Let me clarify here that the model I am writing about is R-52/A36.
When the snake-oil seller (dealer by the name of Amit of Nucleus Computer of Basavanagudi, Bangalore - NEVER BUY FROM THESE GUYS!) showed me the machine, I fell for its tough and rugged exterior and the assurance that IBM isIBM! Well, snake-oil sellers can also sell laptops - or the other way around.
Following my purchase of an R-52 1860 A 36 notebook, within 15 days I experienced a complete slowdown, so much so that:
It was taking:
Up to 6 minutes or more to boot up As much as 1 minute to open a simple Excel sheet Over a minute to open a word doc Well over a minute to open Outlook Express.
Simple applications were taking more than 2 minutes, at times. Virus and spyware tests were all negative. In any case it had Norton AV (which was probably the culprit, as was the underpowered 256MB memory chip!), Microsoft Anti-spyware Beta, the works.
I restored it to factory settings twice, and for a couple of weeks it worked ok before slowing down again.
The dealer, one Amit of Nucleus Computer, Basavanagudi, Bangalore, was rude and uncouth - once the cheque had been cashed!
I made as many as 5 or 6 visits to the ThinkPad Center on Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore.
The effort of the service people seemed to be dodge the issue with specious explanations, flimsy reasoning, endless experimentation - possibly to avoid accepting that there was a problem with the machine/model.
Even as they tried to prove that the problem lay with my perception and that such speeds were “normal”, in the same breath, the service engineer told me that it was a “high-end” machine with several utilities that consume most of the RAM, leaving very little to run any applications.
My contention was:
If the 256 RAM is insufficient for this “high-end” machine, then IBM should not have sold it with anything less than what’s needed. If this was a problem with this particular model, then IBM should recall the entire series and offer replacements.
At different points of time, I was contacted by different people who promised to resolve the problem and then vanished, saying it was up to the service people! Talk about closed loop computing!
I wonder if IBM/Lenovo would redress grievances in as unprofessional a manner in developed markets.
Finally, after 4 months of back and forth and endless wrangling, I contacted a top official with Lenovo who fixed the issue by refunding the entire amount!
Have now bought an HP 1615TS, and am fairly happy with it. But that's another story.
One quick lesson: Next time I want to buy a tank, I'll buy a tank!
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.
