How to get the best deal for ThinkPad in the US?

Hope this is an appropriate topic and I am posting in a proper section of this awesome forum

I live in Maryland US and am planning on ordering my second ThinkPad mostly like ThinkPad T420 (no longer true, will get W520 instead). Have some questions about possible deal I could get for ThinkPad.

Questions:
1. Does Lenovo.com offer substantial price-cuts for its ThinkPad during US holidays? If so which holidays are they and in what forms of promotion such as MIR?

2. Have anyone bought coupon off eBay and successfully redeemed it while ordering ThinkPad at Lenovo.com?
I wouldn't feel comfortable buying Thinkpad off eBay. But I bought Dell coupons off eBay and successfully redeemed when buying my Dell Inspiron before. Just wondering if the same can be done for ThinkPad.

3. Are there any other places where I buy pre-configured ThinkPad models cheaper?

4. Are there any other strategies I am missing for getting ThinkPad deals?

Thank you for advising

Edit: My research now shows clearly my new ThinkPad will be W520 not T420. (edited at 0845PM EST)

 

1. Lenovo offers e-coupons.

2. Never heard of such a thing.

3. Not that I know of. With the e-coupons, custom configurations are actually cheaper.

4. Call in and haggle.

 

Coupon code USPTXSAVINGS gets you 10% off some laptops, and USPRETHINK works for other laptops.

Also, if you get the Thinkpad T420, be sure to get the 1600x900 display upgrade

 

Is there anywhere that actually carries any of the Thinkpad or T models in store? I want to buy one but would like to test them out first!

In Chicago...

 

I've personally never seen one on display (I'm in Canada). I just went ahead and bought my W520. Can't say I'm disappointed, though.

 

Thank you very much for the hints, kirayamato26. Glad to know I can have everything taken care of and possibly for a better price at Lenovo.com.

I asked about other online sources/places where a pre-configured ThinkPad might be bought at lower price, because it's tax-free from a Lenovo online authorized reseller such as Newegg and Amazon. Like all other PC manufacturers Lenovo.com assesses state tax

For example, these W520 specs are available at Newegg and Amazon:
W520 at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...PA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=T520&x=0&y=0
W520 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=T520&x=0&y=0

In any case, I'll hunt down those e-coupons

Guess you mean physical stores right? I'd do a check at Bestbuy and CompUSA online stores and call up your local ones and ask if they have in stock. Then you can go down there and check ThinkPad out.

Wow, thank you very much! Haven't quite decided whether to buy T420 or W520, but when I am ready I will use one of them

BTW isn't 1600x900 display only for T420s, no?

 

It's standard on the T420s, an upgrade on the T420 - and the most important upgrade at that. There's a big difference between the screens, and the screen is the component that affects you more than anything else. Don't cheap out on the screen upgrade, it's not worth saving $50 or so to degrade your user experience like that.

Higher resolutions let you fit more onscreen because with higher resolutions, items and text onscreen aren't as big.

1366x768 is a low resolution for anything larger than 13 inches. If you end up buying from Lenovo.com, make sure you get the 1600x900 display upgrade - and if you end up buying from Newegg or Amazon, pay close attention to the specs to make sure it lists "1600x900" somewhere and doesn't list "1366x768" anywhere.

For particular models that don't specify the resolution, but specify a detailed model number, look up the model number.

For example, if you buy from Amazon, look under "detailed specifications" and make sure it says:

and not:

If you buy from Newegg, make sure you see:

and not:



And if you buy from Lenovo, make sure you select this option:

 

There are some great deals now on the W520 (direct from Lenovo), but they expire in a few days. Does anyone know if those tend to be immediately repeated, or do Lenovo's discounts follow any particular pattern? (eg. once per month/season, based on new model rollouts, etc)

I'd love to purchase now, but I have to wait about a month until the stars align just so.

 

Ah, I see. I thought Amazon and Newegg had statements saying that they charge taxes on stuff still. The taxes here are 13% (Canada) and yet I still found a better deal ordering a custom W520 than a prebuilt one.

