Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee 
until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186

Thinkpad x61s. 10 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, 22 months 
parts and labour warranty left. Again, in excess of £1000 new. £399 BIN 
or best offer

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359412699

-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I have a T60 
and dropped it many times down stairs and still works built like bricks

"Conor"  wrote in message 
news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
> Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
> until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
>
> Thinkpad x61s. 10 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, 22 months
> parts and labour warranty left. Again, in excess of £1000 new. £399 BIN
> or best offer
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359412699
>
> -- 
> Conor
> www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk
>
> I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

Conor wrote:
> In article <XVoBm.1214$zx2.878@newsfe10.ams2>, SCRAN says...
>> can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I have a T60 
>> and dropped it many times down stairs and still works built like bricks
>>
> Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks the 
> heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving hard 
> drives.
> 
Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the same 
factory?

-- 
Kevin R
Reply address works

In article <Ne5Cm.18101$XR1.14830@newsfe26.ams2>, Kevin says...
> 
> Conor wrote:
> > In article <XVoBm.1214$zx2.878@newsfe10.ams2>, SCRAN says...
> >> can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I have a T60 
> >> and dropped it many times down stairs and still works built like bricks
> >>
> > Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks the 
> > heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving hard 
> > drives.
> > 
> Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the same 
> factory?

Say what now? No idea. Everything comes from China or Taiwan anyway.

-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

Kevin wrote:
> Conor wrote:
>> In article <XVoBm.1214$zx2.878@newsfe10.ams2>, SCRAN says...
>>> can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I have 
>>> a T60 and dropped it many times down stairs and still works built 
>>> like bricks
>>>
>> Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks the 
>> heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving hard drives.
>>
> Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the same 
> factory?
> 

If you mean since the brand changed to Lenovo rather than IBM, then 
yeah, they're still as solid as bricks.  The best build quality I've 
/ever/ seen in a laptop is still maintained, if you want something to 
last then get one.

-- 
[ste]

[ste parker] wrote:
> Kevin wrote:
>> Conor wrote:
>>> In article <XVoBm.1214$zx2.878@newsfe10.ams2>, SCRAN says...
>>>> can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I
>>>> have a T60 and dropped it many times down stairs and still works
>>>> built like bricks
>>>>
>>> Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks
>>> the heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving
>>> hard drives.
>> Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the
>> same factory?
>>
>
> If you mean since the brand changed to Lenovo rather than IBM, then
> yeah, they're still as solid as bricks.  The best build quality I've
> /ever/ seen in a laptop is still maintained, if you want something to
> last then get one.

Maybe but they're not built of titanium nowadays are they?

In article , jasee says...
> 
> [ste parker] wrote:
> > Kevin wrote:
> >> Conor wrote:
> >>> In article <XVoBm.1214$zx2.878@newsfe10.ams2>, SCRAN says...
> >>>> can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I
> >>>> have a T60 and dropped it many times down stairs and still works
> >>>> built like bricks
> >>>>
> >>> Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks
> >>> the heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving
> >>> hard drives.
> >> Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the
> >> same factory?
> >>
> >
> > If you mean since the brand changed to Lenovo rather than IBM, then
> > yeah, they're still as solid as bricks.  The best build quality I've
> > /ever/ seen in a laptop is still maintained, if you want something to
> > last then get one.
> 
> Maybe but they're not built of titanium nowadays are they? 

Were they ever? I do know that the screen is housed in some kind of 
metal frame, not just the hinges and a thin bracket.

-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

Conor wrote:
> In article , jasee says...
>>
>> [ste parker] wrote:
>>> Kevin wrote:
>>>> Conor wrote:
>>>>> In article <XVoBm.1214$zx2.878@newsfe10.ams2>, SCRAN says...
>>>>>> can I just add Thinkpad dogs bolloxs when it comes to laptops, I
>>>>>> have a T60 and dropped it many times down stairs and still works
>>>>>> built like bricks
>>>>>>
>>>>> Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks
>>>>> the heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving
>>>>> hard drives.
>>>> Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the
>>>> same factory?
>>>>
>>>
>>> If you mean since the brand changed to Lenovo rather than IBM, then
>>> yeah, they're still as solid as bricks.  The best build quality I've
>>> /ever/ seen in a laptop is still maintained, if you want something
>>> to last then get one.
>>
>> Maybe but they're not built of titanium nowadays are they?
>
> Were they ever?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad


