Buy T500 at Win7 release or wait?

I am considering buying a T500 when Win7 is released, but was wondering what the update schedule is like on the T500. Was it recently updated? Is there a chance it will be updated again soon (with improved cpu/video card/etc)?


Thanks

 

a new t500 or the t510 will be coming out q1 of 2010, supposedly in january, but it won't be anywhere near the price you can get for a t500 now. depends how much you really need the computer. college starts for me in 3 weeks so i really needed it, but if you can hold off buying til next year and have a budget of about 1500, then i would wait til the 510.

please correct me, but i do believe the price is a lot higher when a new notebook is just released.

 

Wait, what? Are you saying that the price of the T500 will drop when the T510 comes out, or that the new T510 will be cheaper than the T500 is, now?

 

im saying that the price of the t500 is very low compared to when it was just release and when the new t510 is release it's price will be similar to the price of the t500 back in august 2008. and that is a lot more than what you can get the t500 for right now.

the new t510 should be around 2000 dollars.

 

That is doubtful, unless you're talking about a fully-loaded T510 with a top-of-the-line Intel processor and an SSD.

But, in general, what ipam45 said is true: The next-generation T510 is supposedly coming out in January of next year, although no one will likely receive their order until some time in February. It will certainly be more expensive than the T500 is now, and probably around the release price of the T500. It will use the new Intel Calpella platform, and an upgraded graphics card, which could very well be the ATI Radeon 4650, although that's still speculation.

 

the T400 has not gone down more than $100 since I bought it in Sept.2008, if that.
buy it if/when you need it. they will send you a win7 disk when it's out.

 

Well, that does raise a somewhat interesting question: does anyone know how much better the notebook versions of the Calpella chips are going to be? Will they run very hot (like their new chips so often do)? How much more will they be? I'm a little tempted to wait and get one of those instead, but it's another 5+ months, and my computer is pretty old.


receph: Sure, it's only gone down $100, but how has the system changed, since? I'd bet the processor options are better and/or cheaper now.

 

pem69: for the same configuration

 

exactly! i got a t500 with a T9600 for 1150 after tax, 2 month ago, the same system with a t9400 was 1200+ and with a smaller HD.

and yes midnight i was refering to a loaded notebook cause i remember that was around that price when i quoted a loaded t500 last year. i'm not sure how much the base configuration would be, since now it's like 650 with CPP.

 

Im definitely going to wait. Really want better gpu and reduced weight.

 

The question is: the "win7 disk", is it a lenovo recovery disk, or a win7 upgrade disk? If it's an upgrade disk then it's not that good.

 

remember you'll also probably have to pay more if you want to get Business or ultimate.

 

Yes...or you will get the upgrade that is equivalent to whatever you purchased when you bought your laptop. So if got Vista ultimate, you'll get the Win7 ultimate upgrade.

 

Why wait unless you want an intallation too? I understand that they are now including Widows 7 at the time of the sale for when have Windows 7 and they will send it to you.
Renee

 

Personally, I find it a hassle to go through the upgrade option through any company. I'm waiting on newer T500 specs, but at the same time, it'll be good too to wait until Win7 is out for a bit. Hopefully by next Jan when the T510 is released, we'll see a SP1 for Win7.

 

Windows 7 has very few options.
Renee

 

what do you mean, very few options in versions to buy?

 

I bought my X200 tablet with XP on it. I have a Vista Business license and a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate RTM with a retail license. I'd get it with vista. You don't know how long it'll take before your software will work with Windows 7

 

That's decent advice. However, I have found very little software that works on Vista and fails to work on 7. About the only things I've found are free Microsoft apps (e.g. inkDesktop and the rest of the Tablet experience pack) that have a flag set in the installer so they will only install on Vista (although they run fine on 7 with that flag removed).

 

I have arthritic hands and rely on Dragon Naturally Speaking. For a awhile it had limited functionally with Vista. I had to spend $150 for an OEM copy of XP for my previous computer so I could continue to use it until it was updated to correct the incompatibilities. It's something I learned the hard way. I have work to do and typing for extended peroids of time hurts like hell.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone. I actually think I will buy a T500 soon - I don't really want to wait until January to replace my MBP.

I like the MBP overall, but I have decided to stick with Windows OS. It's a shame Bootcamp is such a mess (overheating, bugs, poor trackpad performance, etc) for people who prefer Windows. I guess I can't blame Apple, but I use this laptop for work and need something that's more reliable.

The Thinkpads seem to be what I'm looking for in a laptop. They still have 16:10 non-glossy screens, and minimalist yet sturdy case designs. These features seem to be dying slowly in mainstream laptops.

 

You know...you're really right. It's a shame that the masses have so much power over every thing.
Renee