can anyone comment on Lenovo customer service and tech support? I have been hearing "really" bad things about it.

i wanted to buy a Lenovo till i heard how bad customer service is.

i tried emailing them 3 times with various questions to see for myself and never got a single reply - not very reassuring.

right now i don't know what to buy since money is an issue and Lenovo customer service seems non-existant.

(i'm not a techy like many of you and i rely on tech support & customer service if i have a problem)

pachoangman wrote:Is it me or do the "Left Profile" and "Right Profile" show a completely different (ridged) top from the other pictures?

It IS ridged, look at the logo pic.

Can this Lenovo be used on dial up? Is there a way to connect it to a phone line?

would this game be able to run league of legends or upcomign diablo 3

coryb13 wrote:As a heads up, the amd e-350 is a combo graphics card with processor. The graphics do decent for a budget computer, but the Pentium p6200 is a better "processor." In other words, the e-350 will probably do better with graphical applications, the pentium will be better in other applications.

Because neither of the laptops can be used for gaming, the graphics, for most people, will not mean much.

You may want to add $40 for another 2 gigs of ram though.

Agreed on the hd thing too, get an external if you need more room.

I got the one from BB and I can play L4D2 with medium settings no problem

woot's ongoing criticism of Reed Hastings over the Netflix price increase debacle has been pretty funny.... but it just occurred to me, doesn't their parent (Amazon) run a competing service to Netflix'?

So it may not be just tongue-in-cheek funnin' from an unbiased commentator, but a sly jibe at a competitor.

Still, business school students could write volumes of case studies on Netflix of how not to 'sell' a pricing change to your existing customers (and how to destroy your brand image in three easy steps), so I'm looking forward to reading more funny stuff from woot.

Got one this spring at BB for $329. Great deal then and an Intel processor too! Glad we got it before they switched to the current AMD. A little steep for a refurb but still a nice unit.

how's the battery life on this?

mollytim wrote:2 gig RAM ?

Yep, which is more than enough RAM for most everyday use.

Unless you're running a resource hog piece of Monster A-Go Go (1965) OS like Windows Vista 7, then all bets are off - it's probably horribly underpowered.

P.S. Just picked up a C2D Lenovo Thinkpad on eBay for $100. Only 1GB of RAM, and no hard drive, but for less than $200 total it will be a 4GB with 500GB hard drive...beats the socks off this.

The BB Lenovo referenced previously is only available for store purchase/pickup - no online sales. A quick search reveals they aren't available anywhere in New England - even if I wanted to burn gas and pay sales tax in another state.

snang wrote:A newer version of this laptop is available at Best Buy for the same price, brand new.

The one at worst buys has the really weak AMD E-350 CPU (Passmark 723). The Woot model has the weak Intel (Passmark 1630) - so the woot model is 2.25 times faster.

I bought one of these from Woot! a couple of months ago because we use the Lenovos at work and they are work horse machines. They are solid and will fit the need for most home and small business users. They are not gaming machines but for doing most home and office tasks it is a great PC. If I needed a second one I would buy this in a heartbeat.

I wanted to remind people that Windows 7 takes up 1gb RAM for the OS to run. Since this laptop only has 2gb total of RAM, I would strongly suggest purchasing at least another 2gb to help speed up the system a bit.

glossy or matte screen?

Are all the memory slots filled and does it have an HDMI?

gwoolley wrote:Are all the memory slots filled and does it have an HDMI?

Yes and no.

Yes, it currently has 2x1GB but the machine can handle up to 8GB.

No, it doesn't have HDMI.

Tygress wrote:Lenovo is the new name for the old brand "IBM." It is the same company, they just changed the name a few years ago to seem cooler.

Are you SURE of that??? I thought the Chinese bought the brand, so unless IBM is Chinese, I don't think you are correct. Why would anyone drop the WELL KNOWN name "IBM" and change it to something nobody has heard of?? It would be like dropping the name "FORD" and changing it to "DINGLE."

I'm here arguing with my co-worker "Bubba", and he says that the pre-loaded software would NOT include Microsoft Word, Excel, and other basic Microsoft Office stuff. The description doesn't specifically say that it's in there, but every computer I've ever purchased included most of that stuff. Is "Office" included?

TheTexasTwister wrote:Hey, has anyone noticed that on the Left Profile photo this Laptop could have had an HDMI connector. You can see the molded cover on the side.

What? Lenovo couldn't spend a few extra Chinese Yuan to add an HDMI connector?

HDMI out isn't exactly a necessity, but with so many computer users migrating to online streaming for watching movies and television shows, having an HDMI connector for your LCD / LED / Plasma tv would have been a great touch.

Lowest end laptop get lowest end features. You pay few more yuan backed dollars? Lenovo give you HDMIfull laptop.

Awesome write-up. It really makes me wish I needed a laptop. But I don't. Sorry woot.

Anyone know if Lenovo makes a docking station / port replicator that works with this laptop?

I'm looking for a 17" laptop for myself, and this deal at Buy.com today is pretty close to what I'd like, at a superb price:
http://www.buy.com/prod/HP%20G7%2017.3”%20AMD%20Dual%20Core%206GB/640GB/W7/225047425.html#

If it had an AMD A6 or A8 APU, it would be even better; however, given that I would be using this laptop for Web browsing & YouTube more than for games (and prob. only older, mostly DOSBox games at that), this $380 special would be perfectly adequate. (I promised my spouse I'd wait until Black Friday to buy the laptop, though -- rats!)

