Some help with gaming notebooks

[AlwaysPractical]

Hi. I would like to buy a notebook that's good for gaming around the 1000 euro margin. Two notebooks have so far popped up:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 39,6 cm (15,6") Notebook:
- Intel Core i7 3610QM, 2,3GHz
- 8GB RAM 1600 MHz
- 750GB HDD + 32GB SSD Cache
- NVIDIA GTX 660M (2 GB GDDR5)
- Blu-ray
- Win 7 HP

MEDION MD 98054 X6821 ERAZER GAMER HD LED Marathon Notebook 15,6" / 39,6cm
- Intel Core i7-3610QM 2,3GHz
- 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz
- 1000GB HDD (2x 500GB in RAID)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M DirectX 11 Graphics with 1536 MB GDDR5

I do like the idea of the SSD in the lenovo, but it's not boot, so it does little in terms of startup, which is the main adavantage I see in an SSD. However, I've only heard bad stuff about 2 drives in RAID in laptops.

Both are 1366x 768, I think, though a 1080p version of the lenovo is available. Benchmarks show both can run all games well at 720p but the 660M chuggs a bit at 1080p.

Also, are there any advantages of 1600MHz RAM over 1333MHz when you have dedicated graphics?

Otherwise, does anyone have any other suggestions for notebooks at ?1000?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

If you're thinking about buying a Lenovo, take a few seconds to punch yourself in the groin as hard as you can. Repeat process until you no longer think buying a Lenovo is a good idea or until you've sterilised yourself.

Lenovo's are overpriced and have a terrible reputation for reliability. You'd be better off buying something from Acer for half the price (and about 10x the reliability).

As for Medion... some widely differing opinions on them, especially since Lenovo bought up a majority share. Cheap but opinion seems split as to whether they're value for money.

As for my own recommendations... Hmmm...

Forget the gaming level Asus and MSI laptops, they're well out of your budget.

However, the highend Samsungs are looking really good on the balance of Price to Performance, so take a look at those. Also, if you don't mind searching them out, you can get some really beastie laptops from Clevo resellers for reasonable coin.

I'm in two minds about Toshiba... On the one hand, they're pretty good machines for their price but on the other hand I've dealt with a few too many of them that have developed serious overheating problems when they hit 18 months or so to recommend them without that warning on the overheating... but then others might not live in The Land of Melted Smartphones like I do (there's a story behind that but it's too long to tell).


As for the RAM question... no advantages that you'd notice unless you're doing masses of serious number crunching, in which case I'd ask why you're trying to do it on a laptop.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

Alright, I looked around a bit and read some more reviews and none of the other companies, especially not samsung, can come anywhere near these specs for this price. A correction for the specs above, the 2 500 GB drives in the Medion aren't in RAID, they're just 2 drives. This means I could string a raid array or I could switch one of them for an SSD and have lightning fast boot.

Right now the Medion is looking the best as reviews write that it's built so that you can switch out the graphics card and processor, which is awesome. Also, if I need a bigger screen, I could always just hook it up to one, not that much of a biggie. Will probably go with the Medion, thanks for the help though.

 

[Doom972]

They both have nice technical specs, but as the brotherhood's top paladin tried to insinuate, Lenovo is bad. I don't know which company gives the best warranty and service in your country, but I have great experience with Dell, so I suggest getting a Dell Studio XPS with similar specs. Above all I suggest getting a gaming desktop instead, if that's an option.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Alright, I looked around a bit and read some more reviews and none of the other companies, especially not samsung, can come anywhere near these specs for this price.

Hmmm... odd about the Samsungs, they're hotshit on price here. Oh well, shitty luck there.

A correction for the specs above, the 2 500 GB drives in the Medion aren't in RAID, they're just 2 drives. This means I could string a raid array or I could switch one of them for an SSD and have lightning fast boot.

The thing is... what would you do with a RAID array? Striping isn't the best of ideas when it includes your bootdrive and unless you have super valuable data you can't just back up on a flashdrive RAID 1 is a waste of a HDD.

SSD is probably a good option if the HDDs are standard 5400rpm 2.5" drives.

Right now the Medion is looking the best as reviews write that it's built so that you can switch out the graphics card and processor, which is awesome.

However the price on laptop components, when you can find them, especially GPUs and CPUs is not awesome... neither is doing any work inside laptops.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

I have great experience with Dell, so I suggest getting a Dell Studio XPS with similar specs. Above all I suggest getting a gaming desktop instead, if that's an option.

Checked out those Dell ones, none come close in terms of graphics for that price range. The thing that comes closest would be a $1600 Alienware, no thanks. Laptop is needed, going to uni soon and would like something that can do 1080p gaming while still serving as a note-taking laptop in class. Hence, I would really like a 15-incher.

SSD is probably a good option if the HDDs are standard 5400rpm 2.5" drives.

Yeah, they are. So I will be looking out for a cheap/fast SSD (doesn't have to be big). Any ideas?

However the price on laptop components, when you can find them, especially GPUs and CPUs is not awesome... neither is doing any work inside laptops.

Yeah, you're probably right. If there's a market for it in the future, maybe. I'll see. It just means that I do have some options if the opportunity arises. Mostly just interested in keeping the price low for now with maximum power.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Laptop is needed, going to uni soon and would like something that can do 1080p gaming while still serving as a note-taking laptop in class.

Would a medium spec gaming desktop + cheap netbook work for you? That's what I'd do.

So I will be looking out for a cheap/fast SSD (doesn't have to be big). Any ideas

I don't use SSDs, not price competative for me, but the people I know who use them, most of them swear by the Intel 520 series and say pretty good things about the cheaper 330 series as well.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

Would a medium spec gaming desktop + cheap netbook work for you? That's what I'd do.

Had considered that and still considering. Am anyway sticking with my current notebook for now. I'll see once I'm at uni whether buying a medium spec gaming desktop around the $700 margin now and then getting a cheap notebook to take notes will do the trick. Then maybe dropbox my notes between the two of them.

I'm hesitant about netbooks, my parents have had rather bad experiences with them.

I don't use SSDs, not price competative for me, but the people I know who use them, most of them swear by the Intel 520 series and say pretty good things about the cheaper 330 series as well.

Yeah, the 330 60GB looks good. If I do decide to buy the notebook, I will check then whether to get the SATA 3 Gb/s or SATA 6 Gb/s version. Also, correction on earlier, they are 7200 rpm drives, Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS with Read/Write of around 100/95Mb/s. So not that bad actually. I guess I'll wait till uni then. Thanks for all the help.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I would recommend looking at sager laptops. They're well built, are decent priced, and actually have an adequate amount of cooling for a gaming laptop. I'm using one right now, and I have no complaints. I would take a look at them and see what they have in your price range.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I would recommend looking at sager laptops.

Sagers are great but seeing as the OP couldn't get a Clevo they'd want within their budget I don't think they'll have any better luck with a rebranded Clevo.