Too bad. So ends a great line of products, the Thinkpads. I've been using them exclusively for 10 years with great success, now I have to find a new vendor.

What you're witnessing is the destruction of US business due to systematically bad executive decision making. They make those decisions because it maximizes payout from their bonus plans, not because it's best for the company and other stakeholders, like employees and shareholders and customers.

Take a look at two decisions: the HP purchase of Compaq and the Lenova purchase of Thinkpad. Why did HP pay 80 cents on the dollar for a bum product line like Compaq while IBM only got 17 cents on the dollar for a great product line like Thinkpad? Because that's the way that the executive bonus plans maxed out for HP and IBM executives. They screwed their own companies (and stakeholders) for themselves.

In most big US corps now executives and their Boards spend 50% of their working days negotiating executive perks and bonus plans. Imagine how long you'd last if you spent half your day arguing for a larger salary.

US corps are consuming themselves and will soon be entirely looted from within.

I'm thinking of getting a T60 as my last Thinkpad before they start producing pure cheap junk. I hope that's not the re-brand of the laptop you suffered with.

Lenovo Is Great. I am using it now.

Here's Lenovo's side of the tale:

Purchased 28 Lenovo Thinkpads for a training classroom. 14 of the 28 have experienced 1803 errors when no daughter board had been added. All have been returned for repair, some multiple times, for replacement of the motherboard.

Lenovo is pure junk right out of the box.

I too bought a Lenovo N100 3000 Celeron laptop from Office Depot and had the exact same problem. My laptop also had a dead pixel (unfortunately), I understand that it's not covered under Lenovo's replacement policy for LCDs, so I called Office Depot's customer service and apparently I was directed to someone in India, who promised that they would replace the laptop for me but then I never heard back from them again ever. I called OD's Customer Service again and again and ever time I was just told that someone would call me back. I guess I wasn't acting rude enough. I also called Lenovo's customer service for other questions, but ever time I called they're experiencing high volume of calls and I had to leave a voicemail at the end, which they never returned my call. No more buying laptops from Office Depot for me, and definitely no more Lenovo's after reading your post and having this crappy laptop in my hands.

i bought a lenovo 3000 n100 dku on black friday 2006 (for my nephew) and bought a lenovo 3000 n100 dlu on january 22 2007 (for my self). basically i like these laptops much, albeit they do have some little problems.

i like them because these two computers are very fast and very cheap. for example, the dlu cost me $750 but a corresponding toshiba will cost me $1400.

the lenovo company seems nicer than the sony and toshiba. for example, the $750 dlu uses 2x512 mega bytes high quality 667 MHZ memory. in constrast a corresponding (the same type of CPU) toshiba uses 2x1024 mega bytes outdated 533 MHZ memory. It is very obvious, the toshiba is trying selling out all their outdated memory in stock. the $750 dlu uses 5400-rpm hard disk. in contrast, the toshiba uses 4200-rpm hard disk.

but so far the problem i encountered with dku and dlu are: a terrible software was bought and pre-loaded into computers, "client security". it is a stupid software, coz it has an outrageous bug: some of the lines of password entry box are missing. i don't understand how this could happen.

so, i believe toshiba and sony are very threwd, cunning, and careful. lenovo is stupid and careless, but generous. i like these two lenovo computers because i think some little refinement does not deserve $1400-$750=$650. but i will complain to company for their stupidity. i think in the future the lenovo will be much better.

Here I am in the USofA, that place of things, and I wanted a new laptop to replace my aging Mac iBook G3. The "exorbitant price" of the MacBook Pro put me off, the down-sized screen of the MacBook (I am here partly to remove growing cataracts and declining vision) ended it.

Off I went to buy a Lenovo, Sony or even the warned-against HP to save money. All with Vista. After a week of playing with all the PCs on Vista I hated the trackpads, the screens of some were fine but none compared to the MacBook Pro in matte and Vista seemed primitive next to my old OSX Panther, which is dated.

Finally, last night I bit the great big bullet and bought the Pro with a 15" screen, 2.17 intel duo and OSX 10.4.8. I am pleasured with it out of the box, happily up to 3AM and back at Blogcritics. The opposite experience. Everything (so far) works perfectly (except my now empty wallet).

When the Lenovo is done with you or you it, take a bite of the Apple.

