine and don't want to mail it out to the depot.

 

Strangely enough, I've never had to replace any part on any of my laptops, although I've serviced a couple of my friends' and family's Thinkpads and other computers. My T500's been going strong for 3.5+ years now, with no issues *knock on wood*

 

I would honestly tend to believe that your experience is fairly typical of most ThinkPad users', especially on newer systems.

What throws the perspective off is the fact that most people come to forums to complain about an issue - any issue - and the rest of the user base just keeps on quiet while happily typing away on their ThinkPads.

My $0.02 only...

 

If you replaced a mobo twice, you should push for a replacement laptop. Making a complaint to BBB if they won't budge can do wonders here.

 

Agreed...!
hence my comment...
when is a lemon a lemon?

 

Not going to happen on a three-year-old machine unless Lenovo doesn't have a part required to fix the unit available.

 

The only recent memory of someone getting a Lenovo replaced due to too many repairs is AboutThreeFity and he had to contact Mark@Lenovo and have quite a few people to talk to, and I think he had overheating/mobo replacement like 3-4 times.

 

interesting...when I spoke with the support guy last night about the display not working...
He first said he would send out a guy with another system board....
Then, He changed his mind and said...Oh, scratch that, I'll have them replace the display and the power inverter...

I agree, getting Lenovo to "replace" the whole unit with a new one would take an act of God and way too much of my time to want to pursue it.

 

It would take almost Herculian might to get Lenovo to get you a new unit, especially with the head of the customer service. (Although it is possible)

Personally, i usually hate when Lenovo service depot changes motherboard, as they would start using refurbed motherboard after a certain period of time (since they no longer manufacture the board). Some of the refurb motherboard have other problems, which the depot doesn't test for. So far with the repair experiences i have had, lot of the refurb motherboard would develop problems within 6 to 12 months, and if they pass that time, then you would be okay.

 

Now "theres" something nobody thinks about when purchasing the on-site warranty. The ability of Lenovo to fix your computer using old broken down parts from busted computers!
Wonder if that is clearly spelled out in their contract for repairs?

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, should make for some interesting conversation with the tech that comes out to fix my wife's laptop!

 

The tech has nothing to do with it, he/she installs the parts that were sent from IBM. And they will most likely not comment on stuff like that.

Look for a "Recertified Used Part" or a similar sticker on the box. The sticker on the box is blue, while the one on the actual part is orange.

 

Dell does the same, or at least the contracted on-site tech told me that (but it makes sense to me). Basically if the warranty expires and you call and pay for the repair you get a new part. On the other hand, whenever you're within the warranty period (or if its close to expiring so you need to pay extra to renew it) they send you refurbished parts. That said Lenovo support (based on the comments here) seems like a joke even compared to Dell's. And that's something.

 

Does it really matter if you get a refurbished part or not? As an ASP for 90% of OEM's out, we get tons of refurbished parts, drives, motherboards, LCD's. It carries a 90 day part warranty or the balance of the manufacturer warranty, whichever is longer.

 

Every vendor that I know of uses refurbished parts. Dell, HP, Apple, Lenovo, IBM. All of them.

If it works, and if it's supported by the vendor, who cares if it's been switched on before?

 

My T61 went through 2 motherboards replacement, 1 lcd(5-6 dead pixels) and 1 cpu fan. I am glad I purchased the 3 years warranty.

 

It certainly does for me. It's not just the problem that it was "switched on" but that it was used, possibly returned (due to something that wasn't working) and then possibly "fixed". There's certainly a larger probability of something on that part malfunctioning than if it would be if it was new.

That's why I don't like paying for extended warranties. They only really pay off is a laptop has multiple possible problems (Alienware M11x-R1 has quite a history). For a Thinkpad you can purchase and swap new parts on your own through eBay; for standard models pretty much anything is available. Given how "professional" on-site techs are these days (at least in the US), this seems like a much better alternative for me.

 

I'm aware of ONE laptop manufacturer that installs brand new parts, and that's on a *major* contract with a Fortune 20 Company that owns thousands of their notebooks...and the manufacturer in question is not one of the usual "big boys", mind you...

Everyone - and I mean everyone else - uses "refurbished" parts, be it under warranty or for after-warranty support.

I've had more than a dozen "bubbly" X61T screens replaced on-site this year alone. If I had to buy one, they're anywhere from $150-250 on feebay...hard drives, keyboards...all the good stuff that just gets here 24 hrs after placing the initial call I'm not even going to attempt to count...

So yes, I enjoy my extended ThinkPad warranties. Always have.

 

Tech came out yesterday and replaced my wife's display....very happy that it went on the blink when it did.... because the warranty expires in November (whew!)

as for the new vs refurb discussion....I'm frankly ignorant to the nuances of refurb computer parts vs brand new out of box stuff.....! Just something to think about when time comes for our next purchase negotiations with whoever we buy from next.

She did ask me to look into a new Thinkpad for her....She loves the onsite repair (used it 3 times).
Can you guys offer any opinions on the new T530 for her?
She uses it business-wise for quickbooks.....photos.....the rest is simply entertainment (internet).
So she would require the best screen or premium ram/hd/graphics....(although ram is a very easy diy upgrade...probably cheaper too?)

Thanks for all the discussion.

 

Get the best screen and graphics option if she needs it, both RAM and HDD are extremely easy to upgrade and so much cheaper if bought aftermarket.

 

Thank you for the reply....
I did a "build" over on the Lenovo site......Kaso took a look at it for me and gave some good suggestions.
Cost is roughly $1100 (includes the 4 yr onsite/accident warranty which wifey requires after all the repairs to her current T500).

Will certainly follow everyone's suggestions about purchasing/install Ram upgrade later.