Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 - $530 - DEAD

About to pull the trigger. Hope you can help with some final questions and I'll be good to go!

Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
or
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
I am torn! $100 price difference but I don't upgrade my laptop often. I only play games like Sims 2 and Oblivion right now but Sims 3 is on the horizon. I know I won't see a huge difference in performance but I saw someone here say the T9300 is more "future proof" (although I realize computers are never really future proof!).

Leaning Towards T9300 because--
I don't upgrade my laptop very often. My ZX5280 is still kicking and only lags a bit when loading Sims 2. I also edit home videos so the extra boost may help.

Leaning Against T9300 because--
I'm not sure if it's overkill for me. Didn't I read a thread here where people initially had some HP problems with the T7X00 series when it came out? I'm afraid to be a guinea pig, so-to-speak, to work out the bugs (if any). I hate going through HP repairs!


17.0" WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)

2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) Will upgrade to 3 GB myself

512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS


320GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (160GB x 2)
or
240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)

Stuck on which dual hard drive setup to choose, please help! Will be using one drive for personal files only and one drive for programs.

The thought of having a faster drive is appealing but I've also read the 5400s over 120GB can keep up quite nicely with the 7200s. There's no price difference at all so no help there.

Thanks!

 

well i would no doubt get the 2.5 possessor for only $100, since your editing video. Plus you never know what your going to be doing in the future. Also on the HDD, how much space do you think your going to need? you can always upgrade your HDD in the future. I would go with the 5400rpm just because it's already pretty fast. all in all it's a nice setup.

 

It looks really good.

The T9300 will help you with your video editing. The 6MB cache will help too.

If you don't do a lot of editing and don't need to have the meanest and fastest machine, then stay with the T7500, it's a good processor and powerful enough.

In regards to the HD, if I had the 9700, I'd set up a raid with two 200GB 7200RPM HD's, meaning it will be like your getting a single 400GB 14400RPM HD, which is pretty darn fast if you ask me. But if you just want storage. I'd say go with the 320GB, It makes sense.

 

Thanks a bunch! Trigger pulled.

HP Pavilion dv9700t customizable Notebook PC

* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
* Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
* 17.0" WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
* 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
* FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone!!
* FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and BluetoothTM!!
* 240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)
* LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support


$1,165.99 after $500 coupon (10% tax where I live GRR!) and then another $32 will be knocked off of that when I get my HP 3% cash back rebate through FatWallet.

Funny, I had to return a DV9700T in Dec -- it cost more and the specs weren't near as good as this one. Now I get to play the waiting game until the estimated Feb 15 build date.

 

Good for you. WELCOME TO HP lol

 

Yitzter - Thanks! Do you have your system yet? Wondering what you think of your T9300. Nice system you have there!

 

yeah, the T9300 is woth it. the 240GB 7200rpm is better if you can deal with the lower size.

 

Id go with the T9300 even though the T7500 can be swapped out for the T9300 anyday. Id definately undervolt it though to save battery life

Go with 2x2gb for future proofing, it will also make your ram run in dual channel. www.newegg.com for cheap ram. 64-bit is bound to take over sooner or later

I also would have went with the 7200rpm drives unless you really need more space than that.

 

Similar to what flipfire said. If you get it now get the best as technology fades, FAST!

 

Thanks everyone. My current laptop has 80 GBs and I have about 20GBs left over so I think the 240GB 7200 drives will work well, even though I gave up the 320GB 5400 drives. I will definitely use more of the drive space now because I can put multiple home video DVDs on for editing a video without having to swap a bunch of files out but I still think the 240 total will be plenty. And heck, I can always upgrade the drive if I change my mind so I'm pretty excited about it!

 

wait you can swap out the CPU on laptops? no way.

 

Thanks, I love the T9300, I personally feel a performance increase when I'm converting video and stuff like that.

I see that you've got yourself a pretty killer system too. I would have really liked a dual hard drive option on the 6700, then it would've been final.

 

Yes you can but its usually not worth going through the trouble. The T7500 and T9300 can both work on the santa rosa platform. You just need to update your BIOS so it supports the new penryn chips

 

Yes it is in fact possible, though it's a pretty big pain to actually go through with it.

 

Thanks Yitzter! Glad to hear you like your new Penryn. I can hardly wait for mine to arrive and I ordered it less than 12 hours ago!