Edit:
Sales come at around the same time every year from what I've noticed after looking on the web for some past deals. If they follow the same pattern as previous years, there should be one in August some time. The big sales seem to come around every 2 or 3 months (so, roughly once every season).

 

you can try this
it's direct from lenovo, you just need to create an account, they usually have lower prices on almost everything, even when compared to amazon/newegg for accessories and upgrades. They tend to have a lot of discounts too.

 

Mind sharing what these discounts are? I haven't heard of any (minus the B&N one) lately.

 

I guess the W-series was excluded from the back-to-school savings that expire on 7/13/11, but it still shows $900 "savings" off the "regular Lenovo web prices". Maybe they're comparing it to the equivalent of "suggested retail" that no one should ever expect to pay. I'm not familiar enough with Lenovo's practices.

 

Ah, thanks. I've been hoping to find a good coupon to go on top of B&N for the W520. I'm deciding between the W520 and the HP 8560w at the moment and the coupon could have pushed me to get the 520.

 

Are you finding the HP anywhere near the price for a comparable W520?

 

I got an entry-level T420 through the B&N website for $573 + tax. Great deal, would recommend that everyone go through there.

 

I wouldnt bother with ebay for coupon codes. It's not like certain other places where particular coupons are single use and not easily found. Current lenovo ones that are valid are easy enough to find with a little googling.

 

The entry level HP is actually a couple hundred cheaper than a comparable W520*. However someone who just got their 8560w said that the battery life seems around 2.5 hours, which means to get the HP to the battery life of the W520 you're going to have to throw in about $180 for a new battery, and that isn't guaranteeing battery life close to the W520. I'm trying to get a feel for how much extra life the batteries for the 8560w have to make a judgement if it's something I want to do or if I should go with the W520.

*Note this is factoring in the B&N discount and also upgrading the W520 to the 2000m so it has closer performance to the Firepro 5950 of the HP.

From my own personal notes:

HP EliteBook Mobile Workstation 8560w (i7 QM, 8GB DDR3, AMD Firepro 5950, 500 GB HDD, 1920x1080) + Extended life battery = 1358.50+177.56 = ;
1536.06 9 (Tax not charged)

Lenovo (i7 QM, Nvidia Quadro 2000m, 1600x900, 4 GB DDR3, 320 GB HDD)
$1,591.42 (including tax)

As you can see you get a bit more with the HP 8560w however you also have to deal with the double batteries, you won't be swapping them because it's an extended battery not a spare battery, but you will have to spend a good bit longer charging them. There is also the risk that the HP is still very new, so any issues have yet to crop up. Not because issues aren't present, but because they haven't been found yet.

Though while you do get some more with the HP it's not major. RAM is cheap enough that the extra 4 GB the HP offers as not that huge of a deal. The processors are the same I believe but I need to check this out. The screen res isn't that big of a deal in my opinion, 1600 x 900 should be fine for a 15.6" screen.

The Lenovo is definitely the 'safer' choice in my opinion, I may end up going for it because for my needs it will [should] work perfectly but as of now I am still undecided. I also have to have the laptop before the end of August, so I'm holding out to see what more people think of the HP but if it's crunch time and the outlook is bleak or nonexistent I will probably just grab the Lenovo instead of taking a risk with the HP.

 

Worth looking at, though I couldn't find the same price/config on HP's site. I'm sure there are coupons or other sources.

To get back on topic, though Does anyone know if the prices on Lenovo's site as of 7/11/11 are fairly stable, or is this an actual sale that could disappear at any time?

I'm looking at:
i7-2720QM, 1600 x 900, Quadro 1000M, 4GB, 500GB, Camera, Bluetooth
and it's coming in at $1308+tax (full price: $2430+). I'll up the memory myself and the hd when SSD prices drop.

That's a much better price than the MacBook Pro I planned for initially, so I don't want to snooze too long if it won't get cheaper but goes up instead. I'm hoping to wait until next month to pounce, but I can get creative if I need to.

