why purchase from lenovo website?

Hi
I am currently deciding between the T440s and the TPY. I had a few question that apply to both machines:

1. If I can find the model I want at through a third party reseller is there any compelling reason to order through the lenovo website? I actually have a T440s on order (for two weeks) and I don't even have an estimated ship date yet. I read about people waiting 6-8 weeks for the machine. I can order the machine via Amazon or FrontierPC and have it in my hands in days. So, is there a downside?

2. Related, if I do order through a third party reseller can I still add the extended warranty through lenovo that gets me accidental coverage? This is key for me as I travel alot and I have had machines get knocked off tables and desks at conferences etc.

Specific to the TPY:

1. If my org's tech team replaces the HDD with an SSD does it void the warranty?

thanks

 

Well, the biggest reason to go through the OEM (mainly via phone, though website might work as well) is that you can haggle over the price/options on the laptop. For example, back when the W520 was released, I build a CTO oder that came out to $2167 before taxes on Lenovo's website. I called up Lenovo, haggled over the price in a similar way you would over a car, and brought the price down to $1665 before taxes using a combination of haggling and coupons. You can't do that with Amazon, et. al. Of course, your percentage discount via haggling will vary.

IIRC (and I'm not 100% sure on this), but if the laptop's previous (original) warranty is still active, you can upgrade once more at any time during that warranty's coverage period.

HDD/SSD is considered a user-replaceable part, so it should not void your warranty. This was the case for my W520 and SSD install, and the same for RAM. CPU, display, GPU, etc. aren't URPs and thus would void your warranty if you tried upgrading those.