best specs for $1200

[strelec]

Hi, i've been trying to find the best laptop solution for several days and hope to get some advise here.
main purpose is work : a lot of multi-tasking including photoshop, some simple graphical editors, ms office = word, excel, powepoint, visio, several instances of prototyping software like justinmind and axure, a lot of testing on different browsers such as 10-15 tabs simultaneously opened in safari, iE, chrome and firefox is not a rare thing.
I'm not a big gamer, but I play sometimes and if I do i play witcher 2 or crysis and prefer to do so on high quality

so what i think minimum for myself is:
15.6 fhd 1920x1080
180gb+ ssd
intel i7 2.4hz min
geforce gt 650m or better
16gb ram
and around $1200

here are couple ideas i got:
1.
lenovo y500
16gb ram
250 ssd
this all comes up to less than $1200 and has gt750m and 2 premium jbl speakers

2.
custom HP envy
has all i need built in , 4 speakers , has gt650m

3.
custom ASUS N56VJ
pretty much same config except gt635m (that worries me), has Built-in Speaker with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower

those are all custom models, and you can't find exact benchmarks to compare. All are around 1200, and I'm personally leaning towards the 1st option since this is the best GPU, and I get to choose my own SSD vs getting an unknown brand.

this is my 4th laptop , my last 2 were ASUS . Even though I never had any issues with ASUS, I'm not anyhow connected to this brand. I've never owned lenovo or HP.
so want see what you guys would choose and if anyone had any good/bad experience with those brands and models?

thanks
Dan

 

[strelec]

http/www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab48711-metabox_w350et_156_fhd_intel_i7120gb_ssddvdrwgtx660_2gbwindows_8#detailTabs=tabSpecifications

less RAM
smaller SSD
$60 international shipping
GTX660 is on the same level with gt750m

so what's your point?

 

[xHALORDx]

http/www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab48711-metabox_w350et_156_fhd_intel_i7120gb_ssddvdrwgtx660_2gbwindows_8#detailTabs=tabSpecifications

less RAM
smaller SSD
$60 international shipping
GTX660 is on the same level with gt750m

so what's your point?

You dont have to buy it from that site, its just a random site, you could probably get it for a lot less in America or Europe so theres the shipping. The GTX 660 and gt750m are on the same level so whats the problem and for the SSD it you will lose some space yeah but if you bought this laptop in US it would probably be a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

 

[strelec]

if you bought this laptop in US it would probably be a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

I don't' want to sound rude or something, but just don't reply if you can't help.

 

[xHALORDx]

1. no for the last two as they are not cost effective.

2. You can buy SSD later, I'm not sure you should include that in your budget calculations

3. The Y500 with two GT 650Ms or two GT 750Ms are the most cost effective

4. This site offers more options. You should check

5. This XoticPC "Force" with GTX 675MX is another cost effective option. 1220$ for cash and without windows OS. But that's the fastest. You can also find GTX 670MX equipped laptops for less, like the Sager NP9130.

thoughts?

Obviously better if your American its just things are so different in Aus so I'm unaware of most laptops on non .au sites because they are too expensive over here.

 

[strelec]

1. no for the last two as they are not cost effective.
thoughts?

thanks for reply. i'd agree with your 100% if gaming was the primary purpose. but primary purpose is work and multitasking. So CPU, SSD and RAM are crucial and must haves for me. In regards to GPU cost efficiency. XoticPC "Force" with GTX 675MX once upgraded to i7, 16gb Ram and 256SSD comes up to $1664. Sager NP9130 has most links broken and the only one i was able to google is around $1500. Generally once you go GTX675MX, SLI modes etc it's extra 250-500, +1.5-2.5lbs in weight and reduced battery life. Boost in video performance is not worth such sacrifice IMO.

 

[strelec]

you didn't say that you are from Austria..

no, I'm from US.

 

[strelec]

1. yes, i know how to install SSD, RAM and OS.
2. I need at least 180gb+ SSD. Samsung 840pro 256gb has a lot of nice reviews and great benchmark results and good price. I'm using SSD as the only drive and have external hard drive for storage.
3. I can and after purchase of SSD and RAM it will turn to be more expensive than lenovo and will have gt650 vs lenovo's gt750
4. as I described in the initial post, work is: a lot of multi-tasking including photoshop, some simple graphical editors, ms office = word, excel, powepoint, visio, several instances of prototyping software like justinmind and axure, a lot of testing on different browsers such as 10-15 tabs simultaneously opened in safari, iE, chrome and firefox is not a rare thing.