I think Lenovo 3000 N100 is the worst laptop i have bought. It's battery life is not even 3 hours. My old toshiba Satellite with centrino works 7-8 hours without recharge. There are no Home and End button on the keyboard.
There customer service is worst, I lost my password, for which they are charging me $175.
can any one believe it, but that's what it is.
This dual core machine take more time to boot than single core Toshiba.
The worst part with IBM/Lenovo they come with built in restore utility, which takes 10GB of your 80GB hard disk space. Is that worth it. Generally you have Restore CD or DVD which you can put in and restore whenever you want.
There warranty is of no use. Whatever happen to your laptop, they will charge you. I didn't like this machine at all.
Just thought this review will be helpful to other buyers.

When Chinese companies expand overseas, they often, despite their best intentions, replicate Chinese business patterns. Having lived in China, I could tell you this would be awesome service by their standards (and I am not trying to justify their actions BTW). Perhaps you get a hint of this on the Lenovo blogger comments:

"Sometimes the best initial action is a refund offered in tandem with a new system, no questions asked. But until you have the freedom to make that offer, you can't."

As noted in the article, this is standard operating procedure with Dell, Samsung, and Toshiba.

Many, if not most, Chinese companies make their money by reducing their cost structure to the Nth degree. For example, a western company might have a truck take product on a short haul around a site, a Chinese company might load it on the back of one of its workers and sends him for a 10 minute walk to the place.

The lack of the ability to make the right kind of service choice for Americans shows Lenovo as a whole still does not understand the American consumer enough, and its culture has not adapted to the requirements of the American market.

I wish I had read all of these comments before I bought my LENOVO N3100. I bought it last October from Office Max as it was offered with 2 rebates. This was to reduce the cost listed of $900 by $150 and another $100. There my troubles began. the LENOVO web site would not let me register the rebate, as it said my computer was already registered and no rebates were available. Customer service would not answer the phone, as they merely played a recording to go to the web site. Long story short, after three months they sent one of the rebates. However, in the meantime I have come to HATE the laptop. The sound has been weak and poor from the beginning, but I chalked that up to a cheap computer. Now, it doesn't work at all. Additionally, it did not come with installation disks to repair or reinstall any components that came installed on the computer but said to make copies. When I began to make installation copies I was directed to copy to a CD/DVD. After inserting the 8th disk with no information or indication of where I was in the process, I gave up. Now I can't get help from the website or customer service. My advice to anyone thinking of buying a LENOVO product - DON'T!!!!!!!

The Thinkpad Bulletin Board where owners could confer with each other about tech problems is gone.

If you buy a Thinkpad and have a problem you will have to solve it yourself.

I will soon have to open my T40 and solder in a new power socket. Luckily, I know how to do that. Do you? Will you be able to do the same when the socket becomes useless, as they all do on a thinkpad?

okay, here's my story: Got the machine(3000N100 0768-E7U 2.0ghz T7200/2gbRam/120GBHD/15.4ws), and while everything did work on it, about half my programs did not run on Vista - unusable.

I formatted it and put xp on it - it was very fast! Called tech support because the sound driver didn't work - they said since it shipped with Vista they wouldn't be able to support any other OS on it - even though a month ago you could buy the same hardware with XP installed on it. That makes perfect sense to me.

Installed Ubuntu Linux on it and half the devices wouldn't autodetect - figured I'd wait till "Feisty Fawn" is officially released in April. It was worth a shot, didn't have much to lose at the time.

So now I'm depserate - I've got to get SOMETHING that runs on this machine. I checked out the ONLY disc that was shipped with the system and it was not a restore disc, but a disc that would only sell you an "upgrade" to a more expensive version of Vista.

...which brings me to another point I'd like to highlight - Lenovo loads the "restore" software on the hard drive(because we wouldn't want all that HD space), but they are happy to give you a disc that they make money on. I'm not one to serially cry "corporate greed" but come on.

SO, I called tech support, had them DHL Overnight me the restore CDs, restored the machine to factory spec, then had to argue with Microsoft's phone activation ppl for about 20min bc they think my OS is pirated. They(MS) told me that ANY time the hardware was changed I would have to call them again. I said "don't worry, I'll have linux on this machine in a couple of months and you won't have to worry about me again". The lady I was talking to laughed out loud!

