From: Randal Whittle (rwhittle_at_usa.net)
Date: Mon Jun 01 1998 - 15:52:21 EDT
Well, for what its worth, the best price I found on a TP 600 was at
www.pcnation.com. They're asking $4285 for the P-II 266 or $3726 for the
P-II 233. The web site even says they have them in stock!
Problem: They're web site is wrong. Gave me the excuse that its an old
version of their
Being a desperate sort without a laptop, I cried, begged, cajoled...and
still got nowhere. It seems these little beasts are nowhere to be found.
I tried CDW, Microwarehouse, local outlets...*everything*.
Then I tried PC Zone. Oddly enough, this is the same place I bought my 560
>from about 21 months ago. Back then, they were one of the few that had
560's in stock. :-) Back then I was also able to get them to come down in
price by at least *attempting* to match (they came reasonably close) a
price I had found elsewhere at that time.
Tried getting them to do it this time with the PC Nation prices above, but
no dice. :-)
Soooo...I wanted the P-II 266 model...BUT for $500 less--and perhaps more
importantly, not having to wait an unknown amount of time--I can have the
P-II 233 model tomorrow. So I placed the order. A bit more than the
lowest I found, but at $3849, its pretty much par for the course--there's
not a lot of price variation out there on these things. I also got them to
shave a few bucks off the IBM 64 MB memory module (the cheapo 3rd parties
don't seem to be ramped up to make this SDRAM memory for the latest
ThinkPads just yet).
Ultimately, I can't imagine there being *too* much difference in speed
between a PII-266 vs. a 233--at least in terms of just percentages, that's
14%, assuming all else is equal, and ultimately I would very much prefer to
put a big honker of a HD in it anyway (whenever the 6.4 GB's come out and
settle down from the price stratosphere). So to save $500 (and have one
right away) on an item that I really didn't want to buy just yet (but for
being forced to by my 560's demise), I guess its an acceptable tradeoff.
Maybe...just *maybe*...I'll see if the 560's video (the TFT screen is
intact) can be repaired reasonably cheaply. IF so, then some months down
the road I can upgrade the 600's HD and not have wasted the 3 GB drive it
comes with--it can just go to the 560 and together with the screen fix (any
takers on how much that would cost?), it will be a working machine
again...maybe, just maybe...
At any rate, I once did a nice little review (which many people seemed to
like and feel was informative) of the 560 when I first got one, comparing
it to the 701C at that time and some aside comparisons to the 750C I once
owned. Give me a week or so and perhaps I can do the same for this 600
comparing to the 560. Would that be something anyone cares to see? Or
have the reviews of the 600 we've already seen sufficient?
-------
Randal J. Whittle whittle_at_usc.edu (213) 740-7775
Director, Electronic Commerce Program
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
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