Looking at laptops

So I've gotten permission to look for a new laptop...my old one as an Asus 17 inch and a bit on the heavy side for gaming on the couch. First, a short explanation: I'm looking to more-or-less replace my desktop which I haven't upgraded in quite a while but has been adequate for my needs. I've never been a cutting edge gamer so anything decent is probably going to last me a while (I assume I'll get to Skyrim eventually but that's a ways off). Besides that, Photoshop elements, Vmware Workstation for training, but nothing super intensive for a modern computer. I appreciate the build quality of Alienware laptops, but I'd like something a bit more subtle. (If I bring it to work, I'd like it to be a little more stealthy if possible)

The laptop that I've been reading about is the Lenovo Ideapad y580:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...

Any thoughts, opinions?

I know their Thinkpads are really well made machines, but I don't think I've seen an Ideapad before. Also, despite your dismissal of Alienware, don't miss that there's one up in the trading post thread this week.

I was tempted by that Alienware but an 18 inch model is a lot bigger that what I'm looking for at this time.

Pro-Star, by FAR the best bang for your buck, especially the MSI barebones kits that you can fully spec yourself. I did a lot of research a few months ago when I was shopping for mine. They have great support too. For a little shop, they do a great job. I was really surprised because I was very nervous when I first clicked the buy button. They're out in California, so you know, choose shipping accordingly. But overall, I give them a three thumbs up.

EDIT: Mine was an MSI MS-16F2, which is the base model for the fancy ones that MSI also sells. But I don't need bells and whistles, I just need horsepower, and this thing has it.

psoplayer wrote:

I know their Thinkpads are really well made machines, but I don't think I've seen an Ideapad before. Also, despite your dismissal of Alienware, don't miss that there's one up in the trading post thread this week.

The IdeaPad is the ThinkPad replacement I think. Basically, the same idea. They're not pretty looking but they've consistently been some of the most well built, reliable laptops out there. I've been lobbying my office to get off of the HP junk train and Lenovo is where I'm hoping to go. Not really gaming focused though.

About how much are you looking to spend? $1600? $1200? More?

Parallax Abstraction wrote:
psoplayer wrote:

I know their Thinkpads are really well made machines, but I don't think I've seen an Ideapad before. Also, despite your dismissal of Alienware, don't miss that there's one up in the trading post thread this week.

The IdeaPad is the ThinkPad replacement I think. Basically, the same idea. They're not pretty looking but they've consistently been some of the most well built, reliable laptops out there. I've been lobbying my office to get off of the HP junk train and Lenovo is where I'm hoping to go. Not really gaming focused though.

The Ideapad is their consumer level line for laptops. I don't think the build quality is up there with the Thinkpads (like with the Dell laptop lines, for example) but reviews seem to say it's pretty decent.

garion333 wrote:

About how much are you looking to spend? $1600? $1200? More?

Yeah, should have mentioned that up front. I'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000-1400

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

The IdeaPad is the ThinkPad replacement I think. Basically, the same idea.

So it's been well-branded then.

I have an Ideapad Z570 and I really like it. I would definitely recommend them. It's build quality is good and I've played Mass Effect 1,2 and 1/3 of the way thru 3 so far on it with nary a hiccup.

It will be hard to beat the Y580's bang-for-the-buck. It's a nice system with really good hardware.

You might also want to consider the Samsung 7 Series. It has slower graphics but a better display and can be had for roughly the same price. The HP Envy 15 is also a good option for just a bit more. Again, it has a much better display but slower graphics. Finally there is the ASUS N56, which is nearer to $1,200 but can be equipped with a GT 650M and a 1080p display.

I'm going to piggyback on this thread rather than.starting another laptop thread.

Is there such a thing as a good ultrabook at about $800 or so? No need for discrete graphics or anything. A 13 or 14 inch would be fine. Just need something lighter weight for general use but don't want to buy something that feels like a cheap plastic toy.

Thin_J wrote:

I'm going to piggyback on this thread rather than.starting another laptop thread.

