questions about upcoming x200 purchase

i am still on the fence about purchasing the x200 but most likely will pull the trigger in the next few weeks. On some of the ebay pictures, i see some of the boxes sealed with tape with the "thinkpad" words on the tape and some of the boxes sealed with tape that has a padlock symbol on it. are there any differences? both have the red stripes on them. I'm also a bit worried about the electronic buzz that comes from the screen that some people expereince. is this fixable? is it very annoying? are there any sound clips of it that i can hear? i don't plan on doing the affs screen upgrade

any other problems that i should know about the x200? i'm very excited about being a future owner of the x200

 

I'm not sure if there's any significance to the tape. Perhaps one's from the outlet. If it is from the outlet it means it has a one year non-upgradeable warranty. If it's important for you to extend the warranty you should ask before buying.

If you're referring to LegendaryKA8's X200, they already stated it was kind of roughed up, which is probably why it's buzzing. Mine and the couple others I've seen have had no LCD buzzing sound. If it is you can always get it fixed under warranty.

You should be excited. The X200 is a fantastic notebook, a worthy addition to the ThinkPad brand.

 

Yeah... please don't take my experience as normal, just like ZaZ said. My 'new' X200 has seen some use and abuse, but I also got it for next to nothing. I really think the LCD buzz is the inverter going bad, and even then it's not constant. It's probably covered under warranty, although I'm probably just going to replace the inverter, LCD, and a few other things all at once.

All told, the X200 has turned out to be an excellent machine besides these little flaws. I highly recommend getting one if you're looking for a portable, powerful system.

 

Hey Kevin,

I bought my X200 from ebay last month and my box has the padlock symbol. I'm fairly certain that mine isn't from outlet because my machine comes with 3year on-site warranty. I do know that my machine was a large firm order that never got shipped.

No buzzing from the LCD on my machine. Like ZaZ mentioned, the X200 is an awesome machine and I don't regret one bit purchasing this!

As for purchasing from Ebay, make sure you ask for the Model and Serial #. If they won't give it you, then ask them to go to the Lenovo warranty website and type in BOTH model and serial to confirm the machine spec matches. My seller didn't do so and as a result my machine didn't include integrated Bluetooth and the wireless card was the Intel 5100 opposed to the 5300. Because the specification was different, I was able to recover full retail value and a little extra, which made the deal sweeter.

The seller doesn't have too many ratings but this machine looks like a deal with Bing cash back if you buy it now. New Lenovo ThinkPad X200 ( 7458-88U ) 3 Year Warranty - eBay (item 180525979971 end time Jun-30-10 00:52:14 PDT)

 

yeah at first i thought it was an outlet model too but i contacted him directly and he told me that it isn't. he didn't want to give me the serial number either but the description seemed like he copied and pasted the specs from the lenovo warranty look up. this is the listing that i am looking at. does this look legit to you guys? the main features that i want are intel 5100, webcam, bluetooth, and fingerprint reader. x200 laptop ebay listing

 

I would confirm the warranty with Lenovo. The warranty look up can be wrong, especially on machines in the outlet. Their original warranties are knocked down to one year when they're sent to the outlet and sometimes the database isn't updated for a while. I don't know maybe the new/redistributed machines are different.

 

If that's the actual eBay listing that you plan on buying from, it looks like you're paying a bit too much (for an eBay item) and getting not so much, yeah? I have nearly the exact same specs (minus the bluetooth but I bought mine brand new straight from Lenovo and not from their outlet a few months ago) and I paid a lot less than that (or about the same with Bing's Cashback).

So if I were to buy another X200, and with my knowledge of the X200 prices that I've seen in my one year of searching, I would definitely keep looking/waiting for a lower-priced one unless you really need it right now or price isn't a problem for you.

I'm not quite sure if the laptops I've seen in the past on eBay have your wanted spec but I believe I've seen similar specs on eBay for around $7XX or lower without BCB. And if you really wanted those specs, then I would look for listings that for sure have webcam and fingerprint readers (because those are the hardest to upgrade) and then you can later add the bluetooth (jaredy made an awesome DIY thread on it).

My box had padlocks on the tapes by the way.

 

You can get an X201 from lenovo for not a whole lot more than the price on that listing if you watch for coupons.

 

do you know any good places to look for coupons? the coupon page on this site doesn't have any right now. how often do the coupons come and how much do they usually discount. is it possible to get the specs i want for under 800 usd

 

They come pretty often, but they vary in percentage from anywhere from 10% to 20% it seems. If you enter the lenovo grads and dads sweepstake and leave the boxed checked, they'll also e-mail you them periodically (I had one that ended yesterday from this for 20% off an X201). Check logicbuy.com too.

I don't know if you'll be able to do under $800, but by waiting for the exactly right moment I got my X201 for 931.56, including the 5% sales tax (+cost options were the 9 cell battery, touchpad, 4gb of ram, 320gb 7200rpm hdd, and intel 6300 wifi card)

 

thanks. i will keep an eye out for coupons. but i don't really think it's possible for me to get a x201 since even after the coupon with my config. it only goes down to about $9xx. although the x200 that i picked might be a bit expensive for what i get, i will be using bing cash back to get it down to around 800. are there any other websites that sell prebuilt x200's? also are there retail stores where i can take a look at the x200? like lenovo "stores"?

 

If you can find a cheap X200 on ebay from a reputable seller, that's the way to go. Here's what I did.

X200 on EBay: $789
Bing: -$63.12
Ebates(1.5%+$5 for first time):-$16.84
Partial Refund(wrong spec): -$65
1% Citi cashback: -$7.24

Zeroshock III sleeve $31.99
Bing: -$1.92
Ebates and Citi -$0.80
Pay Pal Promotion -$15.00
($5 off 1st $25, $10 off 2nd $25 purchase)

X200 Fingerprint Reader (Ebay) $29.99
Ebay Bucks -$15.00
Bing/Citi/Ebates -$1.57

Win7 Professional(Digital River) $29.99

For a total of $694.48, I find the X200 the better deal by saving $200~$300 not paying premium of newer intel chips, full price of 3 year on-site warranty, and taxes.
P8700/4GB/160GB 7K2/Intel 5100/Webcam/FP reader/Win7 X64/6 cell/3 year onsite warranty/Zeroshock III sleeve

Atleast on ebay, you can receive both ebates.com cashback and bing cashback. It works most of the time, but doesn't always. I usually do the following:

1. Log on to Bing.com
2. Enter ebay from cashbackstore
3. After confirming I see the BCB logo, I go to ebates.com on the same tab.
4. Then find ebay and click on the link
5. You will be jumped to a new tab and proceed with your purchase as long as you see the BCB sign on the top.
6. You should receive both BCB and ebates(1.5%)

Ebates doesn't have any confirmation logo like BCB but tracker numbers on the website. And it doesn't always work. I'm still experimenting but I think clicking on the Ebay link from ebates.com multiple times help. It generates more tracking and I feel I have a better luck getting ebates cashback.

 

hmm...thanks. i've never heard of ebates. looks like it's just like BCB except a lower percentage discount?