Lenovo Y450 Intel Core 2 Duo processor P8700 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MB) NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M 1024MB 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz 14.0" HD Wide LED 1366x768 320GB 5400RPM Hard Drive 6 Cell Lithium-Ion $799
My aunt has offered to buy me a new laptop and my initial search turned up this one. I'm no expert on laptops but does this seem like a good deal?
Hard drive space is no big worry for me and I think 240M is good enough to play SC2 (right?). I like smaller laptops and the processor seems to be very nice. Comparing it to other stock laptops in the price range so far I'm under the impression that this is a bargain.
fyi I currently have a ASUS 1000HE netbook but my sister has been hinting that she is going to steal it from me very soon. At the same time, I don't want to 'force' a purchase either and am perfectly content with simply saving the money. However, if this is a good enough deal then I'm willing/happy to snatch it up.
What are your opinions? Great bargain or should I keep looking?
edit: also can anybody explain what's so good about the Centrino2 ULV Processors? they seem very common but don't show a drop in price despite a severe drop in processing power.
well for 800 bucks it's a complete steal imo.i mean you get 4gb ddr3 ram plus a gt240m gpu.so i think you should get it no doubt cuz they don't come much cheaper than this.
On December 10 2009 18:38 GTR wrote: Lenovo's are darn excellent, but the 14' Screen and the 320GB is kind of a worry.
Nether the less keep looking around that price range.
ah but those are the two things that i worry the least about. i'd prefer a smaller laptop (hence the netbook) and i have many many empty external hard drives. what about the other specs though. are they solid?
On December 10 2009 18:40 JohnColtrane wrote: wish my aunt would buy me mega awesome shit :C
she offered to buy me a mac but i immediately said no. she's a pretty cool aunt nonetheless.
On December 10 2009 18:57 ffswowsucks wrote: first of all MACs suck for gaming, second of all why not buy a netbook instead of a laptop?
if you read my post you will see that i have a netbook already. i do like it but i've been messing around some more graphics intensive stuff (photoshop, resolume, autodesk, eventually SC2) that starts killing the crap GPU on my netbook. honestly its for a better GPU.
On December 10 2009 18:57 ffswowsucks wrote: first of all MACs suck for gaming, second of all why not buy a netbook instead of a laptop?
if you read my post you will see that i have a netbook already. i do like it but i've been messing around some more graphics intensive stuff (photoshop, resolume, autodesk, eventually SC2) that starts killing the crap GPU on my netbook. honestly its for a better GPU.
You also said in ur post ur sister might likely get it from ur hands anyway... hmm... I always look a good screen in a laptop and the graphics card, everything else I think can be upgraded, like RAM and CPU. And ofc I suggest u go see the laptop first, how it looks like etc and again especially the screen which is like the most important thing on a laptop.
On a sidenote check youtube for laptop reviews for example here is the one u put in ur topic:
1. Y200 Lenovo original series. 2. T42 Lenovo IBM thinkpad. 3. T500 Lenovo thinkpad.
Great, great machines. But seriously, for that much money, you can find coupons and get a T series thinkpad no joke. Thinkpad are above and beyond any ideapad or Y series Lenovos.
seems a little heavy for the size. You get speed, low price and low weight: pick 2. Still, 4.5 isn't terrible. Seems to be a decent balance of the three. I hate glossy screens though
On December 10 2009 21:00 haduken wrote: <=== lenovo fan here.
I have
1. Y200 Lenovo original series. 2. T42 Lenovo IBM thinkpad. 3. T500 Lenovo thinkpad.
Great, great machines. But seriously, for that much money, you can find coupons and get a T series thinkpad no joke. Thinkpad are above and beyond any ideapad or Y series Lenovos.
i think the guy the arrow was pointing to moved. i don't see anybody there. my last last computer was a T series. do those come with decent graphics? if so then i might really consider getting that instead.
also that video review is ridiculous haha. he sounds so disinterested and/or stoned.
On December 11 2009 06:31 citi.zen wrote: T series are reliable and very solid - I dropped my T61 from a train once (it was an accident!). However, they do not have a dedicated video card.
i spilled tea on my t61 and it died. ~$900 down the drain. i checked out the website and the discrete graphics they have aren't very good. will be skipping over it.
Everything looks good except for the 1368x768 resolution. after getting 1650x1050 i could never go lower, and would probably get 1920x1080 if i got another computer.
Try looking at http://www.xoticpc.com if you want to look at some customizable gaming/business/whatever laptops, usually can get the best bang for you buck.
