Misleading Laptop Ads
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
This is a follow up post to our blog entry regarding bad computer stores.
Parts of the ad are blanked out to hide the company's identity. We asked if it was a misprint but they would not respond. We sent a follow up letter telling them if these specs are correct we will buy every single machine in inventory and they still would not respond. This is typical bait and switch. The deal is too good to be true. There are several problems here that jump right out at us.
1. The ad advertises a 60GB 7200rpm drive. No way. The T41 uses a PATA drive- the 7200rpm drives are no longer made and the existing drives are worth a lot. There is no way that this company is putting 7200rpm drives into these laptops.
2. 14.1" SXGA+ LCD? Nope. The 23738SU uses the base XGA screen.
3. 14" SXGA FlexView Screen? What?! FlexView is a great feature on some ThinkPad laptops! But it only comes on UXGA screens and those are not even available in 14"! Anyone with a hint of laptop experience knows that.
4. 64MB ATI graphics? Nope- these only have 32MB.
5. Bluetooth? These don't have Bluetooth!
5. Serial port? T40 laptops don't have serial ports! Does any laptop of this generation have a serial port?
6. Now this isn't the end of the world but the CPU is a 1MB cache, not a 2MB cache. Our ThinkPad expert here knows that this base T41 laptop used a BANIAS processor. These save power, make your battery last longer, etc. A DOTHAN processor would give you 2MB cache.
7. Free Shipping. The ad says free shipping but the bottom of the ad says you must spend $500 to get free shipping. This is just shady.
8. 300 employees?! What?! There are only a few people over there. Let's say they really do have 10,000sf like they say they do and their storefront takes up 1000sf and inventory takes up 2000sf- that leaves 7000sf left. Imagine stuffing 300 employees into a 7000sf area! That would be like a building full of clowns. Hmmm....
9. That isn't a T41 in the picture.
10. The people that sent out this email had the police called on them before when one of their employees broke into and robbed another computer store.
As a final note, we used to sell a lot of quality refurbished ThinkPad laptops online until people like this came along. We still sell quite a few to ThinkPad fanatics however we remain focused on repair technologies.
posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:03 PM,
