advice on when to buy a new x200 tablet

[gblandon1974]

I am looking to order an x200 Tablet and I am trying to balance my desire to get it NOW with the uncertainty of knowing what's around the corner in the world of computing, particularly in Lenovo world. I know that there is ALWAYS something bigger (smaller?), better, and/or faster coming in the world of laptops but there are times when computing makes huge leaps (case in point: I bought a T42p just weeks before the T60 line came out with Core 2 Duo processors and I was stuck with a machine that could not run 64-bit).

Relatively minor things like more RAM, thinner design, brighter screens, etc. is there something HUGE that's expected or rumored to be coming soon from Lenovo, especially in the tablet line?

Also, what tends to be the cheapest place to buy Lenovo laptops? It certainly isn't lenovo.com because the same configured x200 tablet there was over $1,050 more there than at bestbuyforbusiness.com

Thanks!

[hart22]

From the Forum FAQ:

Don't base your decision on what MAY come SOMETIME. There will always be a better/faster/cheaper option after you place your order.

If you don't need it now, wait. If you do, don't wait.

That said, if I were in your shoes I'd wait until Windows 7 comes out, provided you plan on running in a Windows environment. From reports here and elsewhere touch/tablet integration will be much better implemented in the new OS. And I'm going to have to voice a heretical thought here and ask the question whether you really need a tablet model at all. Understand this is coming from a person who has happily used a X61T for a while, but I've found that I don't use the tablet feature nearly as often as I originally envisioned. If you can buy a good tablet for a very deep discount, like I did, then by all means do so, but given the high costs of going the tablet route at this point I tend to discourage people from this purchase. This is just based on one user's opinion of course, so take it with a grain of salt.

And believe it not, having a very good screen with wide viewing-angles can be a problem in certain circumstances. With some of the data I work with on my laptop I don't necessarily want people sitting several seats across being able to view my screen when traveling, which they can easily do now. Trust me, getting a premium IPS screen only to consider a privacy filter later is not something you want to do, although I haven't gotten that extreme yet.

I got my tablet at the outlet for around $1000 less than the already deeply discounted sale price then being offered, so you might take a look at Lenovo Outlet. Although they haven't been very good with tablet models lately.