[UFO Chicago] Refurbished laptops -- thoughts?

[Matthew T. Gibbs]

Neil R. Ormos wrote:
> 
> Brian Sobolak wrote:
> 
>>  My wife and i are both overdue for new
>>  machines. To save a little, i was thimking of
>>  getting refurbished computers, one from the OEM,
>>  and the other from Tigerdirect.
> 
>>  Any experiences to share?
> 
> I don't know what the current ThinkPads are like,
> but I've been very happy with the one I bought,
> and the product generations that bracket it have
> likewise been excellent.  They have a great
> keyboard (with the exception of the location of
> the Ctrl key, which I have heard can be remapped),
> and the displays are also very good.  Mechanics
> and thermal management are excellent; these
> machines were built to last. In case something
> fails, many components are designed to be easily
> replaced in the field, and parts are readily
> available at tolerable prices.


Late last year my church procured a T-series (I don't recall the model off hand) and earlier this year I received a W520 at work.  They are both excellent machines and have been working quite well so far and as far as I recall do not have any broken or dead pixels.

I believe that I saw a setting in the BIOS configuration to switch the Ctrl and function keys.

I have had to replace the fan in my T61 (purchased new from the outlet around the first of 2008) and it's a fairly simple process.  The part was easy to order from IBM and guides show exactly how to remove and replace the components necessary to change the fan.  I leave my laptop on pretty much all of the time, so I'm guessing that the fan bearings wore out.  The fan never quit but became noisy.

Hope that helps,

Matt