What should I get for a college laptop? The Sony Vaio Y or the Lenovo Thinkpad Edge. Right now I'm leaning towards the Vaio Y Specs of the Vaio Y Price - $1,168.23 Color - Black, Teal Blue, Silver, Pear Green, Purple Violet Weight - 3.9 Pounds Shell - Magnesium Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Screen size - 13.3” - 1366x768 Screen Finish - Glossy Processor - Intel Core i5-430UM (1.20GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 1.73GHz Ram - 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-800 Video Card - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4550 GPU (512MB VRAM) Hard Drive - 500 GB - 5400 RPM Keyboard Style - Island/chiclet CD/DVD Drives - None Wireless - 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, RJ-45 (Ethernet 10/100/1000) Video Output - VGA and HDMI Audio Output - Headphone / Mic Input Jacks Speakers - Stereo Speakers USB Ports - 3 x USB 2.0 eSata - No Card Readers - SD / MMC / MSPro Multimedia Card Reader Web Cam - Motion Eye Express Card Slots - 34mm ExpressCard Slot Fingerprint Reader - No Battery Life - Laptop – 382 minutes (based on min specs) Battery Life - Note Book Review – 346 minutes (based on min specs) Thinkpad Edge Specs Price - $1,227.20 Color - Black Gloss, Black Matte, Red Gloss Weight - 5 Pounds Shell - Plastic Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Screen size - 14” - 1366x768 Screen Finish - Glossy Processor - Intel Core i5-520M (2.40GHz, 3MB L3, 1066MHz FSB) Ram - 4 GB DDR3 1067MHz (2 DIMM) Video Card - Integrated Mobile Intel 5 Series GFX Chipsets Hard Drive - 500 GB – 7200 RPM Keyboard Style - Island/chiclet CD/DVD Drives - DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer Wireless - 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth w/ antenna, RJ-45 (Ethernet 10/100/1000) Video Output - VGA and HDMI Audio Output - Headphone / Mic Input Jacks Speakers Stereo - Speakers USB Ports - 3 x USB 2.0 eSata - eSata/USB Combo Card Readers - SD / MMC / MSPro Multimedia Card Reader Web Cam - Low Light Sensitive 2.0MP Camera Express Card Slots - 34mm ExpressCard Slot Fingerprint Reader - Yes Battery Life - Laptop – 282 minutes (based on min specs) Battery Life - Note Book Review – 273 minutes (based on min specs) Both have 3 year warranties
I would be more inclined towards the Vaio Y series to tote around for college. It's lighter Longer battery life Dedicated graphics card (just in case) Metal shell not plastic And best of all, cheaper! Plus I prefer 13" to 14" (although there isn't a huge difference). The only downsides seem to be a 5400rpm HDD and it doesn't have a fingerprint reader.
There isn't a CD drive on the Vaio Y but I have an extra drive that I can use. The HDD can and will be replaced at a later time, and the fingerprint reader isn't a huge deal
Oops, missed that part. Not really a deal breaker anymore though in my opinion. As for the hard drive, going to be replacing it with another HDD or going the SSD route? Personally, for a laptop to carry to class I think an SSD is worth the price for the weight, battery life, and shock resistance.
The main difference to me would be the magnesium VS plastic shell. Lenovo's build quality and plastics are generally very good ... for plastic, but even so, a bit smaller lappy with magnesium frame seems like a better bet for your needs.
My cousin gave me a Lenovo with a titanium shell, I gotta say I REALLY like the metal shell. It feels like a tank without having the weight of one. Would either of the laptops be able to hand gaming? like Fallout 3 or BFBC2?
In short: no. Longer version: it's damn hard to find any actual gaming tests on such mGPUs, but quickly looking at the specs and the results achieved with the desktop-HD4550, it just isn't going to happen.
Even on low settings? I play Fallout 3 and BFBC2 with a 2600XT (low settings, low res), which is pretty low end even when it was new.
The 4550 should be fine on low settings. I can play BFBC2 and Oblivion on a 4570m 2.1Ghz C2D just fine at low to medium and 1366x768.
Oh :O Maybe I just keep underestimating the low end graphics. I have integrated HD4290 and HD5450 at hand and I'd just never even think of trying to play a modern title on either of those.
The gaming experience is nowhere near the one your desktop might offer. But games run smooth on low to medium and the laptop is far easier to carry around. Left 4 Dead actually runs on medium to high. If you are gaming on such a machine you can be grateful for all the Xbox ports actually, because you will be actually gaming at failbox settings. Shows how much the games industry has been held back by consoles. It's all down to driver optimization though: The card handles games like Left 4 Dead, Devil May Cry 4 or BFBC2, yet sruggles at independent games that are way less demanding as The Void. There's absolutely no headroom. Oh, and the laptop will fail at anything that includes Physix. Physix is a piece of Nvidia optimized sh*t, if you got an ATI GPU laptop CPUs just cannot handle it. How else should I be able to play Oblivion or BFBC2, yet cannot play Trine, even at low settings?
It will just be casual gaming in my free time when I'm not in my dorm. I'm not even sure how often that will happen, I just wanted to know that if I wanted to I could.