 

That config should actually come in at around $1150 ~ 1200. I believe there was a 20% off coupon for the W520 that ended yesterday in the US. Those "web sale" prices are their normal prices.

 

Glad to hear. My specified price did include the Barnes and Noble Gold discount (linked to earlier in the thread), without which it was closer to $1500.

 

Lenovo basically always has some kind of sale going on in addition to their normal "sale" prices. Right now it's just on a few Thinkpads, but I'd bet money that later on there will be another coupon for the W520.

 

This was a link from yesterday:

Lenovo X220: Starting at $542.30 Core i3/2GB/250GB/4-cell/Wifi-N or T420 @ $474.30 or T520 @ $497.25 - Slickdeals.net

Pretty good deal. Use it as a benchmark, but from what I can tell, there are variations of deals everyday.

 

Wow that's smoking hot! Thanks!

But I'm not quite ready yet as I'm debating among T420/T520/W520. Hopefully the similar deals do come up as you say. I won't carry around my ThinkPad, and it will be used mostly for entertainment purposes. I am a movie buff

Edit: I am done with debating, and it's W520, my choice!

 

Ya, sorry I started just talking to myself a bit there.

At any rate when someone comes across a coupon for the W520 I would really appreciate it if you put it here. I haven't been able to find any myself for it and I've pretty much decided I am going to go with the W520. Now I'm just waiting for a good coupon.

 

This deal was so good that I just cancelled my current order. I'll wait until my current order is cancelled before going with this deal - apparently, the rep in India told me it would take one or two business days.

When is this deal good until? July 17th?

 

Those systems come with DOS instead of Windows from what I read in the post. Unless you can get Windows through your university for free or something (my university gives it out to students for free), it is probably not worth it.

 

I am a university student, and my university does give out licenses for Windows for free (something I have yet to take advantage of).

 

You guys should def take advantage of that. My school only gives upgrade licenses for a small price, nothing free, and no full versions

 

Go to lenovo.com and look for "SIGN UP AND SAVE! Exclusive offer, sign up and save 10% off your next order". It's good for 30 days but I expect you can sign up again with a different address. That's the equivalent of a constant sale.

Also, sign up at one of the cashback sites such as Fatwallet or eBates and initiate your purchase from Lenovo from there. Assuming everything goes smoothly, Fatwallet will get you 4% back. I believe eBates only offers 3%. There may be others I'm not aware of.

 

Also waiting for a W520 coupon, do you think that will stack with the university discount?

 

The lowest price is for a DOS laptop, but you can choose a Win7 machine that has a very good price (best I've seen) - Follow the Slickdeal instructions.

Not sure why Lenovo is having a big sale. Ship dates are long (4 weeks), so they might be doing a product refresh.

 

Really? I thought they did refreshes only after new processors come out.

 

From looking at past coupons and whatnot, Lenovo seems to always have a big sale around once every season. The T420 and T520 have been released for 5 months at most, and the W520 like 3 and a half. So, I really doubt a product refresh.

 

do you need to prove that you are a student to take advantage of the discount?




Have a Magical Day!

 

No, but the Mastercard deal going through now is even better if you don't need Windows.

 

This one? Very nice. Brings my previously calculated price from $1308 to $1177. I may have to consider getting the FHD screen.

 

Bargain.
I configured a machine, got the quote, and started chatting with agents on Lenovo. Asked if there was anything they could do - was able to get an additional 5% off the already low price from the slickdeals links and coupon. A few reps said that was as low as they could go - but tried one more time and got one that would go for it.

 

A "few reps"? I don't have that kind of persistence. Maybe you should charge people to place orders for them...

 

Has the Mastercard Marketplace discount already been discontinued?

I've been watching various deals for the past six weeks, waiting to pounce on a W520. This deal was going to be it for me. Earlier today, using the discount, the W520 i7-2620m came to $994 (without upgrades), and the quadcore W520 came to $1146 (without upgrades). These are by far the best prices I've seen. Anyways, I didn't buy then (had to go out for coffee).