As of right now my sound won't work still. I can honestly say I've wasted about 25 hours total on this machine - troubleshooting/formatting/installing/configuring. Don't even get me started on vista - that thing is a train-wreck in itself. Until I can figure out how to get everything working, I've got two old XP systems that I VNC into to get certain things done.

Maybe once I get everything working, it won't screw up and I can say that I like the system, but until then, this thing is a nightmare to me. Just say NO to Lenovo. I also like that anagram "LENOVO = NO LOVE"

you can find the sound driver for n100 on their support website. is that what you looking for? May I ask what background you are from?

I have to say - that my dad bought this computer (3000 N100) because of the Office Depot sale. This computer is seriously the worst investment I've encountered. Several of my friends - all computer engineers and computer science majors - said that something inside was wrong. We stopped all the processes, removed any junk - but this computer still failed to perform.

I've tried contacting support but they seem to always be busy (heh, wonder why?). My problems are as follows:

1) My wireless is really bad. I've sat in a classroom where my friends on either side of me where using their internet while my 3000 N100 said there was no signal anywhere near me.

2) Something is wrong with the computer in general - all sensitive tests (video editing, games, etc.) all report 100% choke (read: this is bad) even when nothing goes on. In games, I have the minimal resolution (read: people start to look like black boxes), no details, and yet - I can't walk around without the computer slowing down.

3) My DVD-R drive is defective. It cannot read DVDs, and whenever it's active (read: spinning), the sound card disables and everything comes out like "th-th-i-i-i-i-is-is-is-is."

4) When burning DVDs or CDs, my read/write speed never exceeds 1x. What's the point of a 16x drive that can't go beyond 1x?

5) The soft keys are poorly engineered. Besides the inconvenience of the "home" and "end" keys being soft keys (read: this means you need to press [function] and [home] instead of just [home], like on a normal keyboard).

Also, the volume controls are within the laptop (compared to the Dell, whose laptops allow you to change the volume while the laptop is closed). More annoying is how you can't hold down the volume keys to continually change the loudness. This means, if you're at volume 20 and you want to get to volume 5, you have to press Volume down 15 times instead of holding it down, like any normal product would do.

6) The screen itself can't lay flat with the keyboard... I guess this was designed this way, but yeah. It's something unexpected and to me, useless.

7) It comes with a bunch of bundled software that clogs up your computer experience.

Yeah - so I really wish I read these comments before my dad bought this. If I could get a refund, I would pay for the airmail shipping to them and then buy something that works the way it advertises.

Lenovo can still make a great BUSINESS laptop. Don't buy their 3000's as they are made to go after the cheap spending consumer. IF you and a good laptop go with something like the T60 or X40 because they are still made for business users and have all the features that IBM used.

Really the story here is... you get what you paid for. you bought a laptop at Office Depot on sale and expected the best... There is a reason why only the 3000 is sold in stores and not their business line.

I own a Lenovo 3000 N100, and updated the OS to Vista (from XP). Anyways, I couldn't get the sound card working, so I went searching on google, and clicked on your blog. I read the whole thing, and am proud of everyone like you who posts their feelings about a company AND proves that they tried to resolve their problems with the company (as compared to just complaining and whining). Keep up the good work. My 10 minutes reading this blog was well spent.

Until now, I have not had as many problems with my 3000/n100 from Office Depot as the rest of you. I guess they are getting a lot of returns as I only got my rebate after the 60 day warranty period. Today, just days short of its 3 month anniversary, the "enter" key does not work at all. at first I could go down a line by hitting the down arrow, but now that doesn't work either any ideas of how to solve this problem?

I've heard very good things about the Lenovo ThinkPad series. Unfortunately, being a poor starving student, I went with a Lenovo 3000 Series C200, which has the exact same problem. *sigh* This is why I build my own desktops.

every dollar makes its cost, i get a lenovo very cheap, though it is not as good as others,and never compare it with ther expensive notebook like sony or fujjitsu, price is different. if I chose the cheap one, I never hope it run as fast as the expensive. Thinkpad is wonderful, if you have enough budget.

I have owned a Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop for 3 mos & have yet to use it for any project of significance. Why? Lenovo made me re-image my hard drive once already to correct errors in the shut down process. Now programs are locking up to the point where only a "hard" shut down will allow me close down. Happens VERY often & when only a few documents are open at a time. I fear that I will need another re-imaging.

