which laptop...

Hey there.

I can't decide which laptop to get, in terms of price, power, and a little bit in the portability department.

I have narrowed it down to three different laptops, which are listed here.

Newegg.com - lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (209942U) Notebook Intel Core i7 3610QM(2.30GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory DDR3 1600 1TB HDD 5400rpm Blu-ray RAMBO (Re-writeable) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M ($1099)

Newegg.com - MSI G Series GE60 0ND-042US Notebook Intel Core i7 3610QM(2.30GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory DDR3 1600 750GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M ($1199, but comes with a free xbox 360. I already have an xbox 360 though)

custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks (with my configuration, it costs $1269

Of course, each laptop has its own pros and cons.

The Lenovo laptop has a Blu-ray player, and a 1 TB harddrive (however it is 5400 rpm, not 7200 rpm!). It comes with a Geforce GTX 660, same as the MSI one.

It is also the "cheapest" out of the 3 laptops. It weighs about 5.95 lbs. All other specs (memory, CPU, etc) are effectively the same. It costs $1,099.

The MSI laptop comes with a 750 GB hard drive, at 7200 rpm, and weighs only 5.28 lbs. This laptop is the lightest of the three. It also has a SteelSeries chiclet style keyboard, which is apparently very nice. Graphics card is a Geforce GTX 660, just like the Lenovo. It costs $1,199.

Now, the Sager laptop, (with my specifications I chose) comes with the same CPU, the same amount of memory (I can upgrade it to 12 GB of DDR3 for $40 more though), 750 GB of hard drive, and all other things effectively the same as the other laptops. However, it comes with an Nvidia Geforce GTX 670, so it can handle games a bit better than the other ones.

It also comes with a fingerprint reader, which I don't believe the other two laptops have. This laptop is the most expensive compared to the others, at $1,269. It also weighs the most, at a chunky 6.83 lbs.


I'm not sure which one to go for. This is going to be my baby for the next four years or so, so I really want to get the "best" laptop in this price range. I'm not really considering battery life, because I'm almost always going to be in the presence of an outlet.

Any opinions, or suggestions would be fantastic!

Are you planning to actually use the laptop for gaming? Will it be your primary computer, or just for work/internet?

If not, you may want to consider downgrading some aspects of what you're looking for.

Of the three, personally, I would go for the MSI laptop, altogether get rid of the dvd drive, and install an SSD for boot drive. MSI tends to be of decent quality (in my mind msi > lenovo at least) it's the lightest, and a good keyboard makes a whole lot of difference imo.

InfinitusEquitas said:

Are you planning to actually use the laptop for gaming? Will it be your primary computer, or just for work/internet?

Click to expand...

It'll be my ONLY computer, so yes, primary. For work, internet, gaming, everything. I literally mean, it will be my baby for the next 4 years.

Hmm, well, do you game heavily? I mean the Sager would probably end up having a longer shelf life, but not by much.

I just recently agonized over a laptop too... but went with a cheaper one, since a laptop will never be enough to be my primary, and I'm likely to only use it on average 2-5 days a months.

My vote is still for the MSI.

i have an MSI gt680r and its about a year old and i can say this thing is still a beast. i7 quad core, 8gb memory, 1.5gb GTX440M graphics card,1080p led screen, i can personal say i love this laptop. MSI makes good laptops, and this is my upgrade from my Asus g50vt-x5.

I'll go against the grain and say Sager and add the RAM. If you need to make this last then more memory is a plus and better video is a plus. But I don't think you'll go wrong with Sager or MSI here. You have already done the hard work in narrowing it down to the bet options. No to the Lenovo though, that hd doesn't cut it.

Ram is not expensive, but few people need that much ram. Start out with 8gb, and upgrade from there if you need it.

As far as the graphics cards go, did a couple of minutes of goggling. The 670 performs slightly better obviously, but the difference vs 660 is really negligible.

The 670 is basically an overclocked 570... using older architecture it seems. The 660 should use less power, but you may be able to overclock it.

And now the Sager has a free upgrade to 16 GB of memory, and 750 GB hard drive. Sweet.

I have a 2010 HP ProBook 4520s , i think its the best ever notebook i have been using it 24'7 on since last 2 years and just recently the batteries have gone down to <1hr but each and everything about this one is super solid!! and it isnt much expensive either!
So if you're not limited to those three stated in the OP i suggest adding the new 4530s to your list !! you wont be disapointed!

I have an couple Asus that I really like. But I didn't see any Asus laptops that spec'd comparably to the Sager he had listed here.

With the 750 hd and 16gb ram it looks like a slam dunk to me.

Went with the sager. Just ordered it a few minutes ago.