US physical shops which consistently stock Thinkpad T440's, X240's?

Dear all,

I need to arrange a replacement laptop for a colleague who is traveling through the United States. It should ideally be a Thinkpad T440, though a X240 could also work. (I know I'll need to replace the keyboard and PSU/power cord later on. That's annoying, but okay under the circumstances.)

All my attempts at buying a Thinkpad via online shops have failed. I'm sitting in Europe, using a Mastercard issued by a European bank, and asking for shipment of a laptop to a non-residential address in the US -- it looks like potential credit card fraud.

So, hence my question: Are there any larger US retail chains ("bricks and mortar", real physical shops) that reliably stock Thinkpad T440p or X240? My colleague is going to be in San Francisco next.

Thank you,

 

There's not many of them. There used to be more back in the day, but since ThinkPads are primarily business notebooks, they're bought in larger lots and not in stores. I'm not familiar with the bay area offerings. Perhaps someone else has more information. Usually one of the better places to see some is is college and university bookstores. Have you looked on eBay? There are sellers who ship overseas.

 

The only place I've ever seen non-Edge Thinkpads in store was in J&R and B&H in Manhattan. (J&R had the T430, T530, and X230t at the time as I recall.) As for the bay area, the best I've seen in stores is the Thinkpad Edge line. Other than that, I'm not sure that it's possible. I suppose you could look at the SFSU or SJSU bookstores, though I doubt your luck would be much better. (Note: SFSU is in San Francisco, and SJSU is a ways away in San Jose. You'll want a car to get to the latter.)

 

you can try microcenter, locations differ though, last time i was there, they had Edge, T series and X1 Carbon on display (with stock), locations are different though, you could at least attempt to call one if it is near you while you are here. also if you can't do the long distance call, you can tell me which one you will be near if there is one and i can call for you.

 

Thank you all very, very much. I have tried various things, and can only confirm that finding T or X series in shops is very hard ... borderline impossible. The SFSU and SJSU bookstore don't seem to have them, according to their websites. Microcenter has the X1, but their only shop in CA is in LA. NewEggs "Will-Call" pickup at their warehouses doesn't really work, because of the location of their warehouse and their rules about the person picking up having to bring the card used to pay, etc.

It looks not possible -- so I guess he will have to make do with some 199 Chromebook or something for the duration of his trip.

 

The Microsoft Store stocks a Yoga model. There is one in SFO.

 

Can anyone confirm if B&H has t440s/p in store?

 

They had T440p a couple of months ago, haven't been there since...

 

The Microsoft Store usually has the X1 Carbon on display, along w/ a limited assortment of Lenovo products.

 

Have you tried Central Computers? They're authorized Lenovo Partner.
837 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 495-5888