Maximum PC

Hey everyone. I am thinking about upgrading from my 4 year old laptop and was looking around for new options and upon reading have discovered all of the hype around Haswell. The earliest I would be buying this laptop would be towards the end of March, and as my current laptop suffices for now (as long as the power cable reaches and outlet) I am in no real hurry to buy. So my question is are the benefits of Haswell on the CPU and integrated GPU front worth the wait until late June early July?

Here's the thing, whether it's Intel or AMD I'm not going to say it's worth it until I see an actual product that I can touch and see. Basing a purchase decision on how a product performs on paper or how some engineering samples perform isn't a good way to go about purchasing a laptop or building a PC. That being said if you can wait a few months for Haswell to be released to see how it performs then I would do so. That way if it doesn't quite live up to expectations you'll still have IvyBridge based laptops to fall back to that will likely have fallen even further in price.

Both make valid points, but I tend to lean toward not waiting since we're talking about a laptop and not an enthusiast desktop. For a desktop, they seem very interesting for the typical performance increase but also opening up overclocking again. For a laptop and the initial June release, I don't see enough power savings which would aid battery life, and the HD4600 shouldn't be that much better than the current IB HD4000. Maybe in Q3 the HD5000 will be well reviewed and give us better insight as to whether it's actually better or not, but to me it'd still only be a hint as to what Broadwell will be bringing.

If I were looking into a 17" laptop, I'd be just fine purchasing a current IB based model. But like nsafreak notes, waiting never hurts if your bargain shopping. It opens up your options and can usually fall back on Ivybridge at a lower rate if those are still options.

Forgetting microprocessors for a while, Windows8 might mature more in the laptop market by Q2/Q3 2013 as well and just be another viable option. It's currently not IMO as it just hasn't been implemented well thus far. I just saw an Asus with a touch-screen on the back of the lid, but the user side was not. Close, but no cigar! If both sides were touch, I'd be all over that thing. Here, Leo has the same opinion on the X202E VivoBook (Start at 38:48). It's just something to think about besides the bits and pieces inside. Hopefully Win7 is still an option to fall back on too if we're still in this weird OS state of confusion.

I'm also of the opinion that a laptop need not run the latest - sometimes it's a boon though.

I've purchased older used laptops, and use RAM and SSD upgrades to satisfy my performance needs.


Bestbuy also has a $100 off sale on windows 8 touch screen PCs now, so that's further value.


What are your needs?

If you can't find something that really fits your needs, don't buy - because no matter what comes out, you'll just be wondering if you should have waited.
If something really satisfies you right now, you'll be happy, even if Haswell is a beast because your needs are already taken care of.

I'm mixed here a bit. Haswell will be great in a laptop, but only if it's Win8 with a touchscreen and keyboard. The new sleep states for Haswell are only available in Win8, but Win8 sucks if you just use a keyboard. If you're in the market now, buy now and with Win7 (look in business sections and you'll see more Win7 builds). If you wait for both to mature, I really feel you're looking at mid-2014 and not just Haswell's release in a few months.

In the industry, NEVER buy Serial Number One; It's a V8 in a Pinto.