About to purchase an X301!

I found an X301 at my local Microcenter for $775 that has a 128 GB SSD and a 3 year warrantee, and I've got it on hold pending a trip out there to pick it up!

I'm so excited!

 

You should be. It's a sweet machine.

 

Whoa they are still x301 been sold at stores? 775 dollars for a x301 is not bad. You probably have to call lenovo service up to reset the warranty to the date of purchase.

 

I saw one at Microcenter too, every now and then they have an old ThinkPad in stock. A decently priced R500 in stock right now.

It was actually an X300 I saw and it was 669 and I snapped it up/flipped it on CL. Microcenter, and less often Frys, are great for finding the occasional steal and then re-selling. If it was a 301 I would keep it like you are, congrats! It is a sexy machine.

 

Thanks all!

I think I'm going to get it tomorrow morning, which I'm so excited for. And I checked about the warrantee, and they said it was just a floor model, so they can't sell it in box as new, but the warrantee hasn't been started yet, so it still has 3 full years.

 

They also have a HP Envy 13 that has the slice battery and external drive for just $538... If it didn't have the low res (1368x768) screen, I would have jumped for that.

 

1368x768 on a 13" isn't that low of a resolution, if you want higher pixel density then it become very hard to read the text on the screen.

 

They used to have a super fantastic high res screen (900x1600) on it, but I can't find any that are reasonable. I had seen one on the HP Business Referb site, but not currently

 

A 13" WXGA+ screen is similar to a 14" SXGA+ or a 12" WXGA, which are both very usable. I saw the MacBook Air with the WXGA+ LCD. I thought it was very usable.

 

And with good reason! I love my X301!

 

...and i miss that X301.

 

Got it! And I love it!

There is some strange business going on with the warrenty, because Thinkvantage and Microcenter aren't quite matching up. But I'll get that sorted later. Its such a nice laptop, and it keeps surprising me with how light it it is (I think its getting lighter everytime I pick it up).

Thanks all!

 

@ aislepathlight

Does it have that nice rubbery palmrest?! The old 600X had that and I thought it was a nice touch!

 

Told you! It is light, isn't it? I have the 6-cell battery and the bay battery installed, and it's still light as a feather.

Yes, it does. It's a worthy successor to the 600 series which, for my purposes, was the best TP series ever until the X30x came out. A perfect combination of size and weight.

 

Congrats!

Would be interested to know what the problems with the warranty were and whether you were able to get them sorted out.

Thanks

 

Thanks all for the warm comments!

I'm just starting to rediscover thinkvantage (My father had nothing other than thinkpads for something like 15 or 20 years, and I used to get his old ones) and some of the wonderful features of a Thinkpad.

I'm pondering ordering one of the 3 cell batteries for the bay (I've got a 6 cell right now), but I'm getting deterred by the high cost on the Lenovo website (I could get another 6 cell for cheaper) and by the fact that it gets drained until its completely discharged...

Advice?

 

I picked up one of the bay batteries from Lenovo's outlet a few weeks ago. Keep an eye out in case more of them show up there.

 

Also, I've just gone into the Thinkvantage software update, and there are a bunch of updates available, but they lie mostly in the recommended section. Do people have advice on what to install?

Thanks!

 

So this was the situation: I purchased it Open Box from microcenter, and apparently, that had previously used it as a floor model, so I had never been sold and warrenty had never been activated. However, whoever initialized the computer the first time accidentally set up the warrenty. All I ended up having to do was email a copy of my receipt in, and the rep manually changed the date. He said it should be good to go, but it would take a couple days for the date to change everywhere in the system.

Also, having reps in the US is awesome for support. The guys I spoke to were great.

Edit: The horizontal view angles are pretty poor, which was frustrating last night when I was streaming some netflix, but my TV wasn't playing nice with a VGA cord I had.

 

no one "activated" or "initialized" the warranty before you received it.   more than likely you're the first owner of that system.

warranty starts the day the system leaves the factory.   if a reseller sits on a system for a year before selling it then that amount of warranty will be eaten up unless the reseller or buyer lets lenovo know of the discrepancy.

what you ran into is completely normal.

anyway, enjoy the X301!

 

@aislepathlight...Nice! Damn! I wish I could get my hands on a machine like that. As I have always maintained, that 13" screen is probably the sweet spot for me. And from what I read here, the x301 was probably one of the best-engineered Thinkpads!

 

Yeah. My last real laptop (not counting the joke that my Asus netbook) was a 15 inch Macbook Pro, and that was a pain to move around. One thing I do miss about it is that it had discrete graphics card. I'm hoping some day I can do some wild mod to jam some sort of discrete card in... Anyway, yeah its feeling great this far, and I'm so happy I didn't go bigger. I was thinking about a T410s mainly for the discrete graphics, but this X301 is nearly as good (I know my crap old SU9600 can't compare to a full fledged i5, but its not bad), and a lot lighter. Also, you get the same screen res, which is really nice. If only they'd bring back the X30x series...

Hm. Not sure about this. No one who I spoke to either at microcenter or at the Thinkpad support number suggested that the warranty started when it left the factory. Are you sure about this? The guys I spoke to on the phone were more than happy to change the date it started.

EDIT:

I am noticing a little whine from the computer, coming from the top left... Seems like CPU whine.

 

considering that i've been doing this since 1995 and lost track of the number of times your exact scenario has happened (even in the IBM days), i'm 100% positive.   even though i rarely buy systems through retail channels, it's happened to me a few times personally.   let's just say i know people who work in that department.

 

Hm. Thats interesting. So did the tech make a mistake in changing the date that my warranty begin?

 

if you called into the warranty entitlement department and a rep changed the warranty date, the date will eventually be updated start on your purchase date.

the point i wanted to clarify is that there is no warranty activation or initialization that would have been done by anyone at microcenter.   the system's warranty began the day it shipped.   because you purchased it at a later time, lenovo's policy is to update the entitlement date to reflect your purchase date rather than when it left the factory.

from what i understand of your situation, no mistakes have been made.   you simply have to wait a week or two for the warranty entitlement date to be updated in the database.

you may check your system's warranty status here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=LOOK-WARNTY

 

Issue:

Whenever I restart/reboot my computer, my ultranav's settings change. It keeps turning on tapping, which I hate. Any way to keep it from going back to defaults?

 

Hey all,

One of little black screw covers on my X301 is missing. Will Lenovo supply me more? Or do they always fall out?

 

Wow, didnt know about warranty, will check it out for sure on my laptop and see if it needs to be updated, since its bought in late september while warranty starts in august, one month difference

 

Doubt it.

 

Issues:

My keyboard is on the fritz. I've called them and I have another one on the way, and it should get to me on Monday. So much for high quality brands providing a better experience.

(Just being cynical. I had a great experience on the phone with them, and their online videos were great. And they were so friendly. <3's to them)

 

Awesome. They overnighted me a keyboard, and it ended up getting here the same day they shipped it.

<3's for their support

 

I went on their website but I don't see either the Envy 13 or the X301 listed. Unless these are store only deals? If so that means I may have to drive 45 min to just see if they have it or not. :/ because those are pretty much half of what they are going for on Amazon and ebay.