From: Emanuel Brown (epbrown01_at_att.net)
Date: Wed Jun 02 1999 - 07:53:57 EDT
In the interest of full disclosure, I've got a confession to make: In
the past month, I've ordered TWO ThinkPads from DataPath technologies,
using Onsale.
Like everyone, I was well aware of the nightmare that dealing with
DataPath can be, with slow shipping, lackluster service, and no included
accessories whatsoever. My rationale was that I could handle most anything
but a defective system (and I'd give them holy hell if I got one), and I
had plenty of time if they shipped slowly, so what the heck?
The thing is that I recently got a 701 for my collection of IBM subnotes
>from eBay for about $300 with floppy drive and AC adapter (btw, how come
these are so rare all of a sudden? They came with every unit!). My friend
Annie with the IBM 500 was looking at it wistfully, and over the years
she's finally started running into shortcomings with the 500 (lack of color
and sound, really - I sent her a slideshow of a friend's wedding pictures
and the effect on a VGA DSTN display wasn't very impressive.) Her birthday
is in July, so I decided to see if I could snag a 701C cheaply somewhere on
the net, and got one from DP via Onsale for $219, plus $32(!) shipping.
The system was shipped FedEx about 4 days after I ordered it, and
arrived with some huge AC adapter (not the little one I remember), a dead
battery, no floppy, etc. I snagged a cable from IBM for the floppy (the
drive for her 500 will work using it), I got a NiMH from Xtend for $36, and
the 16MB RAM upgrade from www.thechipmerchant.com for $32 (I'd been
planning on getting the 32MB for myself for $60, so I just got two of the
16MB chips instead).
The laptop works perfectly and the case has just a couple of scuff
marks. The keyboard looks brand new. It's running Windows 95 OSR2 happily,
and seems like a pretty good deal overall.
Seeing the 701 arrive okay, I ordered a 755 from them ($255 and $32
shipping). That arrived today and is in like new condition. The battery
even works! Trying to get Windows 95 onto it (it locks up during the setup
screen), but the system itself appears to be trouble free. This one's for
an aunt of mine who asks me to let her go online with my Sony every single
time I visit - hopefully her own laptop will put a stop to that! :-)
Having been one of the folks who warned people off of DataPath, I
figured I'd let others know when they've done okay. Of course, I had to
wait until the bidding was over, but hey, it's the thought.
epbrown
PS: Does anyone have a source for the little leather portfolio cases
>from Port for the 701? Her 500 has one and she loves tucking it into her
backpack for school, and comparing the 701 to the 500 I've got makes me
think it's not going to fit into her old one. The 701 is narrower but at
least a half inch deeper.
Portable Computing FAQ - http://home.att.net/~epbrown01
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