 

[strelec]

2. Why do you need the more expensive pro version? yes, it had nice reviews, but it is faster than most need.

3. It is 815$ instead 850$ and has a matte screen. RAM and SSD are the same price as for the Lenovo - no?

4. The is not cpu multi-tasking. Yes, it will require RAM, though

2. that's what you buy SSD for - so it's fast, right? it's $40 difference - you deem it inefficient?
3. it's $150 extra for 1920x1080 display and I need it at 1920x1080 - I'm reviewing a lot of website elements and designs and I need high resolution.
4. agree! But in todays market there is just no much discount for lower grade CPUs. Like same configuration laptop with intel i5 instead of i7 would cost the same. I still want to have 650m or higher - this is assumed gaming laptop by most manufacturers and since it's gaming laptop and CPU has to match the purpose, so vast majority will have i7 there anyway.

what i started this thread for is I just don't know which brand is better - i went to nearby retail stores - but all i could find was ASUS and no HP envy or Lenovo or any other laptops in the range that i was looking for.. There is microcenter that should keep in it all in stock , but it's like 3 hours drive both ways so i was hoping to get some idea about the brands. Particularly Lenovo since I've never used it.

 

[strelec]

2. yes, inefficient as you don't have use for it. The non-pro version is fast enough along other options like Plextor M5 and OCZ Vector. Even Anandtech site, according to their own article on their storage system, use the much slower Intel 520..

3. The HP it's 815$ with the 1080p screen, I7, 8GB DDR3 and a Hybrid HDD which is very nice too. No?

2. true. I personally use intel 520 for my desktop and i'm happy. The problem is Samsung 840 pro is not just faster it's actually $20-30 cheaper than intel 520, and has excellent reviews from both pros and users. Plextor MS i honestly never heard of but from the first glance doesn't have that many reviews to make any judgement and OCZ Vector had good and bad reviews and still more expensive than 840pro. And i do look at reviews SSD is not just about speed but quality as well

3. are we looking at the same HP? I can['t figure out how you get to 815

 

[strelec]

3. Did you check the link I posted?

i didn't see the code. yes true comes up to 815 vs 850 lenovo, BUT this is i7-3610QM vs i7-3630QM and GT650 1gb vs GT750 2gb and if CPUs are not much different, there is quite a difference in GPUs that is well worth $35 imo.
Do you know of any known lenovo flaws? I mean it just goes down to brand choice.. There is Lenovo, Asus, HP and Dell all in the same price range and same custom specs...

 

[strelec]

3610QM vs 3630QM - doesn't matter.

GT 650M vs GT 750M - true. Though you can overclock the GT 650M anyway. Worth 35$, but: the dv6t screen is anti-reflections one, unlike the Y500 one. The HDD is faster too.

I'm just pointing out this option. I still think the Y500 should be the one for you. For 860$. Even 250GB SSD will cost you 150-170$ with some good coupon and 8GB DDR3 will suffice till you get some nice deal on 16GB DDR3 (and even if not, doesn't matter)
There aren't specific brand flaws. The Y500 SLI version has lower battery performance and a glossy screen. There was a problem with the touchpad, but it's ok now

Thanks for your opinion and help. Decided to go with Lenovo Y500 w/ single gt750m + separately purchase SSD. Great performance for the money , ultra bay adds up flexibility. And you are probably right about RAM. I'll wait till it gets cheaper. I'll live with 8gb for now.

 

[Adrian_JH]

http/www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab48711-metabox_w350et_156_fhd_intel_i7120gb_ssddvdrwgtx660_2gbwindows_8#detailTabs=tabSpecifications

less RAM
smaller SSD
$60 international shipping
GTX660 is on the same level with gt750m

so what's your point?

You dont have to buy it from that site, its just a random site, you could probably get it for a lot less in America or Europe so theres the shipping. The GTX 660 and gt750m are on the same level so whats the problem and for the SSD it you will lose some space yeah but if you bought this laptop in US it would probably be a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

GTX 660 and GT750 are Not on the same level the GT750 is better.

 

[Adrian_JH]

3610QM vs 3630QM - doesn't matter.

GT 650M vs GT 750M - true. Though you can overclock the GT 650M anyway. Worth 35$, but: the dv6t screen is anti-reflections one, unlike the Y500 one. The HDD is faster too.

