Lenovo Y70-70 or W550s?

[galerecon]

Hello all,
Recently I graduated college and had to return my laptop to the university. Now I am in need of a new laptop since my work will involve a lot of programming and software development. I have done my research and have decided to go with one of these two laptops:
- Lenovo Y70-70 (80DU00KMUS - Black model for $1,649.99).
- Lenovo W550s (I'll upgrade the RAM to 16GB which totals $1,679.00).

I love the look/feel of the Y70 but hate the battery life. I would probably be working a lot on the laptop and having to look for a plug every 4-5 hours will be a pain. The W550s is very generic looking but is still powerful with amazing battery life. Both run on i7s, but the Y70 is running a much better graphics card. I'll be running dual boot (Win7/Ubuntu Linux) so having the OS on an SSD is also important to me just like that battery life. This is where the Y70 comes in handy because it has 1TB HDD as well as 8GB SSHD which is plenty to hold the OS on. This is ensure quick bootup times and the overall experience navigating between the OS menus. Unfortunately the W550s only has a 500GB HDD (but it is running on 7200 RPM!!)....I'll probably do some light gaming nothing too heavy, I have a gaming rig I built at home.

I would like your opinions or preferences, what do you guys think Y70-70 or W550s?
Thanks all!

EDIT: I'm really not sure why the W550s is so expensive...is it really just because of the battery life?

 

[metalicgeek]

The W550s is expensive because it's part of the famed ThinkPad line, Lenovo's advanced business brand of laptops with a heritage that goes back to the IBM days. It has been tested extensively for durability, is built like a tank, and has additional security features. Compared to the Y70-70, it also has a screen of a much higher resolution (3K), and a workstation-class graphics card for rendering applications.

As a student, you have no use for those things, and will more appreciate the faster quad-core i7 CPU of the Y70-70, and the vastly superior graphics card for gaming. Remember to choose the GTX 960M version.

 

[velo3100]

The y70 is a better choice for you.

 

[galerecon]

The W550s is expensive because it's part of the famed ThinkPad line, Lenovo's advanced business brand of laptops with a heritage that goes back to the IBM days. It has been tested extensively for durability, is built like a tank, and has additional security features. Compared to the Y70-70, it also has a screen of a much higher resolution (3K), and a workstation-class graphics card for rendering applications.

As a student, you have no use for those things, and will more appreciate the faster quad-core i7 CPU of the Y70-70, and the vastly superior graphics card for gaming. Remember to choose the GTX 960M version.

I am no longer a student and am now working as a Software Engineer, do you still agree with your statement?
Also, I just realized that the Y70 doesn't have a removable battery! So once it goes bad, I'm stuck with it I guess. From my experience having a laptop with low battery life requires it to be plugged in most of the time which then slowly ruins the battery to a point where you need it to be plugged it 90% of the time.

Is anyone familiar with the graphics card on the W550s? What can you compare it with and what can you do with it?

The y70 is a better choice for you.

What makes you say that? Can you makes some points why you think that is?

 

[GreyCatz]

The W550s is expensive because it's part of the famed ThinkPad line, Lenovo's advanced business brand of laptops with a heritage that goes back to the IBM days. It has been tested extensively for durability, is built like a tank, and has additional security features. Compared to the Y70-70, it also has a screen of a much higher resolution (3K), and a workstation-class graphics card for rendering applications.

As a student, you have no use for those things, and will more appreciate the faster quad-core i7 CPU of the Y70-70, and the vastly superior graphics card for gaming. Remember to choose the GTX 960M version.

I am no longer a student and am now working as a Software Engineer, do you still agree with your statement?
Also, I just realized that the Y70 doesn't have a removable battery! So once it goes bad, I'm stuck with it I guess. From my experience having a laptop with low battery life requires it to be plugged in most of the time which then slowly ruins the battery to a point where you need it to be plugged it 90% of the time.

Is anyone familiar with the graphics card on the W550s? What can you compare it with and what can you do with it?

The y70 is a better choice for you.

What makes you say that? Can you makes some points why you think that is?

Greetings, galerecon:

First off, congratulations on your recent graduation!

I agree with metalicgeek about the W550s: based on the 1990s IBM ThinkPads, it has earned a reputation for durability and reliability that is matched by no other brand available today. For your new professional life, I'd definitely recommend the W550s over the Y70. It may seem "generic-looking", but that's actually the major attraction for most business/professional users (it's called 'Business Black'), while the Y series reflects Lenovo's ambition to move into a different consumer segment, which partly explains the below-average battery life.

