Ebay has totally changed how I view cheap electronics for this reason, why buy a crappy chinese knockoff when i can buy a top of the line thinkpad or dell from 4-5 years ago
Buying used is fantastic. Even setting a few Craigslist alerts can lead to wonderful things happening.
I had a friend shopping around for a professional level digital camera recently, and he didn’t realize until I told him that he could buy a 1-2 year old model with near identical specs and save some cash to buy lenses/accessories/etc or just save it.
One cannot get 7" Thinkpad with full HD screen, weight slightly above a pound and 8GB of RAM. GDP pocket is rather unique and its success is a clear indicator that there is a demand for such form-factor.