Lenovo ThinkPad X60s Laptop

I have decided that this is the end for Lenovo and me. A premium costing machine should not overheat like it does. I shouldn't have to use a fan cooler (but I do) and if it is attached to the docking station, it overheats and causes the blue screen of death. The Vista from the beginning has made it a total pig, my cheap notebooks blow it's performance away using XP... Not sure if it's microsoft's terrible os or Lenovo's lack of detail on engineering which causes it to overheat. P.s. Have had to replace the memory and the 802.11 internal card because of overheating. Also it was supposed to ship with the Verizon data card, never did.

I had to weigh in with an opinion on this machine this morning, after owning it for over a year and the events of last evening. Had a few glasses of wine and was carrying it rather carelessly when I dropped it from a height of several feet. It fell solidly off the corner of a heavy glass coffee table (would be writing a review in praise of the table if I could, as it stayed intact.) Spilled wine, broken wine glasses, but only a small but noticeable dent in the corner of the X60s and continued, flawless functioning. I've owned a lot of laptops and none have been put together like this one. A bit pricey perhaps, but solidly in the category of "you get what you pay for."

Maybe I got a lemon. But, during my first six months, the hard drive had to be replaced, the sound card replaced and now it won't boot which means a full recovery and my second loss of all records. I have continally requested a replacement as I've never had such bad performance from any other computer. Maybe this third, recent disaster might convince Lenovo mine is a dud. Oh, I was told this boot problem might have resulted from a microsoft download AND I don't have Vista! Good luck!

I used the tablet while in grad school and found it very useful for taking notes. It feels just like you are writing on paper. Other laptop users tried to take notes by typing but once a teacher draws a chart they were screwed. It's easy to switch colors and use the pen to copy a section of the screen from any other application and paste into notes. Also is great for giving presentations because you can draw on your powerpoint slides to emphasize points or walk someone through a drawing... Flipping back and forth between tablet and normal PC mode is quick and seemless.

The downside of this tablet is the lack of a CD/DVD drive. At first I thought that it would be fine having it in the docking station but I had a flight to China and was not able to watch any DVD's on it and couldn't play any computer games that required the program to reference the CD. The docking station is bulky and requires power. This is a HUGE limitation.

The other thing that is overhyped is the automatic screen orientation. It's nothing like the IPhone, it gets confused all the time and is slow. I ended up turning it off after two days. The other feature I turned off is the fingerprint reader, I would have to swipe my finger 10 times sometimes before it would let me log in.

I bought a top-of-the-line version of this for my son for med but it turned out to be completely unreliable. And 9 of the 10 others in his class who had Lenovo's had the exact same experience. Only 1 was satisfied. What's worse, when we had a disagreement with Lenovo over whether we should pay for a repair that did not fix the problem, the head of Lenovo's customer service department told me -- and this is an exact quote -- "I don't care what's good for the customer, I care what's good for Lenovo. BEWARE!

I bought this laptop after spending 6 six months of analysis and the reviews. I paid around 1200$(After discount- Actual rate is more than 1500). I just opened the laptop and I found that they shipped me the laptop with dead pixel. I can easily see it when I am working. I asked them if they can fix it. They say that they try it but they can't guarantee it. I sent my laptop to the Tech support. They kept it for more than a week and finally they said that I need to pay around 800$ to get it fixed. They say that it is only one dead pixel so they can't consider it as dead pixel. They don't have this policy posted in the web page where I bought it. Now they say that they have the policy that in order to consider this as defective I need to have more than 13 or 14 pixels. When I told them that I want to return this piece back, they told me that I need to pay 15% of the total purchase costs. I saw in the forums some people having more than 5 dead pixels but less than 13 pixels. I really feel very sorry to these people. You could also find about those reviews here -
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/search?submitted=true&q=defective+pixel
You need to register in order to see. You could see a few persons reviews.
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So I got my X300 last week, turned it on only to find a stuck pixel in the middle of the screen... Suck.

I tried various software methods and some pressure/tapping techniques to try and unstick the pixel, but to no avail.

