Quick Question about myNotebook

Colleges & Universities College of William and Mary
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<p>Ok so I feel like I am missing something with the whole myNotebook thing. When you go through the process of ordering through the W&M myNotebook webpage, it says that the web price for the T60 as configured for the program is $2,745.00, but our price is $1,675.00. Now, the specifications of the T60 given through the program are Processor </p>

<p>Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 1.83GHz
Operating System Windows® XP Professional
Display size, type & resolution 14.1" XGA (1024x768)
Memory (installed/max) 1GB / 3GB
Hard Drive (size/speed) 80 GB / 5400 RPM
Graphics/Video Card ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 M52 64MB
4 year onsite and accident insurance</p>

<p>I have used a number of computers, and know to look for the main things (memory, graphics, processor, hard drive speed), but I dont know much of anything about the intricate details of a computer’s configuration.</p>

<p>I’ve been shopping around to different websites and configuring different computers, and through dell, I’ve found a computer (a Dell) with pretty much the same stuff as the T60 only with a 2.00 ghz processor, and a 256mb vid card for only about $170 more than the T60, and I included 3 years of onsite protection for the computer (the most expensive protection Dell offers). </p>

<p>Now, as I stated earlier, I know the basics of what I need in a computer but I’m not too knowledgable about the details of the hardware and all of that so I guess what I’m asking is what makes the W&M T60 such a good bargain? Why would that machine have, according to Lenovo, a web price of over $2,700 when one can get a better machine for much cheaper? I feel like the Lenovo T60 must have something that makes it such a bargain that I simply didn’t know to look for, so what is it?</p>

<p>Edited to add: Upon finishing the post and looking over it, I realize that it isn’t such a quick question afterall. Sorry about that.</p>

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<p>The price is because of a quantity discount…Lenovo’s are also very well built machines, compared to Dells for example. Dell isn’t really known for its laptop quality, and I personally don’t think they are as rugged and durable as an IBM. Additionally, I think they also tend to be fairly efficient, which is why the processor speed at 1.83 GHZ is more than ample. Also, any warranty extension you might have with a laptop outside the mynotebook program won’t be up to par with the one that is offered by IT. The turnaround time with IT is phenomenally fast, and with the mynotebook program, it is usually a drop it off in the morning pick it up in the afternoon sort of thing- this obviously depends on the extent of the problem however.</p>

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<p>the 1.83Ghz is dual core anyway, meaning you have to processors at that speed on the same physical chip. Its more than you’re used to most likely.</p>

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<p>yeah I know it’s a dual core and, yes, it is more than I’m used to, but the 2.0ghz machine i was talking about is a dual core as well. I guess i’m gonna just go with the myNotebook program because the onsite technical support thing that bjcdb described sounds pretty nice.</p>

<p>Thanks guys.</p>

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<p>The on-site repair and extended warranty makes this a pretty compelling offer. If you look around, you can probably find a comparable notebook for less - but adding the warranty and breakage insurance adds back an extra ~$200-300 on competitive brands. And you can’t put a price on on-site repair, compared to mailing your entire notebook, including your unbacked-up term papers, to a depot repair facility in another country. </p>

<p>Thing is, notebooks, at least notebooks that get thrown in a bookbag a lot, take a beating - while your desktop may run for years without a hiccup, travelling notebooks get far more abuse, and are much more likely to need
repair. And they tend to be more expensive to repair as well. Unlike your desktop, laptop parts are often proprietary, and rarely second-sourced, so they tend to be far more expensive. I’ve had a Thinkpad for about 2 years, and I’ve had to replace the keyboard (~$60, self-repair), LCD hinge, VGA cable, and wireless antenna, (depot repair, ~$250). </p>

<p>If you think that’s bad, in the course of about 4 years, I’ve completely worn out two Compaq Armada’s (both battery charge circuits failed, both hard drives failed, one CD drive failed, one LCD screen cracked) and a Dell Inspiron (hard drive failure, keys falling off the keyboard, battery circuit failure and terrible and persistent overheating problems, which has led to periodic problems with disk corruption and the aforementioned keyboard failure). None of these are worth the cost of repair, since they’re out of warranty. And be sure you know what the repair process is - depending on the vendor, you might have to ship your entire notebook away, and not get it back for a week. </p>

<p>So, if you plan to keep your notebook for 1 or 2 years, then replace it, it’s likely the warranty and on-site repair won’t be such a big advantage to you, and you can save money by not buying extended protection - in fact, you could probably buy your own Lenovo notebook for less, without the warranty. </p>

<p>Just checked, and for example, a Lenovo C100 with 1.7GHz Pentium M, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, CD-RW, wired and wireless networking is on-sale at buy.com for $739 after rebate (1 year warranty). Not as nice as the MyNotebook config - but you can buy two of them for the money. </p>

<p>This may not be a bad approach - you know in a year, you’ll be able to get a much more powerful notebook for the same price, probably a 64-bit CPU with 2GB RAM, etc. </p>

<p>Of course, the MacBook and MacBook Pro are still probably the <em>best</em> notebooks available (before considering the repair thing) …</p>

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<p>there’s an apple store in Richmond… hour’s drive to the best customer service there is. (that you most likely won’t need)</p>