Resale Value of ThinkPad E470

• 

  Skramit on 17/03/2017 - 14:19

  +1

  Both my Lenovo X series laptops has been my most reliable laptops I've ever owned. One is 6 years old still going strong and the other 1 year old.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 14:34

    Someone in ozBargain (can't find the post), said that lenove is made in china, and fully owned by Chinese, and so quality is not good.
    X1 is perhaps their most premium brand, maybe it's different.
    The Thinkpad is made with plastic… a bit concerning.

    • 

      Skramit on 17/03/2017 - 14:36

      Yes they are chinese but I cant fault mine. Build quality is excellent, my fans have never played up even after 6 years. They have the best keyboards on the market as well.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 14:53

        +1

        How's the touchpad.
        Do you play games with it? Can you please share how you use it?

        Thanks mate

    • 

      blonky on 17/03/2017 - 15:31

      +1

      On Lenovo's business grade laptops, I couldn't see a problem in quality considering Chinese assembled.

      Consumer laptops on the other hand - I bet they would feel cheap and flimsy, but then again, so do most consumer grade laptops.

      I feel resale amount will mostly be based on two things:
      1) Recognition - for example XPS13 is almost a household name in ultrabooks, and could be perceived as high quality. The XPS13 name will probably stick around for a while too on future models. Where as no one would know what a UX330 is as it's not instantly recognisable.

      2) Raw specs - i5 or i7, how much ram, HDD/SSD and size, screen res etc. So a Core Y, Atom or Pentium will lose out here over an i5/i7. Second hand buyers are likely to be limited by price, and will pick the highest spec within their budget

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 16:30

        Very good points.

    • 

      blonky on 17/03/2017 - 15:34

      I quick/lazy way to identify the better quality laptops is check if they are MIL-spec.

      Disclaimer, not all brands will participate in MIL spec and is not always the best indicator of quality.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 16:29

        What is MIL-spec?

      • 

        blonky on 17/03/2017 - 16:32

        @fm:
        Military Specification, often MIL-STD-810G

        "This spec covers a wide range of extreme conditions, including drops, shocks, vibration, and humidity. Sometimes a third-party group is brought in to verify that a given system is business rugged, but most often laptop makers do their own testing. That's why you'll often see language such as "designed to meet" or "tested to meet" certain standards. Digging deeper reveals that this spec is merely a set of guidelines and suggested testing procedures."

        To me it means the laptop is tested to a higher standard for durability; such as drops, lifetime hours and maybe a spill-proof keyboard. It also means the components are easily accessible, say to upgrade ram - my Dell only needs 2 screws removed and my HP needs none.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 17:41

        @blonky: ic, where can I find which one of the three is Mil?

      • 

        PVA on 18/03/2017 - 19:16

        @fm: go to their sites and read up.

    • 

      Blitzfx on 17/03/2017 - 15:58

      Lenovo are Chinese owned.
      They also known for selling their laptops with dodgy software and custom hacked BIOS with security flaws in it:

      https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/lenov…
      http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/lenovo-pcs-ship-with…

      The bloatware you get on your Lenovo is usually how they get part of their price down. The software companies pay them a subsidy for having their software pre-installed.

      Lenovo (China's) cyber security isn't a priority for them so if you're willing to live with that risk, then I would say that their laptops are good value.
      The hardware is really good quality as well for what you pay.

      If you did get one, I would recommend wiping the drive and installing a clean OS with as many generic drivers as possible.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 16:30

        Definitely that's the plan

• 

  twocsies on 17/03/2017 - 16:23

  +1

  If you buy a laptop for $915 and use it for 3 years, what kind of resale value are you looking for? You should be able to get 10% of the purchase price, maybe even a bit more.

  • 

    blonky on 17/03/2017 - 16:36

    +1

    My experience is most $1000 laptops end up worth around $300 regardless of age (within reason). Apple on the other hand tend to hold their value at around 50%

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 17:21

      +1

      Yeah, I bought a Macbook Air, and sold it at 90% after 2 years. Gray import when bought at Kogan eBay 20% deal.
      Great resale that one.

