I've done it! Finally did it! and...Student discount info

After researching and following the sales for a month, I finally sealed the deal and purchased my X61 with the new Penryn processor. I'm glad I waited, otherwise I would be having buyer's remorse right now.

I purchased the following off the Lenovo Student website (5% off) and used the USXTHINKMADNESS ecoupon to get an additional 11% off. Anyone can use the Lenovo Student discount website:

http://www.lenovo.com/shop/deals/usstudents

Here is my X61 configuration: $1061.11
Penryn T8300 2.4 Ghz
100 GB 7200 rpm HDD
Fingerprint reader
1 GB ram (upgrading myself)
Bluetooth
Vista Home Basic (upgrading myself)
Intel AGN wireless card
8 Cell battery
1 year warranty

In addition, I purchased:
1) The Creative PCMCIA Audigy 2 Soundcard (for digital surround sound)
2) LG GSA-E50L Slim USB DVD burner ( http://us.lge.com/products/model/de..._optical drives_optical drives_GSA-E50L.jhtml)
3) The Lenovo USB Webcam

Total setup cost is about $1350 with tax.

There was a better sale in March, with a 20% ecoupon of the regular site and a 16% ecoupon off the student site. According the my Lenovo rep, I get up to 21 days after the shipping date to price match. I'm hoping they will bring back that ecoupon later this month. Keeping fingers crossed

UPDATE:
I have used my laptop for 4 days now and here are my findings:

1) PCMCIA Slot is VERY TIGHT
2) Came with the Hitachi Travelstart 7K200 16MB Cache HDD (yay!)
3) Battery life is about 5hr 30min at Max Power Save mode with wifi on and screen at 40% brightness.
4) PCMARK05 gave an overal score of 4753! Much higher than the Reviews with the Merom 2.0 Ghz CPU.

Looks like the Penryn does contribute a bit to battery life and performance. Overall, I'm very happy.

 

At that site I get the greatest savings using USXGRANDSLAM.

Is there a way to double up on eCoupons?
I can only get one to work. (I configured R61)

Good deal.

 

for that price you could have gotten a sony or a xps m1330 you would have ended up with more memory and a larger hard drive

 

I asked 3 reps about stacking the ecoupons and no deal. They said there is absolutely no way that can be done. The USXTHINKMADNESS is not advertised anywhere on Lenovo's website but it still works. 11% better than 10%...lol

 

I don't see your point? Those laptops aren't even in the same league. I was looking for an ultraportable that is light and have long battery life.

The 14" Sony version weighs 5.5 lbs and it is still more expensive then the X61. Let's not even talk about the price of the 13.3" and 11" versions.

XPS m1330 isn't so great as I don't game. It costs more and weighs 4.5 lbs and has 2-3 hours of battery life. The X61 with 8 cell weighs 3.5lbs and has 5-6 hrs of battery life and is built stronger.

 

Not to mention an inferior product

 

I was going to post that but didn't want to hurt his feelings.

 

ahhhhhhhhhhh man are u guys serious.... i thought the xps m1330 was a good system until i have had so many issue with it.. and now since 22 days passede dell won't exchange is.. not to mention i got it off the dell outlet refurb.. so i told the rep i will call my credit card company and just dispute charge and send the thing back. .. maybe i will look at that x61.. after this experience with dell I WILL NEVER NO NOT EVER BUY DELL AGAIN.....

 

wow nice find!
but how does this student discount work?
do u need to show proof of you being a student?

 

No, you don't need proof on this student site. There is a different student site that does require proof.

 

Man...my order got canceled for no apparent reason. I'll have to call tomorrow to find out what is going on. This is the 2nd time my order got canceled. The first time was an order through the outlet. I'm getting kind of pissed off.

 

Okay, just to update. My order is back on track. My sales rep had to reorder it for me due to some credit card glitch. But I just read this today about the new lenovo lineup:

http://gizmodo.com/378504/lenovos-entire-new-thinkpad-line-leaked-x300-gets-siblings

It's making me itch a little...

 

Just an update. My X61 was ordered April 10th, i got a email today that it has shipped already, April 16.

Pretty fast...Is it true it only takes 2 days to receive it?

I heard after it's shipped, I can check the components of the laptop. How do I do that?

 

It's important to see the difference between the consumer lines and the business lines.

The XPS is a consumer line, whereas the ThinkPad is a business line. I've owned multiple Dell's and Thinkpad's and I think there's more difference between a Dell Inspiron and a Dell D#, than there is between a Dell D# and a ThinkPad.

 

UPDATE:
I have used my laptop for 4 days now and here are my findings:

1) PCMCIA Slot is VERY TIGHT. Difficult to insert card and extremely difficult to remove.
2) Came with the Hitachi Travelstart 7K200 16MB Cache HDD (yay!)
3) Battery life is about 5hr 30min at Max Power Save mode with wifi on and screen at 40% brightness.
4) PCMARK05 gave an overal score of 4753! Much higher than the Reviews with the Merom 2.0 Ghz CPU.

Looks like the Penryn does contribute a bit to battery life and performance. Overall, I'm very happy.

 

Congrats.

Looks like you picked a great time to buy too. As of today all the great deals seem to be gone.