to buy refurb or not to buy refurb

Placed an order for an SL500 but since lenovo is taking 2 months to ship it out I went browsing and found a T61 with a 1Gb more ram, .13ghz slower processor but a twice as better GPU for the same price.
Only problem is, its on Ebay and a refurb. It does come with a 3 year warranty from Lenovo and 7 day warranty from seller.

Should I pull the trigger?

 

I personally don't like buying from ebay, but if you are comfortable with it the T61 is a nice machine. The only thing is... if it has a Quadro graphics card I would ask what the part number of the motherboard is. Some T61ps have defective motherboards that crash the machine if you have 2 dimms filled and do some 3D graphic intensive things (like games).

Other than that I would venture that a T61 is better than an SL500 despite the SL500 being a newer model.

 

I do a lot of buying on Ebay and I haven't been screwed over yet. I haven't bought a Computer over Ebay before and I am pretty weary about that. The seller does have a pretty good feedback rating and does atleast offer 7 day warranty which isn't the best but atleast it isn't the always suspicous "ALL SALES ARE FINAL!!!".

He does give a model number "64608WU", I don't know if that helps. Do you know which motherboard numbers are defective?

 

System may lock up when playing games or running video benchmarking software, or may report an "nvlddmkm.exe" error - Thinkpad T61p (type 6457, 6458, 6459, 6460, 6461, 6462, 6470)

 

Have you tried Lenovo outlet store?

 

Has the machine been refurbished by Lenovo or can/do other companies do it? I myself would be worried if some unknowledgeable company refurbished the machine instead of Lenovo. Check the following...

-- Open box new from lenovo outlet
-- Refurbished from lenovo outlet
-- New ebay

 

I bought my Thinkpad x61 on eBay, it was a refurbished sealed in box with 3 year warrenty. It turned out to be the best buy on ebay i've ever had!

 

-- Seller says its a sealed box and a refurb from Lenovo.
-- Its not a new seller and has plenty of feedback, only sells IBM/Lenovo equipment.

How do I check to see if the laptop has had the "planar"(what is a planar?) replaced already by lenovo or if I need to send it in after buying it?

 

From your description, sounds like the seller might be ok, hard for me to tell with such little info. If you feel comfortable with it go for it. I guess everything is a chance, but did you have a look at the outlet?

The planar is another name for the motherboard. You might want to ask the seller for the product ID and serial number so you can check the id of the motherboard using parts lookup. As was mentioned, there were a bunch of motherboard that had a problem with 2 DIMMS of memory and anything that was graphically intensive running. The machine would spontaneous shutdown, no warning, no nothings, like the power being pulled. Lenovo, after March of this year, replaced these Motherboards with another model that looks to have corrected this problem(voltage drop issue). Let me see if I can find the tip Lenovo has on this so you know which serial number of the motherboard is good.

 

Ok,
It looks like the problem affects the T61p according to the TIP, but I am not sure if it affects the T61 with the 140M Quadro card or the X3100 integrated GPU(I am assuming no). Not sure which machine you are getting, just a T61 a T61p, what GPU?

In any event here are a couple of links you might want to take a look at. The first one is the huge thread over at the lenovo forums where people are describing their issues and the second link is Lenovo's resolution with their list of affected motherboard and the replacements. Like I said if you get the product ID and serial number you can go to Lenovo's parts look up and check out the components and their IDs for the machine being sold on ebay. That way if you see the motherboard flagged as one of the affected ones, you can steer clear, or choose to go for it and deal with Lenovo's warranty service. You can also check out the current warranty left on it. Remember that the warranty follows the machine not the owner. I was well aware of this issue and specifically waited for this issue to be solved before I bought my T61p since I didn't want to have to send my new machine into warranty repair to get the motherboard replaced(I am very happy that I did that). Up to you, just some options.


Lenovo forum discussion - 2 DIMM issue
Lenovo tip on 2 DIMM issue

 

Typically Lenovo refurbished units have a one year warranty.

 

So the problem causes the computer to power off. I know turning the power off to a running computer isn't the best thing for it, but couldn't I just do the dumb solution and try a game to see if it crashes? How much damage would that cause?

 

Sure you can do that, but I think the easier solution would be to do the parts lookup. In the thread, there are people with varying results, some where people experienced the problem in a couple of minutes and others experienced after much more time. You would have to make sure the machine is to your satisfaction(tested) before the 7 day return policy of the seller is up. If it powers off your machine a couple of times while testing it, I don't think you have to worry about hardware damage, but you could experience data loss(as you said above not the right way to down a machine).

Like I said it is up to you. Personally I would much rather try to prevent problems before they arise by steering clear of problems that I at least know about, then have to deal with warranty repair of any company.