I'm just pointing out this option. I still think the Y500 should be the one for you. For 860$. Even 250GB SSD will cost you 150-170$ with some good coupon and 8GB DDR3 will suffice till you get some nice deal on 16GB DDR3 (and even if not, doesn't matter)
There aren't specific brand flaws. The Y500 SLI version has lower battery performance and a glossy screen. There was a problem with the touchpad, but it's ok now

Thanks for your opinion and help. Decided to go with Lenovo Y500 w/ single gt750m + separately purchase SSD. Great performance for the money , ultra bay adds up flexibility. And you are probably right about RAM. I'll wait till it gets cheaper. I'll live with 8gb for now.

Recently ordered one of Lenovo's Y500 myself, just waiting to get it now. 16Gb of ram is over kill 6GB is quite frankly enough, swapping out the 16gb mSata will be nice for a good OS drive. The GT750M will work well for alot of the new games on high....ultra @ 1080p is another story.

 

[strelec]

3610QM vs 3630QM - doesn't matter.

GT 650M vs GT 750M - true. Though you can overclock the GT 650M anyway. Worth 35$, but: the dv6t screen is anti-reflections one, unlike the Y500 one. The HDD is faster too.

I'm just pointing out this option. I still think the Y500 should be the one for you. For 860$. Even 250GB SSD will cost you 150-170$ with some good coupon and 8GB DDR3 will suffice till you get some nice deal on 16GB DDR3 (and even if not, doesn't matter)
There aren't specific brand flaws. The Y500 SLI version has lower battery performance and a glossy screen. There was a problem with the touchpad, but it's ok now

Thanks for your opinion and help. Decided to go with Lenovo Y500 w/ single gt750m + separately purchase SSD. Great performance for the money , ultra bay adds up flexibility. And you are probably right about RAM. I'll wait till it gets cheaper. I'll live with 8gb for now.

Recently ordered one of Lenovo's Y500 myself, just waiting to get it now. 16Gb of ram is over kill 6GB is quite frankly enough, swapping out the 16gb mSata will be nice for a good OS drive. The GT750M will work well for alot of the new games on high....ultra @ 1080p is another story.

i ended up getting y500 which should arrive tomorrow and 256g msata plextor m5m . I was surprised, but after spending an hour with manager at Lenovo support I found out that you cannot use the ultra bay for your regular SSD drive, so I had to get msata ... This is quite weird as I've seen a lot of threads from ppl who installed ssd in ultrabay...
decided to hold on RAM since it's quite expensive now and 16gb will not make too much diference vs default 8gb for what I'm doing...

 

[Urkryptoknight]

Hi, i've been trying to find the best laptop solution for several days and hope to get some advise here.
main purpose is work : a lot of multi-tasking including photoshop, some simple graphical editors, ms office = word, excel, powepoint, visio, several instances of prototyping software like justinmind and axure, a lot of testing on different browsers such as 10-15 tabs simultaneously opened in safari, iE, chrome and firefox is not a rare thing.
I'm not a big gamer, but I play sometimes and if I do i play witcher 2 or crysis and prefer to do so on high quality

so what i think minimum for myself is:
15.6 fhd 1920x1080
180gb+ ssd
intel i7 2.4hz min
geforce gt 650m or better
16gb ram
and around $1200

here are couple ideas i got:
1.
lenovo y500
16gb ram
250 ssd
this all comes up to less than $1200 and has gt750m and 2 premium jbl speakers

2.
custom HP envy
has all i need built in , 4 speakers , has gt650m

3.
custom ASUS N56VJ
pretty much same config except gt635m (that worries me), has Built-in Speaker with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower

those are all custom models, and you can't find exact benchmarks to compare. All are around 1200, and I'm personally leaning towards the 1st option since this is the best GPU, and I get to choose my own SSD vs getting an unknown brand.

this is my 4th laptop , my last 2 were ASUS . Even though I never had any issues with ASUS, I'm not anyhow connected to this brand. I've never owned lenovo or HP.
so want see what you guys would choose and if anyone had any good/bad experience with those brands and models?

thanks
Dan

 

[Urkryptoknight]

It all depends on the price but i would go for 8+GB of ram for a laptop or pc if you are doing the 15 pages i would recomind getting something with a good graphics card nividia 500+ series are for photo shop but your main thing is going to be ram. i would personaly get somthing 12gb of ram or more but 12 would work just fine for years