Need laptop advice

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Nick R

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I know, ironic right? Alright so this is what happened. Luckily I had the GS Black Tie protection (1 year w/ADH) on my laptop, because this morning my kitty buttons (pic related) decided that laptop + knocking over a pitcher of water = happytimes. I'm normally very good about making sure it isn't near anything they can get in to, but I had only set it on the table for like 30 seconds, and lo and behold. Anyway, the guys sent it off today, they think it will likely be junked out.

My dilemma is this. There are two laptops I'm looking at to replace it.

1st: Price I will pay- $0
Lenovo Z565-43113LU Ideapad
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 N660 (Dual Core, 3.0Ghz)
RAM: 3GB ($25 to upgrade to 4GB)
GPU: Radeon HD 4270 i-GPU
HDD: 320GB Western Digital 5400RPM
Size: 15.6"

Pros: By far the nicer computer. Very solid build quality, great screen, awesome keyboard, touch pad. Materials quality is top notch,my favorite laptop by far in terms of fit and finish. Powerful AMD processor, no additional cost to me. Better battery life (~4hrs nominal)
Yes, that is real aluminum. And the back of the screen is a nice matte rubberized finish, has a high quality feel to it.
Lenovo-IdeaPad-Z560.jpg


0f9187d344.jpg







Cons: Much slower GPU, little bit heavier, and thicker when closed.


Alternatively.

Price to me: $69.99
ASUS K52DR-BIN6

CPU: AMD Turion II X2 P520: 2.3Ghz
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Radeon 5470 w/1GB dedicated
HDD: 500GB Seagate Momentus XT (7200RPM + Hybrid HDD technology)
Size: 15.6"

Pros: Much more powerful Graphics card. Much faster harddrive.

Cons: Build quality and fit and finish, materials quality is junk compared to the lenovo. CPU is much slower, and battery life is abysmal (2hrs, 45m nominal).

asus-k52f-series-notebook_front.jpg






I will be purchasing another 1 or 2 year GSBTP plan on the laptop (massive discount on that for me). Honestly, I'm leaning towards the lenovo. I just love the aesthetics of the computer, but the GPU is less powerul. But on the other hand, I have a gaming computer at home already, so I don't need a gaming laptop. Argh, wat do BITOG?


Pic related: Buttons, the sweetheart kitty who killed my laptop
sb7ibt.jpg

10hvn8z.jpg
 
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Get the Lenovo, you said yourself you already have a gaming desktop, and the GPU on the ASUS is not really that powerful anyways compared to desktop GPUs.
 
It is tough. Besides the positives and negatives you listed, Asus is better than Lenovo in a study I saw a few months ago that looked at eighteen month failure rates of laptops (I think ASUS was around 13% and Lenovo around 20 or a bit more). But I'd go Lenovo in this case.
 
What about: K52JT-B1

CPU : Intel Quad Core i7-740QM
LCD Size & Resolution : 15.6" HD (1366 x768) (LED)
MB Chipset : Intel HM55
Optical Drive : Supermulti Dual Layer DVD-RW
Memory : 4GB DDR3 1066MHz (2GBX2), up to 8GB
VGA : ATI HD 6370 1G DDR3 VRAM
Hard Drive : 500G 7200RPM
WLAN/ TPM/ LAN : 802.11 BGN/ No TPM/ 10/100/1000
Battery : Li-ion 6-cell
Interface : 3xUSB, 1xHDMI
Bluetooth/Finger Print : No/No
Card Reader : 4-in-1
Color/Weight/WxDxH : Dark Brown/5.8lbs/15.2" x 10.2" x 1.4"
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
Warranty : 2 Yr Global Warranty, 30-Day Zero Bright Dot
1 Yr Accidental Damage
Carry Bag & Mouse : No
Camera : 0.3M


This one is the exact same price as the one you listed above, but has an i7 CPU, better chipset, better GPU....etc.
 
Lol When they junk it out I will have $500 to work with. I'm willing to pay a little extra for the ASUS, but nothing like that. Plus BestBuy has to sell it for me to be able to claim under GSBTP.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Lol When they junk it out I will have $500 to work with. I'm willing to pay a little extra for the ASUS, but nothing like that. Plus BestBuy has to sell it for me to be able to claim under GSBTP.


So then I assume Best Buy doesn't get that model? As I said, both the one you mentioned in your OP and the one I mentioned above are the same price in my wholesale price list.
 
