Friend bought used 2010 laptop for $275 since new laptops are now junk ?!

[GoodEnough]

How can anyone justify buying a used Lenovo x201 or x220 for like $200-$300
when a brand new 2014 Lenovo is only $370 ????

 

[dave_the_nerd]

How can anyone justify buying a used Lenovo x201 or x220 for like $200-$300
when a brand new 2014 Lenovo is only $370 ????

Because it's more than just brand and price. Take this one, compared to the one you linked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-374-_-Product

It's 2 pounds lighter, $20 bucks cheaper, and 3" smaller (diagonally) but has a faster CPU. The rest of the specs are similar.

 

[GoodEnough]

Ok, so the older Lenovos are faster,
and this new 2014 Lenovo is truly a entry level,
and not as good as the 2010 x201 ?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Ok, so the older Lenovos are faster,
and this new 2014 Lenovo is truly a entry level,
and not as good as the 2010 x201 ?

It's bigger, it's newer, has a warranty on it, and comes with Windows 8 instead of 7.

Tradeoffs, man. Tradeoffs.

And no, not "the older Lenovos are faster," just that this one is faster than the specific model you linked. A new Lenovo with a newer i5 CPU would be faster than the older model. But would also probably cost more.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

How can anyone justify buying a used Lenovo x201 or x220 for like $200-$300
when a brand new 2014 Lenovo is only $370 ????

Because that E545 is a neutered "Thinkpad." The only Thinkpads I consider to be true Thinkpads currently come from the X/T/W lines.

The Edge you linked:
- no roll cage for protection (body AND display)
- overall poorer build quality
- comparatively worse AMD processor
- crappy 1366x768 TN panel (at least you get AFFS/IPS options on the X201/X220, respectively)
- smaller battery with fewer options to upgrade
- that crappy 6-row chiclet keyboard (ok this is more subjective, and is only valid for the purpose of comparison to the X201/X220)
- but the keyboard is indeed of lower quality than the ones on the true Thinkpads, e.g. thinner baseplate/more flex
- no docking connector

And you pay more for the smaller form factor.

If you're asking that question then you obviously haven't done your research.

<- X200t, X201, X201t, X220, X230, T420, W500, W530, Edge 14, SL400. And like another 10 older ones I didn't list.

 

[GoodEnough]

^^^ Thanks, that was what I wanted to see.

Did this guy overpay for $270 for a used x220 ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[dave_the_nerd]

^^^ Thanks, that was what I wanted to see.

Did this guy overpay for $270 for a used x220 ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad-x220-i5-vpro-2-5-ghz-320gb-8gb-Windows-7-Ultimate-Free-Ship-/121509933364?ssPageName=ADME%3AB%3AWNA%3AUS%3A3160&nma=true&si=IjkCSBhyiaqK0jLLqFBzmjvdXsE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I don't think so. I'd pay $270 for that machine. (Although I'd rather spend less, obviously.) It's worth pointing out that machine had 8GB of RAM, where most have 4GB. That's a $50 upgrade, give or take a couple bucks.

In this price range, and buying used, there's a lot of variation in price on the same model, depending on what's on eBay and what's available, basically. If Laptop X sells for $250 today, it could be selling the following month for anywhere from $200 to $300. So it's more about what the customer is willing to pay than what the seller thinks it's worth. (Not like, say, buying a new Apple product, where MSRP is strictly enforced in reseller agreements.)

And virtually anything made since 2010 will be $200+ unless it's being sold for parts.

 

[GoodEnough]

Yea, it seems like low $200s is the low end for an x220, so another $75 isn't big in absolute terms, but it's a 40% premium, so I wondered if this particular laptop was something special. I guess there is large variation in x220 prices, since there are tons of Buy it Nows at like $300 and $400.

 

[sm625]

It's not just a build quality issue. A lot of the design and materials choices over the past few years has been overly focused on reducing size and power consumption. IBut it seems so pointless.... why spend all that money on something that is thinner and lighter when at the end of the day the battery life doesnt even improve that much because they stick these ridiculous 3 cell batteries in there.... I mean come on why is every single notebook built that way? Why not jsut take a chassis from 4 years ago, throw in a shiny new 15W cpu and a 96Wh battery and give me a laptop that lasts for 3 days?

