Laptop: Buy now or wait?

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Originally Posted by Wile E. Coyote

Sometimes you can get better pricing in July/August back to school than Black Friday. I did not notice deals this year. I monitor Lenovo when I am in the market. The Thinkpads are Mil Specs and durable. After killing a couple Sony's in short order (when they were a thing) I switched to Thinkpads and have not looked back.

I always buy USED Lenovo laptops due to the pointing stick. Last one was $200 with 16 gigs of RAM and a 500 mb ssd hard drive.

I don't like supporting the People's Liberation Army, but if the US Government doesn't care, what I do won't make a difference.

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I buy my travel laptops used. From very high end commercial upgrades. $3000 laptop for $300, wiped, new fast and Large SSHD, reloaded with new software (all for $300). I use aluminum cased (solid & robust) travel laptops. Heavier than I'd prefer, but bulletproof. Since they're cheap, I keep a spare as clone. These are very well equipped for graphics and CPU, as I do a lot of complex 3d CAD. (But no gaming).

Since I keep multiple homes across USA and world, I have a docking station and multiple displays at each home. My laptop is my main machine. My newest version is about 4 years old. Docking station is very slim (this version was for business travelers). Not my favorite brand, but performs well. I have a spare parts one (bought for $120)

Buying a new laptop is sheer madness.

[Nancy-NJ-NY-ME?]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I buy my travel laptops used. From very high end commercial upgrades. $3000 laptop for $300, wiped, new fast and Large SSHD, reloaded with new software (all for $300). I use aluminum cased (solid & robust) travel laptops. Heavier than I'd prefer, but bulletproof. Since they're cheap, I keep a spare as clone. These are very well equipped for graphics and CPU, as I do a lot of complex 3d CAD. (But no gaming).

Since I keep multiple homes across USA and world, I have a docking station and multiple displays at each home. My laptop is my main machine. My newest version is about 4 years old. Docking station is very slim (this version was for business travelers). Not my favorite brand, but performs well. I have a spare parts one (bought for $120)

Buying refurbished is what I do, too. Over the years, I used to spend $$ on new ThinkPads. Hardware-wise, these have been great. I'd use them for years until they "aged out" due to forced software progression.

Last year, I found myself in the same position, but didn't want to spend $$ for another new laptop. Instead, I found the same Dell Latitude model as my employer-issued device (which has been super reliable) on Amazon from an authorized refurbisher in Maryland for $250. This laptop has been stellar - exactly like new. And similar to what you do, only in the same house ;-) , I can swap laptops and use the same docking station, monitors, etc.

[heavymind]

I'm frugal and am done with refurbished laptops. I've done it for years and within 1-2 years they start fading. Battery wears out, hard drive failures, and just planned obsolescence. My last refurb laptop came from Amazon, arrived as a defective piece of crap, and caused me to spend the past two months fighting a dispute on the return...I finally won. Amazon has permanently lost my business because of that.

During that debacle I purchased a basic laptop directly from the Dell website, under $400, and everything works. Problem solved. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be frugal when it comes to electronics. I hope to keep this laptop as long as possible, as long as it does what I need it to do. I have a couple other 10 yr old computers in use, because they still work just fine.