About to purchase gaming laptop, feedback, advice and opinions needed!

[LaptopGamer1]

Hello, this is my first thread and therefore I apologise if this thread is in the incorrect section.

Anyway, I'm after a gaming laptop. I want my money to go the furthest on a budget of £700 - £800. (Yes I understand that this will not compete with a gaming desktop, however a desktop is impractical for me and is out of the question).

Here are some contenders I have found so far, I preferably wish to purchase from John Lewis as they are offering a 3 year warranty until tomorrow.

http/www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-ideapad-y500-laptop-intel-core-i5-2-6ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-15-6-graphite/p231848024 (Probably my favourite so far, however it is unfortunate that the second graphics card for the SLI configuration is not sold in the uk!)

http/www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-ideapad-y580-laptop-intel-core-i5-2-5ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-16ssd-15-6-grey/p231740151 (In my opinion this isn't worth the extra £100)

http/www.johnlewis.com/hp-envy-6-1202sa-ultrabook-intel-core-i7-1-9ghz-8gb-ram-500gb-32gb-ssd-15-6-aluminium/p231820464

http/www.johnlewis.com/asus-n56vj-s4032h-laptop-intel-core-i7-2-3ghz-8gb-ram-750gb-15-6-silver/p231740116

These are the laptops from John Lewis that I'm considering, all feedback much appreciated! I'm no expert so if you manage to find a good deal on John Lewis then please post me the link, Thank you!

 

[unreal9400]

Lenovo ideapad y500

 

[mattatcomputer]

For me it's out of the first two. I'm not sure how much money is an issue for you, but for me I would go for the y580 with a gtx660m. After all you want a gaming laptop, and as laptops are underpowered as it is, I would reccommend getting the best graphics card you possibly can.

GTX 660m
http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-660M.71859.0.html
GT 650m

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html

The frame rates for modern games for each of them are at the bottom of their pages, I reccommend you compare them and see whether you would sacrifice more money for gaming performace or vice versa.
Also, find out exactly which i5 model the y500 has, it is just listed as i5. On an additional note, I understand that John Lewis are good with warranties, having brought many items there myself, but pcspecialist.co.uk offers a good warranty plan too, although I have not brought off them, according to my friend their customer service is good and they replaced his faulty graphics card free of charge. Pcspecialist are also cheaper, but there's not too much difference, so it's a good decision no matter where you buy from.

 

[LaptopGamer1]

Lenovo ideapad y500

May I ask why exactly? I need everyone to justify their choice please. Ordering before 7pm tonight (United Kingdom).

Thank you

 

[LaptopGamer1]

For me it's out of the first two. I'm not sure how much money is an issue for you, but for me I would go for the y580 with a gtx660m. After all you want a gaming laptop, and as laptops are underpowered as it is, I would reccommend getting the best graphics card you possibly can.

GTX 660m
http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-660M.71859.0.html
GT 650m

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html

The frame rates for modern games for each of them are at the bottom of their pages, I reccommend you compare them and see whether you would sacrifice more money for gaming performace or vice versa.
Also, find out exactly which i5 model the y500 has, it is just listed as i5. On an additional note, I understand that John Lewis are good with warranties, having brought many items there myself, but pcspecialist.co.uk offers a good warranty plan too, although I have not brought off them, according to my friend their customer service is good and they replaced his faulty graphics card free of charge. Pcspecialist are also cheaper, but there's not too much difference, so it's a good decision no matter where you buy from.

Ok, I've compared the gtx660m against the gt650m and I can't see much difference? but I am most probably wrong. I've tried to find the exact i5 processor which the y500 is using and it seems impossible as their are multiple version of the y500 without any identification. For example I found some info that a y500 uses a i5 3230M(2.60GHz) processor but I believe that particular i5 came with a duel graphics card set up and therefore is not the one that John lewis has on offer. Hmmm..

I suppose the extra £100 for the y580 is for the premium speakers, the ssd (which I presume windows 8 is already installed on) and the better graphics card.

If there is no significant difference between the GTX660 and the GT650 then I may stick with the y500 to save £100 but I'm no expert on FPS comparison. May I also ask in your opinion how does the y500 compare to these http/www.johnlewis.com/hp-envy-6-1202sa-ultrabook-intel-core-i7-1-9ghz-8gb-ram-500gb-32gb-ssd-15-6-aluminium/p231820464 or this http/www.johnlewis.com/sony-vaio-sve1513c4esi-laptop-intel-core-i7-2-6ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-15-6-silver/p231836629 That should then ensure I make up my mind, I know the Sony has 1GB graphics card but has a i7 so it seems a bit give or take really. Thanks for all your help.

UPDATE* I've compared the AMD graphics cards found within the HP and SONY as far as I can see even the GT650 appears considerably better. I suppose now it is between the Y500 and Y580, is the extra £100 for the Y580 Justifiable. I will have a good think about it and update you on my decision, meanwhile feel free to post more comments on this. Thanks!

