Thoughts on this laptop? Thoughts on Macbook air?

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 19th, 2012, 1:11 pm

I have money to purchase a new laptop. My price range is around $600 bucks

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... 6812A306812A01A0A381

What do you guys think about this one?

Any suggestions?

If you can find a $600 one with a SSD and i5 3rd gen, that would be awesome!

I am also considering saving more money and buying the 13" MacBook air. Thoughts?

Adbot · **Posted:** July 19th, 2012, 1:11 pm

Shane · **Posted:** July 22nd, 2012, 12:53 am

That one looks fine. Question though, does it have USB 3? Also is 1366x768 enough screen real estate? Also I assume no gaming since this is using the iGPU?

But as you say, MacBook Air. If I was buying a mobile computing solution for myself today I'd buy the MacBook Air. If you are wanting to use OS X and want something lightweight that's the machine to buy. You'd only want to go up to the MacBook Pro if you need the expandability that it offers in terms of self upgrade options of the RAM and hard drive.

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

We've got a load of Lenovos here at my house, and I'll be looking at a new one at some point within the next year. That being said, if you're going to be traveling a bit, I'd go for the ThinkPad line. The Edge line might work as well, but traditionally the ThinkPad laptops have been aimed at professionals (ie: business people) who are on the go quite a bit. My ThinkPad is ~5 years old at this point and still going strong, and doesn't show any excessive wear from going in and out of a backpack every day.

The IdeaPads are generally fine, but they're targeted at consumers. They're not as rugged, and often aren't nearly as customizable as the ThinkPads. I know there are usually decent discounts on Barnes and Noble's Lenovo portal, and often that is the site to go to if you're buying from Lenovo directly. They've had a ton of deals on many laptops with the last-gen Sandy Bridge architecture, and are even starting to give discounts for the Ivy Bridge based laptops as well. Generally the advice is to upgrade the processor from the i3 to the i5 (~$30), add the 1600x900 screen (~$50), and perhaps go for a 2-year warranty (~$90). The HDD/SSD + RAM are easily accessible, so don't bother paying the stupid prices they charge for that.

If you're willing to spend the $1100 (student discount) for the 13" MBA, I'd look in the $700-900 range for the T400 series (14" screen) or the X-series (11-12.5" screens) that are geared toward portability. Personally, I'll be looking at the T430/T430s which is the latest Ivy Bridge based version, then adding the nicer screen, fingerprint reader + that pointing-nub, and considering the $50 upgrade for the dedicated graphics as well. Given Optimus, it'll likely be a worthwhile upgrade for performance, without sacrificing battery life. And if you're going to the $800-900 level, you can definitely deck out the laptop + get extra RAM from NewEgg.

morumska · **Posted:** July 22nd, 2012, 3:41 pm

mac is neat but if u are doing anything but gaming i think mac air will be the best (by the time u saved up for it they might have upgraded it too who knows...)

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 23rd, 2012, 8:27 am

Thanks for the replies guys. I did decide to wait a little longer and get something with a SSD, so I do have it down to either the Macbook air or a Lenovo Ultrabook. Also, since the Macbook air has a 3rd gen i5, it can play decent games like StarCraft 2, right? It has Intel HD Graphics 4000 which I thought was actually pretty good?

morumska · **Posted:** July 23rd, 2012, 4:03 pm

never dealt with 4000 but the 3000 one is ok not the best

Adbot · **Posted:** July 23rd, 2012, 4:03 pm

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 23rd, 2012, 5:09 pm

morumska wrote:

never dealt with 4000 but the 3000 one is ok not the best

Yeah the 3000 sucked, but from what I understand, with the 4000 a GPU is on the CPU die, or something like that?

Hic142 · **Posted:** July 24th, 2012, 9:31 am

ya Intel HD Graphics 4000 are actually quite good.

See for yourself: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 24th, 2012, 11:46 am

Hic142 wrote:

ya Intel HD Graphics 4000 are actually quite good.

