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DarkestLite posted:So I've decided on the Sager NP8130 but I had one last question. My friend says that Bluray drives for PCs aren't that great still because of all the updates Bluray players still receive and he read the drives are supposedly a bitch to update. Not sure about the drives themselves, i.e. firmware, but player software definitely gets updated now and again, and while updates install roughly like any other software patch, you have to keep buying the newest version because old versions stop getting updates after a while, locking you out of certain new releases. PC BluRay is definitely something you do because you love watching movies via your PC and/or you want to rip them. Otherwise get a set-top player.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 08:08 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 16:32 |
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Factory Factory posted:Not sure about the drives themselves, i.e. firmware, but player software definitely gets updated now and again, and while updates install roughly like any other software patch, you have to keep buying the newest version because old versions stop getting updates after a while, locking you out of certain new releases. Oh we have two PS3's and a Samsung Bluray at my house, I just thought it would be nice to toss a bluray drive on the laptop because I have ~7 hours a night free at work and I do watch a decent amount of movies here.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 08:18 |
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As long as you don't mind the cost equivalent of a new set top box every ~2 years or so in software, go for it. I play BluRay on my PC and drat that's a fine movie. I tried Ultra DVD 10 but Cyberlink is a corporation full of assholes. I went with ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre 5 instead, and it's quite nice. I wish it compressed the dynamic range more when I wanted it to, but my sound card drivers can take care of that for me.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 08:20 |
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tere posted:Got this mostly because i need some credit. You need some credit? What? Sorry to tell you this, but you got hosed. Google Shopping shows the exact same system being sold for a lot less money at several major retailers. And, well, the HP DV series is legendarily bad - there have been multiple class action settlements, and anybody who works on laptops has their own set of horror stories about HP "entertainment notebooks." I'd return it. Even if you have to take a restocking hit, you can do a lot better for similar money. As for upgrading the video card, it's very simple. You take that computer back to the store, and buy a new one with the video card you want. It is not upgradeable like a desktop. Very few laptops have upgradeable graphics in the first place. It's dicey to retrofit a newer, hotter, more power-hungry video card into a system that was designed with a certain power and thermal budget in mind - and that doesn't even touch the maze of incompatible interface standards and BIOS locks. Your HP won't even get that far, though, because it was designed from the start to be a cheap integrated-graphics laptop. You don't have to worry about mechanical or connector compatibility, power delivery, or cooling capacity: there is no connector, power, or cooling for a discrete graphics adapter in your system. Your graphics adapter is integrated into your processor, and that's what you get. Space Gopher fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2011 around 08:57 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2011 08:54 |
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Space Gopher posted:You need some credit? What?
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 09:15 |
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DinosaurHouseParty posted:If you buy things on credit and pay it back right away it helps your credit score... Yep thats the sole reason I decided to buy the drat think. I would've bought a much better desktop but space is very limited where I'm at.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 09:28 |
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Still return it, and buy a much better laptop.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 09:29 |
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tere posted:Yep thats the sole reason I decided to buy the drat think. I would've bought a much better desktop but space is very limited where I'm at. If you're buying expensive consumer goods you don't need in a half-baked attempt to raise your credit score, you've got bigger problems than overpaying for a lovely laptop. Go to BF&C under Ask/Tell, and post in the newbie thread. Opening up new lines of credit can actually harm your FICO score. This is done for a couple of reasons: if you're opening up lots of new accounts, that probably means you're getting into debt, and that means more risk for other lenders - if you were a banker, you'd probably prefer to lend to someone who hadn't just taken out another loan at the bank across the street. It also helps prevent gaming the system: if there's a penalty for opening up new accounts and lines of credit, you can't drive down utilization by applying for every store credit card you can get at the mall. If you want to boost your FICO score, use a credit card. A long history of payment in full every month on a revolving account looks really good, and increased limits will drive down your utilization percentage. But, even if you were in some weird situation where financing through an electronics store would improve your credit, it would still be a bad idea to buy a laptop you don't need. And, to get things back on topic, it is a lovely computer and you can do better. Return it.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 10:03 |
