Thinkpads Forum

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 4276-23U 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.

How is the price difference of these configured models on lenovo.com?

ssd_thinkpad wrote:How is the price difference of these configured models on lenovo.com?

Couldn't find it. They only have customs models (CTO)
But every other place the difference in price can be in the $800-$1000 range.

I did not look up those particular models, but there are two reasons for significant price differences between preconfigured models, like the ones that you listed.

1) Non-topseller models are expected to be (or at least can be) heavily discounted by resellers. Topseller models are expected to be discounted, but not by nearly as much. So, identically configured models, one non-topseller and one topseller, will have very different prices, but ultimately can be sold for similar prices.

2) With both the non-topseller and topseller models, as Lenovo releases new models over time, they both lower the price and improve the specifications. So, $2,000 spent on the W520 line six months after they are introduced buys you much more machine than at their introduction. Lenovo keeps the earlier configurations around for corporations that like to stick to a particular model, among other reasons.

Bottom line, it's best to buy/look for a model that was just introduced when buying the preconfigured models from Lenovo. And if you focus on topseller models, you'll have to negotiate less.

thanks

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...

AMATX wrote: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

Yep, you can get three more 4GB chips for less than Lenovo charges for one.