Next time that fancy new model laptop comes out, the one that can play games that won’t even be released for ten years, it’s usually a good time to go looking for a great deal on last year’s “obsolete” model.
In the right hands, a year old, or several years old model can be upgraded, updated, and turned into a laptop as powerful as any of the newer stuff on the market. And even if you don’t feel like going to that kind of trouble, it’s not like a laptop being officially obsolete means it isn’t still a great computer.
The only trick to bargain hunting for a laptop is to know when you’re getting a bargain, and when you’re getting lured into buying something worth less than even its sale price.
So there are basically two ways about this.
First, you can know exactly what you want beforehand, and just keep an eye open in case it goes on sale. This method relies a little too much on happy coincidence. With so many laptops on the market, you have to be incredibly lucky for the laptop that you’re after to be the one that goes on sale, and for the lowered price to actually be all that great of a deal. There’s a good chance you’ll be old and gray before the exact make and model you want is on sale for a great price.
Second, you can have a rough idea of what you want, and when you spot a sale, see if they have anything that fits the description. So maybe your ideal laptop is, say, something the Toshiba Tecra line. While you may drool over the S10 model, if the Tecra A9 goes on sale for several hundred dollars less than its usual price, that’s exactly the sort of opportunity you need to seize upon.
And, of course, if it isn’t quite what you want, again, you can always buy on the lower end and then upgrade it at a total cost that’s much lower than buying the fully-loaded new system at full price.
The best way to get exactly what you want is to be willing to pay full price, but very few of us can afford to simply buy anything and everything we fancy. If you need it for work and can get your company to pay for it, more power to you. For those of us who haven’t won the job lottery, laptop sales are a great way to get a powerful laptop.
