Warning.  This is a rant.  I bought a new IBM Thinkpad T40 back in March of 2003.  I have been a Thinkpad proponent for a long time having gone through 4 or five iterations of the line.  I was moving from a a21p to the T40p.  I hated giving up the 1600x1200 to go to 1400x1050 but was willing to overlook that IBM was moving away from the high resolution screens now that everyone else was introducing them.  I really needed something faster, lighter that allowed me to  add more than 512MB of memory.

I got the new laptop and I loved it….

For about 3 weeks.  It then started freezing incessantly.  After sending it to IBM twice as well as having someone look at it locally at a “Platinum IBM Repair Center” twice I was at my wits end.  The problem persisted.  Finally IBM stepped up after three months and said they were going to replace the machine!  I was so excited.  I was cursing IBM after waiting through three months with a dead laptop but I felt, finally!  My allegiance to IBM is paying off.  I then dealt with another 5 months without a laptop as I went through hell dealing with the person who “owned” my problem.  What a crock!  I couldn’t get the guy to call me back, respond to my mail, etc.  I finally got the laptop 10/30/03 while I was at the PDC.  I was so excited to come home and find the exact same machine I ordered 8 months ago.  No they didn’t ship me the latest version the T41.  No they didn’t throw in some extra memory.  Bupkis for being without my laptop for 8 months!

At first I thought I was the only one.  I have now spoken with two other folks whose experiences almost mirror mine!  Not as long in terms of time but still pretty crazy.  If you are thinking about buying another Thinkpad, run don’t walk to another vendor.  I have pretty much sworn off them from this point on.

I have never been a Toshiba fan after several lame duck Tecras in the past but will be looking for other options the next time around.  Perhaps Dell.