If you already have a gaming desktop, you won't really gain anything by buying the Y70. With a W550s you'll have a very powerful laptop/desktop combination.

The W550s specs may seem a bit... 'old-fashioned', but chances are that they will be more than adequate for your professional tasks. The range of ThinkPad accessories is a whole new universe that includes docking stations, removable batteries, external HDDs and a level of upgradability that is not available to the Y series.

The Y70 comes with a great design and generous specs, but it's not a gaming machine (despite Lenovo's claim); it will play most mid-range games available today decently, but with next-gen games like Witcher, Tomb Raider or GTA V you'll need to compromise in the settings menu. This leaves you with a very stylish and capable laptop for standard productivity usage, i.e. running multiple office programs while surfing the internet and watching YouTube videos.

I own a Y50 (the junior model) and I'm very pleased with it, but I don't use it for anything remotely resembling professional work. For that, I would go for a T or W series (or the upcoming P series).

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

 

[galerecon]

Greetings, galerecon:

First off, congratulations on your recent graduation!

I agree with metalicgeek about the W550s: based on the 1990s IBM ThinkPads, it has earned a reputation for durability and reliability that is matched by no other brand available today. For your new professional life, I'd definitely recommend the W550s over the Y70. It may seem "generic-looking", but that's actually the major attraction for most business/professional users (it's called 'Business Black'), while the Y series reflects Lenovo's ambition to move into a different consumer segment, which partly explains the below-average battery life.

If you already have a gaming desktop, you won't really gain anything by buying the Y70. With a W550s you'll have a very powerful laptop/desktop combination.

The W550s specs may seem a bit... 'old-fashioned', but chances are that they will be more than adequate for your professional tasks. The range of ThinkPad accessories is a whole new universe that includes docking stations, removable batteries, external HDDs and a level of upgradability that is not available to the Y series.

The Y70 comes with a great design and generous specs, but it's not a gaming machine (despite Lenovo's claim); it will play most mid-range games available today decently, but with next-gen games like Witcher, Tomb Raider or GTA V you'll need to compromise in the settings menu. This leaves you with a very stylish and capable laptop for standard productivity usage, i.e. running multiple office programs while surfing the internet and watching YouTube videos.

I own a Y50 (the junior model) and I'm very pleased with it, but I don't use it for anything remotely resembling professional work. For that, I would go for a T or W series (or the upcoming P series).

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

Hello GreyCatz and thank you for your insight!

I, myself, was leaning more towards the W550s. I used to work for a big automotive supplier and had the T540p (sadly it had only i5 and 4GB of memory...) and I was very pleased with the performance and feel of the keyboard/touch pad. But most of all, battery life would last me the whole 8hr work day! I used to be able to run all automotive software for CAN communication decently as well. It wasn't as fast as I'd like it to be but then again I was using almost all of my memory and the entire system was running on a 500GB HDD. I'm probably going to upgrade to the i7 and 16GB of ram with extended battery and pay extra for the SSD on the W550s. Some software development IDEs are known to be slow on launch and that SSD would be perfect for that extra speed boost

You made a good point though, my desktop can run all the games you've mentioned at max setting with decent fps so most likely I won't be gaming on this laptop. But good processing power is exactly what I am looking for so the i7 and more memory is a necessity along with good battery life considering I'll be working at home, work, coffee shops, and some other places and I would hate to have to worry about finding a plug.

 

[velo3100]

The main reason why I chose the y70 over the w series is because of the cpu. As you are doing programming the cpu is the most important thing. The w series only comes with a i7 ulv chip compared to the i7 m cpu which is a lot stronger. This make a huge difference in compile times.

 

[galerecon]

The main reason why I chose the y70 over the w series is because of the cpu. As you are doing programming the cpu is the most important thing. The w series only comes with a i7 ulv chip compared to the i7 m cpu which is a lot stronger. This make a huge difference in compile times.

I just received the Y70 in the mail. I already placed an order for it before I posted this question and they weren't able to process my order cancellation in time before it was shipped. Mine came with 1TB HDD and I believe 32GB SSD. Sad thing is, the OS is installed on the HDD ... But the size of the laptop, the feel of the keyboard, and the looks of the laptops is amazing; not to mention the best laptop sound system I've ever hear of with the JBL speakers.

At first I was contemplating on returning it, but because of the laptop size I decided to keep it. I wear glasses all the time and starring at code/text all day with a smaller screen puts a strain on your eyes. I will also get rid of the HDD and install a 256 or 500GB SSD, then upgrade the battery to 6-cell battery to make it last longer.