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Space Gopher posted:Opening up new lines of credit can actually harm your FICO score. This is done for a couple of reasons: gently caress I hate being on the reciving end of this  But i can take a hint. As for the credit when i say I have none I mean I have none. Zip, Zilch, Zero, blank slate etc. However that more of a topic for BFC.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 10:55 |
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Space Gopher posted:No, the 310M is discrete. It's one of the slowest discrete parts you can get these days, and the new crop of faster integrated solutions like Sandy Bridge and Zacate are in the same performance territory, but it's a separate chip with its own memory. These days, though, we're moving closer and closer to discrete vs. integrated being a distinction without a difference - both modern integrated graphics and low-end discrete chipsets fall into the broad "enough for daily use, not enough for games" category. If you do want to play games or do 3D work, simply looking for the "discrete" nametag isn't enough; you need to actually find video hardware that's capable of performing at a decent level. Oh hey, you're right. I guess that since Notebookcheck says that the 320M shares system memory, I assumed that the 310M would, too.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 14:43 |
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to add insult to injury, the MXM (compatible swappable graphics) stuff has two separate standards for AMD and Nvidia, and instead of "I can pop in any mobile graphics card" you have "I can pop in a mobile graphics card of a particular performance range". So no equivalent to popping a substantially more powerful card in the same laptop, no option to do so. While it's all MXM, they use different version of MXM typically. gently caress NV and AMD on that, and intel, well, you don't get an intel integrated graphics to play games. edit: apparently it used to be like that, and with MXM 3 it finally hit a baseline. http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/W870.html seems to be a decent option. notwithoutmyanus fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2011 around 15:03 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2011 15:00 |
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DarkestLite posted:So I've decided on the Sager NP8130 but I had one last question. My friend says that Bluray drives for PCs aren't that great still because of all the updates Bluray players still receive and he read the drives are supposedly a bitch to update. Honestly? Install AnyDVD and stop worrying about the annoying bullshit that BluRay put you through. I have to use it since the only way to get 5.1 from my cheap HTPC mobo to my reciever is analogue.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 15:41 |
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Knightmare posted:I almost pulled the trigger on this last night, but then was wary of the 5400RPM HD and native 720p resolution. I'm looking for my first laptop and it seems like a heck of a buy at that price, especially with that graphics card. Have you had any issues with it? My two gripes: The screen is mediocre like 6 - 6.5/10. The viewing angle is balls. Sometimes its a little hairy trying to get the screen pivoted just right for optimum viewing. Other than that the screen is perfectly fine and fits the computer well. Some people may disagree that 1366x768 is not great on a 15.6" but I feel that this is a fine resolution at this size. If you play games you will need a cooling pad. Everything else is fine. As far as a 5400rpm hd, it isn't a big deal for me. It plays WoW on medium/low settings and Battlefield Badcompany 2 on low settings (still looks great) with a real solid framerate. It's perfectly fine for any of the tasks I use it for and I hardly notice any slowdowns compared to my desktop. What I got for the price I paid, I am very happy. but if a super awesome screen with 1080p is something you need, maybe you should look for that with a bluray player built in. I didn't care for that (because I pirate my movies anyways) so this works great for me.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 16:04 |
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I wanted to report back after using my Lenovo T410 for few weeks. I'm very happy with it—it's just about the perfect laptop for me. Runs cool, powerful for applications, robust build, incredibly well documented and engineered to be serviced. Plus the keyboard and Trackpoint are the best.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 16:24 |
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tere posted:gently caress I hate being on the reciving end of this If you have zero credit history, and can seriously just buy this on credit and pay it off the next month, that is an excellent idea and you should absolutely do it. It will begin to establish a history and your score will go up. That is a completely different situation than opening up an 8th line of credit to buy some random consumer electronics.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 16:33 |
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MrChupon posted:If you have zero credit history, and can seriously just buy this on credit and pay it off the next month, that is an excellent idea and you should absolutely do it. It will begin to establish a history and your score will go up. That is a completely different situation than opening up an 8th line of credit to buy some random consumer electronics. This, though, with a better laptop preferably.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 17:49 |
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Any feedback on this? A young friend of mine, sophomore college kid on a tight budget, not gaming or anything but just needs a good everyday computer. Any major red flags on this one? At that price I might pick one up myself. EDIT: just noticed this under related products.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 19:45 |
