Disappointed in my new T43

First post, please be nice.

I got my new T43 last night and it has some issues that mean I will be making a call to Lonovo today.

1. The battery will not latch, one of the catched will not slide over when it is installed. I looked at it and it works with no battery, but when the battery is in all they way only one side catches.
2. Dead pixels on the center of the screen. Not enough for warranty alone, but disapponting and annoying.
3. The DVD drive is difficult to close/catch. At first I thought I was not doing it right but it looks like it was rigged in there, none of the lines around it are straight.

I could live with either #2 or 3 but the battery issue needs to be fixed because it is loose on the one side. I was expecting much better quality from this company, and the sales person even told me that I would be 100% satisfied with this product, it is the best. I know things slip through quality so I hope they are helpful in correcting it. I hope that they exchange it for another that does not have these problems. I am not interested in waiting for them to fix this one for a few weeks.

Has anyone on here had to fix their think pad right out of the box? What did they do? replace or fix? How long did you need to wait? I have not seen these problems on here so I do not think they are normal.

I did notice that the fans are louder then most notebooks I have used, I look for quiet ones but this one is just slightly louder then others. But that fan does create some wind.
I am hoping I do not just need to return this and buy from another company.

 

I know how frustrating it is to have issues with a computer right out of the box, especially business class computers like these that are supposed to be best of the best. I had to return two hp business class nc6230 because they had issues right out of the box., made me unhappy enough to cancel the order.I ordered a T43 and it should be here tomorow, hope it works. Horror stories like yours make me anxious.

If you bought your T43 directly from IBM/Lenovo, they should have a 30 days return for whatever reason policy that will cover such things like one or two dead pixels or the such.

 

1 and 3 are definately uncommon. i've never seen any of the TPs that we use with those issues.

dead pixels...the bane of the lcd industry :|

 

sorry i'm quite new with LCD. I just bought R52 and wondering how to find a dead fixel?

 

You'll see dead pixels. You can download dead pixel buddy to help you though.

 

Hi mp5,
If you have a dead pixel, you will know it, no need to go looking for it. There are however free utilities out there to help you out. IBM won't do anything about dead pixels unless there are a large number of them...9 I think, but it depends on the screen resolution.

Jack

 

Just recieved mine. Dissapointed, the fan runs too loud. I heard thinkpads were silent but mine isn't, it starts out silent but when the fan kicks into the higher speeds, they don't go back. I was hoping that perhaps if i did a clean install it would have less programs running in the background and not push the fan but then there are no CDs in the package, no windows to reinstall. IBM has a recovery partition, and you can burn it into CDs or DVDs but that's just an image of the how it was at the time it was shipped. I don't want that.
I'll have to be returning this. Really annoying, this is the third laptop i have to return in the past two months. They should make a line of product guaranteed against dead pixels and a line with the other units that didn't make the cut and charge them rebate prices, i think they'd lose less money from guys who can't stand the sight of a dead or stuck pixel and return them otherwise good units.

 

I haven't talked with Lenovo yet about my issues. I actually got to spend some time with my machine late last night, I generally like it. My high speed fan does not run all the time, it usually cuts off after a few seconds, unless I put the notebook on my bed. But it is the loudest highspeed fan I have had in a business notebook.

Spare Tire, what did you think about the HP machines, if you were to get a non-defective unit would you keep it? What were the pros and cons you saw against the T43? That is my back-up plan right now, that or go to a cheapo unit to carry me over til something else I like comes by.

 

Talk about issues, couple of months into a brand new T43p and have issues like screen flex, screen flicker, trackpoint impression on screen and more.