So I called support, who agreed to send me a box so they could fix it for me. A week later, and they still have my laptop, only to tell me that they want to charge me $700 for a replacement. What??!

I know stuck pixels happen, but this is just poor QA, letting a brand new laptop ship with this defect.

What are my options here? Can Lenovo give me a replacement? Can I return it and get my money back ? (which I would then use to buy another laptop?). Am I stuck with a defective laptop ?

Thanks.
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That sucks. My lenovo machine also arrived with noticible dead pixels (not a X300) & other defects. I returned it & I'm currently fighting the restocking fee. Drove me nuts that a brand new machine arrived with so many defects. The tech people seemed to know immediately when I described the problem- no one seemed surprised that it didn't work right & I'm stunned that lenovo can get away with shipping bad merchandise and expect the consumer to pay for it. They wanted me to send it for repair, but I thought I'd be stuck with a lemon. I didn't believe them, but I was told that if I "worked with them" and agreed to have them fix it, that if they did not fix it to my satisfication, then I could return it for a full refund without restocking fee. Since I did not believe them (what if they said they fixed it but I didn't agree; plus what if it really was a lemon & I was stuck sending it for repair every 2 months) , I did not take them up on this offer, but maybe it could help you now get back full price (if you send it in for repair the usual return date rule does not apply - so they said anway).

Seems to me theyre setting themselves up for a class action lawsuit with big damages if it becomes clear they know the are shipping bad merchandise (thru 4 countries no less!)

p.s. to other poster- did they report specs for lowest brightess level too?

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First, I want to explain my situation; I ordered my x61t on January 15, 2008, it arrived on the 23; After unpacking, I noticed that I had several dead pixels, espiecally these annoying ones in the center of the screen. I though I would use it for the day and see if it annoys me, (I'm an art undergrad, most of my classes deals with photoshop, and I like to doolde with ArtRage) After using the tablet all day on the 24th, I couldnt stand the dead pixels anymore so I went ahead and called into tech support, I told them my situation, the amoutn of dead pixels I had on the screen, and they told me that I could go ahead and send in the unit for a LCD replacement, mind you, this unit is NEW, I had it for less then 2 days. I checked the status of my unit, it arrived on the 26th, and was being repaired on the 28th. Mind you, I had been told it would come back by monday at the earliest, maybe Tuesday, the 29th. I checked the status of my repair at the IBM ezServ website, it says that it was still being repaired, I thought that was weird since its been 2 days already, if they had needed a part, it would have said, waiting for part to come in. So I called to see what the hold up was, apparently I didnt have enough dead pixels to warrant a LCD replacment, I HAD TO CALL IN to find this information out, if I had just waited, I dont' know when I would have found this information out. The tech person also told me it was not covered under my warranty, when, I was told the previous week it was! I was told I had to pay a sum of $800 for a replacement. At this point I'm sick and tired, I bought this machine speciifcially beacuse I heard of the good praishe it receieved on Notebook Forum, Thinkpad Forum, Tablet Forum, and GottaBeMobile. I placed another call to sales, and told them I wanted to return the system, I'm tired of this, I needed this system for my art classes, I was without one for 2 days, and it looked like it was going to be a even longer; I just want to get my money back so I can purchase a laptop at a retailier instead. The rep told me I would be charged 15% restocking fee! I only had the system for 2 days, the last 4, about to be 5 days, it has been in their service depot! I asked if I could talk to a higher up, he informed me about this 15% restocking too, he also said that the LCD replacemtn was $300, I dont see why I should be spending anymore money then I already should, I paid over 1,000 for this lap, which came with dead pixels in the middle of the screen, which annoys me both as a art major and someone who will watch movie on this laptop. The manager sales rep also told me that I couldnt talk to anyone higher up on the chain, after asking for his name, he wouldnt give it to me, and hung up, what kind of customer service is this? I'm not satisfied with this product, I just want a full return, which would cost me abotu 15% of the price, so now I have 2 options apparently, pay between 300-800 (can't seem to get the real figure down) or return this product for a lost of 15%, mind you, I only had this laptop in my possesion for 2 days, the last 4 days, it has been in the repair depot, just sitting there. I bought this specifically for my art classes, and yet have had the chance to use it. It would be easier for me to return this and buy one retail. Can someone please get intouch with me and help me resolve this issue, I dont want to return this product, but I want one thats flawless thats what I paid for, IBM and Lenovo are know for quality, my laptop was not quality, there were several other problems I had experienced with it, though I havent mentioned, after 1 day, the bezel was already coming off on the lower left hand corner, it made a cracking noise.