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Got the Compaq 620 with extra 2G memory. Installation was easy enough, trip report coming up once I get to use it a bit.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 20:21 |
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Dez posted:My two gripes: I just picked it up today, it's pretty solid. The screen is a lot better than the one on my dying D830 was, and HDD speed wasn't an issue as I just took my SSD straight from the old system and tossed it in here. I'm annoyed by the useless buttons, though.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 20:35 |
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Steve Moore posted:EDIT: just noticed this under related products. This basically looks like $100 extra for an i3 and a bigger hard drive. If that's a priority for your friend then by all means, depends how budget-conscience he is.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 22:16 |
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Any updated news on when the T420 and T520 are coming out? My desktop is crapping out, but I'm waiting for the new Thinkpads before I buy.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 22:24 |
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I know much earlier on in the thread someone asked about upgrading screens in their laptop and it was stated that it wasn't really possible, but my ASUS G72GX's screen is currently dying and I'd like to try to upgrade it. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, as the laptop is less than a year old, but since I bought a recertified model the warranty didn't last more than 3 months. The screen is currently displaying semi-normally, aside from horizontal lines running across the screen that are of a different brightness level and that are spaced evenly apart from each other, and a vertical tearing effect near the bottom of the screen that tends to flicker for a second or two and then go back to normal. I confirmed that the issue was with the LCD by testing it with a second monitor, and then stripping it all the way down and reseating/testing the monitor cable for shorts. I looked up the different loadouts for this laptop, and found out there's a 1600x900 and a 1080p version of my laptop, and found several sites that sell lcd screen replacements and verified that the 1080p screen has the same connector in the same place as my dying 1600x900 screen. Since the laptop is running a GTX 260M I'm certain it has more than enough power to drive the higher resolution. Is there any reason I could have missed why this might not work?
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 22:41 |
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Uncle Ivan posted:Any updated news on when the T420 and T520 are coming out? My desktop is crapping out, but I'm waiting for the new Thinkpads before I buy. Last I read they were coming out on the 21st.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2011 22:42 |
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Wonder if I should upgrade the hard-drive/OS for my three year old laptop. It's a Satellite a215 s6814 and I have no problems with it (battery only lasts a hour, but I generally have it on a power supply). I considered upgrading to a new laptop, but honestly the laptops in my price range are not that much different in specs to this thing. And the features I would had liked (blu-ray player and a graphic card that can play games like Team Fortress 2) would cost a $1000...it's just not worth it. Anyway, how hard is it to find a replacement hard-drive for a laptop. Do I have to search by model or can I use a generic one with a caddy attachment?
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 00:33 |
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Rirse posted:Wonder if I should upgrade the hard-drive/OS for my three year old laptop. Is your drive breaking down or do you just want more disk space?
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 00:45 |
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Uncle Ivan posted:Any updated news on when the T420 and T520 are coming out? My desktop is crapping out, but I'm waiting for the new Thinkpads before I buy. I'm in the same boat, waiting to replace my decrepit six and a half year old Latitude D600 with a brand spanking new T420. I keep seeing mixed dates between March 21 and "early April."
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 01:04 |
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Hob_Gadling posted:Is your drive breaking down or do you just want more disk space? More space. It has 231 GB in total, but only 40 GB left (which tends to go down to 10 if I don't clear the Shadow Copies)
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 02:01 |
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Rirse posted:Wonder if I should upgrade the hard-drive/OS for my three year old laptop. It's a Satellite a215 s6814 and I have no problems with it (battery only lasts a hour, but I generally have it on a power supply). I considered upgrading to a new laptop, but honestly the laptops in my price range are not that much different in specs to this thing. And the features I would had liked (blu-ray player and a graphic card that can play games like Team Fortress 2) would cost a $1000...it's just not worth it. Your laptop takes a 2.5" SATA hard drive, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...name=7200%20RPM . I highly recommend jumping to a 7200rpm drive it will be quicker, 500gb and up drives tend to be a bit quicker as well with larger platters. Then like you said you can use a device to hook up your old hard drive and move your files over once you reinstall windows ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3-371-_-Product this would work).
