Which laptop should I get?

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Shoegazer

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Jan 28, 2014
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10,510
Hello. First-timer here. I'm looking at 2 computers. I will be doing a healthy dose of multitasking and gaming. I've narrowed down after extensive searching to the final 2.

I'm looking for something with a nice CPU and also a nice GPU. The max I'll spend is $800. I would like input on the 2 choices I've narrowed it to. Here they are:

1) HP Pavilion 17-e171nr. Processor: AMD Quad-Core A10-5750M APU with Radeon HD 8650 Graphics (2.5 GHz, 2 MB cache). Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 8650M/8670M Dual GPU (1 GB DDR3 dedicated). Memory: 12 GB DDR3. Display: 17.3" diagonal HD+ BrightView LED-backlit (1600 x 900). Price: $629.99.

Choice 2) Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p. Processor: 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4700MQ Processor (2.40GHz 1600MHz 6MB). Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT755M GDDR5 2GB. Memory: 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz. Display: 15.6" HD LED Glossy Wedge 1366x768. Price: $789.00

Any input appreciated.
 
Solution
If you're going to buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p, it is important to make sure that you buy a model that comes with the 1920x1080 display, and not the 1366x768 display. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen rather large, the resolution itself doesn't let you fit much onscreen, and virtually all LCD panels you'll find in laptops that are 15.6" with 1366x768 resolution are low-grade LCD panels that suffer from grayish blacks and an overall washed-out look due to poor contrast, as well as severely-limited viewing angles. Further on this note, the display in the HP Pavilion 17-e171nr isn't particularly good either. In a day and age where The Macbooks' "Retina" displays and other ultra-high-resolution displays are...

Shoegazer

Honorable
Jan 28, 2014
4
0
10,510
I forgot to mention I can upgrade the Lenovo laptop to 1080p for $880. Although it's a bit over my price range, I think getting the 1080p would be well worth it. Are Lenovo laptops great quality? I'm only familiar with Dell & HP mostly.
 

edit1754

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May 14, 2012
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If you're going to buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p, it is important to make sure that you buy a model that comes with the 1920x1080 display, and not the 1366x768 display. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen rather large, the resolution itself doesn't let you fit much onscreen, and virtually all LCD panels you'll find in laptops that are 15.6" with 1366x768 resolution are low-grade LCD panels that suffer from grayish blacks and an overall washed-out look due to poor contrast, as well as severely-limited viewing angles. Further on this note, the display in the HP Pavilion 17-e171nr isn't particularly good either. In a day and age where The Macbooks' "Retina" displays and other ultra-high-resolution displays are making their way into the laptop market, and in a day and age where you can pretty much expect a decent display in a $300 tablet, nonsense displays like the ones in the two laptops you're looking at are further losing their already-diminished acceptability. The 1920x1080 display the next-up Y510p comes with is quite good, both in terms of how much you'll be able to fit onscreen due to the resolution itself (assuming scaling is off), and in terms of picture quality aspects such as contrast, but it's less about how good a good display is, and more about avoiding some of the displays out there that are pretty bad.

You can get a bit cheaper of a price on it if you go through the Barnes and Noble Gold discount.
- Sign up and sign in here: http://lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/
- Take this model: http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/?sb=:000001C9:00010256: ($859)
 
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