Please, can someone, an admin, please help me, I need to get a new one fast, or atleast a refund, I need the money to purcahse a new laptop soon. I'm sorry about the big block of text, I'm just mad and distress right now, please I just want someone to help me.


Message Edited by funk3r on 01-29-2008 12:35 PM

Message Edited by funk3r on 01-29-2008 12:36 PM
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Mine was for school, so it was nice that it was light, but it was really inconveniant to not have a CD drive, the fan was really loud and even so, the keyboard heated up, making it uncomfortable to type, and it stopped working for no good reason. For example, doing a word document, all of a sudden the screen turned blue and it said 'error has occurred. preparing restart' and then another time I opened it and it went to a screen that said 'Preparing to stand by' and stayed that way for at least 9 hours. Pressing the power button had no effect. Long story short, I have not had any good experiences with this computer.

its very cheap. in a few months, i have gottn to many HDD, keyboard, screen, and other replacements. Its sucks. don't get it. its overpriced. and i have to live with it.

I have owned this machine for about 18 months and love it. It is very rugged and durable.

Service however is absolutley shameful!! I've called and written emails several times since I purchased it. I have never, not once, recieved ANY service. The technical people are rude, stupid and arrogant. I have never been able to speak to a supervisor or manager either and trust me, I've tried.

I would seriously reconsider ever buying an IMB/Lenovo again due to the service issues

My first one came with Vista which didn't work at all. After 3 weeks and hours on the phone, they exchanged it for one with XP. That worked... for a while. The system comes with Lenovo software that doesn't work. What's worse is that they can't fix it. Forget about hooking up to the internet. You have to do it though their software which is full of bugs that they can't fix. Go ahead and unistall theFingerprint reader... worked for 3 months then quit. No they won't help even though I coughed up an extra $350 for their extended warranty. You see this is a software problem... not a hardware problem... If you were suckered into buying one of these because of your previuos great experience with IBM... forget it. I've spent hours on the phone. The recent insult to my injury is that in September 2007, not 6 months after I bought the system and warranty, they implemented a fee for service system. Yes any questions(and I mean any) about you computer now cost you $100 per pop. The good news is you don't have to hold quite as long before speaking to your assigned foreigner who still can't fix your problem (it says very clearly that a fix is not guaranteed). I did ask for my money back... they said I hadn't spent enough time on hold. Buyer beware... I guess that some things actually were made better in the good old US. Please come back IBM!

I have tried TWICE now to purchase this laptop and the service has been absolutely abysmal to the point of cancelling the order both times. I am so disappointed, as I really love the laptop itself, but I don't think I'll ever buy a product from Lenovo.

I am abroad at the moment and was due to go home for a week. I ordered the laptop three weeks in advance of my last trip with next-day shipping and immediately began sending emails to Lenovo asking if there was any way to expedite my order as the estimated ship date was after my return abroad.

Not only did I not hear back from Lenovo for several days, when they did contact me it was to tell me to change the shipping address (a PO Box is not valid, and this was not stated on the order page), which I immediately did. This is a normal reaction and I was not surprised, although a bit put off that it took them 3-5 days to send me this message. I changed the address to a friend's house.

Again I contacted them by email several times and by phone to see if there was any way for faster build/ship times. I was prepared to pay for this but there was no response. A technician warned me not to change anything in the order because it would "kick it to the back of the queue and you will have to wait even longer." So I sat and waited and hoped that it would be dispatched prior to their estimated date.

