Advice on choosing a Laptop

[Gregorio 2012]

Hello All

I would be very grateful for some advice on the purchase of a new laptop. I will try to be brief;
I will be using the laptop for a lot of Photo editing and some Video editing. I will also be using it for some Gaming (RPG/First person shooter type)
My current laptop is a Intel Core2Duo T9600 2.80 Ghz, 8 GB Ram, ATI Radeon HD 4650 and takes about 3 minutes from the time I turn it on to the time I am able to open a program. Data transfer is very slow as well. Gaming not so terrible.
I have a little extra cash (always nice) and I think it is time to update. I have the following 2 systems I am looking at purchasing;
Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 Laptop - 08626JU - Dusk Black (with USB 3.0)
Processor: 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM Processor ( 2.2GHz 1333MHz 6MB )
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 1GB
Total memory: 8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
Display: 15.6" HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
Camera: Integrated 2.0MP Camera
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200
Optical Drive: DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Network Card: Intel 1000 BGN Wireless
OR
HP dv6tqe series $1,274.99
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
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Processor 2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2720QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz
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Graphics card 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7470M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
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Memory FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
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Hard drive 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
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Display 15.6" Full HD HP Anti-glare LED (1920 x 1080)
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Primary optical drive Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
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Networking 802.11b/g/n WLAN
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Some of my big questions are;
Will I really notice a difference in speed between the HP with i7-2720QM vs the Lenovo with i7-2670QM Processor?
Which is the better Graphics card between the; NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 1GB or 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7470M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics
As for speed, should I go for a lower end i7 processor and spend an extra 200.00 and get 12GB of Ram or is the RAM not as essential for speed and data transfer as processor? Or Put 200.00 and get an i7-2820QM (2.3 GHz, 8MB L3 Cache)-or will the difference not be that noticeable?
I guess I am asking which system is the best bang for the buck. I can go as high as 1400.00, but I would prefer to stay around 1000.00.
I thank you all in advance for any help/advice.
Wayne

 

[omega21xx]

You're better off with the first build you put up, the 555m will be better than the 7470 since it's just a rebadge of the 6470 (correct me if i'm wrong). The extra 100mhz on the cpu for an extra 200 is not worth it, you won't notice any difference. If budget and laptop allows you to, an SSD would be helpful for boot time if it's an issue.
Edit: adding extra ram could help seeing as you will be doing video editing, but 8gb should do just fine. If you see all your ram being eaten up during video editing feel free to get some more ram through newegg (since it will be much cheaper than buying the laptop with more ram)

 

[WR2]

the 555m will be better than the 7470 since it's just a rebadge of the 6470 (correct me if i'm wrong).

It's a re-badge of the 6490.
GT 555M is a big jump up in gaming performance over the HD 7470.
Going from a Mobility Radeon HD 4650 to a HD 7470 is actually a drop in performance.

 

[WR2]

You'd need to find a HP dv6tqe notebook with the HD 6770M/7690M to match the GT 555M in gaming performance. I think that's about a $100 upgrade option.

The extra $200 for the HP dv6tqe is mostly for the 1920x1080 LCD screen (about $150) and not the CPU differences.

 

[Gregorio 2012]

Thank you for the advice, I have a lot to think about now, mostly which company builds the better Laptop, HP or Lenovo.

Thank you again for the advice

 

[Guest]

Lenovo has nicer keyboards for sure.

 

[WR2]

I think Lenovo edges out HP by a narrow margin, but it's a close thing. I think you can safely choose based on price and features alone.