Should I wait until Christmas to buy a new computer?

[Kak]

I think the service programs on retainer are the money here! You can also offer periodic upgrades on a monthly fee and tell them that their computers will grow with the company needs.

 

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[biophase]

This is what I recently bought. I got it for video editing. I priced shopped around and this was much cheaper than any comparable Dell or any other name brand.
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2098 (GU2098) Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-4100(3.6GHz) 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

For laptops, I usually spend $350-$450 every 2 years on a laptop. Last year I made the mistake of buying the cheapest $350, 15" Toshiba laptop. The computer is pretty slow that sometimes HD video is choppy. I only got it because my current 17" was too big for airplane.

Next year I'm getting a 17" laptop now that I have a tablet for airplanes. You can't really use a 17" on a plane, which is why I got the 15". Then I got my 10" tablet and now I never use the 15". I buy Toshiba because it's usually the cheapest.

 

[The-J]

The ad is for consumers (I'm tackling the "You're unique so your computer should be unique" angle, but price is typically the number one consideration for non-Apple computers so I don't know whether or not people would buy into it). Building regular workstations for businesses is idiotic but building servers and network solutions for businesses might do well...

This is what I recently bought. I got it for video editing. I priced shopped around and this was much cheaper than any comparable Dell or any other name brand.
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2098 (GU2098) Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-4100(3.6GHz) 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

For laptops, I usually spend $350-$450 every 2 years on a laptop. Last year I made the mistake of buying the cheapest $350, 15" Toshiba laptop. The computer is pretty slow that sometimes HD video is choppy. I only got it because my current 17" was too big for airplane.

Next year I'm getting a 17" laptop now that I have a tablet for airplanes. You can't really use a 17" on a plane, which is why I got the 15". Then I got my 10" tablet and now I never use the 15". I buy Toshiba because it's usually the cheapest.

That's a really good computer for the price. Computer parts have gotten dirt cheap and will continue to get dirt cheap as consumer-available technology speeds forward.

But that computer would have been $1100 two years ago and will be $300 two years from now, so that's another thing to consider.

 

[Kak]

Let me know how it goes, but I call total fail on the consumer side.

 

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[Kak]

Building regular workstations for businesses is idiotic

I am curious why you think this... Schools, hospitals, call centers, the list goes on and on. They buy SHITLOADS of computers. You sell em your shit at a small profit and contract to continue making money off of them for the foreseeable future. Upsell, cross sell, upside-down sell.

 

[The-J]

Let me know how it goes, but I call total fail on the consumer side.

You're probably right. Personal computers are commodities. Most people don't know that Dell computers suck a$$ and Lenovo computers are super reliable. They only see looks and price.

I'm hoping my ad copy is good enough LOL this is mostly to test the market

I am curious why you think this... Schools, hospitals, call centers, the list goes on and on. They buy SHITLOADS of computers. You sell em your shit at a small profit and contract to continue making money off of them for the foreseeable future. Upsell, cross sell, upside-down sell.

Because brand-name business workstations cost practically nothing.

It's a good idea but again it's dominated by brand names. Entry is too high, benefits are too low. Business workstations don't cost much to buy in bulk, anyway; why waste your time building or contracting the building of 100 workstations made from your own parts?

 

[Kak]

Craigslist is your first fail. LOL

 

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[The-J]

Craigslist is your first fail. LOL

It's got a lot of traffic, untargeted of course but still a lot of traffic. Where else am I going to advertise, the local newspaper? I'm testing demand here, not taking advantage of existing demand. My idea is that people looking for a local person to build them a computer would be looking in a classifieds Web site. Don't know if it's true but we'll see.

I'll try Kijiji next. LOL

 

[1PercentStreet]

Crazy how these threads turn into something else.

I'm out of this. Already working on something. Rather give 250% effort to it.

 

[drewjones]

It's always good to research what you want to buy first. For hardware, I usually go here Pricewatch - Web's first Price Comparison site. Find the lowest price, deals on tech and more. Just like someone else said on here, black friday is probably the best time to buy and buy online if you can for even better deals. If not black friday, the day after christmas is the only other day to get great deals.

