General laptop questions/ new lenovo y570

[dirksey]

Hello,
I just ordered a lenovo y570 last week during their doorbuster sale (i7-2670, 8gb RAM, 500gb 7200rpm hdd, NVIDIA 555m 1gb ddr5, 15.6" screen, optimus) for $850. It's supposed to very here on the 4th, and I had a few questions about laptops in general and the y570 specifically before I dive in.

General questions...
1.) How much space of that 500gb hdd can I fill up without noticable slowdown? Might be a stupid question, but this is my first laptop and I've got a fair amount of music and movies that I'd like to put on it off our home desktop.
2.) I read a owners forum on notebookreviews.com and there seemed to be a lot of talk about updating drivers and BIOS and stuff. How much of that do I need to worry about, and will the computer update automatically? Is there a program I should get that would update those for me if not?

And one question specific to the y570...
I heard a few people complaining about optimus switching gpu's at less than opportune times. The y570 has a switch that turns optimus on. Is there any way to make this switch manually switch between integrated and dedicated graphics, rather than letting optimus decide?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
1)Well,it totally depends on what you have.Music and pictures usually don't take much space.Videos and apps are the 2 things that take more space.For me,500GB is the borderline but it might be fine for you.Overall,if your main files are music tracks,you'll be fine with a 500GB drive

2)You don't need to update the BIOS unless your notebook has a problem(or for example,the new BIOS lets you add a new hardware)but yes you definitely have to upgrade your laptop's VGA drivers occasionally since it brings performance improvements and stability(if you play games)

3)Don't think so.It automatically switches to the dedicated card when you open a game or a 3D intensive app

 

[dirksey]

Thanks for the response. A few quick follow ups...
1.) Alright, well I only have like 30gb of music, but games will probably take a big chunk. How much space do standard definition movies take on average?
2.) Good news on the BIOS. So I should just check for display and video drivers then? And is there a good program that would keep those up to date for me?
3.) Hmmm, alrighty then. Thanks!

 

[dirksey]

Also what do u guys think about cooling pads? Worth the money? Any recommendations? (I'd be looking for one I could use on my lap, since I know that that can block air flow and heat the laptop up really fast)
Thanks again!

 

[Maziar]

1)Can't tell really.Depends on the quality of the vid,but let's say a HD movie is around 2GB-4GB so that gives you an idea
2)Yes.Well the best thing is to check the Lenvo's site occasionally to see the available
updates

As for cooling pads,well get the laptop first,if it was hot for your usage,then get a cooling pad,but I doubt you'll need one.

 

[dirksey]

Sweet, thanks!