 

[mattatcomputer]

For me it's out of the first two. I'm not sure how much money is an issue for you, but for me I would go for the y580 with a gtx660m. After all you want a gaming laptop, and as laptops are underpowered as it is, I would reccommend getting the best graphics card you possibly can.

GTX 660m
http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-660M.71859.0.html
GT 650m

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html

The frame rates for modern games for each of them are at the bottom of their pages, I reccommend you compare them and see whether you would sacrifice more money for gaming performace or vice versa.
Also, find out exactly which i5 model the y500 has, it is just listed as i5. On an additional note, I understand that John Lewis are good with warranties, having brought many items there myself, but pcspecialist.co.uk offers a good warranty plan too, although I have not brought off them, according to my friend their customer service is good and they replaced his faulty graphics card free of charge. Pcspecialist are also cheaper, but there's not too much difference, so it's a good decision no matter where you buy from.

Ok, I've compared the gtx660m against the gt650m and I can't see much difference? but I am most probably wrong. I've tried to find the exact i5 processor which the y500 is using and it seems impossible as their are multiple version of the y500 without any identification. For example I found some info that a y500 uses a i5 3230M(2.60GHz) processor but I believe that particular i5 came with a duel graphics card set up and therefore is not the one that John lewis has on offer. Hmmm..

I suppose the extra £100 for the y580 is for the premium speakers, the ssd (which I presume windows 8 is already installed on) and the better graphics card.

If there is no significant difference between the GTX660 and the GT650 then I may stick with the y500 to save £100 but I'm no expert on FPS comparison. May I also ask in your opinion how does the y500 compare to these http/www.johnlewis.com/hp-envy-6-1202sa-ultrabook-intel-core-i7-1-9ghz-8gb-ram-500gb-32gb-ssd-15-6-aluminium/p231820464 or this http/www.johnlewis.com/sony-vaio-sve1513c4esi-laptop-intel-core-i7-2-6ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-15-6-silver/p231836629 That should then ensure I make up my mind, I know the Sony has 1GB graphics card but has a i7 so it seems a bit give or take really. Thanks for all your help.

UPDATE* I've compared the AMD graphics cards found within the HP and SONY as far as I can see even the GT650 appears considerably better. I suppose now it is between the Y500 and Y580, is the extra £100 for the Y580 Justifiable. I will have a good think about it and update you on my decision, meanwhile feel free to post more comments on this. Thanks!

Yeah, it's true there's not much difference, the gtx660m is about 11% better according to the same website. But If it were me, as I said, I would be trying to get the best possible GPU for a laptop that I could with my budget because they are already, as a whole, underpowered vs Desktop GPUS, and in order to get a gaming laptop - a good gaming laptop, more investment is required than a desktop. Yes, I was thinking you would contact them and ask which i5 it was , looking through the internet is pretty much useless because it's just a chassis, there will be a wide variation throughout the internet on the hardware inside them. But yeah it's up to you. One other point I might make, is that obviously you can't really upgrade laptops, it's pretty much bin them once they are obsolete, so investing in a more powerful graphics card will make it last longer gaming-wise. However, basically all of my recommendations have been based purely from a gaming perspective, you may want to factor things like model reliability, battery life, resolution etc into your final decision, and good luck!

I just looked through all the laptops on John Lewis at your price range and I am now convinced that the Y580 woud be my best by a long way, it has a better GPU which is pretty crucial on laptops, longer battery life which is always good, and a tasty SSD to load up OS and your main games alot quicker. I think it definitely justifies the extra 100 quid, this is just my opinion though.

 

[g-unit1111]

You'll seriously hate life gaming on an ultrabook. The CPUs are much slower to save power and conserve battery life. They also use incredibly slow Intel HD3000 or the built in Radeon on AMD processors. You won't be able to play, say, Battlefield 3 on 1080P with those chips. I'd go with the Lenovo Y500 - I just bought one myself, very patiently waiting for it to ship. :lol:

 

[LaptopGamer1]

You'll seriously hate life gaming on an ultrabook. The CPUs are much slower to save power and conserve battery life. They also use incredibly slow Intel HD3000 or the built in Radeon on AMD processors. You won't be able to play, say, Battlefield 3 on 1080P with those chips. I'd go with the Lenovo Y500 - I just bought one myself, very patiently waiting for it to ship. :lol:

Does the Y500 you ordered have the same specifications as the one I'm considering purchasing at John Lewis? Including the Intel i5 CPU? ----------> http/www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-ideapad-y500-laptop-intel-core-i5-2-6ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-15-6-graphite/p231848024

 

[mattatcomputer]

You'll seriously hate life gaming on an ultrabook. The CPUs are much slower to save power and conserve battery life. They also use incredibly slow Intel HD3000 or the built in Radeon on AMD processors. You won't be able to play, say, Battlefield 3 on 1080P with those chips. I'd go with the Lenovo Y500 - I just bought one myself, very patiently waiting for it to ship. :lol:

Although I do agree with you somewhat, laptops are not the ideal gaming solution, I do not think they are as bad as you make out, seeing as a decent gaming laptop say 600-700 quid can play alot of new games at decent FPS at 720p. For some, the only choice is to game on a laptop. Your points about the HD 3000 etc become irrelevant when in the market for a gaming laptop, of course you won't be using those inbuilt graphics cards, you will be looking for a discrete one. And, he won't be playing 1080p anyway, both of those laptops are 720p.

