Picking a laptop.

[Roven]

I need advice on which of these laptops should I pick.

LG P430
Dell Insprion
Lenovo IdeaPad Z470

The specs are about the same which is more than I need (Watching anime, some gaming, programming and Photoshop)
The prices are about the same for the LG and Dell, the Lenovo is a bit cheaper.
I'm leaning towards the LG though, solely for the slim design.

Ideas?

[Saras]

The LG has an integrated GPU, if you plan to do any gaming at all, that simply won't do.

The Dells GT525 is a fair amount better, than Lenovo's GT520, but the the Dell has shitty battery life and weighs nearly an extra 700grams more. If you intend to carry it anywhere, go Lenovo, if not - Dell.

[Roven]

I wan't fond of the Dell either.
NVIDIA GT 520M not good for gaming?

I'll prolly wont play big 3D games though. Only Dota, Dota2 and the like. It's not like I'm going to play Crysis or anything, that's what I have a gaming rig.

[Saras]

I wan't fond of the Dell either.
NVIDIA GT 520M not good for gaming?

I'll prolly wont play big 3D games though. Only Dota, Dota2 and the like. It's not like I'm going to play Crysis or anything, that's what I have a gaming rig.

It will run Dota, it ought to run most things kind of acceptably at the lowest setting, but not much else. The 520 is an entry level card. The 525 is basically a under clocked 540, it is a mid range card. Mind you, neither is ideal for gaming, but out of the two the 525 is better by a fair margin.

Having said that. If you have a gaming rig and you only intend to play Dota on this thing. I'd go for the Lenovo or the LG, but don't expect either to run a triple A title. That battery lifespan and the 3 kilo weight is unacceptable for a laptop.

[kitamesume]

aim for laps with GT525M or GT540m, they're much better imho.

as for GT520M and GT525M's equals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
GT520M = GeForce GT 520 (roughly equal)
GT525M < GeForce GT 530
GT540M = GeForce GT 530 (roughly equal)

wasnt there an old topic of the same question?

[vuzedome]

The guy wants one of the 3, unless mentioned otherwise.
But I can't help it myself.
If you can find this, I recommend you get it.
http://my.asus.com/Notebooks/Multimedia_Entertainment/N55SF/
Aside from the extra stuff, the specs are solid, good CPU options as well as graphics.

[Roven]

That battery lifespan and the 3 kilo weight is unacceptable for a laptop.

Which one you're talking about?

aim for laps with GT525M or GT540m, they're much better imho.

as for GT520M and GT525M's equals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
GT520M = GeForce GT 520 (roughly equal)
GT525M < GeForce GT 530
GT540M = GeForce GT 530 (roughly equal)

wasnt there an old topic of the same question?

Wasn't intending on picking something outside of these three.

The guy wants one of the 3, unless mentioned otherwise.
But I can't help it myself.
If you can find this, I recommend you get it.
http://my.asus.com/Notebooks/Multimedia_Entertainment/N55SF/
Aside from the extra stuff, the specs are solid, good CPU options as well as graphics.

I did find this, way over my budget.

[kitamesume]

um... 2nd laptop, the Dell had GT525, go figure?

http://mcentre.lk/products/Dell-Insprion-N5110-Core-i5-2.3GHZ,-2nd-Gen-4GB-500GB,1GB-VGA.html

Video Memory Nvidia G-Force GT525 1GB Dedicated

Edit: solution for the 3hr lifespan is to bump the batteries to 85W 9cell, or higher.

[kureshii]

IMO none of the above; cheap consumer-grade fluff.

But if your budget restricts you and you need it for gaming, might as well go with the Inspiron or Ideapad, whichever is cheaper for the same specs. No point spending so much on something with only 1 year warranty.

[fohfoh]

IMO none of the above; cheap consumer-grade fluff.

But if your budget restricts you and you need it for gaming, might as well go with the Inspiron or Ideapad, whichever is cheaper for the same specs. No point spending so much on something with only 1 year warranty.

If price is pretty much the same with same specs, I'd always go with Lenovo over Dell. Ironically, Lenovo is a China built that isn't as shitty as the Dell laptops. LG I've had no experience with, so I can't comment there. Lenovo is actually built in a way that generally is quite sturdy. The only errors I've ever seen on them are HDD failures, which truth be told, is an issue with the HDD, not the laptop.

Dells on the other hand... I've seen melted ones, burned out screens/backlight issues, broken hinges (on the laptop I'm currently posting from), screws for holding in the HDD popping out by themselves (thankfully the HDD in place isn't contingent on those screws etc. The only plus is that it's easy to take apart, but Dell doesn't like that.

Older lenovos on the other had GAVE you instructions on how to open up the damn thing and manually upgrade components yourself. I have no idea if this is still the same.

LG, again, no experience, no comment. Sorry.

[Saras]

That battery lifespan and the 3 kilo weight is unacceptable for a laptop.

Which one you're talking about?

Dell.

[kitamesume]

OMG, i just saw lenovo's specs, it supports up to a GT540M and supports Up to a 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 processors
with Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology. gogogo!
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/z-series/z470/Z470_Datasheet_US.pdf

well doubt you could afford the real stuff.

edit: @fohfoh
Dell makes laptops that falls apart and hates the fact that its easy to disassemble? are they crack in the head? if the laptop wasn't easy to disassemble then it wouldn't easily fall apart as well... i mean, pouring resin over the dead useless space would permanently seal them, forever... there are thermally good conducting resins~ just leave a path for the heatsink/fans to suck in and blow out air.

