[NBLUG/talk] When to buy a laptop? Where's the "sweet spot" these days?

[Steve S.]

H'lo, folks...

I haven't been following the world of Intel/Win much these days.  My
daughter, away at college, needs a replacement laptop.  I'm hoping
that folks here have the info off-the-tops-of-their-heads that I'd
need hours of research to achieve...

#1/marketing:  when is the "good time" to buy, before next semester
starts in January?  Black Friday sales?  Pre-Xmas?  Post-Xmas
clearance?  Or is this info just not really "knowable" because the
marketers' strategies are so arcane?

#2/tech(ish):  Where is the "sweet spot" of price/performance these
days?  She's needing enough power for reasonably-heavy crunch (she's
likely to need stats like SAS/R, and likely some GIS too)?

Many thanks for any info/advice!


- Steve S.


-- 
"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of
childishness and the desire to be very grown up."      -CS Lewis