G55VW Vs Y500

Ok so i have used these systems on and off for the last two weeks and what is better?

We start off with the Y500 for $1,049

i7 3630qm
8gb DDR3 1600
1tb 5,300rpm drive
16gb MSATA Cach drive
802.11 b,g,n with bluetooth 4.0
1920X1080 display
2 GT 650m's 2gb DDR5 for a total of 4gb.
170w psu
15.2" x 10.2" x 1.4" 6.5lbs


The G55VW brings for $1,199

i7 3630qm
8gb DDR3 1600
500gb 7,200rpm drive
802.11 b,g,n with bluetooth 4.0
1920X1080 display
2gb GTX 660m
180w psu

15.11" x 11.77" x 0.86"-2.00" 8.37lbs


Size.

In terms of size and weight the G55VW loses pretty bad. I mean it is a chunky 15inch system and the Y500 is only slightly larger then the G64. In fact its only a few mm lager. If you are looking at these two and want a more portable unit the Y500 is the better buy.


Build Quality.

Each system has its pros and cons for this. However when you feel the Y500 in your hands it just feels like a better system then the G55VW. However the touch pad on the G55VW is better but despite what people say i found the Y500's just fine and never had any issues however i do prefer the G55VW's. However the finish on the G55VW loves to show any dirt or smudges and the palm wrest for those who have dry skin will collect enough to convict you of a few crimes based off DNA. Since i was at a toss up on this i decided to look back at other systems they made and decided the Y500 is the winner here.

Sound.

The sound system on the Y500 is very nice. You are getting some JBL speakers. Why the G55VW uses the "Sonic master" aka cheapest speaker we could find. But you get a subwoofer. Now if you adjust the EQ the G55VW sounds fine and is above par however i will say the games i played, The music i played the Y500 just sounded better.


Performance.

This all comes down to the hard drives and GPU's. The Y500 is the clear winner here in shear power. Yes the drive is slower but its larger and the cache drive helps make the system a little more snappy then the G55VW. And the SLI'ed GT 650m's why not only packing more ram offer close to the preformace of a GTX 670MX what is a good amount better then GTX 660m in the G55VW.


Cooling.

Now this is something Asus has spent a ton of money on over hyping. I wont go into temps but i will say over all they were close but the G55VW was cooler. But this is not a deal breaker. But if you game with it on your lap, carpet or anything like that then the G55VW is what you want to get since those dont really affect the system cooling like the Y500. But if you do gaming on a desk or chillpad the Y500's cooling is fine. The winner here is the G55VW


Support.

Lenovo is the to pc manufacturing company. I have never had to deal with there service but from my understanding they are very nice. Asus on the other hand in my personal experiences repairs have taken in excess of 2 months. Some times they came back with more problems and Asus will rarely return a phone call. Support hands down Lenovo. I could give them the win on just their staff speaking English on the forums as Asus's staff can not even speak broken English.


Optical bay.


The Y500 you love the optical bay. If you need one of these then just go with the G55VW if using a USB optical drive is out of the question. Personally i do not use them so i dont have a issue with it. All my games are digital downloads but i do have a cheap usb dvd burner.



So what do you buy? Its up to you. You know what i think now and this all boils down to what you want to spend your money on and what you like. If you want more power the Y500. If you want a better cooling system the G55VW.


If you are on a $1200 budget my recommendation for you is to get the Y500. Take the $150 you save and pick up a SSD or a MSATA drive. For the same price you can not only get a much faster overall system but just a better experience.

People may argue that $150 is not a lot to get better cooling. But i find the Y500's cooling fine as long as you are not setting it on the carpet and for that $150 you can get a nice new drive, high end mouse, usb dvd burner or blue ray burner. The Y500 is just the better buy.

Just remember to get whatever system YOU LIKE. This is your system not mine i gave you my opinion and i shown you reasons to chose either one.

 

nice review, appreicate your time you put in this, yes the sli in the y500 is stronger but I must admit that asus has the gaming theme going for it with a stealth fighter jet, but the reason I choose the y500 is because of how cheap it was when I got it compared to the g55, at 950$ non sli version its a bargain, and how you can get the 2nd ultrabay graphic card at 115$ so it was really great, not to mention lenovo has a really good customer service, which replaced both keyboard and front bezel, track pad under warrenty with brank new parts, and the y500 is generally more portable.

 

This guy claims he can upgrade g75 series to 680m so hey he can just stick one 780m to g55 and make it one monstrous machine that would solve all dilemas \sarcasme\

Anyway good review.

 

Many machines work fine with the 680M but don't with the 780M due to vbios changes so it's not a certainty.

 

Thats for sure. But I strongly suspects this guy is fraud at least when it comes to his upgrading of g75 with 680m and I posted about it in his original thread but he has ignored me so far. I have upgraded g73sw with both 680m and 770m now and know how much hassle is to get non asus gpu cards even recognised by system.
Here is link to thread where he boust about it but never comes With final result: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/711715-got-around-modding-old-g75vx.html

 

Lol, yeah but that makes little difference now I think. Now it's a case of general compatibility that really has been confirmed.