best place to buy thinkpads?

I was looking for a thinkpad r60 on lenovo.com, but is there any other good places to buy it? My dad said office depot is selling thinkpads there, but i do not think they would be any cheaper...

 

You can have a look on ThinkPad T60 at CompUSA and CircuitCity. But NOT at Office Depot. Yes, you can see lenovo branded N300 type laptops at Office Depot but not Thinkpad T60.

 

yeah i went to office depot and they had a n series but no thinkpad, btw i want to look at a r60, not t60 (too expensive )

 

I did mine on Lenovo.com because I could customize it the way I wanted. You can look it the tabook to see if there is model that fits your needs, then search the internet. Though I don't know that it will be any cheaper.

 

CostCentral.com and EuclidComputers.com both have good reps and they occasionally have good deals. I just bought a T60 (87445BU) from CostCentral for about $1450, but the price has recently gone up $200.

 

My experience is that if you can get a good sale on Lenovo.com and don't mind a bit of a wait then that can be better, than retail. But be careful what is a good sale, right now the T60 prices aren't bad, better than the "sale" when I first ordered mine then canceled (it was a discount but not enough). ZaZ is right of course, if you can find something in the TA Book you like you can just google it.

On the Lenovo.com stuff, it might also depend on tax. In my case it was the 104 dollars in Tax that made Lenovo a worse deal than buying from Buy.com (no tax).

I would say the main advantage to prebuilt ones is they often have longer warranty at the same price point as the CTO ones.

 

PCSuperdeals has a few of these left for 1481... I don't know how reliable a vendor they are but here is the link:
http://www.pcsuperdeals.com/ProductView.asp?ProductID=e161c056-6756-4e41-871f-c75f198966ea&Refer=9

Edit: some nasty things said on Epinions... So might want to be careful. Never the less that's a good price.

 

I bought 2623-KFU on costcentral. The price there was better then the best deal I could get on lenovo.com during Valentine's day sale for the same config. Ordered it on Friday and got it on Tuesday morning with free shipping.

 

FWIW, Costco.com has several Thinkpad models including: a T60, and a X60 Tablet, a Z61T, and a Z61M. [The picture and some detail about the X60 Tablet is in error though]

Would I buy from them? Only if the offering was what I was looking for of course, but there's this side: Costco.com's return policy has recently been "tightened up", but it is still better/more liberal than many other online retailers.

As part of the process of evaluating where to buy, it behooves a purchaser to read the "fine print" on return policies, as some don't "officially" allow ANY return whatsoever, leaving you with only the manufacturer's ability to make stuff right, even for a DOA [dead on arrival] unit.

My two cents...

---Zip

 

The nice thing about Costco is you can take it around the block a few times without worrying about a restocking fee. They are probably not the cheapest.

 

First, I believe Lenovo.com is the best if you are looking to customize your system. If you are happy with something that is preconfigured definitely shop around.

Second, if you know any IBM employees, they have a great EPP plan and they can share it with their family and friends. If not, ignore the rest of this post.

I purchased a T60 online (1.83Ghz and 1GB Ram). After doing so, I went and talked with the IBM tech at my office. He scolded me for not letting him know about it because he could have given me access to his account. Well, I went shopping again with his information. While I found that I couldn't save any money on my original configuration, if I upgraded I saved over $900 (with the current St. Patricks Day Sale). I called Lenovo and they were happy to cancel my existing order and let me upgrade. I went to 2Ghz, 2GB Ram, Upgraded my video card, upgraded and extended my warranty, added a AC/DC power adapter, and added a carrying case for $190. It was insane!

 

EBAY They have good prices. Just have to make sure to buy from a reputable seller.

 

Exactly what do you mean by "upgrade?" Normally, one would assume an upgrade means a new and faster machine. However, your post ALMOST sounds like you had a present system actually upgraded.

 

Sorry for any confusion. When I referred to an "upgrade", I meant changing my order to one that was considerably better. I had to cancel my original order and place a new one.

In pricing the original order, there was not much savings. However, by improving upon processor speed, memory, hard-drive, etc... I saved a considerable amount.

I hope that clarifies.