@Riven
you wouldn't want a too slim of a laptop, it'll warp like hell >,> experienced it from a super slim monitor. and its scary to open up as it could just break out of nowhere.
oh and i wouldn't want to carry it around outside the house without a good case for it, getting bumps from some accidents and seeing your screen was split to two "oh, now i got a multi-screen laptop"...

[kureshii]

If price is pretty much the same with same specs, I'd always go with Lenovo over Dell. Ironically, Lenovo is a China built that isn't as shitty as the Dell laptops. LG I've had no experience with, so I can't comment there. Lenovo is actually built in a way that generally is quite sturdy. The only errors I've ever seen on them are HDD failures, which truth be told, is an issue with the HDD, not the laptop.

Be careful about confusing the Ideapads with the Thinkpads. What you say is true of the Thinkpad line, which carries its enterprise engineering blood from IBM. The Ideapads are Lenovo's compromise, their equivalent of the Dell Latitudes and HP Pavilions, stuff aimed at consumers, not held to the same Thinkpad standards you're familiar with.

In general, confusing business/enterprise-level product lines with consumer-level product lines is a Bad Idea (TM), and leads to buyers making dumb decisions or assumptions. Dell Inspiron != Latitude, HP/Compaq Pavilion != Probook/Elitebook, Lenovo Ideapad != Thinkpad, and so on. Also be careful about low-end Latitudes/Probooks/Thinkpads that some OEMs may market as "entry-level" business-class laptops, to pull in the cheapo wannabe crowd. In general if you compare these to the regular business-class stuff you should be able to tell the difference.



@OP: If you're lucky enough to find a good deal on what you're sure is a regular business-class laptop, jump for it. Otherwise you generally get what you pay for. Get something with a good warranty plan, sane hardware configuration and sensible design, but don't plonk down too much on it — laptops can't be salvaged the same way as desktops and you should be prepared to let them go when their time comes.

The above applies if you have a budget that can accommodate such options. If you don't, well... find out which OEM has the best post-sales service in your area and get something from their product line, provided it's not too shitty.

[Roven]

OK how about finding few more candidates? (Needs a new topic?)

-Uses: Watching HD stuff, Playing relatively mid graphics games (Dota, HoN), programming and Photoshop.
-Specs needed: As long I can do all of the above, I'm good. Screen size (preferably 15" or above though), battery life and storage doesn't matter.
-Budget: 800$ could go up to 900 if it's really worth it.

Of the three suggested however I'm thinking of getting the Dell.

Do note that I'm shopping locally, I'll prolly find anything if it's Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, Dell and some Lenovo's and Fujitsu's. Gaming laptops are hard to find. Not that I'm looking for one though.

[metro.]

OK how about finding few more candidates? (Needs a new topic?)

-Uses: Watching HD stuff, Playing relatively mid graphics games (Dota, HoN), programming and Photoshop.
-Specs needed: As long I can do all of the above, I'm good. Screen size (preferably 15" or above though), battery life and storage doesn't matter.
-Budget: 800$ could go up to 900 if it's really worth it.

Of the three suggested however I'm thinking of getting the Dell.

Do note that I'm shopping locally, I'll prolly find anything if it's Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, Dell and some Lenovo's and Fujitsu's. Gaming laptops are hard to find. Not that I'm looking for one though.

I was gunna suggest mine here, but when I bought mine it was only $800

I'm not sure what happened.

[kitamesume]

OK how about finding few more candidates? (Needs a new topic?)

just change the OP's title, it'll change the incoming replies as well but not the already posted ones.

characteristics of what you should at least aim for:
i5-2410 | reason: to be able to decode the incoming Hi10Ps and lesser hiccups from other programs. it is on-par with the desktop i3-2100T.
GT525M | reason: so long as you'll game @ the resolution of 1360x768 then you should have no problems. it is slightly slower than a desktop GT540.
4GB ram | reason: obviously you don't wanna have so little of ram. as you could pretty much dictate the seller on how much you should have, it shouldn't be a problem.
led backlit | reason: more battery life, thats pretty much it.
9cell battery or more, maybe less | reason: umm, do i really need to say why?

anything else you can consider as a bonus.
oh yea, backlit keyboard! the best bling you can get thats actually useful.

list of models that i found on my area thats mostly below 800$, if not all.
Toshiba Satellite (L740-1170X)
Toshiba Satellite (L745-1168X/69XR)
Acer Aspire 4750G (4750G-2412G64Mn)
Asus (K43SV-VX266R)
Asus (N43SL-V1G-VX204)
Asus (K53SV-SX803)

[Roven]

Toshiba Satellite (L740-1170X)
Toshiba Satellite (L745-1168X/69XR)
Acer Aspire 4750G (4750G-2412G64Mn)
Asus (K43SV-VX266R)
Asus (N43SL-V1G-VX204)
Asus (K53SV-SX803)

These got the same characteristics you mentioned?

[kitamesume]

yea more or less, they vary between 3processors, i3-2330M/i5-2430M/i7-2670QM.

[Roven]

So?
Which one should I get? The one with best performance?

[kitamesume]

yes, obviously, but since they do vary depending on shops, just ask which processor it has inside. mostly they should have an i5 in it, sometimes other shops have it with an i3 or i7, if you do find one with an i7 inside but only around 50$-100$ higher in price, thats already a steal.

Edit: well simple reason of because the i7 is literally twice that of the performance of the i5, but i have no idea if you'll have any use for it =P