In the days when men were men who wouldn't sniff at a latop costing under a 
thousand pounds :-)

They were well built, I remember the first Lenovos had a distinctly all 
plastic feel.

jasee wrote:
> Conor wrote:
>> In article , jasee says...
>>> [ste parker] wrote:
>>>> Kevin wrote:
>>>>> Conor wrote:
>>>>>> Aye. They have an accelerometer built in and software which parks
>>>>>> the heads when it detects a drop which goes a long way to saving
>>>>>> hard drives.

Later versions of that software have a neat rendered 3D drawing of the 
laptop that moves as you move the laptop about. Pointless but mild fun.

>>>>> Are the Chinese ones as good? or have the always been made in the
>>>>> same factory?
>>>>>

IBM badged ones were 'made' by Lenovo for quite a time before the takeover.

> In the days when men were men who wouldn't sniff at a latop costing under a 
> thousand pounds :-)
> 
> They were well built, I remember the first Lenovos had a distinctly all 
> plastic feel. 
> 

Greatly designed for strength, but come off the same production line as 
almost everything else. Quanta and (something at the back of me mind 
yells) Acer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanta_Computer

I've got a post-IBM Thinkpad R61 here, solid except for an covering area 
adjacent to the touchpad. That part has a gap to the rest of the 
bodywork which closes with a clicking noise if you tap on it instead of 
the touchpad. It is a known build complaint for that model alone.

However, that fookin' quick T61 model that Conner was selling (sold 
yet?) is damm nice, just I'm boracic lint or would have jumped on it.

-- 
Adrian C

In article , Adrian C says...

> However, that fookin' quick T61 model that Conner was selling (sold 
> yet?) is damm nice, just I'm boracic lint or would have jumped on it.

I intend to get any that I can lay my hands on. Sadly there weren't any 
this week. It was mainly T60's, X61s's, x200s's and a few x400s's.


-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

"Conor"  wrote in message 
news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
> Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
> until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
>

I was interested in this one I see you got £ 535 for it in the end inc 
delivery. The only thing that stopped me bidding was the new Asus UL30a 
coming out in November 20th 2009 its £ 599 inc VAT & del from Amazon, but I 
will get it for £ 536 inc Jersey 3% GST added at import.

Thats about the same as what I would have paid for your X200s, the X200s has 
a faster processor and slightly better battery 9cell vs 8cell on the 
UL30a... but the UL30a has a 13.3" screen 4GB Ram, bigger hard drive and 
Windows 7.

Given the choice between a 2nd hand X200s or a new UL30a for the same price, 
I would sway towards the UL30a.... the X200s for £ 515 was still a very good 
price they are twice that new.

"Nick Le Lievre"  wrote in message 
news:hbstpn$sl7$1@news.albasani.net...
> "Conor"  wrote in message 
> news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
>> until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
>>
>> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
>>
>
> I was interested in this one I see you got £ 535 for it in the end inc 
> delivery. The only thing that stopped me bidding was the new Asus UL30a 
> coming out in November 20th 2009 its £ 599 inc VAT & del from Amazon, but 
> I will get it for £ 536 inc Jersey 3% GST added at import.
>
> Thats about the same as what I would have paid for your X200s, the X200s 
> has a faster processor and slightly better battery 9cell vs 8cell on the 
> UL30a... but the UL30a has a 13.3" screen 4GB Ram, bigger hard drive and 
> Windows 7.
>
> Given the choice between a 2nd hand X200s or a new UL30a for the same 
> price, I would sway towards the UL30a.... the X200s for £ 515 was still a 
> very good price they are twice that new.
>

Nick, you can not compare ASUS with LENOVO.
2-3 year old IBM/LENOVO models fetch similer money as new ASUS.