One thing to note here. One of the ways I get great deals is by getting to know the store managers at staples and office depot. Create a relationship and send them alot of business.

 

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[VIP]

If you dont mind buying refurbs and know your way around computers you can score some really good deals on CedarPC

Computer Wholesale, Computer Distributor, Refurbished Laptops, Refurbished Desktop, Cheap Refurbished Laptops | CedarPC.com

They have 2 stores Chantilly & Vienna look at both stores because they have different inventory.

 

[marc100]

found this, think im going to buy it
A brand new Lenovo with a 17" screen and a Intel Core_i5_3210M Processor 2.5GHz processor
for $589.99
Amazon.com: Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black): Computers & Accessories

dont know why its so cheap but Im close to hitting the purchase button

 

[Kak]

Pull the trigger!

 

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[Likwid24]

I'm in the market for a laptop myself. Wish I had the money to lay out for a Mac right now. What do you think of this http:// http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310561

 

[Kak]

Liink didnt work.

 

[1PercentStreet]

Liink didnt work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310561

 

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[Kak]

ThinkPad branded stuff is lenovos top of the line. I like it personally.

 

[AgonI]

I am about to purchase this one Newegg.com - DELL Inspiron 15R (i15R-2105sLV) Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory 1TB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 4000

Looks pretty good at an affordable price.

It has nice stats, but it is a dell. They are able to put nice stuff in their computers because they are built terrible. That lenovo I posted is better. I actually had a 15r. You will ask yourself WTF dell was thinking.

Do you need a TB with all the cloud stuff out there now? I think I would rather have a 64GB solid state drive for performance and battery life.

UPDATE: I actually purchased that dell laptop, and Kak was RIGHT! Some of the problems I've had within ONLY 2 weeks of using this crap: the fans make a very very loud noise, the system freezes sometimes, not sure why.
DON'T BUY a DELL laptop!!! I am going to return this and get a lenovo.

 

[Rawr]

I also think Dell's suck, nothing but problems.


Here is a tip - go negotiate on craiglist and ebay. Ebay is tougher, but CL is great. start at about 60% and see what happens. Just keep saying you are staying at the price you named.

 

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[Epictetus]

Thought I'd join in on this since I'm an IBM, Lenovo and Samsung warranty tech in my day to day!

Firstly, you should buy an ASUS. They're one of the few companies that actually make their own laptops, and they have by far the lowest failure rate on the market (yes, better than Apple , amazing huh).

ThinkPads are tough, but they're a shadow of what they used to be. I've worked on thousands of them so I know them fairly well . Some are good, some are awful. There's been massive problems in the last year with the quality control on the motherboards though, I was going into companies and replacing motherboards on hundreds of them because Lenovo were scrambling before they all died. Also, the warranty support has now gone to absolute hell since Lenovo and IBM have completely split. It used to be that IBM handled the warranties for ThinkPads, but that ended very recently and now you'll actually speak to Lenovo (good luck, you'll need it).

Samsung is a good brand, but they're only recently starting to push big on the laptop market. They do have some teething problems, they have overheating issues and there were some battery and Wi-Fi troubles with the Series 9 (apparently fixed now).

Toshiba used to be brilliant, then they went downhill, now they seem to be getting better with their ultrabooks. Looks like nice build quality and the reviews have been favourable.

Acer are moving up. Their focus has been to become less of a budget brand and it's just beginning to show now, but I think they still have some way to go. That being said, you could probably get a new model Acer and it'd work pretty well for you.

Dell have also come a long way, their laptops lately have been much better than the Dell of old. I'd still be cautious buying one, but if you've done your homework you should be safe.

HP are generally pretty awful. Their ProBooks are quite nice though, but it seems the consumer lines and the business lines for these are different. Despite being completely identical in appearance, features and model number, if you buy a ProBook from a consumer source rather than a business source, the failure rate is much higher. It seems they come from different factories or something. Quite strange.

Sony's are often decent quality, but there is a significant premium that's not really worth paying since an ASUS model will have everything they have but at a lower price-point and better quality.

Any I've forgotten?

 

[Epictetus]

Let me know how it goes, but I call total fail on the consumer side.

BTW, which model ThinkPad did you get?