Good deal? $749 for R61i @ Circuit City

For comparison ---

I picked up a Thinkpad R61i at Office Depot this weekend for a sale price of 799.99 after a $250 dollar rebate ($100 from Lenovo and $150 rebate from Office Depot). The Office Depot sale rebate expired but I believe the $100 Lenovo rebate will continue through 12.31.2007.

My R61i (Model number 8932 -A17) came with 15.4 inch screen, T5250, 2 Gig Ram, 160 G HD, firewire, card reader, finger print reader, and Vista Business. The only thing missing was Bluetooth. I imagine these deals will continue until the old stock is cleaned out and the CPUs are Santa Rosa.

 

thank for your answers

Not online, though. They sell it for $950 and $200 rebate on their website, but I expect to buy it in-store with $750 and $200

 

The original price was $949.99 - $200. Anything else is just a big YMMV. Unless you live in the San Diego area, have fun spending time to look.

 

I am living in San Diego My two nearest stores don't have it yet, but there are two 30-minutes-away stores have it available

 

Go grab one!!! I just installed Office 2007, runs nice! I've been fighting with my girlfriend as to who gets to use this thing,

 

and you lost? lol

so this laptop doesnt have Firewire? does it really matter?

 

I don't think it's that big of a deal that it doesn't have firewire. Most peripherals use USB 2.0 as well and you can always get hubs that have firewire ports that connect to the USB. I'd rather have the build quality of the 14' R61i and Bluetooth than the firewire on the 15' R61i.

Oh, someone gave me a MoGo Bluetooth mouse and it works well with this laptop!

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1990312,00.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XLQ1KKlSXg

 

you know how much it cost?


Beside, I was wondering if we can return the product if the rebates are rejected?

 

Very doubtful. The terms of the rebate state that the rebate is only valid on the advertised price (or something to that effect). Also, you'll be well past the 14-day return period for laptops by the time you find out.

My recommendation would be to buy the laptop and consider it a good value at $749 and if you can get the $200 rebate in addition, go out and buy a lottery ticket because you're obviously living a charmed life.

 

Check out this page, all kinds of hubs.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=26&name=Hubs

On second thought, these may be a better option for you. A Firewire PCMCIA card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...A=0&Description=Firewire+PCMCIA+card+&x=0&y=0

 

One left still have it in-stock

 

Update... Looks like CC not only sold out of the existing R61 stock, there's no longer any Thinkpads available on their website.

 

Wow, it is off their site.

We just got an email from Lenovo saying that they received our rebate and that it's been initially approved. Looks like we got a great deal on this clearance sale!

 

That's good news! I bought the machine for my brother and he cracked open the box last week. Here's a summary:

- Bright 1280x800 screen, no dead pixels
- Has bluetooth, but no firewire - there is a plug under the "1394" text.
- DVDRW, 2X 1G RAM sticks, 160G Hitachi HD
- Great keyboard as with all Thinkpads!
- TONS of crapware: MS Office trial version, virus checkers, etc. Wiped it all out!


The CC R61i is a great machine, and only slightly thicker than my T61. On its own it actually looks pretty svelte and if I had to do everything over again, I'd probably go for the R61 to save some cash. They look almost identical!

After a clean install, performance is excellent. A cold boot into Vista Premium takes just 45 seconds.

 

I'm glad to see someone else appreciates the screen. I've read several reviews where users are complaining about the screen not being particularly "bright" (oh, whatever). But, sitting side by side with my Tosh M4, the R61's screen is significantly brighter than the M4. I'm wondering of people have dimmed the screen and forgotten to it back to full brightness?

 

Yeah, seriously, it's either that or they've been staring at bright screens for years and their vision is whacked.

I keep mine at 10 with power and it's fine for my tastes.

 

So you can't really tell the difference between the thicknesses? It's not too obvious when you actually handle it? Reason I'm asking is because I'm torn as to whether or not the $75 to upgrade to the T is worth it or not.

 

If they are side by side the R61 is thicker, but on its own it still looks like a small laptop. (We also bought an Acer 14" WXGA machine for my mom and the R61 is smaller than that.) I just meant that the R61 and T61 14" models are otherwise the same in terms of port layout and case materials. The R61 actually feels more sturdy than my T61, and the latches on the lid were tight! On my T61 the left lid latch was terrible and left a 1-2mm gap.

If you're ordering online then I think the small price difference between the T61 and R61 favors the T, but here we saved about $500 with the Circuit City offer! Incredible.

 

Update: Looks like the rebate was approved and on it's way!!!

Great, we're so glad this was a Lenovo rebate and not one of those CC nightmares some previous posters tried to scare us with. Always stay positive and good things will happen!

Hope everyone enjoys their new laptop, we are!

 

For those that bought it in San Diego CC, does it have an SD card reader? I hardly use the firewire so it's no issue but I want the convenience of using the reader interchangeably with my camera.

 

I think it did, but I'm only about 75% sure - my bro has the machine now. If you still happen to find one in the local stores at the $750 price, but it anyway - my $200 rebate was just approved, bringing the price to ~$600 after taxes. You can always get yourself either an external card reader or a PCMCIA version.

Maybe the other guys can chime in about the card reader built into the machine?

 

Looks like CC has it back on their site now, available at store pickups only. Since the site has it for $750 including a$200 discount and $200 rebate, does anyone know if the in-store deal is the same again, or if CC caught on and $750 is the price now? Thanks!

 

I didn't buy it in SD, but all of the models that CC have are identical. It DOES NOT come with a card reader, just a PCMCIA slot.

Since they have it back on their site, I would call stores near you and ask if they have any in stock. When you call the first store, ask them to check available stock near them and then call the store that has one to confirm and ask how much they have them for. If it's $750 in store, you may still be able to get the $200 rebate from Lenovo. We just got our check in the mail a few days ago. $615 after tax here in Illinois. Good luck!