My job is selling laptops to people, but when it comes time to pick one for myself, I'm having a hard time. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go lenovo on this one.
 
If you sell laptops then why would you ever buy one with an amd.
We both know that their failure rate is higher and they run slower than a comparable intel. just one mans opinion.
By the way , I am running 4 desktops and 3 laptops currently in my home and guess what processors they all are? Most of the desktops are 5-8 years old and the laptops are fairly new. Guess how many processors have died? How about 0. My one and only amd is gone and buried.
 
Neither graphics card will work well with any of the newer games. I was able to play some '07 and prior games on low settings on my old Toshiba with the same processor as the Asus and a Mobility 2600. The GPU in the Asus is maybe twice as fast, but that's not saying much at all.

I was just in the market for a laptop and my criteria might be the same as yours, since you have a dedicated gaming PC as well: portable (small and light, but not hard to type on,) long battery life, decent processing/graphics power. Bestbuy doesn't offer it, but my perfect laptop was the HP DM1 with the E350 APU (CPU and GPU on the same chip.)

My second choice would have been the ultra-portable titanium-cased Toshiba Best Buy sells, but it didn't have an HDMI out, which is great for streaming netflix right to some one's HDTV. If the HDMI isn't a big deal to you, that'd be my choice. Great fit and finish, relatively powerful, but less-power-thirsty i3 processor, and even an optical drive, which is very hard to find in an ultra-portable. It was $700 back in December, but maybe it's come down abit since then.

Otherwise, I'd go with the Phenom processor'd Lenovo any day of the week! I'm a fan of Asus, too, but with those two options, it wouldn't even be a consideration.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I know, ironic right? Alright so this is what happened. Luckily I had the GS Black Tie protection (1 year w/ADH) on my laptop, because this morning my kitty buttons (pic related) decided that laptop + knocking over a pitcher of water = happytimes. I'm normally very good about making sure it isn't near anything they can get in to, but I had only set it on the table for like 30 seconds, and lo and behold. Anyway, the guys sent it off today, they think it will likely be junked out.

My dilemma is this. There are two laptops I'm looking at to replace it.

1st: Price I will pay- $0
Lenovo Z565-43113LU Ideapad
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 N660 (Dual Core, 3.0Ghz)
RAM: 3GB ($25 to upgrade to 4GB)
GPU: Radeon HD 4270 i-GPU
HDD: 320GB Western Digital 5400RPM
Size: 15.6"

Pros: By far the nicer computer. Very solid build quality, great screen, awesome keyboard, touch pad. Materials quality is top notch,my favorite laptop by far in terms of fit and finish. Powerful AMD processor, no additional cost to me. Better battery life (~4hrs nominal)
Yes, that is real aluminum. And the back of the screen is a nice matte rubberized finish, has a high quality feel to it.
Lenovo-IdeaPad-Z560.jpg


0f9187d344.jpg







Cons: Much slower GPU, little bit heavier, and thicker when closed.


Alternatively.

Price to me: $69.99
ASUS K52DR-BIN6

CPU: AMD Turion II X2 P520: 2.3Ghz
RAM: 4GB
GPU: Radeon 5470 w/1GB dedicated
HDD: 500GB Seagate Momentus XT (7200RPM + Hybrid HDD technology)
Size: 15.6"

Pros: Much more powerful Graphics card. Much faster harddrive.

Cons: Build quality and fit and finish, materials quality is junk compared to the lenovo. CPU is much slower, and battery life is abysmal (2hrs, 45m nominal).

asus-k52f-series-notebook_front.jpg






I will be purchasing another 1 or 2 year GSBTP plan on the laptop (massive discount on that for me). Honestly, I'm leaning towards the lenovo. I just love the aesthetics of the computer, but the GPU is less powerul. But on the other hand, I have a gaming computer at home already, so I don't need a gaming laptop. Argh, wat do BITOG?


Pic related: Buttons, the sweetheart kitty who killed my laptop
sb7ibt.jpg

10hvn8z.jpg





My black lab puppy ate 9 of my laptop buttons off, teeth marks on my screen and teeth marks on my wireless stick. But as u all know a lab puppy can do no wrong and my computer still works,amen. I put all this down as he was marking his territory and now I will always have puppy love teeth prints on my computer to remember him by in the future, I wouldn't recommend leaving ur laptop in puppy reach, but this story ended well for me and CB the puppy still can do no wrong.
 
