Problem -When to buy

Here's the deal:
I've been waiting to get a laptop for a while (over a year)
Lenovo Canada is having this sale that's saving me ~$400 on a t61p, but it ends Jan 21st

It'll probably take Lenovo longer than that to offer their refreshed notebooks with Penryn processors, (the sale will be over).

So what do I do? Should I buy now and save $400 but have an older Santa Rosa processor, or wait for a sale to run once Penryn comes out?

Battery life is somewhat important to me & I will be doing some moderate gaming.

What should I do?!

 

If you need then buy, One generation to the next usually isn't earth shattering. Most everyday tasks aren't very CPU intensive. Overwhelmingly the most important component when gaming is the GPU.

 

Wait until 2010 for Windows 7.

Just kidding. I bought mine 2 weeks ago and see I missed the Penyrn.

But, there will always be something missed whenever you buy....go ahead...take the plunge.

 

You can buy a Merom equipped T61 and upgrade later, but then you would only save $100.

 

I agree with ZaZ. Unless you plan to do CPU intensive work, the Santa Rosa platform is fine. Actually, even if you do do CPU intensive work, the Santa Rosa platform should be pretty good anyway considering it wasn't released too long ago...Keep in mind that Lenovo usually offers nearly continuous sales (not sure about Canada actually.)

 

same situation here except I only want a t61 with x3100 and 4:3 screen.

I too am struggling with buy now or wait a month(approximately) for Penryn.

anyone have idea how much percentage of price rising for Penryn based t61? maybe this would help make desicion.

 

I heard companies like Dell won't hike their prices with the Penryn refresh, so hopefully Lenovo dosen't either

Also, if you live in Canada, wait until Jan 21st to make up your mind, becuase there is a sale going on that applies to almost all Thinkpads, may as well wait and see if Penryn comes out sometime before the sale ends..

 

They won't hike the price, they will just stop "special sales" for a couple of months. So the price still goes up.

 

Just buy now.

I bought mine at the end of November. I got around $600 off.

 

Wait for Penryn. With Penryn you'll get around 10% more battery life. And don't worry: after the 21st of January other promotion will kick in...

 

I may be wrong but by the time lenovo equips penryn, don't you think nvidia will introduce new set of video chip for mobile, and then you would want to wait for the video card to come out, same goes for other things like new model... It feels like it's a vicious circle.

 

It is but thats what makes consumers come back for more.

 

Just get it already!

There is always going to be something better that comes out. Its the same thing as buying a car.

 

I would wait as the Peryn should also run cooler. I jsut ordered mine and I'm kinda bumbed I did not wait now. Then again I don't know how soon they will offer the Peryn in the X61S rather than X61? Seems to me an X61 would get better battery life with a Peryn than X61S without. So why did I pay so muh extra?...

 

It's not a big problem waiting for Penryn as it's obvious that it will be released on ThinkPads at the end of this month or the beginning of February. It's not like you don't know how much you have to wait for it.

 

It is a problem for Canadian buyers, since there is a sale that saves us around $350 on Thinkpads that ends Jan 21st!!! It would be nice to know EXACTLY when Lenovo will offer Penryn based T series laptops since the sale ends in a week..

 

My guess is right after the sale ends lol. I would think that the biggest sale would be right before the refresh on the 08 models. Just a guess though...

 

I would wait until the 20th then just order if you cannot get a Penryn with a discount. The big price discount is more significant than small increase in performance you'll get with the Penryn if you ask me. Knowing Lenovo Canada there will not be another sale for months up here.

I ordered as soon as the CTO t61p was available through VisaPerks. I've been waiting since March for the CTO t61 to become available in Canada!

Don't forget it will take about a month or so to receive your laptop after you order.

 

I notice that you're in the GTA, I'm in Richmond Hill, I heard the distribution center is in Markham, it'll really take that damn long?

 

I ordered a custom CTO t61p. They assemble the custom orders in China then ship them in batches about once a month.

If you order an in-stock pre-assembled notebook then you can get it in a few days.