The support service in the evenings is not very helpful. I have difficulty following their directions because I am on VISTA, & they are on XP. I have spent at least 10 hrs with the support team for a variety issues. Lenovo blames VISTA for everything & tells me to call Microsoft. Microsoft in turn tells me Lenovo is responsible for all OEM programs & directs me to call Lenovo. Lenovo support laughed when I told them what Microsoft said, stating "We know nothing about VISTA."

I have tried to return the laptop to Office Depot & to Lenovo with no luck. I feel stuck & frustrated.

i just bought the 3000 n100 for 700$ thanks guys you made me happy! :(

$700 ?!

For that money you can get an excellent Thinkpad T42 or even T60 on eBay and capture the last of the great Thinkpads before they turn into crapola.

Oh yeah: put Ubuntu 7.04 on it for a Real Thrill! Stick that old Win system on a small partition to await the day you finally execute it, as you surely will.

I purchased the lenovo 3000 N100. I have been having lots of problems with my wireless card (Intel wireless 3945abg) since Jan 2007. It worked fine for just 1 week after that it stopped working. I have called up the lenovo tech support twice earlier but they dont accept it has a problem. I also recommended this notebook to couple of my two friends. Suprisingly all of them have the same problems. I tried all options to fix this(installed all latest drivers & even formated my system twice to the factory state), I really got pissed off & gave up. Finally got a PCMCIA wireless card & hooked it up in my notebook. It worked immediately.Even my other 2 friends got the external wireless card & using it now.

The problems in my notebook are:

1. Wireless does not detect any wireless network either with access connection tool or win xp.
2. the wireless radio changes to 'Off' status by itself after few mins.
3. If we slide the wireless switch to 'On' the wireless light indicator glows for few mins & then its off. Only the bluetooth light is always on.

I'm really disappointed with this notebook. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Has anyone faced the above problems with ur notebook? Let me know if you know the solutions.

I got royally screwed when I had this great idea to buy a Lenovo laptop for my wife. Best Buy had a great deal and I thought I was getting her a quality product. NOT SO! First it only came with Vista, no restore disk, no operating manual and no users guide. I paid extra for a restore disk, extra to get all of the "junk" software off the small hard drive and extra for the users guide. I got the computer home and it seemed slow but I was tired and just loaded MS Office. I then boxed the system and Fed Exed it to my wife. When she got the computer she spent 5 minutes with it and took it back to a Best Buy in St. Louis and said give my money back this is CRAP. Best Buy gave her back the money and she bought herself a new Gateway. LENOVO should be spelled LEMON.

I purchased the lenovo 3000 N100. I hate the Wireless System of Lenovo because of disconnect from Internet often.Sometime, Wireless does not detect any wireless network even though Wireless button is ON. So, I have to make diagnose and repair many times. Sometime, I have to restart my Computer. So, it is really bad for wireless connnection.

i thought of buying a lenovo 3000 N100.Thank god i read all your reviews.I dropped my idea of buying Lenovo.Please suggest a good one.

Worth every penny. Works excellent! Test winner/very good rankings on 10-15 different notebook rewiev sites. Cons: short battery life, PCMCIA slot instead of Express Card. I just love this one. recommended!

Hey, recentlly I purchased a Lenovo N100, 0769-A49. Fisrt problem, only have Vista and no XP. Second one, when I install XP, every time I connect a USB device and press any key the USB is disconnected. I've reinstalled the SO but allways the same problem. The support of Lenovo, in Argentina, only have one solution do an upgrade to bios.
After a lot of calls to sopport, I found this page. In this page Zimo (the rock) have a solution for my problem. I don't know if this resolve your problem, but what can you loose?. Try it.

Dennis: I have been in IT for about 10 years, in various roles. The winxp driver on their website does not work with a clean install of winxp. Windows says the driver is for different hardware, and won't start. The response from their tech support is (as always) "format/reinstall from the restore disc". I informed him that I didn't want to use the restore disc because I didn't want to use Vista. Even if I did have the XP restore disc, I would rather do a fresh install because I don't like trialware. He said "well then there is nothing we can do". Good old American apathy.

It's cool that their tech support is in the US - at least you can understand what they're saying - but if they're reading from the same scripts then it doesn't matter where they're located, it's just as useless.