See for yourself: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

Yeah I checked it there. As long as I can play StarCraft 2 then I am good

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 26th, 2012, 9:44 am

Pfkninenines wrote:

We've got a load of Lenovos here at my house, and I'll be looking at a new one at some point within the next year. That being said, if you're going to be traveling a bit, I'd go for the ThinkPad line. The Edge line might work as well, but traditionally the ThinkPad laptops have been aimed at professionals (ie: business people) who are on the go quite a bit. My ThinkPad is ~5 years old at this point and still going strong, and doesn't show any excessive wear from going in and out of a backpack every day.

The IdeaPads are generally fine, but they're targeted at consumers. They're not as rugged, and often aren't nearly as customizable as the ThinkPads. I know there are usually decent discounts on Barnes and Noble's Lenovo portal, and often that is the site to go to if you're buying from Lenovo directly. They've had a ton of deals on many laptops with the last-gen Sandy Bridge architecture, and are even starting to give discounts for the Ivy Bridge based laptops as well. Generally the advice is to upgrade the processor from the i3 to the i5 (~$30), add the 1600x900 screen (~$50), and perhaps go for a 2-year warranty (~$90). The HDD/SSD + RAM are easily accessible, so don't bother paying the stupid prices they charge for that.

If you're willing to spend the $1100 (student discount) for the 13" MBA, I'd look in the $700-900 range for the T400 series (14" screen) or the X-series (11-12.5" screens) that are geared toward portability. Personally, I'll be looking at the T430/T430s which is the latest Ivy Bridge based version, then adding the nicer screen, fingerprint reader + that pointing-nub, and considering the $50 upgrade for the dedicated graphics as well. Given Optimus, it'll likely be a worthwhile upgrade for performance, without sacrificing battery life. And if you're going to the $800-900 level, you can definitely deck out the laptop + get extra RAM from NewEgg.

I bought this one http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... D000069CA73F6D0D1FA8

with the GPU upgrade (only $50 instead of $250) my total was $710 with tax. Normally would be 940ish so I think I did pretty good!

Edit: Also, I am going to buy a 4GB RAM card to upgrade it to 8GB, for only $49 bucks

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

4GB of RAM is ~$21, while an 8GB module would be closer to $48. Sooo.. Just something to keep in mind.

Looks like a nice build, but did you upgrade the screen :$ ? From what I can see, it's the 1366x768 version.

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 26th, 2012, 4:26 pm

Pfkninenines wrote:

4GB of RAM is ~$21, while an 8GB module would be closer to $48. Sooo.. Just something to keep in mind.

Looks like a nice build, but did you upgrade the screen :$ ? From what I can see, it's the 1366x768 version.

Ah I put the 8GB RAM price. You're right, only 21 bucks

And no, I didn't have enough money for the screen upgrade. It was either a screen upgrade or a GPU. I chose the GPU. How bad is it that I didn't get the screen upgrade?? From what I have read, it wont be that much of an issue since it is on a 14" screen.

I am calling tomorrow to see if I can upgrade the screen. If I can pay for it with a separate card (my debt card) then I can pay for the screen upgrade. Hopefully I can do this.

Edit: I called and I was able to cancel the order, and add the HD+ screen to it, and I was able to pay for it with my debt card so it worked out

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

The screen will be a wise purchase. The low end screen at 720p just doesn't have the screen real estate that other nicer screens would have. I remember seeing that the color reproduction and back light were nicer on the 1609x900 screen too, which are both good features.

Ranging God · **Posted:** July 27th, 2012, 7:22 am

Pfkninenines wrote:

The screen will be a wise purchase. The low end screen at 720p just doesn't have the screen real estate that other nicer screens would have. I remember seeing that the color reproduction and back light were nicer on the 1609x900 screen too, which are both good features.

Cool, then it was worth the extra $50 bucks. In a few weeks I am going to buy the RAM upgrade so I will have 8GB. I think I will be pretty happy with this set up.