Wait for Black Friday?
Wait for Black Friday?
I currently have an RTX 2080/i5 8400 powered HP Omen I purchased on Black Friday in 2018, and I'm considering upgrading this fall. It's not urgent, but three months is enough time. I'm wondering if similar setups will perform much better around Black Friday. This looks like a solid deal from a trusted brand.
Depends entirely on the level of similarity you consider necessary.
How is that term understood in my personal dictionary?
The likelihood of a single specific PC dropping sharply in price remains minimal.
And when evaluating closely related options, your chances improve.
Sorry, the details weren't quite clear enough. It seems you're referring to a PC equipped with an RTX 4080 from a trustworthy seller with quality parts. I think I've had some good luck with that setup so far.
I don't understand the exact number of candidates—whether 3, 15, or 50—with a 4080 today. You likely would. If there are only three, the odds of a big price drop on any one of them during Black Friday are minimal. Your definition of "significant" might be unusual. A typical approach is to compare dates and prices: August 1 with PC at 2000, October 1 with PC at 2200, and Black Friday with PC at 2000 again. If you were to create your own build, it's possible to get a better machine for less than what you'd pay on Black Friday, though I doubt you'd do that.
Lenovo is opting for a 120mm AIO for the 13700KF, which isn't the best choice. Are you opposed to assembling your own setup? It's likely the 14th generation refresh will be out by then, making older components somewhat outdated, particularly DIY ones.
It's hard to call this a particularly *good* deal. If you budget $1500 or so for the GPU/CPU they offer here, that leaves you with nearly $900 to get the rest, and that's where Lenovo's going to be stingy. Notice the lack of specificity with the rest of the build; they're really going to cheap out on the non-headline parts. You probably won't get any savings building yourself as the price isn't really *bad* either, but you'll also get better parts to go with the GPU/CPU.
Not to mention a far better warranty; for example, almost all GPUs have three-year warranties with the GPU brand (at least), but those warranties are to the buyer not the person who buys from the buyer (the system integrator in this case).
Black Friday deals don't always mean good value.
Some parts might be from older models.
If you prefer ready-made items, Lenovo seems like a solid choice.
A good idea is to contact Lenovo sales directly and discuss your requirements.
They are familiar with their products and can usually provide a price you wouldn't find on your own.
This approach has helped me more than once.
A friend of yours has been utilizing this site for several years to have their PCs custom-built, and they've found it very satisfying. They also have prebuilt choices, but you can tweak components from a range instead of being limited to the prebuilt selections. This offers more flexibility on non-headline aspects such as RAM and power supply. It could be a good idea to explore this.