Buying a T500 from an eBay vendor?

First of all, first post, you guys seem great! This webside was how i came to make my choice on the T400/T500, thanks to the helpful reviews on this website.

On ebay looking for used T-series laptops I cant help but notice the vendors selling the laptops on eBay. They say some crap like, "this laptop was probably just returned when the customer wasn't happy, and is now new and sealed!" but my guess is it was broken at one point and then repaired?

The specs of one particular one are pretty Decent.

T9600(2.8GHz)
3GB ram
ATI 3650
LED backlight
2GB internal turbo memory ( is this? do they all come with this?)
Intel WIFI 5300


This setup priced out new from Lenovo is well over 1,600 bucks. So how can this vendor be selling it for 1,100 shipped, used or not isnt that a good deal? They claim 3 year factory warrentee as well, and their feedback checks out.

 

If their feedback is suburb then go for it. You will not be disappointed. Also, you are covered by Lenovo's warranty so if anything is not up to par, you can get it fixed as long as it's not accidental damage. Who is the seller by the way?

 

Sounds like a good price for a great configuration. Make sure the seller has very close to 100% positive feedback, and that he/she has a high number of sales before purchasing. You should be covered by the warranty, which follows the machine, and not the owner.

Turbo Memory is basically flash that is used to try to optimize the speed of Windows boot and application launches, which in theory sounds good, but in practice makes little to no difference on machines with 2GB or more RAM.

 

IBMfactoryoutlet is their name.

Is 1,130 shipped a good deal for this setup?

it has almost every option available except hard drive, which doesnt matter because I am just going to swap that out for an x-25m in the near future.

Also, On a side note I really dont need the bigger screen than the T400, I am just opting for it because of the better graphics chip. Is the better graphics worth clunking around a bigger laptop for someone who will move it around a lot? Is the T500 really that much bigger, it sure looks like it.

 

i've bought from them before and they are awesome and very trustworthy! I didn't have a fingerprint reader on mine so they docked off $100 and also ordered me another AC adapter cause it only came with one instead of two (notebook and ultrabase) at not cost to me! They are very responsive as well. your configuration looks great, i'd go for it!

 

I bought from them before, and received a computer that wasnt working quiet right. I didnt have much trouble getting a refund, so it ended up okay for me.

run a search on www.thinkpads.com about ebay sellers and make a decision for yourself.

 

Also look into MS Live Cash back for BIN options on ebay.

 

The thing is that there are different reasons for a laptop to be returned - sometimes there is really nothing wrong with it, sometimes Lenovo has messed up with the configuration (they've put another hardware part than ordered), sometimes the buyer just didn't like the design or something...I guess that sometimes there is some real hardware issue; but you can never know why this particular laptop has been returned; in theory - when returned to Lenovo - they have to check it - than repair it if there's something wrong - and than sell it with their warranty to some other company to resell it;
I bought my Dell Latitude E6500 form a UK ebay seller with a very good feedback for half the price the UK Dell asked for this configuration; right after I received it I ran the ''Dell diagnostics tool'' - a low-level hardware check program that checks all the hardware by intensive tests (about 3 hours.. - and it ran all well except for one of the hard drive tests. Since I had a 3 years warranty I contacted Dell and they sent me another hard drive for a replacement.( I don't know if Lenovo have such a program - but if they don't you can apply different tests after Windows installation). Since then the laptop runs absolutely fine and I believe that it was a very good bargain ...well, apart from the firmware and driver issues that Dell haven't solved completely yet, which is shame!
I really think that if the seller has a good feedback and you get a manufacturer's warranty there's very high possibility that you will get a nice working machine; if you find something wrong from the very beginning you can return it to the seller and get a refund or a replacement.

 

I got my t61p off of ebay after lenovo kept pushing the date further and further away. I was happy with it, right to the time when it was stolen.

By the way. The processor is especially nice. It's the only one I would have had at the time.

-Renee

 

Have you checked out the Lenovo Outlet- LINK

I just took a quick glance at the Refurbished T-series and saw a T500 as low as $643 (and it has the WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display & 9-cell battery)! All Outlet ThinkPads have a full 1-year warranty, which is a BIG plus! Not that you'd need to use the warranty, but it's reassuring when purchasing a refurbished product!

I would NOT buy any refurbished/used ThinkPad from eBay (or anywhere, for that matter) that doesn't include at least a 1-year warranty!