Can't decide which notebook I should buy.

News & General Discussion
1

Hey guys! I can’t decide. I have 2 big rivals. One is Lenovo and one is HP Pavillon. I heard lot’s of bad things about HP Pavillons so I am more at the Lenovos side. I will write the specs lower but if your have any good gaming/really strong notebook suggestion than just let it out :).

If there is some stuff you don’t understand and I haven’t seen it yet just write, because I was translating this with copy/paste/translate method.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y570

Processor:
Intel Core i7 2630QM, 2 GHz
6 MB L3 Cache
4 cores, 8 threads
Intel Turbo Boost 2 up to 2,8 GHz

Memory:
8 (2x 4) GB DDR3 1333 MHz

Graphic Card:
NVIDIA GeForce GT555M, 2 GB

Display:
15,6" LCD s LED, glossy
Resolution: 1366 x 768 px

HDD:
64 GB (SSD) + 750 GB (5400 RPM)

Optics:
DVD SuperMulti

Multimedia:
Sound card RealTek ALC272
Stereo speakers JBL
Webcam with resolution 2 Mpx 

Comunication:
Gigabit Ethernet Broadcom BCM57780/ BCM57781
WiFi 802.11b/g/n
BlueTooth 2.1

Ports:
USB 2.0 
USB 3.0
1x VGA (D-Sub)
1x HDMI
1x RJ-45
1x Audio in/out

Power:
Li-Ion batery, 6
4 hours

OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Size and weight:
385 x 255 x 22 - 35,7 mm
2,7 kg

HP Pavilion dv7-6b90ec Dark Umber

Processor:
Intel Core i7 2670QM, 2,2 GHz
6 MB L3 Cache
4 cores, 8 threads
Intel Turbo Boost 2 up to 3,1 GHz

Chip set:
Intel HM65

Memory:
8 (2x 4) GB DDR3 1066 MHz
Up to 8 GB in 2 slots

Graphics card:
AMD Radeon HD6770M, 2048 MB

Display:
17,3" TFT LCD with BrightView technology and LED
1920 x 1080 px

HDD:
1000 GB
5400 RPM

Optics:
DVD SuperMulti with LightScribe technology

Multimedia:
Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer
Integrated webcam with mic

Comunication:
10/100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet
WiFi 802.11b/g/n 
BlueTooth

Ports:
1x HDMI
1x VGA (D-Sub)
2x USB 3.0
2x USB 2.0 
1x RJ45
1x Sluchátka
1x Mikrofon
1x Čtečka paměťových karet 
1x Čtečka otisků prstů

Power:
Li-Ion akumulátor, 6
120 W Adapter

Size and weight:
416 x 275 x 36 mm
3,43 kg 

OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

– David

2

HP Pavillion. Anything goes wrong will be covered by warranty unless its your fault, so no problems.

3

Lenovo is by far the more sturdy notebook. There’s a reason that more businesses choose them. If that doesn’t matter to you, just get whichever one suits your fancy (the HP looks faster). If money is no object, get a Macbook pro.

4

Agreed, opens up ios development, and you can run windows anyways.

5

Actually, maybe don’t get the hp:
asdffdsa

6

I already own a macbook pro, but I kinda don’t like OSX…I have grown up on windows and it’s hard to switch platform. I have an MacBook because of the iOs publishing you have written. And I want a new notebook because my old one is slowly going to die. No warranty, many parts are broken etc…And I would instantly go for the HP but as I said, people who I asked before always said that HP is a “plastic sh*t”.

EDIT: Just read that article you posted there and it was about the same stuff I didn’t wanted to buy it. One friend of mine had a Pavillon notebook and his hdd was crashing often.

– David

7

Have had pretty good luck with HP products

2 laptops HP going on 4 years
1 desktop that shows bios date of 2006 - heavy usage

wife also has a HP laptop that is used daily for the last 4 years (work) transcriptionist.

so the four computers have past their warranty

They are alright computers and support for drivers is passable

8

Drivers is the other point of HPs. But I don’t think Radeons have big problems. Just a question if you did have a Pavillon or other class?.

