Trinity Laptop Confusion

[1405]

I have been trying to make sense of the AMD Trinity laptop processor lineup, but I seem to get confused. I know they have A6, A8, A10 prfixes and suffixes of 3XXX, 4XXX, and maybe more. I thought the A10-4600 was the top end, but now I see an A10-5XXX series talked about. On the otherhand, I thought I read that the latter was a designation for the desktop PC line, not laptops. Needless to say, I'm confused.

I'm looking to get the fastest model they will offer with Dual Graphics. Which, btw, no one seems to offer yet in anything except a lower end model. Any insight someone can shed on my confusion would be greatly appreciated. AMD used to provide a hierarchy of sorts on their site for the older Llano lineup: http/www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/pages/dual-graphics.aspx#1 But I see nothing like that for the newer Trinity lineup.

 

[Maxx_Power]

I was about to make my laptop purchase the HP model in the above discussion and close this thread, when I came across this Lenovo for $849:
http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=AC523278A4F13F27A84F5F5622D1AC7A&action=init
(the lowest priced model on the left)

It appears to be way above the HP in CPU and GPU capability for only slightly more $. Does anyone have an opinion of Lenovo Y850? And how it compares to the HP model I was pricing?

I think two other people here on Toms have recently purchased those machines. I'm not sure about the long term reliability of non-Thinkpad Lenovos, but it seems like a really good deal for the specs.

Definitely above the HP that way, and probably better than the HP in build and design (if they used any engineering at all from the Thinkpad line)...

 

[airanp]

I was about to make my laptop purchase the HP model in the above discussion and close this thread, when I came across this Lenovo for $849:
http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=AC523278A4F13F27A84F5F5622D1AC7A&action=init
(the lowest priced model on the left)

It appears to be way above the HP in CPU and GPU capability for only slightly more $. Does anyone have an opinion of Lenovo Y850? And how it compares to the HP model I was pricing?

That lenovo is nice, and people have been very satisfied with it. But at the same time understand that with the current HP coupons you could get a dv6t-7000 with an i7-3612QM and 2Gb 650m GDDR5 graphics card for $756 (+tax and shipping of course) which isn't a bad deal at all. Or any other laptop currently. The coupon is NB8342 and it nets you 30% off any customized laptop priced at $999 or higher. You can also get the dv6z with the A10-4600m and a 7730m for like 700 but unless you just really wanted a new trinity laptop the dv6t is a better deal for the performance to price ratio.

 

[airanp]

On a side note I would highly suggest never purchasing a memory upgrade from the manufacturer. It is way over priced. I just purchased 8Gb of 1600 Kingston Hyper X for my new laptop for $50 from amazon. A ton cheaper than trying to pay HP to put it in for me.

 

[1405]

That lenovo is nice, and people have been very satisfied with it. But at the same time understand that with the current HP coupons you could get a dv6t-7000 with an i7-3612QM and 2Gb 650m GDDR5 graphics card for $756 (+tax and shipping of course) which isn't a bad deal at all. Or any other laptop currently. The coupon is NB8342 and it nets you 30% off any customized laptop priced at $999 or higher. You can also get the dv6z with the A10-4600m and a 7730m for like 700 but unless you just really wanted a new trinity laptop the dv6t is a better deal for the performance to price ratio.

Whoa! How do you find these coupons!? 30% off at HP! And it works! Dang! Now I'm in a quandry again. Sacrifice the Lenovo's faster GTX 660m for the HP's GT 650m and save a bunch of $$, or go with the Lenovo and faster graphics and spend a bit more overall. Btw, Thank you. I really appreciate the coupon.

I had a little hands on with both the dv6t-7000 and the IdeaPad Y580 (with stock graphics), and I like them both. But the Beats Audio on the HP was really nice.

 

[airanp]

Whoa! How do you find these coupons!? 30% off at HP! And it works! Dang! Now I'm in a quandry again. Sacrifice the Lenovo's faster GTX 660m for the HP's GT 650m and save a bunch of $$, or go with the Lenovo and faster graphics and spend a bit more overall. Btw, Thank you. I really appreciate the coupon.

I had a little hands on with both the dv6t-7000 and the IdeaPad Y580 (with stock graphics), and I like them both. But the Beats Audio on the HP was really nice.

I really just search on google for "hp coupon code." Works with most major manufactures and usually comes up with a good list of them. Or you can just check out junky's site, http/www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com and he usually keeps them up to date with the most current deals for the price range.

As far as which one would I choose if I were in your shoes... the best my budget could buy. One way of looking at it is the 100 or so you would save going with the HP and the 650m could go towards a new SSD for the laptop as well. Which is probably what I would do.

 

[1405]

@airanp
Do you think the HP dv6t-7000 is an overall better made laptop than the Lenovo? They both seemed nice, giving them a cursory examination like I did. But the Lenovo seemed to have a thin cover... like I could bow it with little pressure. On the otherhand, the HP had an awfully glossy fingerprint-magnet finish.

Btw, I agree with your thoughts on buying memory. And the SSD is something I was thinking about, but didn't want to spend the cash for initially.

 

[airanp]

@airanp
Do you think the HP dv6t-7000 is an overall better made laptop than the Lenovo? They both seemed nice, giving them a cursory examination like I did. But the Lenovo seemed to have a thin cover... like I could bow it with little pressure. On the otherhand, the HP had an awfully glossy fingerprint-magnet finish.

Btw, I agree with your thoughts on buying memory. And the SSD is something I was thinking about, but didn't want to spend the cash for initially.

Many people buy the lenovo's thinking that all their products will get the same build quality of the thinkpad's from back in the day of IBM but really lenovo only kept that with with the thinkpad series. Don't get me wrong, lenovo is by far NO acer when it comes to build quality; in fact they are probably in the top 5 for build quality, but over the last year hp has crept into that same top 5 in my opinion. Both brands will hold up well in day to day activities so you shouldn't worry too much about that. I am sure this just makes your choice that much harder and I apologize for that, but when it comes down to it they are both good brands and it really just depends on if you want to drop the $100 extra for the GTX 660m. In my opinion I think you would be more than satisfied with the 650m and the HP, especially at 1366x768. And if you were to put an external monitor on it I am fairly certain that you would still be happy. But that is just my opinion.

 

[1405]

I decided to go with the HP dv6t-7000 i5-3210M/GT 650m laptop. I will forego the SSD cache (+$50) but get the 7200RPM HDD (+$10). But I will upgrade to the 1920x1080 LED display (+$150). Thanks to the promo coupon, it still is within my budget. Thank you both for your advice, the coupon, and sharing your knowledge.

 

[1405]

Best answer selected by 1405.

 

[Maxx_Power]

I decided to go with the HP dv6t-7000 i5-3210M/GT 650m laptop. I will forego the SSD cache (+$50) but get the 7200RPM HDD (+$10). But I will upgrade to the 1920x1080 LED display (+$150). Thanks to the promo coupon, it still is within my budget. Thank you both for your advice, the coupon, and sharing your knowledge.

Enjoy it! Cheers!