For anyone who keeps their notebook plugged in most of the time, the design changes of the last 3 years really dont amount to much. Does it matter that a 2014 15w cpu can match the performance of a 2011 35W cpu? No, not really. And if you can buy a 2011 cpu and a 2011 discrete gpu for $300 and have it outperform a brand new shiny notebook in every category except weight and battery life, then it makes perfect sense when those things dont matter to you. I've seen some absolutely mouth dropping deals on machines like the ThinkPad T430 14, which comes with a i5-3320M and a Quadro NVS 5400m. That is a fully modern machine that will be blowing the doors off ultrabooks for years to come. It's just a bit ...big. There is no reason for anyone who owns such a machine to upgrade to a broadwell ultrabook if they are using their notebook as a desktop replacement, which lets be honest that is how most notebooks are used.

2 year old machines with discrete nvidia gpus are an extremely viable option for anyone looking for a notebook.

 

[GoodEnough]

Power consumption not an issuer for me. I am always near an outlet. 2 hours max is fine for me.

I agree on your general thinking about features that one does not need. I bet you're a big fan of "diminishing marginal utility" in your general life and purchases? Let's hear more about where you draw the practicality "real world" line on other things you buy...

 

[ZGR]

MacBooks are still really nice notebooks which are a joy to do work on. Expensive? YES. Gonna be using my Macbook Pro 9,1 for a long, long time.

 

[fire400]

I just can't recommend HP, Dell or Acer anymore unless it's a top end class for a really, really good price.

Lenovo is where it's at.

if getting used, I wouldn't settle for less:
Thinkpad t420s. classic keyboard, usb 3.0, many SSD/HDD loading options.

 

[Zodiark1593]

This is true, but by today's standards, there is no good dGPU that was in use in that time. Keep in mind that even if you got the most modern C2D machine, you were still using nVidia 8xxx or 9xxx mobile GPUs, or ATI Mobility HD 3xxx or 4xxx GPUs. While most of the dGPU's above can do full or nearly full h.264 work, they can't do so without adding at least another 10-15W TDP to the system. Add that to the already warm 35W TDP CPUs (or woah is you if you got a 45W model), and you are talking about a hot, extremely uncomfortable laptop. I still have an HP dv6500t (C2D + NVIDIA 8400GS GPU) and there's no doubt that the thing is always a giant pain to use.

The only point I'm really trying to make, is that a little bit (or none at all depending on the deal) of extra money goes a long way in getting a better laptop. Even the first-generation Arrandale mobile CPUs based off Nahelem are so far and away better performing, and lower power than C2D it's barely even comparable. Better yet, the integrated GPU had enough power to video decode. For anything other than a "I *really* need something to computer one right now for as cheap as possible", C2D's time has past. There's just no sense in looking at it for it's given cost given how low first-gen Arrandale Core processor-based systems are now.

Running a 1st gen i5-460M myself. Running just the iGPU, I average about 35% cpu when playing blu ray. It drops by 20% when I kick on the dGPU.

 

[Ramses]

MacBooks are still really nice notebooks which are a joy to do work on. Expensive? YES. Gonna be using my Macbook Pro 9,1 for a long, long time.

After having had my wifes mid-2012 or whatever they call it MBP apart to replace the HD ribbon cable that failed for no reason, and seeing the battery mounts broken inside since it's metal with no plastic to absorb shock, and how freaking sad it looks after two years of going from the couch watching netflix to school doing homework, I'm less than impressed for the money. Good of them to give back plate access like that to drive and memory, but the price and the rest.. meh..

I think they only reason they get so much money for them is because the non-macs suck so much by and large, not because the macs are that good taken on there own merits..
Perspective...

 

[GoodEnough]

I think they only reason they get so much money for them is because the non-macs suck so much by and large,
Perspective...

Clueless perspective. Apple gets $2000 for a $400 laptop b/c it was a blockbuster fashion statement backed with brilliant marketing designed for the technically illiterate. And it comes in many colors. Not because Win laptops are anything less than kick ass for basic use.

Windows laptops are mature stable bulletproof products. My 2009 Win7 laptop is running flawlessly 6 years in, with no end in sight.

 

[Ramses]

Clueless perspective. Apple gets $2000 for a $400 laptop b/c it was a blockbuster fashion statement backed with brilliant marketing designed for the technically illiterate. And it comes in many colors. Not because Win laptops are anything less than kick ass for basic use.

Windows laptops are mature stable bulletproof products. My 2009 Win7 laptop is running flawlessly 6 years in, with no end in sight.

I meant the hardware, not the software sucked. I'm just off a crappy experience trying to buy a new laptop worth a crap for under a grand.

But I don't get anything out of Mac os speaking of which. W8 is pretty decent minus the metro stuff.