New high end notebook or second hand notebook? Or a mid-range notebook? What is cost effective?

[jack58]

What do you folks get? A new High end notebook or a used high end notebook? Or do you buy mid-range notebook?

Every once in a while I go buy a new notebook... and usually it is a mid-range $500-$600 notebook, so I don't get all the features I want such as the i7, SSD and dedicated GPU. I just don't want to spend over $1,000 for a notebook. I just sold a Samsung Ultra Series 5 mid-range notebook, i5, no dedicated GPU. Two years ago, I had a used QOSMIO X505-Q830 with all the goodies... before that the mid-range Samsung R580 and before that the Dell XPS M1530... you get the idea... I alternate between high end and mid-range every two years. Another reason for buying a used high end vs new high end notebook is when you walk out the door with it, the value goes down immediately... and a year or two later when technology improves them so much you want a another one, your two year old notebook is now not worth very much. $1,500 plus is a lot of money to spend every two years...

I was missing the good stuff this past year as I do a lot of photography and CS6 Collection Master work... so I started looking a couple weeks ago for a ThinkPad this time around. I'd rather get a two year old workstation than a new one that costs between $1,500-$2,500 for the specs I wanted.
I got one ThinkPad and turned around and sold it as there was too many things wrong with it. Then last week I picked up a 2012 Lenovo ThinkPad W520 4270 for $400, then spent $220 online for more memory, SSD & a new screen, for a total of $620. I also cleaned up the notebook and painted so it looks like new again. I also raised the WEI score up from 5.4 to 6.7 I'm extremely pleased what I ended up with:

15.6" - 1920 x 1080 full HD screen - Core i7 2620M - 16GB DDR3 Memory - 246GB SSD - 500GB 7200rpm HDD - NVIDIA Quadro 1000M with 2GB DDR3 memoryy / Intel HD Graphics - 9 cell battery - Windows 7 Pro 64-bit - PCMark 7 4341 score

This is still better than any system that Best Buy or Frys has right now even though it is two years old. To get a better system you would have to custom order from Lenovo, Dell, HP, Toshiba etc. To get the same specs it have would be in the $1,500-$2,500 range for a new one.

So... how about you? Would you rather spend the cash for a new high end system, or pick up a used one for less money. Or simply pick from the many mid-ranges ones in Best Buy or Frys.

Let's hear your story and input.

 

[jack58]

I guess since this is a phone forum there is no interest in my post...

 

[Dngrsone]

Personally I tend to go for 'last year's model'.

That is, I buy second or third tier because I don't need cutting edge technology to do what I do.

Realistically, I can surf the web and write papers, et al on a five year old laptop with little problem. I rarely have time for gaming, and when I do decide to play a game on the laptop, it's generally an older title.

 

[jack58]

Personally I tend to go for 'last year's model'.

That is, I buy second or third tier because I don't need cutting edge technology to do what I do.

Realistically, I can surf the web and write papers, et al on a five year old laptop with little problem. I rarely have time for gaming, and when I do decide to play a game on the laptop, it's generally an older title.

Yep, no need for a high end notebook for you. A new $500 notebook would suit you just fine.

I use mine not for games, but for Adobe CS6 Masters Collection / Photography / Video editing.

 

[Dngrsone]

I use the gimp at times and so my 12GB RAM is useful in that regard, but no video editing.

 

[mrex]

After having many laptops I definetely prefer high end rather than mid range. My latest one is Asus Zenbook U500VZ (around 2300 dollars /1800euros). It was two years ago as good as it is nowadays. Of course tech goes forward but it is not only the tech but the overall quality too. The good one lasts for years.

 

[jack58]

After having many laptops I definetely prefer high end rather than mid range. My latest one is Asus Zenbook U500VZ (around 2300 dollars /1800euros). It was two years ago as good as it is nowadays. Of course tech goes forward but it is not only the tech but the overall quality too. The good one lasts for years.

You definately can keep a high end notebook longer than a low end notebook. The high end stuff the past few years stays the same, (i7 cpu, gobs of memory, SSD, graphic card etc). Where they make the most changes and hype that are bigger HHD's and pushing touch features. Like my current notebook specs can hold it's own with any new ones out there right now.

Lenovo ThinkPad W520 4270 - 15.6" - 1920 x 1080 full HD screen - Core i7 2620M - 16GB DDR3 Memory - 246GB SSD - 500GB 7200rpm HDD - NVIDIA Quadro 1000M with 2GB DDR3 memoryy / Intel HD Graphics - Optical Drive Type: DVD-Writer in caddy - 9 cell battery@ 7-9 hours - Windows 7 Pro 64-bit -WEI 6.7 score

 

[mrex]

Exactly.. my 2years old laptop specs is almost the same as yours:
i7 (3612QM 2.1ghz or turbo 3.1ghz), 8gb ram, ssd 256, nvidia gt 650m 2gb ram (also intel hd 4000), full hd ips-panel 1920x1080 15.6" screen...

 

[MoodyBlues]

So... how about you? Would you rather spend the cash for a new high end system, or pick up a used one for less money. Or simply pick from the many mid-ranges ones in Best Buy or Frys.

I rarely go with a high end system. For my needs, there's really no reason to. And I don't buy used--I like having brand new things.

I usually go with HP Pavilions, which are in the $400-$700-ish range. But I'm waiting right now for my first System76 laptop to arrive; I'm getting the Kudo Professional. Its final cost is just under $1,000 which was more than I planned on spending, but did it anyway. At the other end is my Acer Chromebook purchased late last year for $200--and I love it.