purchase advice??

hi, i found a local x230 for $450, everything is in good condition, very small crack under the laptop, it also comes with a depot warranty until 2017, would it be a bad investment to buy this? unfortunately it does not have ips panel and I would have to add that myself, i don't know what to use as a price guide. the ones on ebay are going for more than the outlet x240s..or where to find reputable ips panel dealer

here is an example of the crack, looks like whoever owned it previously over tightened the hdd latch

 

$450 seems a bit high. I paid $500 for mine in like new condition and i7, though no warranty. It looks functional, but Lenovo won't replace the cracked bottom case. The warranty is nice, but the X230 is pretty easy to work on should a problem arise. If it doesn't have the IPS, I wouldn't even consider it. I think you can find a X220 or X230 in good shape with IPS for that much or less. Might want to post in the Marketplace forum over at ThinkPads.com. It's an excellent place to buy a used ThinkPad where they're much more honest about what they're selling than eBay or CL. That has a lot of value on a used notebook.

 

thanks for your input, after searching the thinkpad marketplace forums to get an idea of historical sale values for similar x220/x230's, i found that the majority were significantly above the $600 dollar range to mid 800's, granted many of them had IPS displays, purchasing an IPS display wouldn't cost too much according to my findings, none the less i will give it a shot and ask around. i can't seem to find any other websites that have prices similar to this x230, very tempted to purchase despite being cracked, nothing super glue can't fix though

 

I guess it depends on how patient you can be. I picked up my X220 for $500 on eBay. Perhaps it was dumb luck on my part, but when I was looking at the beginning of the year, there definitely was IPS X220/X230 $500 and lower on eBay. Maybe not as nice as mine, but at least equal to the one in the picture and IPS too.

 

I just bought a X230 on ebay for 610. It has the i5 2.9, 8 gb ram, 500 72k HD, IPS, and full docking station with extra charger. 6 cell had about 60 cycles on it. I purchased a 9 cell on amazon (factory lenovo) for 80 dollars. Also had the best accidental lenovo warranty for another 880 days. I feel I got lucky being this thing looks brand new. Its mint.

IMO, prices on the X230 are rising. And for good reason. It is a better design. It has the hard buttons on top, and a much better trackpad. Also does not have a horrid sealed battery like the X240. I can't believe Lenovo put a sealed battery in the new model. The new glass pad is just wrong on this kind of machine. It should keep the traditional trackpad with windows 7 of course. The thinkpad has no business messing with windows 8 IMO.

 

i saw that as well, i see that cracking is a common issue and additionally the lid on this laptop is weaker than most thinkpads, i carry around my laptop a lot, might be an issue if it is an ips panel

i was considering buying this laptop but these weaknesses might be an issue

 

Well, when I bought the X230 on ebay I was a bit worried about the claimed accidental that had almost 900 days left. So when I received it, I called Lenovo and sure enough it had the accidental. I re-registered the device to my name so I'm not to worried about things breaking. This one is for my wife. I'll tell her to be kind to the lid. I've got an Ativ book 9 Samsung with 1080P matte screen. But for some reason, I am getting attached to the thinkpad. I'll have to give it up in the end of next month when I travel to Fiji where my wife is managing an estate for me. I know she will really like it. Keyboards are really important for her and compared to the Acer she has now, this will be 100X better. She also likes good battery life. After testing the six cell I was not satisfied. I wanted at least 6 hours from that. So I bought the 9 cell and problem solved.

I'll take my chances with the IPS. I never buy another TN panel again. The difference is too great to overlook. IPS is the bomb.