Price matching IBM (Leveno)

[d_jedi]

IBM Price Advantage:

If you purchase an eligible IBM system and, within 14 days of your purchase, find an equivalent product from any designated competitor at an advertised price lower than the IBM Web price plus shipping, we'll match the price.

http://caipsgws001.can.ibm.com/store...ice&aud=LENOVO

Has anyone tried this? What was your experience like?

[blizzah]

Wow, should be good since IBM systems are all overpriced, but their notebooks quality IS better.

So if you can pm a thinkpad to a Dell that'd be great.

[d_jedi]

That's what I was thinking.
But the problem is IBM (Leveno)'s website is ass backwards for configuring laptops.. and Dell doesn't seem to have many good deals right now.

Also, IBM seems to use different processors (ex. Pentium M 735 instead of 730.. what's the difference between these two?).. so it might not be straightforward, and worth the trouble..

[synaptech]

That's what I was thinking.
But the problem is IBM (Leveno)'s website is ass backwards for configuring laptops.. and Dell doesn't seem to have many good deals right now.

Also, IBM seems to use different processors (ex. Pentium M 735 instead of 730.. what's the difference between these two?).. so it might not be straightforward, and worth the trouble..

If you can do it - great. However, I think it's a bit like Sears where they know you will never find the same item because no one else mkes the same item. For example, few (any?) Dells are black in colour, screen specs must be the same, memory expansion, etc. The 730 vs 735 I believe is the chipset number. www.intel.com has a chart explaining them. Main difference seems to be cache size and speed.

[d_jedi]

If you can do it - great. However, I think it's a bit like Sears where they know you will never find the same item because no one else mkes the same item. For example, few (any?) Dells are black in colour, screen specs must be the same, memory expansion, etc. The 730 vs 735 I believe is the chipset number. www.intel.com has a chart explaining them. Main difference seems to be cache size and speed.

Ah. The odd numbered ones are Dothan (400MHz FSB), while the even numbered ones are Sonoma (533MHz FSB + architecture improvements).

They don't have to be the "same" item.. the competitor's needs to be the same or better in each of the following categories:
Processor (manufacturer, type and speed) Memory (size and speed)
Hard Drive (size and speed)
Display (size and resolution)
Optical Device (type and speed)
Wireless (type)
Ethernet (speed)
Modem
Graphics
Operating System
Warranty

Since IBM only uses the older Dothan processors, you'd probably need to grab a Sonoma with a higher number (convenient, that.. ) from Dell (they probably demand that all specs of the processor are equal or better, not overall performance).. (+$100, from Dell, probably..).. and since most IBM laptops use Windows XP Professional, there's another $150 hit..

It's definately not as easy as I'd hoped