Purchased a Lenovo 3000 N100 last year for my daughter. Generally speaking the quality of the laptop for the price paid seemed okay, even though the physical quality of the laptop is certainly inferior. For example, the letters from the keyboard have been wiped out twice. I was able to have the keyboard replaced before it's warranty expired -- however after another 3 months of casual use, the lettering from the keyboard has been wiped off. And today the power adapter has given up. No longer able to charge the laptop.

The laptop is out of warranty after a year -- so I guess I will have to shell out money to have the keyboard replaced again and to purchase another AC adapter. I own a ThinkPad T40 and have used it for almost 8 to 10 hours per day for the last few years, never had a problem with it.I was looking at purchasing a T60 in the next few months but I have my reservations now after reading other owners reviews.

Some interesting comments here already . My sound card for brand new 3000 N100 wont work no matter what I do . I have spent more than 1 month trying to get it to work already .

This Blog Gave me the answer finally : The sound card will never work .

People who need to know my background rather check Lennovo's . It is Chinese .
What surprises me is the fact that how can 3000 n100 ( thats what I have )be introduced in 2007 !! . If the year was 2000 , I wouldnt have been surprised .

Any body who is short of funds for a good laptop need not fall in for lennovo's ( meant only for sale in Office Depot) since these laptops will only make u loose more money / time / energy eventually .

it's not a review it's your bad luck.
do not use vista, do use powerbooks.

I got a T60 not too long ago, All I can say so far is that it's a bit slow, and I am upset that there is no longer a true IBM thinkpad.

Same thing happens with all great products, does anyone remember the AT&T Paradyne modems? Awesome equipment.. And then a company called paradyne bought that part of AT&T's company and turned it into a junk factory..

I'm using a T60 right now. I got it because I figure it's the last IBM Thinkpad. I don't know what to do for a laptop in the future. I was prepared to switch to Mac, but this is a better machine and with linux it's a better all-round system with really competitive possibilities.

Others have said it; what can I add more? My 3000 N100 is a constant reminder of a poor decision. I bought my "Lemonovu" the end of Feb 07. Eight days later IBM asked me to send it to the service center. No repair, but some replaced parts (that didn't make a difference to its operation). Vista was blamed by IBM and Microsoft blames Lenovo. IBM kept me dangling until the return policy for Circuit City had expired and then suggested I return the machine to them as IBM would not fix the many problems. Even though the machine was out of coverage, Circuit City made an exception and gave me a new machine. It went to a service center 10 days after opening it. Vista does not seem to be compatable with my Lenovo. Wireless card works occasionally. Sound card has stopped working. And I am left with a tangible reminder that I made an $800 dollar mistake. At least these blogs confirm that it isn't me. Thanks for all the posts.

It seems a lot of ppl having problems with lenovo 3000 N100. I own one N100 from one and half years ago, and it's great, Not because of its quality, but the ratio of quality and price. I don't think I could get such high configuration from other brands , and 3000 N100 series is aiming on the ppl who don't have much money for a GREAT laptop, like students. I don't think the N100 let me down at all, cuz it worked so well for one and half years. The only problem is the battery, but when i called Lenovo customer service, they just sent me another new battery without any delay. I really appreciate it. And i think i bought the right brand and the right product for my college life, and my next goal is a Lenovo T61.

What's the best laptop to purchase.
I don't care much about portability.
I do care about speed and few crashes and errors.

SARAH CRAWFORD


December 13, 2007


International Business Machines Corp.
New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504



Dear Corporate Headquarters,

I am a recent purchaser of the Think Centre operating system. Until recently, I was very satisfied with my decision. I am a single mother of two young children and purchasing a home computer takes very crafty budgeting. This was a well thought out decision.

Unfortunately upon receiving my computer and hooking it up, I ran into a problem. My monitor only wanted to give me a no signal message. I promptly called for technical support. As I myself work in a call center for the state of Ohio, I trusted that I would receive polite and courteous guidance throughout my call. I was very wrong in my assumption.

