Acer Aspire E5-575G-37W7 vs Lenovo Ideapad 320

[icy_fox]

As the tittle suggests, I am deciding between the two laptops mentioned. The Acer has an I3 6006U processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, a GTX 950M 2GB dedicated graphics card, a 1080p 15.6 TN panel screen and a 256GB SSD. The Lenovo has an I5 7200U, 4GB DDR4 RAM, Intel HD 620 integrated graphics, a 1080p 15.6 TN panel screen and a 256 SSD. I can get both laptops for basicly the same price (the Lenovo is slightly cheeper). The laptop will be used for school work, media consumption (watching films, series, Youtube, Netflix etc.) on the screen and sometimes plugged to a 1080p TV via HDMI. It will also be used for some college grade programming and occasional lighter video games (mostly League of Legends).

Which one would you pick? Should I go with the better processor or a worse processor with more RAM and dedicated graphics?

 

[GreyCatz]

I would go for the Lenovo for these reasons:

a) The i7-7200U CPU comes with the HD 620 IGP and this combination should handle League of Legends as well as your daily schedule without problems.
b) RAM capacity can be upgraded to as much as 12GBs, and here's how you do it:
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOXAhQeAxpY

NOTE: As you can probably tell from the fidgety maneouvrering, Lenovo clearly do not encourage this procedure and they may consider this a no-warranty case.

c) Even though this is an entry-level IdeaPad series, I'd still consider it superior to the Acer, which as a brand suffers from poor build-quality and worse customer support.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[icy_fox]

I would go for the Lenovo for these reasons:

a) The i7-7200U CPU comes with the HD 620 IGP and this combination should handle League of Legends as well as your daily schedule without problems.
b) RAM capacity can be upgraded to as much as 12GBs, and here's how you do it:
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOXAhQeAxpY

NOTE: As you can probably tell from the fidgety maneouvrering, Lenovo clearly do not encourage this procedure and they may consider this a no-warranty case.

c) Even though this is an entry-level IdeaPad series, I'd still consider it superior to the Acer, which as a brand suffers from poor build-quality and worse customer support.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

Thank you for this detailed answer, though I have heard the same for Lenovo laptops (about the build quality). Also, the screen is important for me, which would you pick in terms of the screen (I know they are both horrible TN panels, but still

 

[GreyCatz]

Well, that's a bit more difficult to answer...

I have only seen Acer screens when I'm shopping around in computer shops, and I can't honestly say they look particularly bad. TN panels are getting increasingly better every year, and Acer's ComfyView panels do seem clear and crisp enough to me.

I do, however, have personal experience with Lenovo's TN panels, and they are absolutely crap! I have an IdeaPad Y50 that originally came with such a TN panel, and it was so bad that after a year I bought a replacement IPS panel. It was like getting a completely new laptop! Unfortunately, the IdeaPad 320 is a rather basic model and I can't find any replacement IPS panels.

So, if the screen is very important to you, it could very well be that Acer's ComfyView TN panel is better than Lenovo's panel in the IdeaPad 320 - at least it can't possibly be worse.

One last thing: You do realize that the Acer comes with Linux OS and not Windows?

 

[icy_fox]

Well, that's a bit more difficult to answer...

I have only seen Acer screens when I'm shopping around in computer shops, and I can't honestly say they look particularly bad. TN panels are getting increasingly better every year, and Acer's ComfyView panels do seem clear and crisp enough to me.

I do, however, have personal experience with Lenovo's TN panels, and they are absolutely crap! I have an IdeaPad Y50 that originally came with such a TN panel, and it was so bad that after a year I bought a replacement IPS panel. It was like getting a completely new laptop! Unfortunately, the IdeaPad 320 is a rather basic model and I can't find any replacement IPS panels.

So, if the screen is very important to you, it could very well be that Acer's ComfyView TN panel is better than Lenovo's panel in the IdeaPad 320 - at least it can't possibly be worse.

One last thing: You do realize that the Acer comes with Linux OS and not Windows?

Thank you, I have seen both laptops in a store (or at least simmilar models) and the Acer as you said didnt seem to be bad for a TN panel, while the Lenovo was just awful (the viewing angles shocked me with how bad they were). As the laptop will be used in college for films & tv shows, I will probably go with the Acer. I dont think the i3 is that much worse than the i5 (based on my experience with desktop equievalants) and a better GPU + more RAM never hurts
And yes, thank you for pointing it out. I actually have a Windows 10 license so I will just install it myself.