9

Maybe search for:

Schenker-XMG-P511Pro

10

desktop is the HP Pavilion Media Center m7750n
replaced the PSU and put a nvidia 8800 GTX in there sometime ago

but if i was to split hairs on brands i would not buy the lenova’s or acer’s

11

All depends of what you want to do… if you want to develop for mobiles, a core i5 or even i3 is better than an i7… sometimes is not a good idea to have the last technology while you are a gamedeveloper…

12

I want to both develop for iOS and desktops. But the moment I realized that I need new steel was when I was testing our last game. When I set the graphics to the highest settings, which weren’t THAT high, the game was very laggy. And I don’t wanna see how will be my notebook doing with some advanced stuff.

13

Have a look at the Dell XPS range.

14

You might also want to check out the Asus N75S:

I bought one of these less than a month ago.

So far I can say this:

  • Relatively quiet for a laptop
  • Very nice screen (also very big). Nearly as good as my macbook pro
  • The top of the laptop where you have your left hand stays very cool while gaming (important for me)
  • you can disable touch pad which is nice for gaming
  • sound is pretty good for a laptop (external ‘bass’)
  • has space for 2nd HD in case you need more space or SDD
  • 2 USB 3.0 but no eSata
  • keyboard is pretty sh*t
  • super heavy and bulky (its my desktop replacement while I am in China)
  • Mine came with ‘only’ 4GB of ram but ram is dirt cheap to upgrade nowadays.
  • Microphone is extremely bad compared to my macbook pro inbuilt one (but who cares?)

Would I recommend it to a friend?
Yes I guess I would. Its has its nice features as long as you dont need to carry it around. Its ok for gaming (starcraft 2 runs on ultra) and nice for applications like unity or blender due to its big screen, quietness and low heat.

BUT! It was pretty hard for me to go back to a windows laptop being used to my macbook pro. The keyboard feels cheap, the plastic feels cheap, the operating system feels cheap its just all not quite as refined. But if you only use windows laptops I guess you are used to that.

Also the Schenker laptops might be nice but generally they are hard to find in ‘remote’ parts of the planet like possibly eastern europe and certainly impossible to find in China eventhough they are made here…

15

Go with the Lenovo if that’s your choices. Hp laptops break, they usually break critical parts. I remember sending a steady stream of these when I worked as a tech. their desktops are better - but the laptops are just bad.

I second the Asus as a choice tho, they make awesome laptops :wink:

16

It’s hard to go wrong with Lenovo for a Windows laptop. Sturdy and reliable.

How old is your MBP? You might try running Windows on it if you don’t like OS X. Very reliable hardware and you simply can’t beat Apple’s support (as long as you have AppleCare).

17

Go with Asus. I’ve had my trusty Asus G71-GX for about 2 years now and it hasn’t failed me yet. It’s essentially my desktop replacement. The price at the time was really good too, $1100 I believe (mine was about $1500 because they were in such high demand). I know at least 3 other people with the exact same one as I and one of them is a college professor too! Amazing balance of price and power and I do all my CG work on it. Mine has 6gb ram in 3 slots (I’m planning on upgrading to 12gb soon) and a geforce gtx 260m. The battery life is shit, but that’s to be expected.

The current version though, the G74SX, is a freaking beast. It has a 3gb geforce GTX 560m (!) and a quad core i7 2630QM. Depending where you look the price hovers between $1300-$1500

18

From what I have seen Lenovo is best value for your buck. The GT 555M is better than the 6770M from what I understand. If you have a monitor to dock the laptop to when you need to do serious business I would go with the Lenovo. The battery will probably last better as well.

I used to be a fan of HP and had a friend that was equal to my level of geek and he never had a problem with them. Of late though, I have heard bad things. Buggy systems and lots of bloatware.

I also have a personal vendetta against HP because their C47XX series wifi printer emulates USB on wifi. This clogged up my pc’s Wireless G card with over 300 constant connections to the printer. That is bad. That’s unheard of. Why is my is their printer software trying to update so often? There are over 300 separate pieces of information that are communicated between my pc and printer constantly over USB? Looked it up online and the HP techs said that’s the way its supposed to function. I don’t like to support companies with such bad practices myself, so I would personally stay away from HP.

I like the Lenovo myself. Don’t forget MSi, ASUS and even Samsung or Toshiba. All make solid machines from my experience and research.

19

Ok… what on earth would you need 12GB for?

20

<.< >.> rendering stuffs?