I began my quest by calling the Atlanta, GA call center for technical support on Friday evening. After selecting my options, I was transferred to them from a main number. This first gentleman that I encountered on the phone seemed to be polite at first. I explained to him that I purchased a new system through my work and that I could not get it to operate. I asked him to walk me through the hookups one more time to be sure that it was not my error. As he walked me through the steps he became rude and offensive. I asked him if there was a problem and he continued to laugh at me and say, "You don't even know how to hook up your computer?". Needless to say I ended that call. I do not feel I should have to be ridiculed if I lacked the proper computer terminology to express my problem. I was just trying to make sure that I had a valid concern and that I did not create the error message.

Upon calling back, I was again transferred to the Atlanta call center and reached a representative by the name of Jerome. I explained to him my computer problem and told him of my previous call. He said he would transfer me to someone who would assist me. Much to my astonishment I was transferred to the same individual that I just spoke with. I told him that I work in a call center myself and I just needed a little assistance. He immediately started laughing so I, again, terminated the call.

I tried my luck the following day, and was again transferred to the call center in Atlanta. Needless to say I was not looking forward to it. This time I can not be sure if I reached the same individual or not. It sounded almost exactly like him. Once on the phone with this "new" representative, I explained what the problem was. Once we went through all the initial hookups again and still had the same problem. That's right, I am not an idiot. I each time I hooked up my computer I was doing it correctly. I guess I do know how to do that after all.

Now we can get to the problem. I was asked to look at the back of my monitor and provide the model type. Upon doing this I was met with frustration and hostility. I was not giving him the correct number. He told me that I was not looking in the correct spot. I explained to him that I was sure if they manufactured the monitor. I bought a package deal through my work that my have bought a different monitor. I tried to explain to him the V7 logo on the front of my monitor and asked him if that was a Lenovo or IBM logo. He said with absolute frustration to just look at the back of the monitor and read the numbers. I again read off everything that was on the back the monitor. At this point the gentleman's irritation with me reached a boiling point and he called my stupid.

I came to learn, after calling information and tracking the address via Fed Ex, I found that I was right the monitor they did not make and therefore could not provide me assistance on it. After speaking with them, I ran my monitor through my fathers laptop and discovered that the monitor did not have an issue. This would bring us back to your hardware, and yes, your call center. How else could I schedule a technician to come out to my house. It was pretty apparent to me that the problem was definitely with the tower. My monitor company even told me it was most likely a problem with the video card.

I called back once again to Atlanta, this time I asked for a supervisor and hoped I would be met with actual support. However, I was denied the transfer. It seems I needed another identification number or processing number to be able to get me to a supervisor. I find it a little to convenient that I could not be transferred without going through another wall of fire. I could not find a processing ID # because by this point it was now Monday and I was calling from work. I was denied transfer, denied a corporate phone number and address, and also denied to be transferred back in to technical support.

On my last attempt, I said absolutely nothing to the call center representative. I told them to send a technician and if the problem was not with the hardware then I would pay for his visit. Sure enough, after I was visited by a technician the problem was found in the video card which lives in the motherboard. This was replaced upon the technicians visit.

I pride myself as a professional, but I do know what it is like to deal with the general public on the phone all day. If I can deal with sexual oriented offenders, felons, and drunks, trying to reinstate their drivers licenses and still be professional, then I don't see any reason why a company that I purchased $1400 worth of equipment from can't at least pretend to care. I would have preferred my initial call to result in an order for a technician. At least I could have spent more time with my children over my weekend before I had to go back to work.

I would hope that someone would take a closer look over the calls being made to that call center in Atlanta. Every call center that I have worked in has had some sort of accountability system. Whether it be monthly monitors or a stern talking to over complaints received, something should be done. I work for the main office of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and trust me we have a lot of employees. I have been asked what I thought of the program and unfortunately I have no good experiences to relate.

In closing, I am extremely not pleased with the service that I was provided. The only good thing that they did was send a sub-contracted technician to my house who was very nice. I can definitely say at this point, you have lost this customer and the rate your headed, are soon to lose many others.




Sincerely,

Sarah Crawford
Customer Service Assistant 2
Department of Public Safety

I bought Lenovo 3000-N100 its just works fine.......i love it..........

Lenovo N100

Q: Want a surprise?

A: Try PCLinuxOS MiniME (Live) distro. It just came out second week of January and it is very nice on the N100.