Is there such a thing as a good ultrabook at about $800 or so? No need for discrete graphics or anything. A 13 or 14 inch would be fine. Just need something lighter weight for general use but don't want to buy something that feels like a cheap plastic toy.

If you come up with anything, I'd be interested as well. Dragonfly's birthday present this year will likely be something in this class. She doesn't play games (much), and so I think an ultrabook would be ideal. I just don't want to drop 1200+ on something.

Thin_J wrote:

I'm going to piggyback on this thread rather than.starting another laptop thread.

Is there such a thing as a good ultrabook at about $800 or so? No need for discrete graphics or anything. A 13 or 14 inch would be fine. Just need something lighter weight for general use but don't want to buy something that feels like a cheap plastic toy.

just came across this one
http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...

Tyrian wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I'm going to piggyback on this thread rather than.starting another laptop thread.

Is there such a thing as a good ultrabook at about $800 or so? No need for discrete graphics or anything. A 13 or 14 inch would be fine. Just need something lighter weight for general use but don't want to buy something that feels like a cheap plastic toy.

If you come up with anything, I'd be interested as well. Dragonfly's birthday present this year will likely be something in this class. She doesn't play games (much), and so I think an ultrabook would be ideal. I just don't want to drop 1200+ on something.

We ended up getting one of these:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...

Currently on sale, but be forewarned, it's almost completely non user-serviceable. Can't upgrade anything in it without taking it completely apart, as far as I can tell (based on the online manuals and screw positions).

Its not cheap.. but I got a Razer Blade Laptop... Build quality is outstanding.. on par with the Macbook Pro's. Razer takes a different approach to the case which does result in a lighter laptop.. Speeds are good.. but upgrading is a PITA. Basically a complete teardown to upgrade the ram and it doesnt appear anyone has braved it yet... at least upgrading the HD's isnt that bad. Sorry for the photos.. my crappy iPhone lol. No retina display though.. 1080P is the max res..

IMAGE(http://imageshack.us/a/img211/9238/razerblade.jpg)
IMAGE(http://imageshack.us/a/img442/85/razerblade2.jpg)

edosan wrote:

So I've gotten permission to look for a new laptop...my old one as an Asus 17 inch and a bit on the heavy side for gaming on the couch. First, a short explanation: I'm looking to more-or-less replace my desktop which I haven't upgraded in quite a while but has been adequate for my needs. I've never been a cutting edge gamer so anything decent is probably going to last me a while (I assume I'll get to Skyrim eventually but that's a ways off). Besides that, Photoshop elements, Vmware Workstation for training, but nothing super intensive for a modern computer. I appreciate the build quality of Alienware laptops, but I'd like something a bit more subtle. (If I bring it to work, I'd like it to be a little more stealthy if possible)

The laptop that I've been reading about is the Lenovo Ideapad y580:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/c...

Any thoughts, opinions?

Hey, edosan. I completely independently landed on the IdeaPad Y580 (by virtue of the Ars Technica laptop buying guide). I'm still barely window shopping but I'm approaching an actual need: my current aging machine needs another replacement CPU fan. I'll still be fixing that, but I'm considering a new machine.

Did you choose the Y580 and if so, how did it fit your needs? Much as I'd prefer a 1080p screen, I would barely fit the 768p price into my budget. 768p is still an upgrade from my old laptop's display.

If you didn't go with the IdeaPad, what did you pick?

muraii wrote:

Hey, edosan. I completely independently landed on the IdeaPad Y580 (by virtue of the Ars Technica laptop buying guide). I'm still barely window shopping but I'm approaching an actual need: my current aging machine needs another replacement CPU fan. I'll still be fixing that, but I'm considering a new machine.

Did you choose the Y580 and if so, how did it fit your needs? Much as I'd prefer a 1080p screen, I would barely fit the 768p price into my budget. 768p is still an upgrade from my old laptop's display.

If you didn't go with the IdeaPad, what did you pick?

