x300 from lenovo outlet?

So I've been looking to buy an x300 through the lenovo outlet, but there are some oddities in the specs given. I greatly appreciate any input from someone more familiar with the outlet than I.

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/LenovoOutlet/Notebook/New/ThinkPad X Series/?sck=35020629

Looking at the new ones, they come with ddr3 whereas they were sold with ddr2 before, is this a typo, or could the x300 always support ddr3?

They don't list the wireless or the graphics, I assume that they'll have the x3100 igp, but what wireless would come with these laptops?

Finally, some of them are listed as having Vista Basic, is this business basic or home basic or...what?

 

The specs listed are not always accurate. One way to find out the real specs will be to check the model and serial no. If you see a ten digit no. listed - the first three digits are of the 4 digit model no., and the last 7 digits are serial no. of the specific laptop. Once you find that, you can go to Lenovo parts lookup:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?template=/partslookup/partsLookup.vm
Then paste the serial no. and paste the three digits of the model no. and try to find the last digit by going 0-9 till you get the real one:
For example: 647L3A6390 is likely to be 6478 L3A6390.
Please search the forum - there are other posts on the topic.
Also take a screen capture of the listing before you order it - in case the actual specs are worse than the ones listed.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

 

To my knowledge the x300 does not support DDR3. It should have DDR2.

The graphics processor is an Intel GMA x3100.

I believe most x300 models came with the Intel 4965ABGN, but other cards may have been offered.

Vista Basic = Vista Home Basic. This is a rather crippled version of Vista (no Aero, media center features, etc.) that I generally don't recommend ( Windows Vista Editions). Vista Business offers more features (e.g. Remote Desktop, Volume Shadow copy, et. al.) and this is what I use.

Sadly, Lenovo makes a lot of typos both on the main configuration site and the outlet page.

 

Wow. Just wow. I was transferred across three or four people all over the western hemisphere trying to get details on a couple of the machines on the Lenovo outlet. Basically it is like pulling teeth to find out exactly what components are in each. I tried the parts guess/lookup suggested above, and that did help but only a very little. It was far from a complete parts list, and as often as not I couldn't tell by the description what a particular part even was.

Simply put, a customer will certainly be earning any discount they get buying from that outlet.

 

For better information, you want to call them and ask for it. You'll have the full specs by talking with s S.R.

 

That's exactly what I was doing. Neither of the two different salespeople I spoke with could give me satisfactory information. Case in point, I mentioned that the display listed for the X200 tablet I was looking at only said 12.1 WXGA, but that I knew there were three different WXGA displays available for that model. The salesperson told me that if it didn't specify, then that meant it was the standard version. I then asked them, that being the case, what did another X200 that listed 12.1 WXGA STD mean? Nothing about the conversation led me to believe I was getting reliable information.

I really don't get how a company could put such effort into making quality, innovative products, yet allow themselves to be represented by such a terrible website.

 

That pretty much says it all right there.

 

I agree that the whole outlet inventory system lacks organization. But it may work in your favor. Sometimes the specs are a lot better than what is advertised - in my experience the parts lookup page gives pretty accurate information. The parts list is not complete, and the numbers are cryptic - but I have seen that "googling" those FRUs gets the job done in most cases.
You are right though that it is a lot of work and often very frustrating - but it may be worth it.

 

I have to agree with all the comments above.