Lenovo Y580 or W530 (k200m vs 660m)

Hey everyone,

I'm currently looking to pick up a 15.6'' laptop that's capable of playing most modern games (so, a gaming laptop that doesn't have terrible battery life) and I've narrowed my choice down to the Ideapad Y580 and the Thinkpad W530. Originally, I was pretty set on the Y580 but was told that the Thinkpads have better build quality than the Ideapads. Now, I'm considering the W530.

However, the only real differences (to me) between these notebooks are that one has an Nvidia Quadro K2000M and better battery life, whereas the other has a dedicated gaming GPU (660m). Looking at the specs, the GPUs seem relatively comparable.

660M
K2000M

So, essentially my inquiry boils down to this: would it be wise to buy a mobile workstation to game on, or should I just stick with the Y580?

Thanks.

 

The GTX 660M comes with GDDR5 memory instead of DDR3, so the GTX 660M will take the edge in performance assuming they are otherwise comparable.

In addition: Make sure that, if you choose to go with the Lenovo IdeaPad Y580, that you buy one of the models that includes the 1920x1080 display. The models that come with the 1366x768 display should be avoided. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and usually have very poor image quality because they are cheaply manufactured displays that have low contrast ratios. I would say the same for the Thinkpad W530, but as of right now none of the base models seem to offer the 1366x768 display anyway.

But (as with other laptop types) buying a mobile workstation for gaming because you want the build quality is fine if you are satisfied with the performance it will give you. Just keep in mind that the lower bandwidth of the DDR3 memory may be a noteworthy bottleneck in a number of cases.

 

I just ordered the Thinkpad W530 and also plan to use it for gaming (among other things). Judging by the performance of the last-generation GPUs, the K2000M should perform somewhere in between the 650M and the 660M. As edit said, the 660M can use GDDR5 memory while the K2000M is limited to DDR3, which means the 660M will likely give better performance. However the differences are likely to be small in most cases. Personally, I value the high build quality and the better battery life as worth the extra money for the W530.

 

That's my opinion. Thanks for both your responses.
I just wish Nvidia would release the full specs for the K2000M, because if it's even close to the 650M, it would definitely be worth the extra $400 for 9 hour battery life and a better build quality. So yeah, definitely leaning toward the W530.
Thanks again.

 

Nvidia lists core count and some spec details here: NVIDIA Quadro FX - Product Comparison

They don't list clock speeds, but it has the same shader count as the 650M & 660M.

 

If you will use for games, the gtx660 will best choose

if you will use cad and 3dmax modeling, the quadro will best choose.

BR

 

As stated, in the end it comes down to what do you value more - a better GPU or better build quality and battery life? I picked the latter but you might value higher end gaming more than I do.

 

Djembe, do you think you could do a quick benchmark test once you get your W530?
I'd be very appreciative

 

No prob.

 

Actually, I pulled the trigger on the W530. Decided I didn't want to miss out on the June Savings (or the Barnes and Nobles discount) and I felt I could survive if I couldn't play every game on max D).

 

Hi, AATroop,
Can you let us know how good the screen is? I'm thinking of upgrading my T60p (5 years old): Lenovo started having nasty screens after the T60p, and I'm hoping the W530 is pretty good.

 

There's also the price difference to consider.

 

Sure, I got the upgraded screen (1920x1080) so I'm hoping it's pretty good as well
Hopefully notebook check gets their review out pretty soon; their screen tests are by far the best.

 

Hi again, AATroop,

Uh-oh. Check this out:
forum.thinkpads.com • So, how's that screen on the W530?

/SD

 

That Macbook starts at $2100 ($400 more than what my FINAL price was for the W530). I don't need or want a 220 dpi screen. It'd make gaming difficult and trivial tasks even more stressing on the laptop. I'm expecting to get 9 hours of battery life, Apple claims only 7. I'm good.
Also, my W530 shipped today. Expected arrival date is somewhere between June 18 and 22.