      However, I need Windows badly, and bootcamp didn't work so well, the trackpad doesn't work well, and a few other issues.

      • 

        scrimshaw on 17/03/2017 - 18:46

        +1

        Buy a T series if you want a device that has less issues down the road. eg T460

        another option is Dell Latitude 7000 series, top choice in the business laptop department but remember to buy thru Dell Outlet, not their consumer channel otherwise you're paying a big premium

• 

  nubzy on 17/03/2017 - 18:55

  Despite good specs, I think that E470 is still expensive at $900 because it is a cheap consumer grade laptop made of plastic. Some reviews say it cant even output to 4k monitor, and the FHD screen is supposedly very average. I would only buy T or X series Lenovo I think. And i'd wait for a deal, I almost nabbed a X1 Carbon G4 for $650 from Graysonline but must have missed out by a few people due to a "stock issue" where they uploaded 30 but must have had less than 10.. Some lucky people got them though..i'd wait for a deal like that. There was also a T460S deal for $1000 not long ago. You don't get the same high power CPU and GPU, but they are rugged and have a better resale value.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 17/03/2017 - 20:52

    Stupid question perhaps, but I can't find the difference between e and t.

    I find t460s also made with plastic? I got one of those at work.

    • 

      scrimshaw on 17/03/2017 - 21:49

      the difference is mostly in the internals.

      The outer skin looks and feels the same. However, one difference in the T series is the Hybrid Carbon-fiber reinforced plastic for the outer skin, but the E series typically uses Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) plastic

      But if you look past the maintenance hatch, that's where you see the difference. T series has a magnesium roll cage made out of AZ91D Magnesium which has the look and feel of plastic… and some of the later ultrabook models have have the combined rollcage and outer skin. However we are moving away from metal roll cages because metal is a heavy material so there is a lot more emphasis on lighter alloys on the insides and hybrid carbon fiber for the chassis.

      In case you're wondering where I got the information from:
      http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 19/03/2017 - 16:56

        I found that is why the weight is different by 600g.

• 

  tonyjzx on 18/03/2017 - 10:38

  +1

  There's no resale on Windows laptops.

  Think of it like this. You bashed the unit for 3yrs. Why would I pay anything for something like that.

  Apples are a special case and the religious fervor there runs deep.

  A 3yr old Lenovo is basically scrap UNLESS you used it as a DTR for that time.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 18/03/2017 - 10:47

    Dtr?

    • 

      dan2k on 18/03/2017 - 19:11

      Desk Top Replacement. I.e. A laptop computer that never moves from its desk like a desktop computer.
      Some companies prefer to manage laptops instead of desktops.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 19/03/2017 - 16:58

        I think I plan to use mine like a dtr.

        Except that it will mostly move around the house, the couch, the bed, desk. It is not likely to go outside too often.

        The e470 is almost 2kg, maybe it's not so bad… Not sure… In the past always using something 1.2 or less.

        And I usually buy a new one in 1-2 years.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 18/03/2017 - 11:50

  Yeah 3 years is quite a long time for a Windows laptop. Out of these three I'd say the Asus and Dell are more resell-able (reason being both are at least the flagship line, and both more aesthetically pleasing). Considering the price of the Dell is $200-300 more, I'd go with the Asus.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 18/03/2017 - 15:24

    Thanks for that thought

    How about say hypothetically it's only 1 year?

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 18/03/2017 - 17:18

      1 Year… you might be able to get 70-90% out of the Asus, considering that the Aussie price at the moment is at about $1500, depending on the condition when you sell it, you might actually be able to sell for about $700 to $900. Same goes for the XPS, people might be willing to spend $100-$200 more on an second hand XPS, but usually $1k is max. So still, unless you can get the XPS for cheap, the Asus is still better for resell.
      The Lenovo is simply no good to be resold… it's only selling for $900 - $1200 brand new (in Australia) and it's not a flagship, it also looks overly generic, you might be able to get $500 - $600 out of it if sold, which would be roughly 50%.