I come back, and I can no longer use the coupon code from Mastercard. The W520s are now priced at $1104 & $1274 (without upgrades). This is the same price as the Barnes & Noble discount that is still active. I guess I should have taken a screen shot.

Anyone else having this trouble? Should I call and talk to a rep? Thanks.

 

That's odd. I was still able to get my hands on that very discount a few hours ago, when I placed my order. You should definitely contact customer service.

 

I'm seeing the old (higher) prices too. Either they corrected something or broke something. I'm hoping for the latter.

 

Just got done chatting with a rep online (unhelpful until he went AFK for 20 minutes and never came back) and one on the phone (unhelpful, swearing, and yawning) and they could not / would not honor the Mastercard discount code. He said it might be a limited-use code. So if you got it to work, you're lucky. Looks like the B&N discount (base dual-core W520 $1104; base quad-core W520 $1274) is still the best deal.

 

I've been closely monitoring the MasterCard deal, and I did create a couple of quotes within the past 48hrs using the deal's link. Got two questions.

Q1: @CMS94709
Did you or did you not get that additional 5% off you mentioned on the top of the MasterCard deal? If you did, in what form did you get that? And did you get that by chatting on a real phone or an online chat?

Q2: More importantly
Have Leveno ever refused to honor a customer quote because they feel they're selling their products too cheap?

As far as I understand it, the Mastercard coupon code works only for Leveno online store which is specified on the Mastercard deal's page. Correct me if I've got it wrong.

 

The Mastercard Marketplace deal did NOT work for me. For those who have not seen it, it promises:

"Employee pricing just got even better. Save an additional 5% off the employee pricing on all L Series, an additional 10% off the employee pricing on T420 and T520, X1 and W, and an additional 12% off the employee pricing on the ThinkPad X220, Tablet and T420s."

The offer code listed is: USXEPPPLUS0711

Thus, the "employee" base discount takes the quad-core W520 from $1499 down to $1274 (this is evidently a 15% discount). Then, you're supposed to get an additional 10% discount, down to $1146.

As soon as I found out about the code (morning of 7/14), I went online and priced systems. Sure enough, the quad-core W520 did list with a base price of $1146. I should have bought then, but I didn't (had to go to lunch).

Later in the afternoon, entering the same code, I was unable to get the base price to go below $1274 (the original -15% employee discount). Evidently the additional 10% wasn't stacking any longer.

I chatted with a rep online, and he said that the code should work. I sent him a built quote (which I only had for the -15% discount), and he said that he'd manually adjust the price. I waited 20 minutes but he never returned to the chat. So I called a rep. He tried to input the code, but said that it wasn't in their list of discounts. He suggested that it was a limited-use coupon.

I should have bought earlier in the day or at least made a built quote then and there. I suppose if you have an actual built quote, you're lucky. I'd love to know if it shows the employee pricing (-15%) with a stacked 10% off.

 

They pull this crap all the time. When they had the i7 X220 Doorbuster sale a couple months back the coupon showed up as "Sorry, eCoupon Limit Reached" before the sale had ended even though there was no mention of a limit. I've seen numerous issues like this since then. Bottom line: When these deals present themselves DO NO HESITATE as they will "mysteriously" vanish before they are set to expire.

In this case they raised the prices during the sale and you will notice that they no longer show the orange eCoupon pricing for the X1 or X220Tablet which they did before. Also, the coupon itself now results in a "Coupon not valid for current shopping cart" error if you use it on an X1, X220Tablet or X220 DOS configuration, maybe others as well but those are the ones I tired. They all worked the other day. They are showing a different code for the X220 now at 10% off: USX10TX0714

 

Hmm. I placed my order at noon EST today. My coupon still activated. I must have been one of the last ones...

 

On a whim, I checked the Mastercard Marketplace deal again this morning (7/15, 6:45am PST), and the code worked! The prices I reported above (base dual-core W520 $994; base quad-core W520 $1146) are valid as of right now. I placed my order immediately.

 

Glad it worked for you too