I'm aware that AMD is slower then their Intel counterparts in benchmarks. With that said, however. AMD integrated graphics are much faster these days than Intels. Now, the processors are less powerful yes, but not junk by any means. They are still MORE than powerful enough for 99.9% of peoples needs. Also, people up here love AMD because they are bringing jobs to the area with the Fab8 project about 15 minutes from my house.

Motherboards more likely to fail? That is pure bollocks. You had one AMD system and it failed. One. Do you know what computer brand I have in everyday for failed motherboards? Hewlett Packard. Intel, AMD doesn't matter. As far as motherboards go, Intel and AMD are pretty much the same. I also like AMD, because Intel has bad business practices. A few years ago, they were paying off HP, Dell, IBM, etc to use Intel Chips. Basically blackmailing them with money if they used AMD chips. Not a competitive lowering of price, but saying "If you buy AMD product, we will pull our rebates".

I have a problem with that, and though they don't do it anymore, I'm still bitter about it. That is the only reason that so many computers had the Pentium 4, not the Athlon, which was vastly superior.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I'm aware that AMD is slower then their Intel counterparts in benchmarks. With that said, however. AMD integrated graphics are much faster these days than Intels. Now, the processors are less powerful yes, but not junk by any means. They are still MORE than powerful enough for 99.9% of peoples needs. Also, people up here love AMD because they are bringing jobs to the area with the Fab8 project about 15 minutes from my house.

Motherboards more likely to fail? That is pure bollocks. You had one AMD system and it failed. One. Do you know what computer brand I have in everyday for failed motherboards? Hewlett Packard. Intel, AMD doesn't matter. As far as motherboards go, Intel and AMD are pretty much the same. I also like AMD, because Intel has bad business practices. A few years ago, they were paying off HP, Dell, IBM, etc to use Intel Chips. Basically blackmailing them with money if they used AMD chips. Not a competitive lowering of price, but saying "If you buy AMD product, we will pull our rebates".

I have a problem with that, and though they don't do it anymore, I'm still bitter about it. That is the only reason that so many computers had the Pentium 4, not the Athlon, which was vastly superior.


That "agreement" was only with DELL. And they got in a lot of trouble for it if I remember correctly. For the longest time, DELL ONLY sold Intel. That is not the case with the other manufacturers you've mentioned.

As far as higher AMD failure rates, it is true. Not of CPU's, but of the chipsets historically there were on the boards. SiS, ALI, NVidia, VIA....etc. Intel has always dominated in this category.

HP has higher failure rates because they are HP, not because of AMD or Intel. It is how they've spec'd the system.

AMD integrated graphics are faster because they bought ATI. It has nothing to do with "AMD". If Intel had purchased NVidia, I could be making the same statement. Intel doesn't make gaming graphics cards. AMD didn't until they bought ATI. Now they "make GPU's" by default. That isn't a development, that's an acquisition. Intel has been making display processors for a very long time. But they have never targeted the gaming market. So why would you expect a company who has never targeted gamers to have superior gaming graphics performance? If I want good graphics, I'm going for something like an ASUS G73 notebook, which doesn't use integrated graphics anyways! And has used both ATI(AMD) and NVidia GPU's.

On that point: Any notebook with relatively decent graphics uses a standalone GPU solution like it has always been. This hasn't changed.

Intel's historical market dominance is the reason so many PC's still have P4's. And so many of them still work because the majority of them are on reliable Intel chipsets. The same cannot be said for their AMD counterparts.

You have a problem with Intel's past marketing practices. That's cool. I have a problem with AMD ripping off Intel for their x86 CPU's.

Both of these corporations have dirty pasts Nick. Pick your poison. I like the best of both worlds. Why do you think I suggested the i7 notebook with the AMD GPU?
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I'm aware that AMD is slower then their Intel counterparts in benchmarks. With that said, however. AMD integrated graphics are much faster these days than Intels. Now, the processors are less powerful yes, but not junk by any means. They are still MORE than powerful enough for 99.9% of peoples needs. Also, people up here love AMD because they are bringing jobs to the area with the Fab8 project about 15 minutes from my house.

Motherboards more likely to fail? That is pure bollocks. You had one AMD system and it failed. One. Do you know what computer brand I have in everyday for failed motherboards? Hewlett Packard. Intel, AMD doesn't matter. As far as motherboards go, Intel and AMD are pretty much the same. I also like AMD, because Intel has bad business practices. A few years ago, they were paying off HP, Dell, IBM, etc to use Intel Chips. Basically blackmailing them with money if they used AMD chips. Not a competitive lowering of price, but saying "If you buy AMD product, we will pull our rebates".