 

If my nc6230 was good, i would have kept it. For something relatively similar, the nc6230 was around 400CADs less. That's perhaps around 320USD maybe? But right now with the back to school sales, the thinkpads are more value worth than the nc6230.

the differences:
-nc6230 has one pcmcia and under it has a smart card reader and a SD card reader, while as T43 has one pcmcia and one express card
-T43 has fingerprint scanner, nc6230 has the smart card reader mentioned above tjhat can also serve for security purposes, except that only corporations issue smart card security card to their employees, the consumer will find it pretty useless
-T43 has a great keyboard and trackpoint+touchpad, the trackpoint on the nc6230 was a bit slow and the cap was more slippery, but i prefered the keys layout of the nc6230 where the fn key is between the ctrl and the alt, while as ibm puts the fn before the ctrl and i keep hitting it by mistake
-T43 has more utilities that might be useful, but i found it excessive, nc6230 shipped with less crap preinstalled
-T43 has NO RECOVERY CD! big turnoff, you have to make it yourself but it's only an image of what you get when it was first shipped, nc6230 ships with a real CD of win xp for you to clean reinstall and a cd with the utilities and drivers
-nc6230 a bit warmer, fan noise was a bit less if i can remember, it also has more temp sensors in the comp, one for the temp of the heatsink i think, one for the CPU, one for the GPU and one for the hdd; T43 only has one for the CPU and one for the hdd
-nc6230 has a ambiant light sensor to adjust screen brightness, works okay
-i hated the fact that the buttons above the keyboard to control wireless, volume and the such on the nc6230 needed software in windows to work, the volume buttons were linked directly to master volume control in windows so if windows is busy doing lots of things, say you are playing games it becomes slow and unresponsive, while as volume control on the T43 was kind of hard wired into the laptop, independant of windows volume control and had their own indicator bar appear onscreen
-the T43 has all kind of useful fn functions on their keyboard, more than the nc6230
-besides the time when my first nc6230 had a defective wireless card that crashed windows, my second nc6230 (that had two stuck pixels) performed flawlessly with wireless networks; T43 that has the same intel pro wireless 2200bg however kept dropping connections for no reason, a problem well knownto occur with 2200bg, but yet the nc6230 had the same wireless card and performed much better
-T43 has active hdd protection, and ships with a 7200rpm hdd, well in select models
-i hate the push and shove laod/release mechanism of the modular bay of the nc6230, the release mechanism of the T43 seems a lot less prone to damage the drive or accidentally pop out during transport or else

 

I have a worked issued T41 which uses the 855 chipset and it is extremely quiet and cool. I recently started looking for a new laptop and I have tried 3 laptops all based on the 915 chipset which the T43 uses also and they all had the fans running all the time. I had briefly the HP DV1000 and DV4000 and the Toshiba Tecra A5. I sent all 3 back because of the fan noise and heat. I believe that the fan noise is because the new version of the chipset that Intel is pushing produces a lot more heat than the 855 and the laptop manufacture's can't deal with the heat just yet. So I revived a ThinkPad 600x instead spending $1500. It is quieter and cooler than my T41.
Scott

 

This is not the kind of thing I want to hear as I'm about to buy a T43 through the EPP program, which does not allow returns.

 

get the T42 instead. it uses the 855 chipset.

 

The deal I'm looking at, unfortunately, features only the T43. The T42 is available, but at higher prices for similar specs.

 

Looks to me like the T42 is actually more costy for a similar setting than the T43.

 

i would call them up instead of ordering online. last time i called to get a epp price i did better on the phone than online.
good luck

 

Something unexpected happened today, the dead pixels have started to work correctly. Now no more spots on the screen!! All I did was carry the laptop with me to work today (in the car at over 100 degrees). Now if I get the other 2 issues taken care of I might be keeping this machine after all.

 

how much was the price diff.? i ordered online..

 

the price difference wasn't much but if i remember correctly it was $50 or so

 

i remembered that IBM will exchange your product if there are a large number of them >5

^0^

 

I had one dead pixel, i returned it, got refund, and bought another one. I will be doing this until i get a perfect unit or until i get sick of it and go buy a Fujitsu.

 

TO SHORACER :buyIBM: :
it seams that u have some Prejudice on IBM/LENOVE.

 

wow
what did u say to persuade the lenovo's rep?

 

TO SKYSAILOR:

Um... what makes you say that? Because I bought a thinkpad? Because it arrived with defects?

I wouldn't have bought one if I didn't think it would be best for my needs. I wouldn't have bought one if I was expecting it to have problems. I do not think that it is unreasonable to expect a defect free product as advertised, I expect the same from all retailers.

