[NBLUG/talk] When to buy a laptop? Where's the "sweet spot" these days?

Allan Cecil allan at nblug.org
Sat Nov 15 10:45:58 PST 2014


I go the other direction and buy laptops that are exactly 3 years old but are high-end, well built models.  This is because companies usually liquidate laptops as soon as they leave warranty causing a glut in the used market and substantially reduced prices for very good machines.  I can no longer recommend any one vendor - I used to prefer the Dell Latitude D series but those aren't all that new these days and the Latitude E series isn't built to the same quality in my opinion.  I've oddly found that MacBook Pro hardware is some of the best on the market, although the first thing I'm inclined to do is put Linux on it. :)

Best of luck,

A.C.
******
President, NBLUG

On 11/15/2014 10:10 AM, Omar Eljumaily wrote:
> Entry level laptops are commodities these days.  The only consumer application that needs more than the entry level I think would be 3D gaming.  I doubt a college stats course would need much power by today's standards.  The main thing is to make sure it doesn't get gummed up with adware and malware.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i3531-1200BK-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00KMRGF28/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1416074446&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop
> 
> 
> On 11/15/2014 9:24 AM, Steve S. wrote:
>> H'lo, folks...
>>
>> I haven't been following the world of Intel/Win much these days.  My
>> daughter, away at college, needs a replacement laptop.  I'm hoping
>> that folks here have the info off-the-tops-of-their-heads that I'd
>> need hours of research to achieve...
>>
>> #1/marketing:  when is the "good time" to buy, before next semester
>> starts in January?  Black Friday sales?  Pre-Xmas?  Post-Xmas
>> clearance?  Or is this info just not really "knowable" because the
>> marketers' strategies are so arcane?
>>
>> #2/tech(ish):  Where is the "sweet spot" of price/performance these
>> days?  She's needing enough power for reasonably-heavy crunch (she's
>> likely to need stats like SAS/R, and likely some GIS too)?
>>
>> Many thanks for any info/advice!
>>
>>
>> - Steve S.
>>
>>
> 
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