Buying through school?

<p>I was planning on buying through my school because it offers support on campus, as well as repairs and replacement. Then it comes with a 3yr warranty for drops, accidents, spills, etc.</p>

<p>Is this a good deal? $1400 plus tax:
Lenovo T510
Item #4349Y1C
From Lenovo
15.6" HD Anti-Glare LED Display
2.53GHz Intel Core Duo i5-540M
4GB DDR SDRAM (2 DIMM)
320GB 7200rpm
DVD Multiburner optical drive
NVIDIA NVS 3100m graphics with 512MB
Bluetooth
2.0 MP Camera
9 cell Li-Ion Battery
Integrated fingerprint reader
3yr Depot + 3yr TPP (accidental damage warranty)</p>

<p>As far as I know, that’s a decent deal. Not amazing, but with the 3-year warranty, I suppose it’s worth it.</p>

<p>Is it powerful?</p>

<p>Oh yeah, definitely, that Core i5-540m will run just about anything.</p>

<p>hmm, I have the same question but a different thinkpad and price</p>

<p>Lenovo ThinkPad X100e Tablet - $791</p>

<p>Windows 7 Professional 32
11.6" HD AG, Midnight Black
AMD Athlon
HD Low Light Enhanced Webcam
2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 (1 DIMM)
Keyboard US English
160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
3 cell Li-Ion Battery
Bluetooth w/ antenna
Gigabit Ethernet, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n
1 yr Warranty/3 yr Accidental</p>

<p>is this good? or okay?</p>

<p>I’d just like to buy it at the school because then I can just get my engineering program added for free at the same time, also I don’t care to take a laptop through airport.</p>

<p>@lucky2010 – There are a few flaws I see with your package. Firstly, an 11.6" screen is extremely small, and will undoubtedly become a nuisance very quickly unless you hook up the tablet to an external monitor for extended use. Secondly, the AMD Athlon processor isn’t really up-to-date. Thirdly, the 3-cell battery is quite small, and will not give spectacular battery life. For that price, I would recommend either an actual Thinkpad laptop (you can probably find a decent T410 for a little more), or an HP dm4. </p>

<p>You can also look at this website for good deals: [Cheap</a> Laptops Deals - LogicBUY](<a href=“http://www.logicbuy.com/subcategorydeals/13/Computers/119/Laptops.aspx?filter=hottest]Cheap”>http://www.logicbuy.com/subcategorydeals/13/Computers/119/Laptops.aspx?filter=hottest)</p>

<p>Well, I was thinking a small laptop would be best just because I’m told by other current students that I’ll likely use the cluster engn. and dorm computers a lot more, also I think I just want the tablet (cause I’m kinda a dork and all). They sell 6 and 9 cells for about a $100, is that good to add?</p>

<p>They do have a T410 (not sure if it’s a good deal either)</p>

<p>Lenovo ThinkPad T410 - $1225
Core i5 540M w/Dual Core @ 2.53 GHz
3GB (2 DIMM)
320 GB, 7200rpm, SATA DVD-Writer
DVD-Writer
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight
2 Megapixel camera
256MB NVIDIA NVS 3100m Graphics DisplayPort @ 60Hz
Gigabit Ethernet, WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
Fingerprint Reader
5in1 reader
4 USB ports
9 Cell Battery
Windows 7 Pro 32bit
3yr/1yr battery Depot Repair
3yr Accidental</p>

<p>and the T510 but it’s a little more and a bit different</p>

<p>Lenovo ThinkPadTM T510 - $1450</p>

<p>Core i7 620M w/Dual Core @ 2.66 GHz
2GB (1 DIMM)
320 GB, 7200rpm, SATA
DVD-Writer
15.6" Widescreen TFT 1600 x 900 (HD+) anti-glare,
2 Megapixel camera
NVIDIA Quadro NVS3100M
512Mb, PCI express x16 max external res 2560x1600 DisplayPort
Gigabit Ethernet, WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
Fingerprint Reader
5in1 reader
3 USB ports
9 Cell Battery
Windows 7 Pro 32bit
3yr/1yr Battery Depot Repair w/3yr Accidental</p>

<p>oh, and thanks for the help man, I’m usually just like “mmm, it seems reasonable?”</p>

<p>If I had to choose between those two, I’d go for the T410. It’s a little above my budget, but it’s an okay deal because of the high performance and the renowned Thinkpad build quality.</p>

<p>It’s a good laptop, but it’s overpriced. You can find laptops with MUCH better specs for $1400.</p>

<p>It’s a decent deal for this particular combination, but I have a couple suggestions:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Cut the discrete graphics card and go integrated; unless you plan to be playing some <em>real</em> 3D games, the integrated is plenty powerful.</p></li>
<li><p>Go i3-530m or even i3-330m. The i3-540m comes at a fairly expensive premium for only a marginal increase in performance.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>thanks a lot guys! seriously, I’d probably have bought it but then posting here and having the kinda-negative reviews of it made me look more into it and ask some students at the school who told me to buy at another place in the city (and they gave links)</p>

<p>so just saying thanks!</p>