Also try Knoppix 5.1.1 CD with "noagp" option, it works too.

being in software field for several years, i bought lenovo after the name ibm. i repent daily by buying and spent some $680+ in ebay. This wont allow me to expand memory more than 1.5Gig.
I also had trouble in sound card(but figured out by download driver from realtek, it worked!!).
Vista on this lenovo is not at all acceptble.

I have now had my Lenovo 3000 N100 for over a year, in that time it is on constantly, I use it for everything, business, hooking up to my TV to stream my SlingBox, music, etc and I must admit I have been impressed....in the past month. Before that, it was a nightmare. The problem was down to the initial Vista install, I had to remove that, and I installed Windows XP. The sound was giving me problems, so looking at the Lenovo site a BIOS upgrade was a possible fix. I found my exact model, ran there BIOS upgrade and everything was fine....

Apart from the fact Lenovo screwed up, they put the wrong BIOS on the site for my laptop! Nightmare! Sound worked but the headphone socket didn't, along with the USB, everytime I plugged something in a hit the keyboard, it disconnected. Calls and calls to tech support, no one had a clue about the problem, plus no one was any real help as they didn't support XP with this laptop. New BIOS upgrades were posted to the site but they would not work.

Just a month a go I found a lot of users with the same problem on the same laptop, one clever user found an old BIOS which worked much better, posted that, and now the laptop runs without a problem! I am actually happy with the build, keyboard is great as is the display, just the support is so poor.

I believe its all down to cost, I remember spending a large sum of cash on a Texas Instruments 486 laptop, the build quality was great, support was excellent, just a great, all round machine. Now with more laptops being products and a more competitive market I find that a lot of corners are being cust just to be cheaper than the next guy. Not good.

Yuval sez: "#38 -- December 8, 2007 @ 06:20AM -- Yuval

What's the best laptop to purchase.
I don't care much about portability.
I do care about speed and few crashes and errors."

I picked up an IBM/Lenova thinkpad T60 on eBay for $700, used but like new, no scratches, no problems, 17" LCD, 80gb, 2gb. I did it by careful shopping and inquiries. Took about a week to get the good one.

It's fast enoughh to show HDTV from a USB HDTV stick, has never crashed. I have latest XP and ubuntu in a dual-boot setup.

Not one problem with this computer. Run it for long periods every day. Best laptop keyboard since my old TP600. It's a little heavier and wider than my old t40, but that's OK.

KNoppix and PCLinuxOS both have good reps for running on 'difficult' machines.

I too have a problem with the wireless internet! It doesnt work!

Oh, I wish I read your review before I bought this laptop :(

People with wireless problems, especially with laptops, should look into replacing the 3945 miniPCI card, which you can get for about $20-30 on ebay. You have to get the right one, and HP and IBM systems require the "express" version. There's a guy on ebay whose entire business is based on replacing these things. Check it out.

The 3945 controls the wireless and the LAN and it can cause your CPU to run slow and haltingly.

Battery was replaced during warranty. System crashed after warranty. Seems like junk to me.

I agree with original poster.....I have a lenovo 3000 n100 too that is a piece of junk. But it is the best dam DVD player for travel and a bargain at $900 new. I got mine at officeless depot and it was sooooo loaded with 'extra value added' software, I had to uninstall most of it so the machine was at least somewhat usable after powering it on and waiting 20 minutes to load up.
Then to add insult to injury, it came with VISTA. Vista is more junkier than lenovo. And 2 pieces of junk make for a really big pile of garbage! Save your money, get Dell or Acer.

Guys I totally agree with you. I bought a Lenovo 3000 N100 and i've never ever seen a worst laptop that this junk. In less than a year 2 big issues happened, LCD display stopped working and now the battery is no charging anymore as well as the keyboard. I have to use a external usb keyboard to typing.
Lenovo, you are CRAP!!!! $900 directly to garbage, thanks for taking my year-savings

i buy lenove 3000 n 100 with core 2 duo T2300 E
in late 2006. and till now its working perfect. i m using deul Os XP and vista and both windows running perfectly. Not any serious error. but when its goes to sleep mode then when u come 2 normal mode then lcd did't work so i did't allow my laptop to sleep so its always awak.
other issu is they did't provide any kind of backup cd and drivers. but All drivers are available on lenove website. IBM send OS cd on request with in warenty but y not give cd on purchase as when we are paying for OS then y we don't have that.......
OtherWise machine is super i love lenove and i will keep loving and using it