I have a problem with that, and though they don't do it anymore, I'm still bitter about it. That is the only reason that so many computers had the Pentium 4, not the Athlon, which was vastly superior.


That "agreement" was only with DELL. And they got in a lot of trouble for it if I remember correctly. For the longest time, DELL ONLY sold Intel. That is not the case with the other manufacturers you've mentioned.

As far as higher AMD failure rates, it is true. Not of CPU's, but of the chipsets historically there were on the boards. SiS, ALI, NVidia, VIA....etc. Intel has always dominated in this category.

HP has higher failure rates because they are HP, not because of AMD or Intel. It is how they've spec'd the system.

AMD integrated graphics are faster because they bought ATI. It has nothing to do with "AMD". If Intel had purchased NVidia, I could be making the same statement. Intel doesn't make gaming graphics cards. AMD didn't until they bought ATI. Now they "make GPU's" by default. That isn't a development, that's an acquisition. Intel has been making display processors for a very long time. But they have never targeted the gaming market. So why would you expect a company who has never targeted gamers to have superior gaming graphics performance? If I want good graphics, I'm going for something like an ASUS G73 notebook, which doesn't use integrated graphics anyways! And has used both ATI(AMD) and NVidia GPU's.

On that point: the notebooks you are looking at don't use integrated graphics anyways! so I'm not even sure why this is being discussed other than for you to just take another jab at Intel? Any notebook with relatively decent graphics uses a standalone GPU solution like it has always been. This hasn't changed.

Intel's historical market dominance is the reason so many PC's still have P4's. And so many of them still work because the majority of them are on reliable Intel chipsets. The same cannot be said for their AMD counterparts.

You have a problem with Intel's past marketing practices. That's cool. I have a problem with AMD ripping off Intel for their x86 CPU's.

Both of these corporations have dirty pasts Nick. Pick your poison. I like the best of both worlds. Why do you think I suggested the i7 notebook with the AMD GPU?
wink.gif




I understand what you are saying. But these days, a fast integrated GPU (which the 4250/4270 is by the way) is necessary for everyday stuff. Windows Aero, media center, playback of HD video that requires a graphics chip that older i-gpus couldn't pull off. Plus with the advent of GPGPU processing, a relatively powerful chip is a must in any computer these days.

I'm not taking a jab at intel. They make a good product, my last desktop had one. My mom and dad's laptops (which I picked out) have intel. And to be honest, the new Sandy Bridge on-gpu graphics are quite impressive.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R

I understand what you are saying. But these days, a fast integrated GPU (which the 4250/4270 is by the way) is necessary for everyday stuff. Windows Aero, media center, playback of HD video that requires a graphics chip that older i-gpus couldn't pull off. Plus with the advent of GPGPU processing, a relatively powerful chip is a must in any computer these days.

I'm not taking a jab at intel. They make a good product, my last desktop had one. My mom and dad's laptops (which I picked out) have intel. And to be honest, the new Sandy Bridge on-gpu graphics are quite impressive.


Anything integrated in the last three years from Intel has been able to pull this off bud. Those are not "demanding" tasks. Given where you work, I'm sure you know that. Heck, I'm typing this on a cr*ptacular HP Pavilion DV6000 with a T5300 and integrated 945 graphics, running Aero without any issues. It even plays videos
wink.gif


The jump from those tasks to something like playing a game as basic as Left 4 Dead is where the integrated GPU's show their inability to perform. And it doesn't matter who makes the integrated GPU at that point.

Ninja-edited that post BTW, I hadn't noticed initially that the Lenovo had integrated graphics. I was thinking of the two ASUS models we were discussing.
 
I have a Lenovo G460 that I have had for a few months now and it is a good machine. It is quiet and the build quality is definitely high. It is a $850 laptop but I got it for $600 using a rebate code I got off of those deal websites. I ordered directly from Lenovo. I only kick myself that I got one with a 14.1" screen....I use a 17" laptop at work and I really like bigger screens.

Asus is top notch too...you really can't go wrong with either Lenovo or Asus. I'd personally go with whatever is cheaper. Check the deal websites for codes to enter on checkout for $200+ discounts.
 
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