New 'Gaming' Laptop 2013!

Burrfoot

United States1176 Posts

June 24 2013 20:12 GMT

So my old 2009 gaming pc rig (i5 ATI 5770HD) finally croaked - or at least the mother board did. It kept powering down and/or powering on randomly, and everything else I didn't seem to pan out (PSU, RAM, GPU, HD). I decided with my office being converted into a playroom for my kid(s) I should probably reduce my man-cave footprint to something more manageable - a gaming laptop.

I went an checked Slickdeals for laptops and saw a "slick deal" on a Lenovo Y410P with semi-new i7-4700MQ, 8GB ram and a mediocre Nvidia 750m video card. It had a semi-neato option called "Ultrabays" that allows for a SLI configuration. Of course the $200 pricetag on the ultrabay card could buy a desktop card that is twice as fast. The whole thing cost ~$950, which could have built a gaming rig that was twice as fast.. but these days I don't really play the bleeding edge games anymore and wait until a "Ultimate" "GOTY" edition is only sale for $5 - so playing SC2 and D3 is perfectly fine.

Overall gaming performance is very similar to my 2009 gaming pc. Windows 8 is taking some getting used to... more like I completely ignore the Win8 interface and just get to desktop and wait for the start button to magically reappear someday.

Build quality is below what I'm used to with Lenovo's W-series, screen is a bit glossy for my tastes (but I use a 24" mostly and just use the laptop screen for twitch/netflix/etc), sound is mediocre, and trackpads are terrible.

But onto more nerdy things! As my laptop I plan on gaming on, I figured I should probably get one of those laptop cooling pads/mounts. I didn't realize non-workstation laptops didn't have docking stations like my work-laptop. The laptop heats up pretty warm when loaded.

So after looking at the various coolers wasn't sure what type to get - movable fans, quiet, size - and decided to whip out the trusty thermal camera and see where the laptop was hot! If I do get the SLI ultrabay, will likely need mirrored cooling both sides.

From the top:
[image loading]

From the bottom:

From an angle:

So it looks like a two movable fans centered around 3" in and 4" up from the bottom. If anyone has some recommendations on specific cooling pads, let me know! I'm leaning towards a well-reviewed Zalman quiet, or a Coolermaster U2 or 3.

Playing with new toys is fun!

beesinyoface

2450 Posts

June 24 2013 20:52 GMT

I just bought the Y500 and it came with the SLI ultrabay for like $1100 and it's not that hot at all. I run it on the Coolmaster NotePal U Stand and it's still really mild even when running newer games.

Starcraft 2

United States64 Posts

June 24 2013 21:11 GMT

I also just bought the Y500 (came two days ago!) for ~900 dollars after tax. I just use http://www.classicshell.net/ to make windows 8 like windows 7. No more start screen and I have a start button so I can barely tell it's windows 8 now.

@beesinyoface how hot does it get (idle/otherwise)?

beesinyoface

2450 Posts

June 24 2013 21:21 GMT

I don't have any specifics at the moment since I don't have many programs on it, but I keep it on my lap and there is honestly almost no heat coming out of it.

When gaming the ultrabay does blow some air but it's hard to hear and still not that hot compared to other laptops I've used.

Burrfoot

United States1176 Posts

June 25 2013 10:06 GMT

On June 25 2013 05:52 beesinyoface wrote:
I just bought the Y500 and it came with the SLI ultrabay for like $1100 and it's not that hot at all. I run it on the Coolmaster NotePal U Stand and it's still really mild even when running newer games.

Looking back now, the SLI Y500 with 2x750ms is probably the better configuration as a g.desktop replacement, but I wanted to sort of keep under the mental $1k budget, and half hoping the ultrabay expansions for 410p don't get released. Seems they are having some manufacturing problems with them anyways.

On June 25 2013 06:11 Starcraft 2 wrote:
I also just bought the Y500 (came two days ago!) for ~900 dollars after tax. I just use http://www.classicshell.net/ to make windows 8 like windows 7. No more start screen and I have a start button so I can barely tell it's windows 8 now.

I'll give classicshell a try if this Windows 8.1 mega-patch doesn't revive the start button as advertised.

beesinyoface

2450 Posts

June 25 2013 16:54 GMT

On June 25 2013 19:06 Burrfoot wrote:

Show nested quote +

I'll give classicshell a try if this Windows 8.1 mega-patch doesn't revive the start button as advertised.

Yeah with 18GB RAM and 2x650s I don't think I'll have any problems for a couple of years.

Check the Windows store to see if they have a Windows button there, I think they do.

Burrfoot

United States1176 Posts

June 26 2013 02:10 GMT

Supposedly Windows 8.1 will be 'free' and released soon, so even though I wouldn't mind having an actual 'windows key' for laughs.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57590861-75/windows-8.1-to-let-you-shut-down-directly-via-start-button/

Should find out tomorrow!

I uhh, already upgraded to a MSI GT70 as the Lenovo was drafted for another task.:-D Can't say I can complain, though there are a few nagging issues I need to resolve!

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