How to Find a Great Laptop Bargain

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The newest tech--with top-of-the-line specs and a raft of mouth-watering features--invariably costs top dollar. But if you're willing to forgo the latest and greatest, you can pick up nearly state-of-the-art gear and save hundreds of dollars in the process. Of course, timing is critical. You'll want to be in the market just as the fresh stuff is released; that's when manufacturers are looking to move their old inventory and replace it with newer goods. According to PCWorld's Melanie Pinola, that time is now for laptops. Intel is releasing its Ivy Bridge chips, which means HP, Dell, Lenovo, and others have plenty of laptops powered by the previous-generation Sandy Bridge processors in stock--often at deep discounts. Pinola breaks down the trade-offs and makes some recommendations on the best deals in "Five Good Laptop Bargains to Consider." If you're thinking you may need a new laptop soon, now might be a great time to go shopping. --Editorial Director Steve Fox Top Stories Five Good Laptop Bargains to Consider Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo all have good bargains right now on laptops equipped with older CPUs. But should you wait for laptops powered by new Ivy Bridge chips to hit the shelves? We break it down. 3G/4G Performance Map: Data Speeds for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon See our neighborhood-by-neighborhood test results for 127 locations in 13 cities. Click the map for raw speeds, as well as Web page and video load times. HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE Makes Its Debut Verizon's latest LTE phone runs Android 4.0, has an 8-megapixel camera and has built-in Beats Audio for music enhancement. For more smartphone reviews and news, visit PCWorld.com. Top Tweets From @PCWPluggedIn Google's self-driving car licensed to hit Nevada streets: And anything else that gets in its way. 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