 

Lol

Hey, I wanna wish you all the luck with your new piece.

 

Thanks a bunch. I'll let you know!

 

Just pulled trigger for a friend... been shopping around for about a month and this 500 dollar off was sweet! I cant believe it - they had a budget slightly lower but in the end paid 968 after taxes.. I got a couple questions -- How well will Sims 2 run on this computer including EVERY expansion pack installed with aloott of custom content installed? Also - didnt add the accidental warranty but probably planning on adding it later - is it worth it? Thanks.

HP Pavilion dv9700t customizable Notebook PC
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
17.0" WXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone!!
FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and BluetoothTM!!
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
No TV Tuner w/remote control
High Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

 

Great stuff...I am getting ready to pull the trigger myself on this deal. I might go with the 2.20 processor to stay within my budget. Either way, a fantastic deal with the $500 coupon.

 

Hey whats better,

T7500 with 512MB GeForce 8600GS

or

T9300 with 256MB GeForce 8400GS ??

 

addad, this is actually my third HP notebook since December thanks to a couple of faulty components.

I put Sims 2 and every expansion pack on the second one and its specs were the T7500 processor (2.2 GHz), 512 MB 8600M GS, 3 GB RAM and the 250GB 5400 RPM drive.

The game ran so smooth and fast with all settings on high. I was really surprised because I have a desktop with a 256 8800 GT card and the load times were so quick on the notebook, it was keeping pace with the 8800GT in my opinion.

I have about 6 GBs of custom content and I own all expansions and stuff packs. I was really impressed and now that I'm temporarily back on my ZX5280 with an ATI 9600 card with 128MB of dedicated memory, I'm going through some major withdrawals waiting for the 9700T to arrive (again). Load times since adding Bon Voyage are about 3 minutes per lot -- Edited to add that they are 3 minutes per lot on my ZX5280, not the DV9700T!

Also, I could definitely tell a difference between system bootup going from 2 GBs of RAM (on the DV9500T) to 3GBs of RAM (on the 9700T).

 

Hey whats better,

T7500 with 512MB GeForce 8600GS

or

T9300 with 256MB GeForce 8400GS ??

 

T7500 with 512MB GeForce 8600GS.

but why not just get the best of both worlds?

 

Well I am searching for a friend and their budget was actually lower but I convinced them this deal was too good to pass. So they spent a little more already - I dont wanna spend EVEN more - especeially bc they dont really need super top of the line for Sims 2 and eventualy Sims 3 you kno. This configuration is already about a million times what they were expecting to get in the first place. I would like the best combo tho.

 

How are you liking the laptop?

My Warranty Co. just purchased me a replacement for my unrepairable ZV6130US and it is pretty close to your specs:

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
17.0" WXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone!!
FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and BluetoothTM!!
240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)
LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
No TV Tuner w/remote control
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

After being on the road for a month without a laptop I'm pretty eager to get it.


Have you pulled Vista off and instlled XP yet?

How bad was all the bloatware that was pre-installed on the system?

 

Definitely go with the T7500 and 8600. You don't really need the T9300 anyway.

 

haha man on a scale of 1 -10 what would you say the difference is?!

 

I'm confused ... How many laptops do you guys go through? And how come you get better models when you send them in? A. What are these issues that HP is so sorry, they'll replace it for better? B. Where do I get this warranty?

 

It all depends for what.

 

Its a standard warranty. If you have to send it in more then twice they will usually upgrade you for the hassle.

 

jong81 - My first one had a bad DVD drive that took 15 hours to burn 100 MB, yes MB. It was having all sorts of trouble just reading a disk too. So HP gave me a refund and built me another system using the same discount I had used even though it had expired.

The second one had a backlight problem on the left side of the screen and a dead pixel showed up a few days later in that area so I just asked for a total refund. They didn't offer anything except that they would have a production team of 4-5 people go over every single component after it was built but before it shipped, which I didn't like the sound of because they wouldn't give me a clear date of when exactly it would ship out and what exactly they would be doing.

I don't know. Just felt like I would be the 6th owner if they were going to spend at least a week testing it out.

Anyway, I just waited for the $500 coupon to come back. I've been an HP customer for 15 years now and never encountered anything like the probs I had. However, if there's a problem with this one, I'll be moving on to Dell.