"Raj Kundra" <raj@REM0VE
>
> Nick, you can not compare ASUS with LENOVO.
> 2-3 year old IBM/LENOVO models fetch similer money as new ASUS.
>

The X200s reached £ 535 you can get an ASUS UL30a on eBay right now for £ 
449 + £ 22 shipping which has an 8 cell battery and Celeron CULV CPU (also 
available from Carphonewarehouse for £ 449), alternatively Dell do a new 
range of Inspiron 11z, 13z or 15z which offer quite good value for money and 
include DVD+-RW drives....with 8 cell batteries for long battery life for 
between £ 400 - £ 600.

There is a Dell Inspiron 13z with 4GB RAM, Core 2 Duo 1.3ghz L7300 CPU, 
320GB HDD, Nvidia GT105 DVD+-RW drive 8 cell battery I am looking at for £ 
599 inc VAT free shipping, I am tempted to go for that one as its better 
spec then the ASUS I am also looking at but two reasons why I wont, firstly 
I would have to phone Dell to get the VAT exempted, and free delivery might 
not extend to the channel islands also the build quality of the Dell is 
probably not up to the standard of the Asus.

So I rather the Asus UL30a for £ 520 ex VAT from Amazon with the 4500HD 
graphics which wont be as good as GT105 but might be a bit better on battery 
and as there is no DVD+-RW drive in the Asus it will save weight and battery 
life - in anycase there wont be much difference between what a GT105 can do 
and a 4500HD cant.

"Nick Le Lievre"  wrote in message 
news:hbt7qr$c58$1@news.albasani.net...
> "Raj Kundra" <raj@REM0VE
>>
>> Nick, you can not compare ASUS with LENOVO.
>> 2-3 year old IBM/LENOVO models fetch similer money as new ASUS.
>>
>
> The X200s reached £ 535 you can get an ASUS UL30a on eBay right now for £ 
> 449 + £ 22 shipping which has an 8 cell battery and Celeron CULV CPU (also 
> available from Carphonewarehouse for £ 449), alternatively Dell do a new 
> range of Inspiron 11z, 13z or 15z which offer quite good value for money 
> and include DVD+-RW drives....with 8 cell batteries for long battery life 
> for between £ 400 - £ 600.
>
> There is a Dell Inspiron 13z with 4GB RAM, Core 2 Duo 1.3ghz L7300 CPU, 
> 320GB HDD, Nvidia GT105 DVD+-RW drive 8 cell battery I am looking at for £ 
> 599 inc VAT free shipping, I am tempted to go for that one as its better 
> spec then the ASUS I am also looking at but two reasons why I wont, 
> firstly I would have to phone Dell to get the VAT exempted, and free 
> delivery might not extend to the channel islands also the build quality of 
> the Dell is probably not up to the standard of the Asus.
>
> So I rather the Asus UL30a for £ 520 ex VAT from Amazon with the 4500HD 
> graphics which wont be as good as GT105 but might be a bit better on 
> battery and as there is no DVD+-RW drive in the Asus it will save weight 
> and battery life - in anycase there wont be much difference between what a 
> GT105 can do and a 4500HD cant.
>

I have been selling second hand laptops for years and know which one will 
sell for better money second user.

Reason: IBM/LENOVO parts for really old models are still available (usually 
up to 5-10 years) and ASUS/ACER will not supply you parts.

They insist that you send laptop to them for repair.

Any one can download hardware manual for IBM/LENOVO to repair them, not true 
about so called better value laptops.

I have seen 100's of ACER and ASUS fail just outside 12 months warranty with 
customer stuck with mfr.



I see you point of saving money.

"Raj Kundra" <raj@REM0VE THISkundracomputers.co.uk> wrote in message 
news:IxpEm.946$5w5.544@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>
> I see you point of saving money.
>

Yeah what you've said may be all well and good but my point is the price of 
ultra portable laptops which 9 hour battery life is coming down recently 
they are obviously more expensive then netbooks but a bit more powerfull and 
last even longer, sure the Lenovo maybe easier for you to service but to the 
average consumer thats not really a consideration...

My netbook gives me 4 hours, runs XP on a 4GB hdd and is not powerfull 
enough to play even farmville on facebook... the Asus UL30a I will buy in 
November lasts 9 hours is more powefull and runs Windows 7... its bigger and 
slightly heavier but is that really a problem you still have to conciously 
carry a netbook with you anyway.

