Dv4i best deal? or better deal later??

For the president's day sale, HP is offering

# FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
# FREE Upgrade to 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
# 50% OFF!! 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 4550 Graphics

I am planning on using student 7% discount (HPA) and Bing 5% cash back..

this is the configuration.. the total is $722 without Bing 5% cash back yet.

Does anyone know if there will be a better deal from now until April??
I do not necessarily need a laptop now, but if the deal is incredible now, I will buy it.

I just don't want to regret buying a laptop which i will use for the next 4 years in college.

 

I know with HD Direct that they no longer take both the educational discount and bing at the same time anymore. So if you use the educational discount, your bing cashback gets invalidated. I don't know if that affects your final decision at all.

 

I've been trying to resolve my internal battle between "want" and "need."

The offer HP is offering for the Dv4i is enticing for $722. However, i do not need it yet until April..and I doubt the technological advancement of laptops in the laptop industry will change much in 2 months from now.

I just need insights and advice to what i should do. This will be a 4-yr decision i will have to make and stick with.

 

To be honest, there is nothing major refreshed in the next two months. Most of the changes start mid-year (minor) and then the next year will have something big happening. The time table of changes usually is around 6-12 months. The biggest change for the year has been done and that is the release of Core i5M and nVidia released their 300M Series with ATI also releasing the HD 5x00 Mobility. So for the next two months, I will see barely any change that will affect a purchase now.

 

I have been reading that the DV pavilion series changes quite frequently ( every 4 months maybe?) From Dv2xx to Dv5xxx to Dv8xx, i7 quad core, i5 intel, dv4i, G62t etc..

Will it be likely for HP to develop a laptop that is similar to the Dv4i but will offer a switchable graphics option like the asus UL3/5/8 series??
HP's pavilion laptops are not renown for their battery life, especially a 6-cell.

 

First off, DV2xxx and DV 6xxx are independent of each other. DV2xxx is a 14.1" predecessor to the DV4 Series and the DV 6xxx is the 15.4" predecessor to the DV5 and now the DV6 (15.6") Series. DV8xxx is ancient as it was the predecessor to the DV9xxx, which is succeeded by the DV7 Series. G62t is a budget line and should be disregarded, since they won't be as good as the DV4 Series. The changes in the DV line weren't that brief. In fact, it took a year to go from DV6000t to DV6500t to DV6700t (the changes in between DV6500t and DV6700t were VERY minimal by the way) before it went to the DV5T (that model lasted a bit more than a year) before being the DV6T.

Based on HP's strategy, the Pavilion DV's change every year or so. Your DV4i was a new refresh of the DV4t, which lasted on the market more than a year and a half so...

If you like switchable graphics, then you should wait and see if nVidia Optimus is fully instated in the DV4i Series later in the year. If not, then I don't see why right now is not the time to buy. I think the DV3 might be more viable to get that option than the DV4i. If you want to wait and see if they add that feature, by all means go for it.

 

re: inner struggles with want vs need.

just get what you WANT. it feels good having a really high end laptop especially when you get a good discount on it....

the t9600 processor option on my dv7t (at the time) was a $625 option.... i got it since i had a 30% off coupon.

so, yeah, get what you want

 

thanks everyone, I appreciate your insights.