Tygress wrote:Lenovo is the new name for the old brand "IBM." It is the same company, they just changed the name a few years ago to seem cooler.

Actually, IBM sold their PC unit to Lenovo which is a China based company several years ago.

Benwahzx wrote:how's the battery life on this?

I have the same question - any feedback?

pnixon wrote:I'm here arguing with my co-worker "Bubba", and he says that the pre-loaded software would NOT include Microsoft Word, Excel, and other basic Microsoft Office stuff. The description doesn't specifically say that it's in there, but every computer I've ever purchased included most of that stuff. Is "Office" included?

I would doubt it. Anyone else want to chime in?

Roostalee wrote:How are they still affiliated with IBM?

bchociej wrote:http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/customerqa.html

TL;DR: business partnership, warranty and service fulfillment, preferential purchasing, providing Lenovo products through IBM Global Services, marketing support, etc.

NOPE! The link to the above IBM FAQ / article you provided was written in back in 2005 when IBM originally sold their PC product line to Lenovo.

Tygress wrote:Lenovo is the new name for the old brand "IBM." It is the same company, they just changed the name a few years ago to seem cooler.

NOT!
At the time of the initial sale they "were" affiliated for a period of two years during the transition / turn over. During this time, the jobs of the IBM employees who were "transitioned" along with the sale of the PC product line were protected. In any event, today Lenovo and IBM have nothing to do with one another. Not affiliated... not business partners... not the same company!

Ironically... IBM sells refurbished Lenovo products via their IBM Certified Pre-owned PCs websitei ... then again... they also sell refurbished IBM, Apples, Dells, etc.

That said, Lenovo has a strong sales and support presence here in the US, as well as offering quality support via the Lenovo website

pnixon wrote:I'm here arguing with my co-worker "Bubba", and he says that the pre-loaded software would NOT include Microsoft Word, Excel, and other basic Microsoft Office stuff. The description doesn't specifically say that it's in there, but every computer I've ever purchased included most of that stuff. Is "Office" included?

I doubt it. There is a watered down ms office version, that is sometimes included, but I don't think it's going to be installed on this laptop.

does anybody know what kind of "game" capabilities today's WOOT has?

tonymontana444 wrote:I doubt it. There is a watered down ms office version, that is sometimes included, but I don't think it's going to be installed on this laptop.

You are correct. At this price point Laptops and Desktops generally include a lite version which is nothing more than an Excel and Word "Viewer".

Unless a product is advertized as having the "Full Retail Version" of MS Office... you aren't getting it.

snang wrote:A newer version of this laptop is available at Best Buy for the same price, brand new.

bestbuy.com

Not. Woot's has Intel, BestBuy has AMD.

Yell0w wrote:are Lenovo laptops any good? never brought from that brand before. looking for a lightweight laptop that i can bring to school, but this one weights 4.9 pounds.

I've been using IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads for close to 15 years. SWMBO and I have had 6 of them between us. The only laptops I've had that were comparable in quality were Toshiba. I'm tempted to get this as a pure back up machine, but I'm in the market for a new Lenovo in the next few months. My current machine, a T-61, is 4 years old, but has a faster dual core processor, much more RAM and higher end graphics than this one.

I always recommend Lenovo Thinkpads for anyone who doesn't want an Apple.

Tygress wrote:Lenovo is the new name for the old brand "IBM." It is the same company, they just changed the name a few years ago to seem cooler.

Hi Tygress,

I'm afraid that is not correct. IBM sold its desktop and laptop lines, in 2005, to Lenovo, a Chinese company, which now makes them. So, it is not the same company.

On the plus side Lenovo has really sustained the quality and design standards IBM had.

thefowles1 wrote:I'm curious to the breed of the dog... I want to say shiba inu because of the size/curly tail but I can't be certain. Anyone know?

Link at the bottom of the page with photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_tar0_/4903486578/in/photostream/

I'm glad to see that dog is also angry with Netflix!!

ultrasparc wrote:My point being dont expect the same performance from a slow AMD processor, its a different product.

I disagree. The 2G memory offered here is too little for Win7. The 4G of memory the Best Buy unit has will more than offset the CPU difference and outperform this unit, which will have more I/O delays to virtual memory.

nyisless13 wrote:Placement of the FN key kills it. Possibly the most irritating laptop "feature" ever.

i agree. terrible placement on lenovos. i always hit fn instead of ctrl.

EltonNoway wrote:In any event, today Lenovo and IBM have nothing to do with one another. Not affiliated... not business partners...

Wrong.

I work for IBM, and IBM is responsible for warranty and maintenance work on Lenovo laptops and desktops.

Our IS department at work bought us all this lap top. We use it for writing reports and researching on the internet. So far they have worked real well for us. I particularly like the fact that it's light and I can pick it up and move it to another work area in the building.

How do I connect a HP laserjet 2300 to this laptop?

snang wrote:A newer version of this laptop is available at Best Buy for the same price, brand new.

bestbuy.com

Not the same at all. Yeah, it has 4GB of Memory, but it has a smaller Hard Drive, and it's a 1.6GHz AMD processor... you're definitely going to notice the difference. And it looks like it weighs more too.