Raj Kundra wrote:

> 
> "Nick Le Lievre"  wrote in message
> news:hbt7qr$c58$1@news.albasani.net...
>> "Raj Kundra" <raj@REM0VE
>>>
>>> Nick, you can not compare ASUS with LENOVO.
>>> 2-3 year old IBM/LENOVO models fetch similer money as new ASUS.
>>>
>>
>> The X200s reached £ 535 you can get an ASUS UL30a on eBay right now for £
>> 449 + £ 22 shipping which has an 8 cell battery and Celeron CULV CPU
>> (also available from Carphonewarehouse for £ 449), alternatively Dell do
>> a new range of Inspiron 11z, 13z or 15z which offer quite good value for
>> money and include DVD+-RW drives....with 8 cell batteries for long
>> battery life for between £ 400 - £ 600.
>>
>> There is a Dell Inspiron 13z with 4GB RAM, Core 2 Duo 1.3ghz L7300 CPU,
>> 320GB HDD, Nvidia GT105 DVD+-RW drive 8 cell battery I am looking at for
>> £ 599 inc VAT free shipping, I am tempted to go for that one as its
>> better spec then the ASUS I am also looking at but two reasons why I
>> wont, firstly I would have to phone Dell to get the VAT exempted, and
>> free delivery might not extend to the channel islands also the build
>> quality of the Dell is probably not up to the standard of the Asus.
>>
>> So I rather the Asus UL30a for £ 520 ex VAT from Amazon with the 4500HD
>> graphics which wont be as good as GT105 but might be a bit better on
>> battery and as there is no DVD+-RW drive in the Asus it will save weight
>> and battery life - in anycase there wont be much difference between what
>> a GT105 can do and a 4500HD cant.
>>
> 
> I have been selling second hand laptops for years and know which one will
> sell for better money second user.
> 
> Reason: IBM/LENOVO parts for really old models are still available
> (usually up to 5-10 years) and ASUS/ACER will not supply you parts.
> 
> They insist that you send laptop to them for repair.
> 
> Any one can download hardware manual for IBM/LENOVO to repair them, not
> true about so called better value laptops.

Dell do downloads of their laptop (and desktop) service manuals online as
well (support.dell.com then select 'manuals' on left, either enter service
tag or browse to model then press 'get manual' and all machines I've looked
at offer both the user and service manuals).

As Dell use the same manufacturers as other companies for their laptops
(compal and quanta) it can sometimes be worth trying to find if there's a
Dell equivalent model when looking for manuals for other brands and using
the Dell manuals for these as well.

In article <hbstpn$sl7$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
> 
> "Conor"  wrote in message 
> news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
> > Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
> > until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
> >
> > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
> >
> 
> I was interested in this one I see you got £ 535 for it in the end inc 
> delivery. The only thing that stopped me bidding was the new Asus UL30a 
> coming out in November 20th 2009 its £ 599 inc VAT & del from Amazon, but I 
> will get it for £ 536 inc Jersey 3% GST added at import.
> 
> Thats about the same as what I would have paid for your X200s, the X200s has 
> a faster processor and slightly better battery 9cell vs 8cell on the 
> UL30a... but the UL30a has a 13.3" screen 4GB Ram, bigger hard drive and 
> Windows 7.
> 
> Given the choice between a 2nd hand X200s or a new UL30a for the same price, 
> I would sway towards the UL30a.... the X200s for £ 515 was still a very good 
> price they are twice that new. 

Oh dear. The Lenovo will be around long after the Asus has fallen to 
bits and it'll still be giving 5+hrs of battery life long after you've 
replaced battery number 3 on the Asus, assuming it survives as long.

Anyone who'd rather pay £536 for an average build quality laptop with a 
one year shop warranty compared to paying £515 for a 3 month old £1200 
laptop with the best build quality in the industry and a 3 year 
manufacturers warranty must be nuts.



