New stuff coming, when is the right time to buy a laptop?

[Algae2518]

Hello friends, 

 

So my brother was planning on getting a new laptop and was wondering when the right time to buy would be. With the new gpus and cpus coming to laptops, I was wondering if you guys think prices are going to drop on the older 30 series/12th gen etc. laptops, and also, when.

 

He's an engineer, so he was hoping to get a beefy, but still portable laptop. Open to suggestions if anyone has any! Thanks

[Alex Atkin UK]

14 minutes ago, Algae2518 said:

Hello friends, 

 

So my brother was planning on getting a new laptop and was wondering when the right time to buy would be. With the new gpus and cpus coming to laptops, I was wondering if you guys think prices are going to drop on the older 30 series/12th gen etc. laptops, and also, when.

 

He's an engineer, so he was hoping to get a beefy, but still portable laptop. Open to suggestions if anyone has any! Thanks

Its a tricky one, as so far the 4070 upwards laptops are looking to launch at insane prices, so there might not be such a need to reduce t he older ones as much.  Generally in the past the higher end previous generation would drop in price almost immediately when the new generation comes out, so I'd just make a note of prices now and see how they are in a few months.

[Crunchy Dragon]

25 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Its a tricky one, as so far the 4070 upwards laptops are looking to launch at insane prices, so there might not be such a need to reduce t he older ones as much.  Generally in the past the higher end previous generation would drop in price almost immediately when the new generation comes out, so I'd just make a note of prices now and see how they are in a few months.

I'd agree with this, although it also depends on the kind of engineering. One might be less inclined to go 4070 and more interested in a Quadro depending on their line of work.

 

OP: I would make a full list of what you need in a laptop. CPU, RAM, GPU, storage, expansion, ports, screen size, keyboard, trackpad, cooling solution, battery life, etc. Take as many things into account as you can and then start poring over all the workstation laptops that fit the bill.

 

I'm personally really picky when it comes to laptops, so I've pretty much shoehorned myself into ThinkPads if I need Windows and MacBooks if I don't.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I got an M1 Pro Macbook for content consumption as it has an amazing screen, although since then a lot of Windows laptops have gone one step better with some insane OLEDs now.  Although I'm not sure any match the also stellar sound quality on the Macbook Pro.

 

I wouldn't have done so without the option to switch to Linux though, I despise MacOS and the shady things Apple may be doing.  I don't think I will get another Macbook, it was an interesting experiment but finally Windows laptops are getting better again so by the time I need a new one there will be far better options that don't need intense reverse engineering to run Linux either.