 

Didn't say anything in particular. I worded it very clearly and straightforward. Like "in your sales terms, you said i could return my unit in it's original condition 30 days from my purchase date for any reason". And you do. Nothing to hide. It's not because you need 6 pixels or more to be able to get warranty that you can't return it if you don't like it. You don't need to bull**** any sales rep into anything.

 

That's funny, the EPP that I am ordering through allows no-questions asked returns for 30 days. Are there different programs?

Andrew
Austin, TX

 

Mine's the Canadian EPP site, and it states that "The Employee Purchase Program does not allow returns/exchanges/refunds. All sales are final." Which is remarkably unfair really, and if it turned out that there was what I consider to be an 'excessive' number of dead pixels or other 'defects' in my computer, I would no doubt argue with sales reps until they caved and let me return it anyways. Hopefully it wont come to that

 

that sounds very convincing
i'll take your quote if i find a dead pixel

 

can't we use the warranty as another excuse?
I am in australia, i hope there is no such rule in here

 

Well, i can't guarrantee you anything in the Australia. I know that there is such a return clause like that when i bought it from lenovo canada, but i can only speak for that. Check out the sales terms before you buy.

 

Well, I don't care how much money I would save. I would not buy under those terms.

Andrew
Austin, TX

 

Well, I figure at least I still have the warranty, and I can argue that any amount of dead pixels I find amounts to a "defective" product until they give in and exchange it for me. Either way, I'm saving something like $650 CDN, so I'm willing risk a few dead pixels.

 

Keep in mind the only NEW components you get are in the brand new system. Once you start getting parts exchanged or replaced under warranty they are all refurbished (used) parts.
The machine is only new once.

Andrew
Austin, TX

 

For that kind of money, I'm willing to risk it.

 

these ibm problems scared me.. i need the laptop asap, i can't return it as soon as i receive it

 

Well my T43 will be making the trip back to Lenovo.
Their customer service alone should be enough for most people to buy another brand. I didn't get into any arguments with anyone, just the way they give you a runaround is enough to turn me away. I called about the issues I was having and I ended up having to talk with 4 people, call 3 different numbers and still have nothing other then a reference number and I need to call today because they transfered me to a closed office. Half the people I spoke with could not speak english well at all, I really could not understand what they were saying, and two people told me what number I needed to call, gave me options to choose in the auto system, but they did not even exist. The phone auto voice would tell me "that is not a valid option, good bye" and hang up on me!!

I got liking my machine, and decided to keep it, but the other day some more issues came up that it will need to be sent in for. I am ok with that, but I spent 2 hours on the phone and still need to call for the service call. I hate to think what it would take to get a service call done if I needed more service down the road. I have dealt with other manufacturers recently, and while it is always a hassle to get things done, they have been much more efficient then IBM/Lenovo. I do not even want to get this fixed now, I just want to return it and take my business elsewhere. My time is worth more than this, and together with the higher prices you pay, it is just not worth it. I hope I can get everything done before they close tonight.

 

So...
Not that I am thrilled with Lenovo lately but..
WHAT BRAND would/will you buy????
With all the big brands you are going to be dealing with different versions of the same crap. Most of their support is outsourced, or will be soon. Fujitsu has Canadian support, but has "weak" warranties, accidental damage coverage not possible, etc. SONY is a disaster.

Talk about multiple phone numbers, I recently tried to add warranty to a Dell for someone. After 6 or 7 phone calls, all to different numbers, I finally gave up.

What will you buy???

Andrew
Austin, TX

 

Well, that is a good question. I will say that I have been thinking about just getting a laptop from a B&M store. That way I can always just take it back if it has a factory defects.
I know this limits my choices and configs, but an associate here just picked one up and has had zero problems. If I find something I like I will just do that. His cost far less then this IBM I got, it is pretty good in specs, I know it is more consumer oriented then my IBM, but did I mention that it has zero manufacturing defects.
I am thinking about an HP product, they are the other manufacturer I dealt with recently and the service call went much smoother.

 

Well todays talk with IBM/Lenovo went much smoother. I was connected to their North York Ontario office. They are working with me so I am giving them another chance, I hope it goes better then what happened the other day. I would not be so willing to go with them again if I did not like this machine as much as I do. While I am sure others would serve me just as well, this one has many features I like (and a few I dont) and I do not have any replacements chosen that I could just order tomorrow.