Thanks a lot for your answer. Unfortunately by the time I got it, the used thinkpad had been sold.
So I kept searching for more used ones and finally I saw an ad for this one:
lenova thinkpad T 410 2537
2.5 yrs old
3 year Warranty that expires april 2014
Core i-5, 2.4 gz
He is selling it for Rs 17,000. When I asked why he was selling an
i5 so cheap, he said a new i5 would anyway cost Rs 32 to 36,000 and so he had to price his lower.
The above is simply not true. I have inquired and I know that its dual core and i3 that are in the Rs 35,000 price range. An i5 would be much more.
So I find his excuse fishy.
He also said he has to charge less cos he has no graphics card. I don’t need one since I don’t program or game.
He said that after a year he had to get them to replace the keyboard because of some dead keys.
I thought thinkpads came with great keyboards? Is it normal for the
laptop keyboard to need to be replaced after only a year?
He claims he has had no problems with anything else. I am wondering if they keyboard is the only problem. I don’t mind a bad keyboard since I would anyway prefer to use an ext keyboard.
He said he has used it for about 90 hours a month. He usually uses his desktop but needs the laptop sometimes.
When I asked why he would want to sell an i5 he said he works with Autocad and the newest version needs a faster laptop, so he needs to buy an i7.
I know nothing about Autocad. Is his reason believable?
He said he spent Rs 63,000 to buy it when new. Again I find it fishy that he would now sell it for so cheap if he really spent so much. I see most people on this same site charging at least Rs 20,000 for a core i3.
He said it now has 2 hrs of battery life but originally had 18 hours. I didn’t know any laptop had that much battery life?
So, from all he has said, what do you think? Do you think the laptop has some serious problems with it and so he's trying to pawn it off on some gullible buyer?
Lenovo customer service told me that they have an entry level thinkpad for Rs 23,000. Would it make more sense to buy this one though its only dual core? I don’t need higher than dual core but I thought it would be nice to have an i5 so that the processor would not slow down too much after 5 or more years.
The Lenovo guy also told me they have 2 kidns of laptops: ideapads and thinkpads. He said an ideapad could last 4 or 5 years while a thinkpad could last 9 or 10 years.
But from what I understand of your answer, it sounds like both types will last about the same length of time, depending on how you use them and also on your luck and other variables.
If this is the case then doesn’t it makes sense for me to buy a new dual core rather than an old i5 since my main requirememt is for a laptop that lasts many years?
The advantages of HIS laptop are that its under 6 months company warranty, so I can at least go to them if something conks out. Plus the huge battery life which could come in useful later.
Thanks for any insights. He is coming to show me his laptop, so I would like to be able to give him some kind of definite answer if I find nothing wrong with it once I try it out.
To the moderators: I'm sorry; I forgot about the big font. I have trouble seeing small. My eyes hurt when I have to peer to see small fonts, so I use v big fonts on my screen and automatically copy and paste that into these
windows or any other site. Will do my best to remember.