-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

"Conor"  wrote in message 
news:MPG.254ce415a898121198987e@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <hbstpn$sl7$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>>
>> "Conor"  wrote in message
>> news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
>> > Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
>> > until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
>> >
>> > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
>> >
>>
>> I was interested in this one I see you got £ 535 for it in the end inc
>> delivery. The only thing that stopped me bidding was the new Asus UL30a
>> coming out in November 20th 2009 its £ 599 inc VAT & del from Amazon, but 
>> I
>> will get it for £ 536 inc Jersey 3% GST added at import.
>>
>> Thats about the same as what I would have paid for your X200s, the X200s 
>> has
>> a faster processor and slightly better battery 9cell vs 8cell on the
>> UL30a... but the UL30a has a 13.3" screen 4GB Ram, bigger hard drive and
>> Windows 7.
>>
>> Given the choice between a 2nd hand X200s or a new UL30a for the same 
>> price,
>> I would sway towards the UL30a.... the X200s for £ 515 was still a very 
>> good
>> price they are twice that new.
>
> Oh dear. The Lenovo will be around long after the Asus has fallen to
> bits and it'll still be giving 5+hrs of battery life long after you've
> replaced battery number 3 on the Asus, assuming it survives as long.
>
> Anyone who'd rather pay £536 for an average build quality laptop with a
> one year shop warranty compared to paying £515 for a 3 month old £1200
> laptop with the best build quality in the industry and a 3 year
> manufacturers warranty must be nuts.
>
>
>

may be he likes the smell of new items or just likes to open the sealed 
boxes ;-))

In article <03BEm.1123$5w5.806@text.news.virginmedia.com>, Raj Kundra 
says...

> may be he likes the smell of new items or just likes to open the sealed 
> boxes ;-))

Possibly so. Off to see if I can find some more this next week. 


-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

"Conor"  wrote in message 
news:MPG.254ce415a898121198987e@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <hbstpn$sl7$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>>
>> "Conor"  wrote in message
>> news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
>> > Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
>> > until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
>> >
>> > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
>> >
>>
>> I was interested in this one I see you got £ 535 for it in the end inc
>> delivery. The only thing that stopped me bidding was the new Asus UL30a
>> coming out in November 20th 2009 its £ 599 inc VAT & del from Amazon, but 
>> I
>> will get it for £ 536 inc Jersey 3% GST added at import.
>>
>> Thats about the same as what I would have paid for your X200s, the X200s 
>> has
>> a faster processor and slightly better battery 9cell vs 8cell on the
>> UL30a... but the UL30a has a 13.3" screen 4GB Ram, bigger hard drive and
>> Windows 7.
>>
>> Given the choice between a 2nd hand X200s or a new UL30a for the same 
>> price,
>> I would sway towards the UL30a.... the X200s for £ 515 was still a very 
>> good
>> price they are twice that new.
>
> Oh dear. The Lenovo will be around long after the Asus has fallen to
> bits and it'll still be giving 5+hrs of battery life long after you've
> replaced battery number 3 on the Asus, assuming it survives as long.
>
> Anyone who'd rather pay £536 for an average build quality laptop with a
> one year shop warranty compared to paying £515 for a 3 month old £1200
> laptop with the best build quality in the industry and a 3 year
> manufacturers warranty must be nuts.


A lot of lay people simply do not realise the build quality of Thinkpads, 
they just see £299 specials in Tesco and think they can compare shitty clone 
laptops with professionally build and designed branded units.

....until a year or so down the road when their clone gives up the ghost. :)

Niel H

"Niel J Humphreys"  wrote in 
message news:hbuukp$155k$1@energise.enta.net...
> "Conor"  wrote in message
>
> A lot of lay people simply do not realise the build quality of Thinkpads, 
> they just see £299 specials in Tesco and think they can compare shitty 
> clone laptops with professionally build and designed branded units.
>
> ....until a year or so down the road when their clone gives up the ghost. 
> :)
>

To be fair I have never had a laptop "give up the ghost" but I have only 
ever owned a HP Omnibook XE2, Toshiba Satellite 3000-100, Acer 5633WLMI, 
Toshiba A200-GE26P and ASUS EEE PC 901.