-Probably good build quality. That's Lenovo's reputation: simple, but well-built. -A reputation for reliability. However, here, it is disputed. Take from it what you will, the study may or may not be trustworthy. -A fairly strong processor for a notebook. Many come with 2.0, 2.13, 2.2 GHz. It will be bottlenecked by your card in gaming, but it is still nice. -A somewhat smaller resolution. 1366x768 is extremely common, of course, but it could be 1600x900. -A mediocre video card. It's not bad. In fact, in this generation of cards the next best, widely-used card is the 260M GTX--a high-end laptop card. Many laptops feature the 240M. Some have the slightly downclocked 230M, though. Also, a number of laptops are built with the Mobility HD4650, which is marginally better. -Mediocre battery life: realistically you are looking at slightly more than 3 hours. This is no surprise. A regular 6-cell just won't power a laptop equipped with those specs for too long. This is something you generally accept with a more powerful laptop. Still, it is inconvenient for normal tasks. -I am almost sure that you buying directly from Lenovo, as in the past only they sold this kind of laptop for that price. This means you will be charged tax, which, depending on your state, could very well tip the scales toward an online vendor.
This is not an exclusive deal. Lenovo has been offering roughly these specs for roughly that price for some time now. It may be better to hold out for something better, as this laptop will probably stay at that price.
Consider that HP has lately been offering many, large, discounts on its laptops. It was possible on, and weeks before, Black Friday, to purchase a quad core dv6t with a free upgrade to Blu-Ray for about $800. These $800 included a 12-cell battery, which guaranteed at least 5 hours of battery despite the i7. It did come with a slightly inferior 230M, but overall it was a good deal. Other companies have been offering deals as well, including Sony and Dell. There will likely be more deals in the near future, even from Lenovo itself.
Consider also that at this moment you could get a similar, but different deal or, a better deal, if you're willing to carry a heaver laptop. Another roughly equivalent deal is this HP. There is also this laptop, though at the moment it is not possible to purchase. It has been selling from various vendors at around $850 for quite some time now and is quite a good deal. It will probably show up in a week or so. The 4670 is considerably better.
There just aren't that many true deals right now, so if your need is not urgent you would not suffer from waiting.
It's a really really good deal. Lenovo is such a powerful brand to buy from because the laptops are just so high in quality. The 240M is mediocre, but still good enough for a lot of games (like SC2), and the hard drive isn't bad. The only problem I see is the resolution.
The thing with the "similar" deal above is that the 2.8ghz proc will overheat. My friend has the same 2.8 ghz proc and it overheats almost immediately when gaming (Cod MW2) if the laptop isn't on the cooler pad.
And with the other two deals, one is just absolutely terrible, and the other with the 4670 will also suffer from inadequate cooling.
It may be that the 2.8 GHz will overheat, it is no longer worth looking into though as the deal expired and it is now terrible for the money. The MSI will certainly not suffer from poor cooling, there is simply no basis for that claim. As for the other two, they are unimpeachable. I assume you took issue with the HP as the Gateway is plainly superior in terms of performance. The HP would probably be $100 less while having reasonably similar gaming experience since the GPU is marginally better and in the Lenovo, the video card would bottleneck many games. There is no reason to be prejudiced against HP, as an advanced user you shouldn't care how much bloatware they put on or how bad the customer service is.
Edit: I see now. The link for Gateway has faulty information. This model is always equipped with the 9800 GTS.
wow thanks for the detailed posts. i guess this far out from christmas might not be the best time to purchase. i only pushed the issue because i stumbled upon a coupon code (and bing cashback) that let me drop the price ~$230.
i hope a better deal pops up. if not i guess i'll just stick with trusty old netbook.
Works and plays great and the 240 has been able to handle everything I can throw at it. The only problem, and THIS is important to so read this: the control button isn't on the far left. Instead there's this button called fn which change the lighting and stuff. This can get really annoying, especially in Starcraft where your so used to pressing control at it's old spot.
Overall, it's totally worth it!
PS: You also really don't need a 2.5 gig processor so I would lower that to 2.2 to save money.
i'm going to be checking that website everyday from now til new years. i know i said i'm fine with not buying a laptop but all this hunting has gotten me hungry. i realized how terribad my netbook's GPU was when i couldn't play CS 1.6 or audiosurf on it.
My friend has one of these and she loves it. This looks like the same one but with slightly better hardware (cpu, ram, hard drive). As far as quality goes Lenovo is very good and will last a while. Try and find a lower price for that one though, I think you can get it for cheaper.
Works and plays great and the 240 has been able to handle everything I can throw at it. The only problem, and THIS is important to so read this: the control button isn't on the far left. Instead there's this button called fn which change the lighting and stuff. This can get really annoying, especially in Starcraft where your so used to pressing control at it's old spot.
There are a few apps that let you re-bind keys. I have one on home desktop, for which I do not have a "pause" key, so I made F-12 into "pause". Its a tiny script you run in the system tray and you can stop at any point to go back to the original set-up.
I can check the name for the one I am using tonight and let you know.
EPT
anyway... hmm... I always look a good screen in a laptop and the graphics card, everything else I think can be upgraded, like RAM and CPU. And ofc I suggest u go see the laptop first, how it looks like etc and again especially the screen which is like the most important thing on a laptop. 
