Lenovo W520 Models - Unexplained price difference

Subject : Pricing mistake of W520 top models ?

I am trying to decide between these two models of the W520 :

4276-23U vs. 4282-4GU

According to tabook both of these models share the same CPU, GPU, X-Rite Calibration etc..

The only differences I could spot are :

Model : 4276-23U vs. 4282-4GU
=======================

RAM : 4276-23U has 16Gb, 4282-4GU has only 8Gb.
HD: 4276-23U has 500gb 7200 drive, 4282-4GU has 2x500gb (Raid 1)
Optical drive : 4276-23U has DVD-RW, 4282-4GU doesn't have (since it has an hd instead)
Connectivity : 4276-23U has the Intel 6205 no vPro, 4282-4GU has Intel 6300 with vPro.

As you can see the 4276-23U has an extra 8Gb (total 16gb) and also the DVD-RW.
The 4282-4GU on the other hand has only 8Gb RAM and no DVD-RW, but it does have the advantage of having 2 drives in Raid 1 configuration.

So how come the 4282-4GU costs almost $1,000 more !!! than the 4276-23U does?
The only major advantage being the Raid 1, but it does have just 8Gb of RAM and no optical drive which I think should make both of the models costs pretty much the same. An extra 500gb 7200 drive and a raid controller costs no more than about $130. On ther other hand the 4 276-23U extra 8Gb RAM and Optical drive are also somewhat $130 if not more.

Than how come the 4282-4GU costs an extra grand more than the 4276-23U model ?
Something seems very wrong here
Or could I be missing something here?

Who would pay an extra $1000 for this raid 1 configuration while having less ram. You could buy the fastest SSD drive today for much less than $1000 and the total performance of it along with the extra 8Gb of the 4276-23U will fair outweigh any possible benefit of the Raid 1 configuration.

 

You're not missing anything. And it's not uncommon. Lenovo prices can be very inconsistent.

The 4276-23U seems to be a 'Topseller' model though and those are usually appropriately priced.
Just ignore it and get the config you need for the best price you can find.

 

From the UK site I can configure both 16GB RAM and 1TB raid 0 at the same time with the 4276 model.

 

They may be putting in 2x8 gig DIMMs which are super expensive. Its dumb, they should be using 4x4 gig DIMMS, but they might not for silly reasons.

 

RAID = ripoff

 

It's probably something stupid. Though, why are you not considering a custom configuration? With the right coupons and stuff, they are actually cheaper.

 

Sometimes it's a good idea to go with it and not ask questions.

 

they made so hard for customer to select.

 

Sometimes its a bad decision to buy customs configurated models.

You can get the 4276-23U for $2,700.

Now try to use Lenovo's site to customs build a machine with the same specs. Not only will you pay much more for the custom model, you will also only get 1 year u.s. warrenty as opposed to the preconfigured model 4276-23U in which you get 3 years international warranty. Can't beat that.

 

Since you posted the same question on two separate boards, I'll supply the answer from the other board
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Lenovo charges a lot for peripherals and extra goodies. A quick check in the configurator shows $320 for the extra 8G, and I'd guess they charge ~$100 or so for the 2nd hard drive for RAID, even though they leave out the optical drive. Every chance to nickel and dime you; same as all of the makers/sellers.

Play it smart and configure only what you need and buy after market for stuff you find easy to install, such as memory. On this laptop, Lenovo's charging about $160 per 4G stick. So, what I'd do if I wanted a lot of memory is order it with one 4G stick and buy three 4G sticks after market. These are fairly inexpensive these days, so you'd save some nice $change$ there

Many posts on this board about how to shave ordering costs...search a bit to save...

 

What are the specs for a 4276-23U?

Unless it comes with like a 2920XM, a Quadro 2000M, a FHD screen, 2 256GB Intel 510 SSDs in RAID, and a carrying bag + a pretty balloon and some other stuff, you can probably get a much better deal custom ordering.