Which Lenovo Y70 model should I Buy? Is 16gb ram overkill?

michael267

Honorable
Oct 27, 2013
8
0
10,510
I have made the decision to go with a Lenovo Y70 laptop for college, but am unsure which model to choose. On Lenovo's website (http://tinyurl.com/qjqa63c) three models are listed. I want to save as much money as possible, so I was wondering if 16gb ram coupled with a 4gb graphics card significantly change the pc's performance in games and programs vs 8gb ram and 2gb graphics. Im looking to play games on it but I don't really care if I have to play things like BF4 on medium or even low if I can save some money. Thanks for the help.

edit: sorry the link automatically switches to another page. to see all models click the "start over" button near the top of the page.
 
Solution
I would grab the large SSD. Hybrids solve the problem of SSD's not being large enough for the average person, but really I don't care for the fact that they leave you with the biggest problem that mechanical drives have - they don't do well in mobile environments. SSD's let you move your machine at any time to any place. HHDs require a bit of care when handling to protect them.

EDIT: Given the price difference, and the size of that SSD - I definitely say go for it.

michael267

Honorable
Oct 27, 2013
8
0
10,510


Thanks for the reply, I probably wont be doing editing so I guess 8 gb will be fine for me. What about gpu ram, is 4gb worth the extra money or will 2 gb be alright to play new games? Also there is a model with a 512 gb ssd instead of the 1tb hdd+ 8gb ssd. Does an ssd change anything besides boot time and how fast programs open? Whats the point of the 8 gb ssd, can it even boot the OS? Thanks again for the help, sorry there are so many questions.
 

jimhood82

Distinguished
Aug 23, 2009
18
0
18,590
Vram doesn't matter much on laptops right now. However, I would like to point out that RAM can make a difference. I recently started playing Star Citizen on my machine with 8GB of ram, and Windows immediately complained about being low on memory.
 

michael267

Honorable
Oct 27, 2013
8
0
10,510


So if I bought a 16gbram model of the y70, should I get the model with a 512gb SSD or the 1tb SSHD hybrid drive model? I have heard good thing about hybrid drives regarding effectiveness and affordability, so would that be the best option? Also I would get extra storage to get me through 4 years of college. Thanks for the help.
 

jimhood82

Distinguished
Aug 23, 2009
18
0
18,590
I would grab the large SSD. Hybrids solve the problem of SSD's not being large enough for the average person, but really I don't care for the fact that they leave you with the biggest problem that mechanical drives have - they don't do well in mobile environments. SSD's let you move your machine at any time to any place. HHDs require a bit of care when handling to protect them.

EDIT: Given the price difference, and the size of that SSD - I definitely say go for it.
 
Solution

michael267

Honorable
Oct 27, 2013
8
0
10,510


I just want a reliable machine that also has the capability to play next gen games like Battlefield 4 and games that have yet to come out. As long as games can run on at least low at full resolution Ill be pleased. Do you think the y70 will be able to run new games into the near future, say, in one or two years?
 

michael267

Honorable
Oct 27, 2013
8
0
10,510


So SSDs are more durable, but is the speed difference between SSHDs and SSDs that significant while dealing with everyday programs and such? Ive heard SSHDs can use their SSD cache to learn your most used programs, but are they considered extremely slow in comparison to an SSD?
 

jimhood82

Distinguished
Aug 23, 2009
18
0
18,590
Oh yeah. SSHDs do cache, and the work much like the Intel disk caching I am using on my current Alienware - but in the end, it is a very small portion of your data. If you are getting your machine to play a game or two, go full SSD. This is the first hybrid system I have used in years, and dear lord the load times are killing me. Faster system than the rest, and far more powerful graphics... but load times make the system FEEL so much older...
 

michael267

Honorable
Oct 27, 2013
8
0
10,510


http://www.seagate.com/solutions/solid-state-hybrid/ I guess its a part SSD part HDD drive that is kind of in the middle of the two in terms of performance because it can learn what programs you use most and run them more effectively over time.