Solved! XPS 15 or HP dv6 6121tx or Lenovo Y570

[kkiddu]

Hi guys

I'm looking for a laptop for around $1000, and these are the three options I've shortlisted.

1. Dell XPS 15 (i7 2670QM/540M)
2. HP dv6 6121tx (i7 2630QM/6770M)
3. Lenovo Y570 (i7 2630QM/[550M or 555M])

XPS has relatively weak graphics and is a bit expensive, dv6 has Radeon graphics, which means buggy switchable graphics implementation, and I'm not sure about Lenovo.

Which, out of these, would you recommend me? Here is my usage profile.

Usage: Coding (I'm a CS student), Photoshopping, light gaming.

Location: India

Preferences:

15.6" screen
i7 2630QM/i7 2670QM processor
Good graphics (?)

Thanks!

 

[WR2]

What does 'light gaming' really mean?
As stated, it means nothing to me.

 

[jaguarskx]

There have been many issues with HP laptops in general regarding many different models. I would Google that specific model to find out if there are any serious issues. Barring that, it is the best of the 3 for games which should be playable when the graphic settings are set to high.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 would be the runner-up in terms of game performance. The nVidia GT 555m is really an overclocked GT 550m than an actual GT 555m. Most games should be playable with high graphic settings. Crysis will average less than 30FPS though, which means Metro 2033 will too since it is a more demanding game.

The Dell has the most powerful CPU, but also the least power graphics card so this laptop will lag the other two in games. However, for intensive CPU applications the Dell will be the clear winner.

If you like to be able to play games in the future and keep your laptop for as long as possible (assuming no hardware failures), then the HP is the clear winner while the Dell is the clear looser. The Lenovo Y570 is middle of the because of the graphics card. There are generally no recalls or lawsuits against Lenovo to the best of my knowledge (unlike HP).

I have the 14" Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 with the nVidia GT 550m. About 3 weeks into owning the laptop the GT 550m was no longer recognized by Windows 7. I had to do a clean install of Windows 7 to fix that issue. It has been about 8 weeks since that occured.

 

[kkiddu]

What does 'light gaming' really mean?
As stated, it means nothing to me.

Just meant that I'd like to get the best balance of reliability and graphics performance I could get from these options - difference b/w i7 2630 and 2670 is not that significant.

I'm not a hardcore gamer or anything - I've lived with onboard graphics for a long time and something that can run most of the games at decent settings would be good enough for me.

 

[kkiddu]

I think now is the time to stop googling and get some hands-on experience with each of these models.

If someone finds any manufacturing defects/heating or reliability issues with any of these models, please let me know.

Thanks a lot.