Should I wait until the holidays to buy a Lenovo Thinkpad laptop?

[apairofpcs]

I just watched another Lenovo YouTube clip, this time on the X1 Carbon Ultrabook. The T530 doesn't look so good to me anymore. Somebody, please stop me from craving an X1 instead of the T530. Funny that there are very few choices when configuring it. Lenovo tells you what YOU need. What a beautiful machine.

Back to reality.....!

 

[LunarMist]

If you want less choices, and pracically no upgradability, then buy the new Macs.

 

[apairofpcs]

If you want less choices, and practically no upgradability, then buy the new Macs.

I was born an IBM pc type of a guy, and I will die one. But I don't deny that Macs are in a (HIGH) class of their own. I just don't know enough about them to have ANY opinion.

 

[apairofpcs]

On Sun. 11/11, I placed the order for the laptop that started this thread, with no change in my initial configuration. Scheduled delivery via UPS Worldwide Expedited service, is Tue. Nov. 20th. It was built in Lenovo's Beijing China manufacturing facility. The nice thing about buying it well before the Black Friday time, is that if the price goes down within 21 days of my order date, I will be credited the difference in price to my credit card. Knowing this, it made no sense for me to wait until the prices drop. The 21 Day Price Protection perk is a nice thing to have on your side.

I'll post my impressions shortly after I receive it.

 

[Handruin]

Congrats! I hope you enjoy it when it comes in.

 

[apairofpcs]

Congrats! I hope you enjoy it when it comes in.

The operative words are "when it comes in." Can anybody with US Customs experience tell me what is involved, and how long should it take? My shipment arrived in UPS's Louisville Kentucky facility on Sat. Nov. 17th at 9:24 AM, and has not left there as of now, Sun. Nov. 18th at 1:39 AM. UPS told me that this is where it has to clear customs, even though it's first stop after leaving Shanghai China was Anchorage Alaska. Are they trying to confirm that the box contains a laptop and not a Barbie doll? How long should this process take? The scheduled delivery date is Tue. Nov. 20th. I've never received a shipment from overseas. I'm not sure how UPS calculated the scheduled delivery date. Anybody?

 

[ddrueding]

I don't really pay attention, but 10 days total would sound about right.

 

[apairofpcs]

I don't really pay attention, but 10 days total would sound about right.

10 days total would sound terribly wrong to me. I've spoken to many sales reps. and seen on their website that the transit time, including the trip out of China, through U.S. customs and the flight to me after it's released, is 4 or 5 days. Is Lenovo knowingly misleading it's customers, to encourage them to place orders? My exceptionally close monitoring is due to my need to know when I should be at home to sign for the package, since I'm not sure which of my neighbors will be able to sign in my absence.....and the excitement of breaking in a new pc.

Between the time I receive it and Feb. 28, 2013, the expiration date for Lenovo's Windows 8 64 bit Home Premium edition upgrade offer, I will ask for your advice whether I should buy into the upgrade. Win 8 was released on Oct. 26th, and I'm sure many of you already have it or will have it soon. Any reviews you post here will be helpful. Needless to say, I will post the receipt of the laptop and my first impressions.

 

[Mercutio]

Windows 8 isn't really a downgrade or an upgrade. It's a side-grade, about like the functional difference between Windows 2000 and Windows XP was.

 

[apairofpcs]

Windows 8 isn't really a downgrade or an upgrade. It's a side-grade, about like the functional difference between Windows 2000 and Windows XP was.

Not worth the trouble to me.....

 

[apairofpcs]

Oops, I forgot to post that my laptop was shipped on Thu. Nov. 15th and I received it on Tue. Nov. 20th. I will post my impressions after the honeymoon phase is over.

 

[LunarMist]

Make sure to capture a base image if you don't have the full restore discs. My recent Lenovo only had a hidden backup partition.

 

[apairofpcs]

Make sure to capture a base image if you don't have the full restore discs. My recent Lenovo only had a hidden backup partition.

I've been amiss in my usual backup behavior, concerning this laptop. There are no restore disks. I will have to create a restore disk set from the Lenovo recovery partition. I don't know what is a "base image" or how to "capture" it.

 

[Mercutio]

I usually do it with TrueImage, but you can do it with Disk2VHD or ImageX or the System Image function that's in the Backup and Restore center for Pro and better editions of Windows.
However, I still have an untouched 320GB OEM drive that I pulled from my Thinkpad the day that I got it. I suspect the Windows load on it would work for anyone else with a Tx20 or Tx30 as well.

 

[CougTek]

Macrium Reflect is my favorite imaging program these days. The interface is not quite as user-friendly as Acronis TI's is, but the image sizes are a tad smaller.

 

[CityK]

I also pulled the optical drive from my T520 for a SATA bay, more because I kept accidentally popping the drive open than any legitimate need for extra disk space. I added a single USB3 port via a generic Expresscard/34 I found on Ebay and I popped in an mSATA SSD.

If nothing else, that speaks to how ridiculously expandable the T-series guys are.

http://www.thinkscopes.com/how-to-solve-ejection-button-issues/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/lockcd/

This application was written after giving up on finding a properly functioning software that would lock CD-ROM's eject button on my Lenovo T520 laptop, which i hit quite frequently.