Never owned a Dell and despite being seriously tempted this time to get a 
Dell CULV notebook because on paper the specs look good for the money, I am 
sticking with the Asus UL30a its released late next month and I will have 
available funds in early December so the timing is right, the reviews put 
the battery life at between 4:53 mins to 9:50 mins.... so I expect to get 
about 6+ hours which is two more then my EEE PC 901 can manage.

Conor wrote:

> In article <hbstpn$sl7$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>> 
>> "Conor"  wrote in message
>> news:MPG.253f334fb425a8cd9897ee@news.eternal-september.org...
>> > Thinkpad x200s. 3 months old, as new condition, 10hr battery, guarantee
>> > until 2012. £1065 RRP, currently on £310
>> >
>> > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290359350186
>> >
>> 
>> I was interested in this one I see you got £ 535 for it in the end inc
>> delivery. The only thing that stopped me bidding was the new Asus UL30a
>> coming out in November 20th 2009 its £ 599 inc VAT & del from Amazon, but
>> I will get it for £ 536 inc Jersey 3% GST added at import.
>> 
>> Thats about the same as what I would have paid for your X200s, the X200s
>> has a faster processor and slightly better battery 9cell vs 8cell on the
>> UL30a... but the UL30a has a 13.3" screen 4GB Ram, bigger hard drive and
>> Windows 7.
>> 
>> Given the choice between a 2nd hand X200s or a new UL30a for the same
>> price, I would sway towards the UL30a.... the X200s for £ 515 was still a
>> very good price they are twice that new.
> 
> Oh dear. The Lenovo will be around long after the Asus has fallen to
> bits and it'll still be giving 5+hrs of battery life long after you've
> replaced battery number 3 on the Asus, assuming it survives as long.
> 
> Anyone who'd rather pay £536 for an average build quality laptop with a
> one year shop warranty compared to paying £515 for a 3 month old £1200
> laptop with the best build quality in the industry and a 3 year
> manufacturers warranty must be nuts.

If new kit is comparable in build quality to old then I'd have to agree with
the build quality of Thinkpads - I have an old 600E model that's still
going strong (battery is now failing but then it's an 11 year old model)
and apart from it's rubberised coating flaking off is still like new
compared with many other brands I've seen over the years with lid hinge
mountings broken, and that's on machines that felt more solid when new than
most current machines I've looked at where the lid flexes if opened/closed
with one hand.

Most of the better brands (such as Fujitsu and Toshiba) have 2 ranges of
laptops, one for pros and one for consumers - the likes of Asus only have
consumer brands, Lenovo/IBM only make the pro kit. The difference is they
assume consumer kit is left on one desk at home and not moved too often,
the pro kit is designed to take the knocks of constant open/close of the
lid, carry case being dropped and regularly travelling in airplane cargo
holds.

If I had the choice (and budget) for a machine that will last I'd either get
a Lenovo or a Panasonic Toughbook.

"Nigel Feltham"  wrote in message
>
> If I had the choice (and budget) for a machine that will last I'd either 
> get
> a Lenovo or a Panasonic Toughbook.


Nothing wrong with consumer, consumer means cheaper and it has to be of a 
certain standard they dont fall to bits, the only thing I do not like about 
some laptops I have had in the past namely the Toshiba 3000-100 and the Acer 
5633wlmi is that the palm rest showed signs of wear after a short amount of 
time, its only cosmetics but I like things to look new for a long as 
possible.

"Nick Le Lievre"  wrote in message 
news:hbvq78$app$1@news.albasani.net...
> "Nigel Feltham"  wrote in message
>>
>> If I had the choice (and budget) for a machine that will last I'd either 
>> get
>> a Lenovo or a Panasonic Toughbook.
>
>
> Nothing wrong with consumer, consumer means cheaper and it has to be of a 
> certain standard they dont fall to bits, the only thing I do not like 
> about some laptops I have had in the past namely the Toshiba 3000-100 and 
> the Acer 5633wlmi is that the palm rest showed signs of wear after a short 
> amount of time, its only cosmetics but I like things to look new for a 
> long as possible.
>
Go and spend money on IBM then.

In article <hbvq78$app$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...