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 03:40 |
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16834152219 So this MSI FX400-062US caught my eye. It seems to be the best deal that meets my needs which are: - around $800 max - modest size (I've been lugging around a 9.3 lb HP behemoth for the last 7 years) - Word processing/email/browsing/a moderate amount of photo editing - I want to play games on occasion (less than 50% of the time) That last point is where I have some questions. Would this be decent for gaming? I'm OK with playing on medium settings, I mean I usually play console games. I'd mostly be playing games like Portal 2, Trackmania, older Steam games, maybe Battlefield 3, etc. Also, my plan was to hook this up to my TV through HDMI and play games that way. Is there anything that would prohibit that? I can't think of any reason it wouldn't output to 1080p, but that's why I'm asking before I dive in.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 04:07 |
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Is there some kind of Optical bay enclosure (Sata) I can use to to stick in a SSD drive (like 32gb) for Windows? I can't seem to find anything but I don't really know what I'm looking for
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 04:21 |
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primo box posted:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16834152219 It would be OK for games running with low-to-medium settings on the internal LCD. It's definitely capable of outputting 1080p over HDMI for a desktop or Netflix, but gaming at that resolution could be problematic. 1920x1080 has about twice the pixel count of 1366x768. Roughly speaking, that means twice as much work for the GPU, and half the framerate in GPU-limited situations. If you can be happy with 720p or 1366x768 on your TV, you'll probably be much happier with the performance. Also, if you're doing photo editing, it's going to have a TN panel with poor viewing angles and terrible color accuracy. Unfortunately, good LCDs are a feature limited to "premium" (read: ridiculously loving expensive) laptops. If you've got a good external monitor, great. If not, your best bet is probably to lurk the monitor megathread, and wait for Dell to put a good IPS panel on sale. It'll run you another $250-350, but that's still a lot cheaper than the premium you'd pay for a laptop with an IPS panel built in.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 04:48 |
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primo box posted:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16834152219 I haven't heard much good about MSI laptops, apparently they're not so good on build quality, and feel rather cheap.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 12:55 |
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Rirse posted:More space. It has 231 GB in total, but only 40 GB left (which tends to go down to 10 if I don't clear the Shadow Copies) Get an external USB drive. It's a lot more convenient in case your old laptop breaks down, you don't really need disk performance, you get two drives so you can copy all your important stuff to two places and it's cheaper per GB. As a bonus you don't have to fiddle with HD installation.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2011 13:29 |
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Space Gopher posted:It would be OK for games running with low-to-medium settings on the internal LCD. It's definitely capable of outputting 1080p over HDMI for a desktop or Netflix, but gaming at that resolution could be problematic. 1920x1080 has about twice the pixel count of 1366x768. Roughly speaking, that means twice as much work for the GPU, and half the framerate in GPU-limited situations. If you can be happy with 720p or 1366x768 on your TV, you'll probably be much happier with the performance. That's good info, thanks. I can probably live with 720p on my TV. I don't know, I'll have to mull it over. MA-Horus posted:I haven't heard much good about MSI laptops, apparently they're not so good on build quality, and feel rather cheap. Interesting. I hadn't heard that.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2011 05:22 |
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MA-Horus posted:I haven't heard much good about MSI laptops, apparently they're not so good on build quality, and feel rather cheap. My own experience was a broken hinge after 5 months of use. And theft. But I can hardly blame MSI for that one.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2011 10:21 |
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Lenovo T420 and T520 have hit the market! Going to sit down and order my T420 tomorrow morning!
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| # ? Mar 18, 2011 23:00 |
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Teh Jawesome posted:Lenovo T420 and T520 have hit the market! Just a side note: Someone posted on NotebookReview saying that dedicated graphics (among a few other options) will be an option on the T420/T520 starting March 29th.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2011 23:52 |
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The "d" key on my macbook pro is broken. Not the spring underneath, but the actual nub thingy is no longer responsive when I press on it. Is this something I can take to a Mac store to get fixed or is there something else I can do?
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| # ? Mar 19, 2011 00:33 |
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I'm ordering a T420 with the 1600x900 screen upgrade and an i5-2410m  . Base RAM and HD because I have an SSD and an 8 GB kit ready to go.The discount code USPRETHINK doesn't apply to the laptop itself, but it gives me a 10% discount off the warranty, the spare AC adapter, the spare Trackpoint caps, and the vinyl skin gift card. Nice  E: Balls, the ordering site and now all of Lenovo.com went down... wonder when it will be fully back? Factory Factory fucked around with this message at Mar 19, 2011 around 01:12 |
| # ? Mar 19, 2011 00:33 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 16:32 |
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Factory Factory posted:I'm ordering a T420 with the 1600x900 screen upgrade and an i5-2410m
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| # ? Mar 19, 2011 05:15 |
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