Finally, back abroad and three weeks after purchasing the unit, I receive an email from Lenovo telling me that my SHIP DATE IS INCORRECT DUE TO THE SHIPPING ADDRESS NOT PASSING CREDIT CARD VERIFICATION. Excuse me! They told me to change the address and then did not bother to tell me that that address was also invalid.

So I call Lenovo to find out what is going on, and they explain to me that I need to add the new shipping address to my credit card, even though the BILLING address was correct. They tell me this THREE WEEKS after I placed the order, with me emailing them every other day to no reply. Even the technicians I had spoken to on the phone had not mentioned that the order was delayed due to this. THREE WEEKS. I couldn't believe it!

And to think that having me call my credit card company to add my friend's address to it is a viable solution was ridiculous. What is the point of a billing address?? I asked them, if I did this, if there was any way they could ship it to me abroad as I was already away and of course, they couldn't do that, and they couldn't speed things up either. There was no solution. Not even a manager I could speak to in the call center. The support people were perkily telling me that I was f*ckd. They absolutely did not care. A second $2000 sale gone for Lenovo, and they didn't care a single bit.

I am a travel writer and was depending on this unit for my next project which begins in two weeks (5 weeks after the inital purchase date). The appalling service has directly impacted my trip and I'm scrambling, on ebay, for a temporary solution until I get back from the trip. It will definitely be sub-par for my needs, but what can I do? It would have been better if Lenovo had just moved a little faster with answering questions and I could have at least cancelled the order with more time to even find a backup. Lesson learned on my part.

I was so frustrated that I actually cried for the first time after a support call. How lame is that. Don't do it - the laptop looks and feels great and runs fast but the moment you have a problem, good luck.

I have had this laptop for 6 months. 3 months back the lcd went out. It took lenovo 2 weeks to replace it. Today, the hard drive crashed. I have a 24 hour SLA with them, but Lenovo refused to send someone over. They are going to mail me a new drive which I will get in 5 business days. Don't buy this piece of junk.

the machine is good as long as you do not meet any problems.

each time i call the lenovo CS, i waited for about 30 minutes or more. the CS persons are not friendly. the technical support person gives wrong information. finally, i received good help from ibm. isn't it ridiculous?

i would suggest not touch lenovo if you are allergic to poor customer services.

My x60s freezes up randomly. I sent it to the service center 4 times already, and every time they tell me that it's fixed. Now it freezes on the startup screen so I can't even use it anymore. This has taken up three weeks of my time waiting for the FedEx guy. I called and they gave me 3 different numbers to call, and everyone said that it's not their department. Now the tech support is telling me to bring it in to a local IBM service center, and they may charge me for the labor. My laptop is still under warranty, and I feel this was very unprofessional of Lenovo to pretend that they fixed an error when they didn't even bother to turn my laptop on, since it freezes within a minute of being on. I will NEVER buy another thinkpad and wished I had read the reviews on service before I bought this one.

Pros:
The laptop quality is tremendous; I've dropped it about 3 times (not on purpose) from about 1.5 feet, picked it up, and still played solitaire just fine.

The laptop performs well for small media apps, games, and business applications.

It comes with a restore function to bring your laptop back to factory default.

It's battery life lasts well in the 6 - 7.5 hour range (I'm a student, and I can take notes for all 4 classes a day and then some). It is also VERY light and compact, perfect for travelers and commuters.

Cons:
Laptops will have problems. However, those problems are rarely due to manufacturer; rather, those problems are caused by the end user. Therefore, if you aren't a geek that knows all the ins-and-outs of computer repair and maintenance, you will not get any effective help from Lenovo customer service.

The thing is also hideous (Well not hideous, just nothing marvelous other than a black piece of metallic object.) as my friends repeatedly point out.

Screen resolution is also stuck at a 1024 X 768, annoying for anyone who wishes to use their laptop for multimedia and entertainment (But after all, this laptop is more work than fun).

Hope this helps you.

It takes Lenovo/IBM forever to repair my laptop --- 3.5 weeks so far -- overall very frustrating experience. If you really depend on your laptop and don't have a spare one to use just in case, you shouldn't buy Lenovo. If something goes wrong it takes a very long time to fix it.

