Having finally examined all the specifications and determined the optimal performance machine for the best price, now comes the time to find an appropriate supplier/retailer.
Machine will be a Lenovo Legion 5, with an RTX 3060 GPU, and some incarnation of CPU either a Ryzen 5000 series but more likely the i5-11400H (delivers highest TDP).
There does not seem to be any recommended outlet to actually buy the machine from.
No conventional electronic store like Harvey-Norman stocks it.
Curry's gets absolutely spagettified on their trust pilot customer service reviews.
I mean you'd think being local and a retail store they'd be held to some kind of standard but woah, I'm afraid to go near the place after reading some feedback (though apparently they're useful for getting the feel of a machine in store, before buying it elsewhere).
LaptopsDirect don't fair a whole lot better and being an overseas company there's apparently little recourse when things go sideways.
There is Amazon but in my case import duty makes it more expensive than almost anywhere else.
Many claim those investing in high end, high spec machines buy direct from the manufacturer, which seems to be the optimal option in my case.
Mainly cause the price is by FAR superior to anywhere else.
"Lenovo Ireland" - managed by a company called "Digital River".
Worst of luck, trustpilot wasn't good to either of these also.
That being said I've read a few anecdotal reports around, where some laptop enthusiasts have had success.
So with all that being said, any tips/advice?
Again, main reason I'd go for the Lenovo retailer direct is the cost is about 25% less than anywhere else, even 25% less than comparable models with inferior specification on the same site....... which makes absolutely no sense but (going for the machine on the far left);
https://www.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-5-series/Legion-5i-Gen-6-15''-Intel/p/LEN101G0001
Who am I to question their methods?