Need advice choosing a laptop PC from the following...

[sumlit]

Hello.

I am looking to buy a laptop PC for general use and gaming. My needs for the peripheral qualities of the PC (battery life, mobility, etc etc) are just in the middle. Meaning I do not require top, but don't want it also to be worst.

That being said, I have narrowed down choices to 4 and am currently undecided as to which actually buy. I am pressed for time and need to make a decision quickly.

The choices are:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p (59375625) - $1049
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312834

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p (59376431) - $1174
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312835

MSI GE Series GE60 2OE-003US - $1199
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152406

MSI GT Series GT60 2OC-022US - $1399
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152404

I'd like to hear some advice. Mainly, between the two Lenovo's, is the 8gb vs 12gb and extra 8bSSD worth the $125 difference.

Between the two MSI, is the GTX 765 vs 770 worth the $200 difference.

And between the Lenovos and the MSIs is the better single card a superior choice to the lesser card in SLI. Specially between the two middle choices where you have virtually the same price for 12gb, 8SSD and SLI vs 8gb, Optical Drive and superior single card. Also the HHD is 5400 vs 7200 rpm.

I'd appreciate any input on this, as well as any other suggestion for other choices. Even at the risk of complicating even more my decision

 

[ACTechy]

I'll take a crack at this, since I was doing very similar research recently.

Between the two Lenovos:
No, I don't think the added upgrades are worth $125. If you want those upgrade items, you can add them yourself for way less. Assuming they're adding an 8GB mSATA, you could easily add a 32GB mSATA card and several more gigs of RAM for the same cost. Laptop manufacturers charge up the wazoo to preinstall SSDs (and everthing else).

Between the two MSIs:
The 770m does score substantially better than the 765m. However, in your middle-of-the-road price scheme, I don't think the boost in performance is worth the $200 unless you really care about better fps performance. If you want the gaming to be high priority, maybe it's worth it. Hard to say. Definitely a significantly better card though.

Between the two brands:
Hard to say, they have their own pros and cons, obviously. I would go for the 750m in SLI if it was me, and do my own upgrades on the $1,049 Lenovo. Good options though, you can't go wrong either way.

Cheers

 

[sumlit]

Thank you for the reply, I really appreciate the input. However I still have some concerns.

Mainly for the Lenovo PC, I have continued reading on them, and it seems they do not accept msata SSD but use a new tech called NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) so I cannot buy a relatively cheap msata SSD to upgrade it.

This is my main concern with the Lenovo as the HDD seems very poor and there are very few options for upgrading. There is also the fact that it does not have an optical drive, so buying a normal 7200rpm HDD to replace the factory one could be troublesome as I do not have the technical knowledge on how to install the OS from the old drive to the new. But I guess I could research that.

 

[ACTechy]

I was curious, so I chatted with some customer service person on Lenovo site and he stated that it does have an mSATA slot, however, the Y510p models that come with an SSD are the cache style, which I think is what you're referring to...which you probably wouldn't want anyway. So it sounds like you could still do an mSATA SSD solution.

Not having an external drive could be a pain, but if you really need it, you could get an external USB style drive and just throw it in your laptop bag...http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151262

Most stuff is so digital now you hardly need one though, depending on how digital your collection of media is.

All in all, you could still get away with a 5400rpm drive if you had the mSATA SSD to put programs on.

 

[ACTechy]

Also, according to the MSI page, that cheaper MSI has dual bays, even if it only comes with the one HDD, check it out:

http/www.msi.com/product/nb/GE60-2OE.html#specification

Not 100% sure based on the language they use, but also worth a second look

 

[sumlit]

That's interesting about the Lenovo. The reading I've done suggests that the SSD the y510p uses are not mSATA but the smaller, newer NGFF and that the PC infact does not accept mSATA. I could very well be wrong, I admit I'm not the most savvy PC person.
I'll have to investigate more. Perhaps I'll do the same and chat up someone from Lenovo and maybe Newegg as well.

Thank you again for the input.

 

[sumlit]

I chatted up a Lenovo rep and he confirmed that their y510p line does not accpet mSATA but the new NGFF type. The models that come with small SSD for caching, use the new type.
Takes upgrading for a new SSD out of the equation, as I don't even know who sells the new type and it is probably more expensive.

 

[ACTechy]

Sorry to hear that, I guess Anthony didn't know as much about his product as he thought. Maybe that MSI is worth another look if it does indeed come with dual bays...either way, you proved that it's best to "measure once, cut twice" or 'check facts twice, buy once'

 

[sumlit]

Well this is very funny indeed. The lenovo rep I chatted with was also called Anthony haha.

I am starting to lean a little towards the MSI models.

I wonder if anyone else has some input in these choices.