This is my 5th ThinkPad that travels with me every few weeks. It easy to pack and is much easier to use on the plane or in small places.

I pack a travel wireless mouse and have a duplicate set of accessories packed to go.

At home and at the office, I use a port replicator which is connected to a 19" screen, full size wireless keyboard and mouse.

This is still available on IBM.com or brand new on ebay.

Purgatory!
Lenovo has turned what used to be stellar service from IBM and turned it into a showcase of incompetence. And that's before you even receive your laptop. It's just not worth it.

I think this is a great machine. It's rugged, lightweight, and has blazing fast performance.

However, the technical support center for IBM located in Georgia is completely incompetant. I called about a BIOS question and the technical support representative had to look up what a BIOS meant!! Their sheer stupidity can be incredibly frustrating.

Other than that, the computer is great and I absolutely love it!

A prior reviewer said there were problems using the x60s with widescreen external monitors, but I've had no problems using them. I'm currently typing this on a 1680x1050 display.

My biggest problem with this otherwise sweet laptop is that my palms seem to keep sliding off of the bottom of the rest area below the keyboard. It might be something I'll get used to, but right now, it seems a little weird.

Another thing that might sound weird is this: this laptop might just be too small. Even if it weighed the same, I think I might like it if it were just a little bit bigger.

I'm also in the camp of people who'd like to see this offered in a widescreen (1280x800) version.... who knows, maybe I purchased too soon?

I've had this notebook for over 6 months. It has been reliable & stable. Still using XP-Pro due to corporate VPN and secured wireless issues with Vista.

Recently bought the X60s. Great laptop (although high in price) love the thinkvantage software functionality specially to keep the system updated. Support is not that great specially here in Dubai where I am based. The system has a problem of heat on the right palm which already has been documented by several users. (check forum.thinkpad.com)

Owned this machine for about 7 months for use at grad school alongside work needs. Its been sturdy for hauling with the heavy casebooks & great at things like remoting into my work machine & multi-tasking. Moreover, I've had a situation where machine went into error-state, and recovering a backup was quick & easy. Overall, great performance & although nothing ever receives a perfect 10 in my book, this machine would approach a 9.7 if optical drive had been builtin. Bit expensive, but if you can afford it, it's a GREAT buy indeed!

I have had my X60 for 6 months now. In those 6 months I have already sent it into repair TWICE. If you get this laptop, make sure you get a warranty.

On three separate occasions, the laptop stopped charging via AC power. When the battery died, there was no way to recharge it and the computer wouldn't run off the AC power. The first time I sent it back into repair, they sent it back to me fine. One month later, this happened again. When I called customer care, they said that they had not taken notes on what happened the first time so they couldn't diagnose the problem over the telephone.

Just this morning, my computer has died again. I had to wait for two hours before talking to customer care.

Other reasons why you should beware:

1. The laptop comes with a ton of pre-loaded software that you will have to delete yourself. When you start your laptop, it'll be running 80+ processes.

2. Get the longest warranty possible. You will need it.

3. The CTRL key lays to the right of the Fn key, defying keyboard convention. When you want to use simple functions like CTRL-N or CTRL-C, you will find yourself accidentally pressing FN-N or FN-C instead. People say you will get used to this, but I use two computers -- one at home and one at work, and both have different layouts. This is not something Lenovo needed to be creative in.

4. When you first get your computer, the battery life lasts about 7 hours! Which is great. But after 6 months of use, the battery now lasts for less than 5 hours.

Some things I like about my laptop:
1. It is light and relatively sturdy.
2. It is quite fast.

I would not purchase another Lenovo.

ok to start with this thing has no cd or dvd player or burner... the panasonic toughtbook w5 does. this weights 2.7 pounds the panasonic w5 weight 2.3. this battery lasts for 8 hours with and extended battery pack ****... the panasonic toughbook battery lasts for 10 hours with no additional batteries, its really upseting when you know somthing is way better but does not get recognised o and did i mention the panasonic w5 has duo 2 prossesor..

