Solved! Need help choosing a laptop

[tictacwannab]

I getting ready for university and I need help choosing a laptop. I want the laptop to be portable but still able to semi game and handle applications like Adobe Photoshop. It's hard to fine a decent laptop here in Canada since theres not much I can choose from. My budget is around 1k CAD. Here are the two laptops I found:

Toshiba Satellite A660-047
Intel Core i5 450M (2.4Ghz Turbo Boost to 2.66ghz)
4GB of ram
640GB 5400rpm hard drive
16" 1366x768 LED screen
Nvidia Gefore GT330m 1GB
Harmon Kardon Speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio
6 Cell battery (up to 4.5 hours) and can be upgraded to a 12 cell

Lenovo IdeaPad Y460
Intel Core i5 520m (2.4Ghz Turbo Boost to 2.93ghz)
4GB or ram
500GB 5400rpm hard drive
14" 1366x768 LED screen
ATI 5650 1GB with switchable graphics
Dolby® full-bodied surround sound and theater-style JBL speakers.
6 cell battery

By the looks of the specs of the Lenovo it seems to be a better choice but I'm not sure about the reliability of the Lenovo, I've read that the Y460 has heating issues. Any suggestion on other laptops that would be suitable for me?

 

[Maziar]

Well spec-wise, the Lenovo model is a better choice but having an i5 CPU and a 5650M VGA in a 14" laptop may cause overheating, so if you want other alternatives, fill the FAQ first(link in my sig)

 

[tictacwannab]

1_What is your budget?
around 1K CAD
2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
14"-15"
3_What screen resolution do you want?
1366x768 or greater
4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
somewhere in between (less than 6 pounds)
5_How much battery life do you need?
around 4 hours
6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
COD6, Just Cause 2, TF2, GTA4 at medium settings or high if possible
7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Photo editing with Photoshop
8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
320-500GB
9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
none
10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4 years
11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD ROM
12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Anything but Gateway and HP because of their reliability issues
13_What country do you live in?
Canada
14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.

 

[Maziar]

I couldn't find any notebooks with a 5650M in your price range, the best VGA i could find was G310M which is a low-end card, so go with the Lenovo model, but you have to deal with the heat.
BTW what's the price of it(the Lenovo model) ?

 

[tictacwannab]

The price of the Lenovo is $1,185.37 after tax. Do you think it's better off going with the 15" instead so there would be better heat dissipation? But the thing is that with the price of the 15" ($1,467.87) it would be better off getting the xps16 instead. But that's a bit over my budget. I could always go for the Asus N61JQ which is around 1k and has a Core i7 720m and a HD5730. The only problem is that I read some reviews and they said that the build quality is not that great and the battery life is horrible. I guess with it costing 1K you got to sacrifice somethings.

 

[Maziar]

Well XPS 16 is a great laptop but it overheats very quickly, as for N61 its got a good price/performance ratio but like you said the battery life isn't great(its logical though,because of having a quad core CPU and a good VGA)