 

Hey did you guys have regular warranties? Also, how long after you bought it did they start messing up? And finally, did they offer upgrades pretty easily or did it seem like a pretty unlikely thing?

 

Id go with the t7500 w/ 8600GS for gaming, as gpu's are usually the bottleneck and slow the rest of the system down.

Get an extended warranty, you can get this anytime aslong as your original warranty period is still active.

 

I had the regular one year warranty. With the first one, the DVD drive failed the first time I used it. (Within 48 hours of taking it out of the box.) With the second one, the backlight problem was immediate. So everything was well within my 21 day return period.

When I talked to the returns department, they said most people who have a problematic system notice it within the first week. I know, doesn't make you feel too confident but, like I said, I've never had these problems with HP before or I wouldn't be giving them one last chance. Others here who have the DV9500T and the DV9700T sing its praises.

 

HP definitely makes their laptops decent, though I wouldn't say the best.

For one I'm extremely satisfied with my laptop. I got a great price per value and HP is the best in that department. In regards to quality, I've only had my laptop for a while now, but I think it'll hold up for a nice amount of time.

 

I am the eternal optimist so I'd like to think I just had a run of bad luck there. Third time's a charm, I hope!

 

+1 i returned my DV9500t CTO few weeks ago cuz of a few problem, returning my DV9700t CTO soon cuz of a dead pixel and i have another 9700t the replacement before the 14th hope i wont have problem with the 3rd one

 

Oh no! Not you too. What probs did you have so I can be on the lookout in my own system?

 

Test everything as soon as you get it. You have about a 1/6 chance of getting a faulty one in the box

 

For the average user who only uses things like the HD (of course), DVD drive, graphics card, sound card, what else do you recommend I should test?

 

-Check for any chassis damage or imperfections firstly
-Test all the ports are working (USB/Mem card slots) which ever is possible
-Check for dead/stuck pixels
-Wireless isnt dropping out
-Bluetooth is working
-Buttons on keyboard are all working and keyboard is straight
-All LED lights are lighting up properly
-Insert cd/dvd's on the cd drive or even lightscribe if possible
-Webcam and Mic

Pretty much test all specs parts in your list. Stress test the processor and GPU while keeping an eye on temps. I tested mine by loading up all these programs and doing the test then after everything passed i did a clean install.

Run memtest86+ if you want, but its not really necessary. You can just go to your BIOS and do a simple memory and HDD test. This should suffice if something is that faulty.

If you have a lemon im sure youll notice so test everything before your refund/replacement period expires.

 

Thanks for the list! What's the best way to stress test the processor and GPU? Since you said you loaded up programs, tested and then everything passed, I want to make sure I do it right. And the memory and HDD test in the BIOS-- is there something that specifically says you can test the memory and HDD there?

Sorry for the rookie questions. I've never tested out my system like that before but definitely want to.

 

There is a program called Wprime it's for stress testing the CPU, I can send it to you if you want.

For the GPU, There is a program called Ntune, in that program there is the option to test for stability for CPU, GPU, Memory, HD. Just google it, or PM me and i'll send you both programs.

 

Your questions are fine, better to know

Theres a tab in the BIOS screen for tests, you wont miss it.

To test the CPU and GPU just play the most intesive game you have on the highest gfx settings for 2 hours. If it gives you blue screens or errors, this might be a red flag. Just check for overall stability

Download HWmonitor , just google it and youll find it. Make sure you leave it running while playing games and after you finish playing it will show you the highest temperatures reached throughout that period

The way i did it was different, i used Wprime95 (creates 100% cpu load) and RMclock while i was undervolting. I wouldnt reccomend this yet. For GPU i used Ntune, nvidias gpu program to conduct a stress test

 

Ntune does a stress/stability test on the CPU too.

 

Wait a minute Vince, wait a minute - you used the warranty for a single dead pixel? You can do that? Their policy says something like 7 (see my HP Dead Pixel Policy thread). Is this a higher end machine you're talking about? And do they only do that for people who bought it directly from HP?

So based on what your saying (assuming they don't discriminate by how much you spent), with my one year warranty, despite already getting a $200 discount from Amazon for the issue, I could send my laptop for repair to HP for a single little dead pixel? I.E. They would repair or replace it?

 

IF you ***** and moan and say that you need to be able to view the littlest things,

Then yes.