wrote:
Obviously, I'm not trying to make your buying decisions for you. I'm just pointing out that the vast majority of those who buy a laptop buy the one that best meets their needs at the time they make the decision, and a healthy number also look ahead maybe a few months - but it's a rare person who starts shopping for their next laptop six months in advance. You and I do, but most people don't.
And your comment about buying a laptop, having it break, and throwing it away is revealing - and demonstrates the binary thinking of someone who looks upon a laptop as a commodity that is either working or not working, ignoring the more significant matters of reliability and dependability (i.e. wanting to MINIMIZE the possibility that a laptop will die right when you need it most), usability (how much time do you have to spend on maintenance, upkeep, and down time), functionality (how convenient it is to use, with niceties and design that make a huge difference) and the simple joys of ownership. Most ThinkPad buyers keep buying ThinkPads for good reasons. Over the 25 years I've been using laptops, I've owned and used 3 Dells, a Macbook Pro, a Gateway, a Sharp, 2 HPs, a Toshiba, 4 IBMs, and 4 Lenovos - and for the time being, until something changes, the ThinkPad product line has been and remains far and away superior to everything else out there in terms of overall reliability, usability, durability, innovation, convenience, warranty support, and value (bang for the buck). Go ahead and argue with me - it won't change the facts of my personal experience, and I doubt you have anywhere near the experience I've had with anywhere near as many laptops as I've had. So the reason I'm responding to your perspective is because I'd hate people to rely on your misguided conclusions and wait months, finally settling for the first hybrid to come out with a Haswell, and then end up with so much less than they could have had now (or soon), all things considered, with a state-of-the-art Helix.
I'm going to try and navigate through some of the personal stuff here...
I understand the loyalty to brand based on quality of product, and the importance of product reliability, but that wasn't my point - it was a hypothetical regarding whether or not the level of quality justified the level of delay when considering the level of cost; pros and cons. If anything I'd spent a few hurdred to thousands of dollars on broke on me I'd be very upset for a number of reasons, but my point is more that for a smart consumer they'd likely shop around and would get a better deal for their money with a machine that was more than likely just as reliable on a general basis as a ThinkPad product for half the cost, where as an impulse consumer would likely not even know the Helix was slated to debut at all.
For those vast majority of consumers who buy a machine that best meets their needs - the Helix is not available, whereas competitors who have the same functionality, and in some cases, more, are already on the market. What I'm saying is that by the time the Helix is readily available, in stores or through their website, there may potentially a newer, better competitor model available and Lenovo is losing potential customers for the Helix - if the Helix has nothing new to offer now against its contemporaries, what will it have to offer next month?
This brings us to the Lenovo Quality - is it more reliable? Lenovo has not shown that thus far, other than their reliability in delaying the product. Better durability? There have been reports of machines overheating out of the box, loud fans, too much flex on keyboards, screen-door effect, and some other stuff I'm not going to bother looking up. Convenience? The machine is barely available and is running similar hardware and software to other products that are readily available. Innovation? There is nothing innovative about the Helix aside from the very loud fans that throttle the processor and allow overheating anyway. Warranty support? Some Dell products are supported absolutely to the point of repair or replacement with equal or better parts. Value? Double the cost and not available.
Now, I'm not saying the Helix is a bad product, after all its been my first choice for several months now, and thats for a reason, but I'm just trying to point out that all companies have their flaws and failures, and while personal experience can be important, it does not negate certain happenings.
On the personal, I personally get very attached to my computers (and devices), having named and customized each and every one I've ever owned in the past 20 years, both cosmetically and from within, and its ironic you would comment on my binary thinking, considering the extensive list of products you've worked your way through, but at the end of the day, its a cost-benefit thing, and my personal thinking, which is, for the record "I want one," has nothing to do with whether or not it's a good idea.
Overall, if it came out tomorrow with WWAN, I'd be likely to buy one, but as each day passes and each feature disappears, that becomes less likely given the circumstances and competitors, and that's from someone who has been waiting months for this machine. Most consumers are likely not going to be waiting around that long.