Note: BR-Reader only, not writer/burner (extra $600 for that).

Price is decent if you need a BR-reader. If you don’t, there are better options.

“Ok there maybe offers where the specs are slightly better. But you are getting a Thinkpad (albeit a lower end Thinkpad), not just some consumer grade notebook “
Totally agree . You don’t buy a thinkpad for it’s value for money/specs . You buy a thinkpad because it works well and will continue working hassle free . Having said that I haven’t used any of the newer lower end thinkpads , but I can certainly vouch for the older T30/40/60 models .

you sound like an “apple” fan

apple is just marketing bs. The thinkpad is a tried and true business tool. Why else do huge companies like IBM staff their ENTIRE workforce with them despite their price premium?

Um, because Lenovo bought out IBM’s PC business and the ThinkPad brand name and they had strong financial ties up until 2008 and still have strong business ties?

…

Would they still have those strong ties is Lenovo went ahead and ruined their beloved brand? The only reason business ties (such as using their laptops) is because it is a quality product. The company would have no obligation to use Lenovo products otherwise. As you said, the brand was bought out. It’s got nothing to do with IBM now.

Also, do either of you think that Dell and co haven’t tried to match Lenovo’s prices? Considering the sheer amount of workstations IBM needs, I doubt nostalgia comes into play. Esp since IBM has practically no money invested in Lenovo.

Lo and behold, Lenovo laptops are still regarded highly. IBM uses lenovo laptops because it’s a quality product. I don’t even know why you two bother to argue otherwise. It’s a proven fact.

Why does IBM give a thinkpad to their employees?
GEE, LET ME THINK!
Maybe for the same reason that everyone who works for Dell has a Dell computer?
It’d be marketing suicide to do anything otherwise. IBM is still closely associated with the Lenovo brand in the consumer’s minds.

Errr… you realise Dell and IBM are completely different companies right?

Dell sells a consumer level laptop/desktop so it must use its own product.

IBM isn’t even in the consumer electronics market so why would it be ‘marketing suicide’ to not use Lenovo products? IBM has less then a 5% stake in Lenovo and seeing how poorly lenovo stocks have been doing I doubt it thinks of it as a long term business partner.

There is no link between Lenovo and IBM. How often do you see them advertised together? I believe the T60 was the last laptop to be branded with the “IBM Thinkpad” stamp. They stopped selling that a while ago…

IBM is becoming a services company. Hardware it does sell ranges from corporate servers to mainframes. I doubt it gives a flying rat’s arse about what John Husband and Jane Wife care about because 1. They’re not its customers 2. It’s a completely isolated brand

Not sure how good these new lenovo’s are. My work place we bought about 5 SL500’s all of them have some issues, around network randomly disconnecting, not being able to use wireless network

ct10n bluray player/dvd burner on ebay for < $136. So base unit would be $1063.

Dell Inspiron 15/Studio 15 with dedicated graphics can be had for similar or less money:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1198723&p...

anyone notice that its actually cheaper to select the WWAN card option then it is to select None?!

haha!

If you still think the ThinkPad SL range has the same quality as traditional ThinkPads under IBM, then you can’t be more wrong.

But, thats not to say they are bad values. They are priced to compete against the cheaper alternatives.