Is now a good time to buy a W501?

Well I'm a high school senior and I'm going to NYU-Poly next year, the school requires a laptop and says they'd prefer us get Lenovo laptops.

So here I am, shopping around the site. I really like the W501, the specs are amazing and the price right now is actually pretty good.

With the configuration I've picked, I can get the W501 for ~$1,500 after sale + 15% off coupon. Is this a really good price? Or is it a typical sale that Lenovo has frequently.

I need a laptop by July latest, so I'm just looking for advice about when to buy.

Oh and this is my first post here, so hello everyone.

 

Getting the absolute best price is a tough nut to crack. The general trend is a notebook's price drops over time, but there are exceptions. The X61 would one example. Not too long after it was released it was put on sale for about $800 and to the best of my recollection it never sold new for that price again.

I would say if this is going to be your notebook for the next four years perhaps you should focus on getting the features you want as opposed to trying get the least expensive machine. Over time the cost per year will lessen. That said, it seems like a decent price without knowing the configuration. In the future it will probably sell for less at some point. About the best you can do is watch for while so you know when its relatively low. You'll be ready to move when it's low.

Good luck and welcome to NBR. Feel free to hang out and contribute where you can.

 

I guess I should've posted the exact config, here it is:

Intel Quad Core Processor i7 720QM (1.6GHz 1066MHz 6MBL3)
15.6" HD+ Anti-Glare Display with LED Backlight and WWAN Antenna
NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 memory
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
500 GB 7200RPM
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3 AGN)
For $1,550.40 total.

And yea I am looking for the best performance I can get, thats the only reason I bothered to look at the W501 instead of sticking with the T or X series.

I guess my biggest worry is that the laptop wont go on sale for this price until after my fall semester starts (the school requires me to purchase and register a laptop with them before my first day of class). I'd end up having to get something worse for around the same price.

Oh and another question.. Since these laptops are relatively new, there wont be any newer models in the next three months right?

Thanks for your response. I'll stick around for sure, and try to be useful lol.

 

Your configuration seems good for the price and it's always good to get ready ahead of time.

No, unless you want a 17', there won't be a refresh in the timeline you listed.

 

Hard to know when they're going on sale.

 

cn_habs, thanks, I dont plan on getting a 17" (nice typo btw, LOL) so thats good news for me.

ZaZ, I see... I'm just used to other retailers having their usual sales at their usual times (like car dealers). But do you have any idea how much the sales usually are? Like how much have you seen Lenovo discount their laptops max?

Right now, with the config I have, these are the prices:


Subtotal: $2,284.00
Sale Price: $1,824.00
[USP0318W510] -$273.60

Estimated total: $1,550.40*
Total savings $733.60

If thats pretty much the most they would discount their laptops, then I'll just go for it. Technology lowers prices over time... but not by a lot in just 3 months.