 

The auction says T61p but description says just T61, how do I tell the difference?
General
Model Name: 64608WU
Description: ThinkPad T61

Operating System
Operating system provided: Genuine Windows Vista Business

Architecture
Bus type/architecture: PCI/PCI Express
Bays: Ultrabay Slim
Indicator light:
Form Factor: Notebook

Display
External display supported:
Simultaneous external display:
Screen type description: WUXGA TFT
Viewable image size (diagonal): 15.4inches
Screen illumination: Backlit
Max colors or grey shades: 16777216
Max resolution: 1920x1200


Graphics Subsystem
Video RAM std/max: 256MB / 256MB
Graphics chipset: nVIDIA Quadro FX 570M
Graphics type: --
Video RAM type:
Max resolution (with max video RAM): 2048x1536 16777216 colors
Max colors (with max video RAM): 16777216
Graphics bus interface: PCI Express

Processor
BIOS type: Flash ROM
Processor manufacturer: Intel
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core 2 Duo T7700
Processor internal clock speed2: 2.40GHz
Front Side Bus: 800MHz

Memory
Memory (RAM) std/max: 4GB / 4GB
RAM slots total: 2 SODIMM
RAM slots available: 0 SODIMM
RAM speed supported: 667MHz
RAM type: PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Disk
Hard disk size1: 160GB
Hard disk type: Serial ATA

Optical device
Floppy diskette size: --
Optical device: DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Optical device speed8: 24X Max
Device interface: EIDE

Audio
Integrated speakers: 2
Speaker power rating: 2 Watts
Volume control buttons:
Speaker Quantity: 2 (Internal Speakers)
Audio chipset: Intel High Definition Audio
Audio data width: 24-bit

Communications
Fax/modem: MWave 'Combo' Card,IBM PC Card
Fax/modem speeds: 56Kbps data/14.4Kbps fax
Infrared port: No
Infrared port speed: --
Wireless standard: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Network card: Integrated Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Network interface: Gigabit Ethernet- Integrated

Accessories
A/C adapter:
Worldwide A/C compatibility: Yes
Port replicator:


Standard Features
Pointing device type: ThinkPad UltraNav
Keyboard type: Full size
Keyboard light: Yes


Power Management 5
Heat emissions: 90W
Sound emissions: 36dB
Battery life - min/max: --
Battery type(s): 9 Cell Lithium-Ion
Charge time - on/off: -- / --


Expansion Options
Plug and play support:
Slots total (free) and type: PCI/PCI Express
Parallel port type:
Ports: 4-in-1 Multi-card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/XD)
Expansion Bus port (for Dock II or Port Replicator II)
External Display (VGA)
External Microphone/Line-In
Headphone / Line out
IEEE 1394
RJ-11
3 USB 2.0
RJ-45

Weight & Dimensions
Weight: 2.77Kgs
Height: 29.7mm
Width: 357.5mm
Depth: 255mm
Travel weight: 2,77Kgs

Security
Security features: Client Security Solution
Hard disk drive password
Integrated fingerprint reader
Power-on password
Security lock slot
Supervisor password

Limited warranty
Type of service: Lenovo depot
Warranty period:

Three years parts And Labor

Box May Be Opened For Ram Upgrades

IBM/Lenovo Factory Grade A Refurbished Certified Products. These Are Factory Sealed computers Some Are Excess New Products-Surplus Units That Are Still New, Duplicate Orders, Canceled Orders And Systems That Have Been Returned Because They Didn't Meet Customers Specific Needs And Some Are Discontinued Products In Perfect Working Condition they All come complete with all original accessories.

 

Well it came with a 3 year warranty, I even checked the website to look up the warranty status.

 

Supercujo,
It is a T61p. You can tell by the GPU; it uses a Quadro 570M, so it is a T61p.

 

The list of planars are:
Affected =======> Fixed
* FRU 42W7877 ===> FRU 44C3931
* FRU 42W7867 ===> FRU 44C3933
* FRU 42W7870 ===> FRU 44C3934
* FRU 42W7873 ===> FRU 44C3924
* FRU 42W7874 ===> FRU 44C3926
* FRU 42W7876 ===> FRU 44C3928

My planar # is 42W7653, so it looks like I dodged that bullet but I did get my laptop and my INTEL KEDRON 802.11 WLAN ADAPTER CARD FR (Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN) will not turn on (bluetooth and LAN do work). when I got it, the card wasn't even recognized in my BIOS or System Device manager but I updated the driver and now it is recognized but I still have the "device not working properly" and It isn't displayed on my Wireless Radio.