 

[g-unit1111]

Does the Y500 you ordered have the same specifications as the one I'm considering purchasing at John Lewis? Including the Intel i5 CPU? ----------> http/www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-ideapad-y500-laptop-intel-core-i5-2-6ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-15-6-graphite/p231848024

No, the one I ordered was direct from Lenovo. These are the specs:

Intel Core i7-3630M
NVIDIA Geforce GTX 750M
8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
15.6" FHD LED Anti-Glare Wedge 1920x1080
1TB 5400 RPM+16GB SSD
6 Cell Lithium-Ion (will upgrade to 9 cell later on)

http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=5B0116E237099FA0FCA012D9B20ED2FB&action=init

Although I do agree with you somewhat, laptops are not the ideal gaming solution, I do not think they are as bad as you make out, seeing as a decent gaming laptop say 600-700 quid can play alot of new games at decent FPS at 720p. For some, the only choice is to game on a laptop. Your points about the HD 3000 etc become irrelevant when in the market for a gaming laptop, of course you won't be using those inbuilt graphics cards, you will be looking for a discrete one. And, he won't be playing 1080p anyway, both of those laptops are 720p.

I didn't say all laptops were not meant for gaming - just Ultrabooks. They're meant for people who want to use the tablet functions in addition to having a full PC to multitask with.

 

[mattatcomputer]

Does the Y500 you ordered have the same specifications as the one I'm considering purchasing at John Lewis? Including the Intel i5 CPU? ----------> http/www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-ideapad-y500-laptop-intel-core-i5-2-6ghz-8gb-ram-1tb-15-6-graphite/p231848024

No, the one I ordered was direct from Lenovo. These are the specs:

Intel Core i7-3630M
NVIDIA Geforce GTX 750M
8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
15.6" FHD LED Anti-Glare Wedge 1920x1080
1TB 5400 RPM+16GB SSD
6 Cell Lithium-Ion (will upgrade to 9 cell later on)

http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=5B0116E237099FA0FCA012D9B20ED2FB&action=init

Although I do agree with you somewhat, laptops are not the ideal gaming solution, I do not think they are as bad as you make out, seeing as a decent gaming laptop say 600-700 quid can play alot of new games at decent FPS at 720p. For some, the only choice is to game on a laptop. Your points about the HD 3000 etc become irrelevant when in the market for a gaming laptop, of course you won't be using those inbuilt graphics cards, you will be looking for a discrete one. And, he won't be playing 1080p anyway, both of those laptops are 720p.

I didn't say all laptops were not meant for gaming - just Ultrabooks. They're meant for people who want to use the tablet functions in addition to having a full PC to multitask with.

My bad, assumed you were talking about laptops rather than ultrabooks.

 

[g-unit1111]

My bad, assumed you were talking about laptops rather than ultrabooks.

It happens. I can't wait to get mine and put it through its' paces. :lol:

 

[mattatcomputer]

My bad, assumed you were talking about laptops rather than ultrabooks.

It happens. I can't wait to get mine and put it through its' paces. :lol:

Yeah , the specs look impressive and that is a nice chassis. I wanted to ask you, how good is the gtx 750m because it's not on notebookcheck, how does it stack up to say the 600 series?

 

[unreal9400]

Lenovo ideapad y500

May I ask why exactly? I need everyone to justify their choice please. Ordering before 7pm tonight (United Kingdom).

Thank you

Because the GT 650M will handle most games very well at 1366x768 compared to GT 630M found on most laptops.

 

[LaptopGamer1]

I've finally made a decision - The Y580 is on order as I decided to go for the GTX660 plus the SSD is a bonus!

 

[mattatcomputer]

I've finally made a decision - The Y580 is on order as I decided to go for the GTX660 plus the SSD is a bonus!

!

 

[LaptopGamer1]

Thank you for all your help everyone!

 

[g-unit1111]

My bad, assumed you were talking about laptops rather than ultrabooks.

It happens. I can't wait to get mine and put it through its' paces. :lol:

Yeah , the specs look impressive and that is a nice chassis. I wanted to ask you, how good is the gtx 750m because it's not on notebookcheck, how does it stack up to say the 600 series?

I don't know, I'll have to do some fact checking.