Laptop preference comes down to personal choice. Because I travel on a weekly basis (12+ years and still going), weight (less is better) and performance are the two most important features in a laptop. I've had several lightweight laptops (ThinkPad 1st generation, Dell Latitude D400, HP OmniBook) in the past and the X60s far exceeds my expectations. Top of my list is the battery life. I can't tell you how many times the battery runs out at critical times. Finding available electrical outlets at an airport gate is highly unlikely. Second on my list is the trackpoint mouse. My first laptop was the original ThinPad and with limited workspace on the airplane, I was forced to get used to the trackpoint. Since then, my laptop purchases always required the trackpoint feature. Unfortunately, the laptop would also come with the touchpad mouse. Disabling the touchpad setting always seemed to work half of the time and my previous laptop would not function very well without it enabled. Prior to buying my X60s, I did research on other lightweight laptops. Sony and Dell were my other two choices, but both came in at nearly the same price as the ThinkPad. My decision to pay a little bit more for the X60s came down to battery life and the trackpoint. Now that I have had two months to use the ThinkPad, my final conclusion is money well spent.

Thinkpad is 4 months old . Here are the problems already.

1 - Laptop latch doesn't close correctly
2 - Several keys on keyboard came off
3 - Internal Wireless Card not working well
4 - Blue screen common.


I've had 3 other IBM thinkpads for myself and bought 6 others for employees. This is our first Lenovo and it's not the same.

I do not have my unit yet. Everyone I have read about who has one of these loves them, it is just the customer support I was a little concerned about. They advertise having proactive support, but after reading some of the negative responses here at CNET about Lenovo's customer service, I was a little concerned. I e-mailed one of the executives about my trouble with the website, and whoosh, swoosh, they took care of everything so fast I could not believe it, and saved me a bunch of money in the process. The full story is on my blog at http://www.bodyabcs.com/bwp/2006/12/big-thanks-to-lenovo-for-their-proactive-support/

Thanks David, Maria, and Steve!

Dr. David Klein

This was my 2nd thinkpad. I like it a lot. See my comments in pros & cons for more info. My favorite part is that this notebook really fits in my bag like a novel. I have used it 4 months now and am glad I bought. Honestly if I could go back in time I would have gotten the x60 instead, beacuse it has a built in slim cd-dvd drive and is slightly faster, plus costs less. But hey you live and learn. Another plus is that this pc can handle a lot of software, my older thinkpad was much slower. The 8 hr battery is definitely a must. Also, of course I rec'd buying an external wireless mouse for ergonomics (I prefer logitech. Re customer support gufaugh-- I waited 45 mins for to have a small question answered and the person on the phone at Cust Support was clueless, they spent 5 mins looking up the answer and still couldn't help-- I was better off researching the answers myself (MS website is good place in many cases). I would have paid $200 more initially to have received better customer svc (fast and knowledgable well-trained reps).

Lenovo could not deliver X60s to me in the last 8 weeks. I have never experienced such a complete failure. I spent so much time on the phone trying to understand the status of my order. I talked with Lenovo customer service at least 10 times, and each time I was given a different excuse for the delay. Guess what happened after 8 weeks. Their ignorant and unhelpful (I am not exaggerating, all of them had the same attitude) told me that the order was sent to the wrong warehouse and they cannot process my order and I need to cancel my order and place a new one and the new order can only be shipped in 4 weeks. I thought he was making an unpleasant joke but he was not. When I asked him to cancel my order he was very pleased to do so. Now for the past week, I am trying to cancel my order so that I can buy my laptop from another company. But I don’t think that Lenovo will let it go very easily. I just got a message that my order is rescheduled for 6 weeks from now. It seems it will not be easy to even cancel my order.
No notification system, no warnings, their sales and shipment systems are not integrated, delays without explanations, lies on the phone, indifferent and ignorant customer service and an undeliverable product.
I am going to face an other challenge as well. Lenovo sent me external DVD player separately but now I need to send it back and get my money back for the player. They told me that they will schedule a pick up for the player. Do you think it will ever happen and I will get my money back? This is like a nightmare.