Advice needed for new laptop

[Mtt48]

I've been looking at laptops for awhile now. I need one that I can use for school/work, torrenting and limited gaming.

Lenovo is having a sale on right now and they have an ideapad that looks like what I'm looking for.

Lenovo Ideapad Y470 085537U - 14.0" Laptop.

SPECS:

2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Processor ( 2.30GHz 1333MHz 3MB )
NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
14.0 " HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
750GB 5400 Harddrive
6 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Along with your other typical features.

SALE PRICE: $791.12 cdn

Do any of you know whether or not this is a good purchase? I've heard generally good things about Lenovo, and this seems to have good enough specs for what I need. Also, it's right in the price range I'm looking at and I don't want to spend over $800.

I think this is a good deal, but can anyone confirm? If not, what are some other options out there?

Thanks you for your help!

[Finner]

I just bought a Lenovo X220 and i love it. They are known for quality and durability.

Don't know tons about your particular model, but the brand itself is fantastic.

Also one thing, i have the same processor, and even though they don't state it on the site, it has the same capability to ramp up to a higher clock speed when under load.

Also they are easily mod-able so if you need more RAM, it should be a walk in the park to buy another stick and double the existing RAM.

[J Diddy]

The only thing I don't like in your specs is the 6 cell battery. See if you can get a 9 cell. Also, if you don't plan to keep content on your hard drive (keep it in a cloud or home server) you might want to consider a SSD.

[Mtt48]

I was considering a SSD but the cost is just too much for me right now. I wanted to spend in the 650-800 range and this seems ideal.

Unfortunately I don't believe that you can upgrade to a better battery.

[MickMcGeough]

I think you're definitely on the right track as far as a light gaming machine under $800 goes. That graphics card is on par with the card in the high-end MacBook Pros and it's more than adequate for most games at 1440x900, so at 1366x768 you should have no problem with most titles.

I work with a guy that swears by Lenovo and he's been buying laptops for around 15 years.

You won't get loads of battery life out of it. Between the discrete graphics (are they switchable?), non-ULV CPU, and 6-cell battery, it may chew that battery up quickly by today's standards. Also the 1366x768 monitor is a bit on the low side, but that's personal preference.

Either way you aren't likely to find a much better machine under $800, imo.

[Hack&Lube]

Yes that Lenovo has switchable graphics. With switchable graphics, you'll get more power out of the 6 cell battery.

My biggest issue is that the screen is "14.0 " HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768" which I always find to be hilarious that it's actually spelled out that way in marketing. The screen is "glare" type as in, you'll get glare and reflections when you look at your monitor as it's glossy screen and not a matte screen.

I will never buy a laptop with a glossy screen again. With a desktop that sits in one place and one lighting condition, glossy screens are beautiful, but for laptops that have to move around to different lighting conditions, glossy screens are unacceptable for me.

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Either way you aren't likely to find a much better machine under $800, imo.

Sums it up.

Good specs for the price. If you dig it, you might as well go for it.

[Mtt48]

Well I ended up buying the Y570 instead.

It has a NVIDIA GT 555M graphics card and 6gb of ram. It was roughly 60$ cheaper. The only downside (for me) was that it is a 15.4". Either way, I'm excited to get it! THanks for the input folks

[Azure]

Hell of a price for that machine.

Everyone else remember when you would have paid almost $2,000 for that kind of laptop?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Azure

Hell of a price for that machine.

Everyone else remember when you would have paid almost $2,000 for that kind of laptop?

The other day at the Apple store?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

The other day at the Apple store?

Oh, so you're saying Apple products are generally overpriced?