help with laptop choice...

[foreverblitz]

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum. I am an extremely heavy console gamer and I have been looking to get into PC gaming and I need a laptop for school anyways. I was looking to spend between 500-700 dollars. After extensive research I have singled out the Acer aspire v3 54s6.
Intel i5 4210u 1.7ghz -2.7ghz
Nvidia geforce gt 840m 2gb
1tb HDD 5400rpm
720p 15.6 display

I can find it new for $600
My question is, is it worth spending another $200 for the lenovo y40. I'm hearing the GPU is similar, mainly the i7 is the difference I am seeing. Unless bottlenecking (which Idk if either of these will have this issue) will hinder the GPU on the Acer. The 14in screen on the y40 doesn't bother me, I might even prefer it. Here are the specs of the lenovo.
Lenovo y40
i7 4510u 2.00 GHz 4mb
Radeon r9 m275 2gb
1tb hybrid 8gb sshd
Full HD 14 in
I can probably get it refurbished for $750 to 800$
Thanks for any help and if anyone is knows about of the lenovo sale where I can get this for $720. I am fully aware, but it ends tomorrow and I won't be able to buy until later this week, yeah I know... Suckksss.
Fyi I will get the year warranty buying refurb, with about 10 months left so that's a plus. And please don't tell me to buy a desktop, I used to game on PCs years back and am well aware what people think of laptop gamers, and for that matter console gamers too. But as stated I need a laptop anyways. I appreciate any help. I really am struggling with understanding the difference I will get between these two systems.
Thanks, Adam

 

[simon4ok]

Hi there, foreverblitz,

It seems that you have been misguided when choosing your both cpu and gpu.
CPU: In laptops, no matter what core i-x (3, 5, or 7) you buy, you always get a dual core processor, and with a little research I did, I can conclude that the i5 is not that far away from the i7 in the Lenovo. So you won't spot a noticeable difference, besides the better power consumption of the i5.
GPU: They are not the same, not even similar. The Radeon card is more than 20% better than the Nvidia, in your case, that is.
So if you are looking for some serious gaming, go with the R9 m275. Again, the alternative (the Nvidia card) will use less power (33W, compared with 50W for the Radeon), which yields more battery life.
HDD: The SShd seems nicer, having a hybrid drive for faster startup/shutdown of windors, programs, games, etc. But I have never had any experience with a hybrid drive, all I have seen is reviews, so don't take my word for it.
Screen: I too would prefer the Full HD 14 in of the Lenovo, although is really small, the more pixel density will help you a lot, especially if you have seeing problems (even if you don't, it's nicer for the eyes).

So, that's my take on the laptops; in summary, if you have the money, go for the Lenovo, but be warned that the Acer should have better battery life, since all of his components are weaker (lower TDP).

I hope this helps,
Simon

 

[fchung0712]

I have the Lenovo Y40 right now. Mine has broken twice in the past four months, and my friends that also have this laptop have had their's break as well. I think it was just our luck though, so if you want a good value laptop, this one is not bad. The customer service was really quite good when I needed it though (Not as good as certain other companies, like Apple, but not anything like what I have heard about). Depending on which games you want to play, the processor may or may not be able to play it. The graphics card is very good though.
As well as this, the graphics do not seem to go as quick as they should. It is unknown why though. (possibly bottlenecking, but I doubt it)
Do keep in mind that:
-The graphics card is different from the specs you find online. It has DDR3 memory, not GDDR5 (This could be part of the slower speed)

720p on a 15.6 inch display will not look very good (maybe it would look better on a 13 inch). The Nvidia GT 840m is not high end either.
As Simon said, the processors are not very different, although I would expect the 4510u to be better.
Battery life wise, as stated on the website, it goes up to 5 hours, but I have gotten more, when I am only doing work. When gaming, you might get around 2-3 hours, if you are very lucky (This is for the Y40). The SSHD is very convenient, but I would recommend restarting a couple of times after you complete the windows installation, to configure the SSD cache (If you want it to boot up quick, but if you want certain files to load quicker, open and close them a few times, and it should get quicker). The Lenovo online store always seems to be on sale though, you just have to see if you are lucky, and find a sale on the model you want.
I would not recommend the Acer (Evidently). Unless, you are low on funds.