Buy W520 NOW or in March 2012?

Due to the THANKSGIVING is coming, there are ecoupons in official store of lenovo. The type of W520 can save about 300$ than usual. However, I am not in a hurry to update my notebook. I planed to buy a new one in March 2012.

Now, I am here to ask whether I should buy it now or in March 2012, which will be cheaper?

 

March 2012 is still a LONG way out.

You said that you're not in a hurry to upgrade. The general consensus is to WAIT as long as you can before you upgrade.

So, I'd recommend to wait

However, if I need something NOW, I'd buy NOW. If I was going to wait THAT long (March of 2012) to get a new Thinkpad, I would just stick it out and get a brand new W530 (or whatever model will come next).

Just IMO.

 

technology will nearly always get cheaper as time goes by, if you don't need it now then March 2012 would be better time to buy. As it will reach the end of its market lifecycle by then.

 

In March 2012 you should buy the W530, if it is out.

 

If you are not in a hurry,... then don't hurry. In March, you'll either get something better, or cheaper, I suspect.

 

The bad thing about 'March 2012' will be that you'd only have to wait a few more months to get that 'W530'. And that would have Ivy Bridge and that'll offer (for a change, unlike Sandy Bridge) real progress in power consumption.

So I'd say now, mid-cycle, is a perfect time to buy it if you get nice coupons.

 

Here's the super-simple way to determine whether it's time to purchase hardware (all questions are Y/N):

1) Do you need new hardware?

2) Do you want new hardware?

3) Are you wealthy enough that the cost of the hardware you want is of no significance?

If you answered: Y, Y, N purchase the hardware.

If you answered: Y, N, N, save your money and wait.

If you answered: Y, N, Y, you probably already ordered it with overnight shipping, so why the hell are you asking us?

 

"If you are not in a hurry,... then don't hurry"

If you have to ask the question, don't upgrade.

Renee

 

I'd wait for the W530 if you are even considering waiting until March 2012. The only possible reason I can think of for buying a W520 now would be if you can't afford the cost of a just-released W530. In that case, you should wait anyway since the retail for a new W530 should be around the same as retail for a W520 sans-sale.

Even though the Thanksgiving sale will give you ~$300 off and it's a nice offer, you would still save money by haggling anyway, regardless of sales. For example, I bought my W520 near the end of May (with the W520 being a relatively new product released this March) and there wasn't any specials going on. I called Lenovo to haggle, and combining that with the 10% off email promotion + Barnes and Noble discount, I was able to save $500 (23.2%) off my W520. Assuming that the B+N discount is 10%, that means I saved 3.2% ($~60) just by calling them and having a nice chat with the rep I called.

 

I'm with Privatejarhead ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Don't buy based on coupons or price. Always order through one of the reps and ask for a better price! A week after I ordered mine through the rep they had a "sale", Canada only, 20% off if I remember correctly. The base price went up and even with the discount I still saved a few hundred more then the sale price.

Buy what you need when you need it, and get all the accessories/upgrades like ram and hd's from a 3rd party for half the price.

Just my opinion

 

5 months isn't that long, but I do agree, I would wait as well with Ivy Bridge being released around that time.

 

I am in the same boat as you guys, I am waiting for the Ivy Bridge.

 

Is it possible to get the w520 now and trade it for the w530 later?

 

Are you sure guys there will be Ivy Bridge-based Thinkpads since it's just a 'tick' processor.. To me they would rather wait until Haswell (tock) comes out in Q1 2013.

 

If you're willing to buy a W520 now, take the depreciation, and sell it at a loss to buy the W530, then sure. It's the same thing as buying a new 2011 car, then selling it a year later to buy the exact same model, 2012 version, only much worse since the percentage of money lost is greater in technology than cars.

Yeah, there will be. They've made Thinkpads with all the other processors, tick and tock, why stop now?

 

Interesting. I never tried the haggling way as I had EPP/CPP discounts. Would haggling save more?

 

I'm unfamiliar with what Lenovo's EPP/CPP discount is as far as % saved. I would call both the EPP/CPP line, and then the regular line (try to call a US rep; they aren't as tightly held onto the "leash" as their overseas counterparts) and see which one gives a bigger discount.

Just imagine that you're buying a car or something and approach the laptop problem the same way you would a car problem. Shop around, see what's out there.

 

Probably not much, the margin on hardware is pretty thin, we probably just got the same discounts that you got with EPP/CPP.

 

I suppose another option would be to wait until Feb 2012 or Mar 2012, and then buy a discounted W520 as they try to make room for the W530. This is assuming that there's a significant discount offered. If not, you could just go for the W530.

 

thank you for your patient reply and helpful advice. I'll take it.

jaymcoin

 

Thank you for your patient reply and helpful advice. I'll take it.

jaymcoin

 

I'll sell you my w520 in march and wait myself for the w530.

Deal.

 

Any news on the W530?

 

Has Ivy Bridge release been confirmed for April?

 

From who, Intel or Lenovo? I don't think Lenovo has announced any dates for IB based machines.

 

Intel. I don't expect to see the new Lenovo workstations until after the release of IB.

 

Yea, I think consensus is to expect Intel to release in April or May.

 

And I'd expect the Lenovo workstation to follow a few months after, like July-Aug. Last iteration their workstations came out pretty early relative to their Dell and HP counterparts, but then again, they don't have IPS panels.

 

I recently had to make the same decision as the OP.
Went with a BNIB W520 I located on craigslist for a very low price.

I was only concerned about the battery life of the W520 but so far I have not been disappointed. I cannot see the W530 as being a lot faster performance wise over the W520, so that did not really factor into my decision.

Buy if you need, wait if you don't.

 

so it's now March 2012, still no information on the new w530?

 

Nope, no information on the W530. Unless nVidia comes out with radically more powerful Quadros, or if Lenovo adds a FirePro option, I don't see the W530 as being better than the W520.