> Nothing wrong with consumer, consumer means cheaper and it has to be of a 
> certain standard they dont fall to bits

I regularly replace hinges, lids with cracks from failed hinges and 
keyboards. Then you have a long stream of very nice looking HP and 
Compaq consumer range laptops that have a common fault with the wifi and 
the motherboard chipset.

One only needs to look on Ebay at "Spares or Repair" laptops. The only 
Thinkpads you'll find are those with broken screens because someone has 
deliberately damaged them.

> the only thing I do not like about 
> some laptops I have had in the past namely the Toshiba 3000-100 and the Acer 
> 5633wlmi is that the palm rest showed signs of wear after a short amount of 
> time, its only cosmetics but I like things to look new for a long as 
> possible. 

Indeed. And I've sold 5 year old Thinkpads with little sign of wear.


-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

"Conor"  wrote in message 
news:MPG.254e335c80939c4a989895@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <hbvq78$app$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>
> One only needs to look on Ebay at "Spares or Repair" laptops. The only
> Thinkpads you'll find are those with broken screens because someone has
> deliberately damaged them.

Agree, I deal a fair bit in audit failure laptops from clearance houses and 
the majority of Thinkpads that come through are failed because of 
smashed/cracked screens only.

> Indeed. And I've sold 5 year old Thinkpads with little sign of wear.

I had someone locally drop off an old 486 Thinkpad for O/S re-install 
recently, he uses it daily for work and it was in more or less mint 
condition still.

Niel J Humphreys wrote:

> "Conor"  wrote in message
> news:MPG.254e335c80939c4a989895@news.eternal-september.org...
>> In article <hbvq78$app$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>>
>> One only needs to look on Ebay at "Spares or Repair" laptops. The only
>> Thinkpads you'll find are those with broken screens because someone has
>> deliberately damaged them.
> 
> Agree, I deal a fair bit in audit failure laptops from clearance houses
> and the majority of Thinkpads that come through are failed because of
> smashed/cracked screens only.
> 
>> Indeed. And I've sold 5 year old Thinkpads with little sign of wear.
> 
> I had someone locally drop off an old 486 Thinkpad for O/S re-install
> recently, he uses it daily for work and it was in more or less mint
> condition still.

I got a couple of thinkpads (600E's) from ebay cheap last year (under £15
each - 1 had CD-ROM, the other DVD-ROM) sold as faulty - the only things
wrong were hard-drive had been removed on 1 and both had the rubberised
coating flaking off the lids and CMOS errors caused by the cmos batteries
failing, how many other machines could last 10 (or even 5) years with only
these minor problems.

I use them for playing round with the smaller Linux Distro's.

Conor wrote:
> In article <hbvq78$app$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>
>> Nothing wrong with consumer, consumer means cheaper and it has to be
>> of a certain standard they dont fall to bits
>
> I regularly replace hinges, lids with cracks from failed hinges and
> keyboards. Then you have a long stream of very nice looking HP and
> Compaq consumer range laptops that have a common fault with the wifi
> and the motherboard chipset.
>
> One only needs to look on Ebay at "Spares or Repair" laptops. The only
> Thinkpads you'll find are those with broken screens because someone
> has deliberately damaged them.

There were some notorious Thinkpads with dodgey soldering on the graphics 
cards IIRC

"jasee"  wrote in message 
news:yqudnRlmSPqv-3jXnZ2dnUVZ8l6dnZ2d@bt.com...
> Conor wrote:
>> In article <hbvq78$app$1@news.albasani.net>, Nick Le Lievre says...
>>
>>> Nothing wrong with consumer, consumer means cheaper and it has to be
>>> of a certain standard they dont fall to bits
>>
>> I regularly replace hinges, lids with cracks from failed hinges and
>> keyboards. Then you have a long stream of very nice looking HP and
>> Compaq consumer range laptops that have a common fault with the wifi
>> and the motherboard chipset.
>>
>> One only needs to look on Ebay at "Spares or Repair" laptops. The only
>> Thinkpads you'll find are those with broken screens because someone
>> has deliberately damaged them.
>
> There were some notorious Thinkpads with dodgey soldering on the graphics 
> cards IIRC


They were the T40/T41 series (and some of the early T42s)