 

Great! Let us know how it is!

 

where are you finding the quoted 9 hour battery life number? and is that with the 6-cell or the 9-cell battery? (the 9-cell is the one that sticks out the back i take it?)

 

The numbers are probably from Lenovo ThinkPad W520

But "battery tests" are one thing, real life is another. Squeezing more than 6-7hrs out of W520/W530, with screen brightness set to something reasonable, and actually using it even for office work, is not going to be easy. Even with the brand new 9 cell battery, and, of course, discrete GPU off.

 

It was a quote from Lenovo's website, on their old spec sheet for the W530.
There's a forum here (for the W520) where most users say they get about 6-8+ hours on battery, and a review from notebookcheck.com showed 13(!) hours for the W520 on idle.
Also, Lenovo claims 22 hours with a sheet battery, which should give you at least 16 given the standard percentage drop in company claims (15-30% of expected battery life).
The other thing to consider is that the W530 is getting a kepler GPU and an Ivy Bridge CPU which will hopefully increase battery life just a tad.
In any case, it seems the W530 should outlast the new Macbook. If you really need an ultra hi-resolution display, I can see it being worth while (photographers, artists); but, I'm going to be doing a lot of programming and physics work on mine, so I just need something powerful that lasts, even if it isn't pretty.

 

We just got our Y580 for xmas. We have a house full of T42p's, which are W530-class machines, so I was wary of buying a machine with lower build quality. Indeed, the build quality of Y580 is not very high, I especially miss the latches when you close the laptop, and I scorn the way Lenovo is moving to standardized keyboards and discarding thinkpad staples, by using a special shift key plus a Fn key (F1-F12). Gone are the "volume up", "volume down", "mute", and "thinkvantage" / "access ibm" keys. They are now "Func+Fn" combos. Also, the lack of a 9-cell battery is a slap in the face, to home users.

However, the screen on the Y580, i suspect, is every bit as good as the screen on the W530. Although it's a glossy screen, it's the prettiest laptop screen I have ever seen, and the wide viewing angles make it a joy to use. And, the chicklet keyboard is shockingly good. I type 115 wpm and I tried every laptop at Fry's electronics. The Y580 keyboard RULES. I typed recklessly fast, and the keyboard correctly recorded my every stroke! If you combine discounts (we bought ours through "Shop Discover" which results in a 10% rebate), you can get a Y580 fully kitted out with 1 GB drive, 8GB RAM, 32GB SSD (says 16 GB on website but ours had 32 GB), and full-HD display, for $950 +s/h/tax. We spent an extra $80 on a 2-year warranty + 2 year accidental damage policy (cheap!) You can't beat the price of the Y580 !!! Word is, the thinkpads are designed by western designers for western businesspeople, whereas Ideapads are designed by chinese engineers for chinese consumers.

- Don

 

I use a T420 for my job, 1600x900, NV4200M, from my employer. I get a crazy-high amount of battery life from the 92w 9-cell battery, something like 8.5 hours is not unexpected (Intel HD3000 running all the time, on a W530 it will be an HD4000 on the Ivy Bridge.) Over thanksgiving we went to Zion National Park (Utah) and I forgot the charger, and guess what? I never needed it, as it turns out !! 2 hours of surfing each night over 4 nights, and I still had battery to spare!

- Don

 

I get about 6hrs battery life out of my W530 on the 9cell if using it for typical office work (web browsing, mail, excel, some videos) with the HD4000. I have the screen brightness set at 9 while on battery. If I turned the brightness down more and went for a more conservative power plan I am sure I could squeeze 8hrs from it.

Regarding the GPU, the 660M is a clear winner over the K2000M when it comes to game performance. All the benchmarks I have seen have the K2000M falling somewhere between the 640M and 650M but a chunk below the 660M, would love to be wrong as I have a K2000M and if it can perform anywhere near a 660M I would be delighted.