I actually got my Ideapad last week but haven't spent as much time with it as I'd like. (It's funny that things like this never seem to come in when you actually have time to work on them) Anyway, first impressions are very positive -- the screen looks great, I like the keyboard a lot and I'm quite pleased with it in general. Granted, I haven't been able to game in it a lot in the past few days but no buyer's remorse here!

edosan wrote:
muraii wrote:

Hey, edosan. I completely independently landed on the IdeaPad Y580 (by virtue of the Ars Technica laptop buying guide). I'm still barely window shopping but I'm approaching an actual need: my current aging machine needs another replacement CPU fan. I'll still be fixing that, but I'm considering a new machine.

Did you choose the Y580 and if so, how did it fit your needs? Much as I'd prefer a 1080p screen, I would barely fit the 768p price into my budget. 768p is still an upgrade from my old laptop's display.

If you didn't go with the IdeaPad, what did you pick?

I actually got my Ideapad last week but haven't spent as much time with it as I'd like. (It's funny that things like this never seem to come in when you actually have time to work on them) Anyway, first impressions are very positive -- the screen looks great, I like the keyboard a lot and I'm quite pleased with it in general. Granted, I haven't been able to game in it a lot in the past few days but no buyer's remorse here!

Full HD or whatever they're calling 768p (just "HD")?

Now to find some coupons on it. Lenovo is currently selling the base kit for $849 .

muraii wrote:
edosan wrote:
muraii wrote:

Hey, edosan. I completely independently landed on the IdeaPad Y580 (by virtue of the Ars Technica laptop buying guide). I'm still barely window shopping but I'm approaching an actual need: my current aging machine needs another replacement CPU fan. I'll still be fixing that, but I'm considering a new machine.

Did you choose the Y580 and if so, how did it fit your needs? Much as I'd prefer a 1080p screen, I would barely fit the 768p price into my budget. 768p is still an upgrade from my old laptop's display.

If you didn't go with the IdeaPad, what did you pick?

I actually got my Ideapad last week but haven't spent as much time with it as I'd like. (It's funny that things like this never seem to come in when you actually have time to work on them) Anyway, first impressions are very positive -- the screen looks great, I like the keyboard a lot and I'm quite pleased with it in general. Granted, I haven't been able to game in it a lot in the past few days but no buyer's remorse here!

Full HD or whatever they're calling 768p (just "HD")?

Now to find some coupons on it. Lenovo is currently selling the base kit for $849 .

No, the full one.

When I needed a laptop I got the Dell Inspiron 7720 which is a 17" 1080p quad core I5 laptop with 650GT. I think the GPU is around the strength of a desktop gtx 550ti. It ended up being more powerful than what I needed ( played FTL on it when I was away from my desktop). Now It's plugged to my HDTV and it's used as a "media center". I sometimes play Sims 3 on it to entertain my daughter (she has a short attention span). It's still nice to have a decent computer plugged to your TV.

The laptop is pretty big but it's fairly comfy to use because it has a full keyboard and the leftover surface can support a mouse with high sensitivity . It's still not the ideal thing to use it on my lap but it's not that bad either.

The reason I chose this laptop was mainly because the poor selection we have in Israel. It fit the budget and had at least a 1080p screen ( I don't like low resolution screens). As far as I remember it's fairly upgradable but I haven't touched it much. I think it runs all my games just fine. I ran Skyrim on it but I'm not a big fan of the game ( wasted my money pure and simple) . My alternative was a similar speced asus 15.7~" so I decided to go "big". The main disadvantage of the laptop is the fact it doesn't have a 1gbps ethernet card. It's battery time is also fairly low but that's typical of laptop which use descrete graphic cards.

I think that if you keep your expectations low you can get a GT 650m laptop. I don't think the 660m is so much more powerful. much like a gaming PC gaming laptops old fast. The gaming laptops are generally obsolete the moment you buy them so making concessions is the name of the game if you want an affordable one. Buying the cutting edge in laptops might be more expensive than it's worth.

The key for selecting a gaming computer is figuring out what games you want to play on it and what your other requirements (connectors,screen size and resolution,dvd drive,mobility,battery).