T520 or Y470? i5 or i7?

Hi all,

I'm a 3rd year in college and my trusty T400 can't really cut the mustard anymore when it comes to 3D CAD. I don't blame it as it was originally intended for business when I abruptly switched to engineering, but that's another story.

Anyway, I need something that runs Autodesk Inventor and perhaps Solidworks. I've narrowed it down to the IdeaPad Y470 with the i7-2630, 8GB RAM, and a GT550 and a ThinkPad T520 with either a i5 or the new i7-2640M, 4GB, NVS4200M and the 1600x900 screen.

So I've got a few quick questions:

1.) I really like the ThinkPad. Should I save $200+ and just go for the base i5-2520M/2540M instead of the i7? I need to make it last for the next two-to-three years. I went to Intel and the 2540's only .1 GHz faster for $45 more, so it's pretty much crossed off barring some major revelation.

2.) The Ideapad is much much cheaper and more powerful than the ThinkPad. Is it as reliable or durable? While I won't be bringing it around 5-7 days a week, my T400 took some nasty drops -albeit in a padded sleeve- and booted up like nothing happened. Can the IdeaPad at least stand up to 10% of that? I probably won't make sandwiches on the lid, but it may get knocked around and dropped.

Thanks for all your help!

 

I would avoid the i7 unless you're getting a quad core. It's unlikely you'll see any difference.

 

Yeah the i7 here is still a dual core and the steep price increase for the upgrade is hardly worth the marginal performance increase. That 200 can be put towards upgrades more effectively, an SSD for example or your own ram upgrades as opposed to going through lenovo.

I can't quantify for you if the ideapad will be able to take x% of the abuse the thinkpad did, but I can tell you the differences in build quality are vast - not to say the ideapad is bad by anymeans! There are just a lot of small differences that go into the ThinkPads that make them survive those drops. The ideapad is clad in plastic, and has little in the way of internal reinforcement. The ThinkPad.. you already know! You can get the IdeaPad and if you're careful it'll last, but just know it wont take the same abuse as a ThinkPad. That decision depends on other things as well, how long can you afford to be without a laptop if it does break? What kind of warranty do you plan on getting? How good are you at fixing it yourself if you do need to repair out of warranty or faster than warranty allows? Things like that will help you decide.

Also if there any other small things you got use to on your ThinkPad those will be gone, like a lot of the ThinkVantage software, no ThinkLight, no trackpoint, n more.

Pssst: I vote for the ThinkPad! But the IdeaPads are a great value and can do the same tasks as a TP.

 

Well, Lenovo just pulled some funny math and the T420's actually the cheapest option. Base NVS4200+i5 has dropped to below 725 (contractor store) and I may actually go for it. Downgrade and it drops under 700.

Of course there's still a few niggling details: the i5-2540 is $45 more. Yeah, it's only .1ghz faster but it has a 3dmark score of 3678.4 vs the 2520's 3461.8Is that going to make a big difference? Also, does the webcam make the computer more fragile or will it still be as bulletproof as before?

 

- Don't go for the dual i7 or the i5-2540M. Neither are worth the cost to upgrade from the i5-2520M.

- Always get at least the 1600x900 screen if you get the T520. Don't get a T520 with the 1366x768 screen (in case that crossed your mind). If you're looking at a T520 pre-config that has 1366x768, don't buy it.

 

So what of the T420? Same rule re: screen resolution?

 

Generally, yes. Quality isn't quite the same as the T520's 1600x900 screen, but the resolution itself still makes the most overall difference.

Do keep in mind how small text will be though, you may want to get the T520 over the T420 depending on your eyesight.

 

The adding or removing the webcam will make no difference in durability.

 

OKay, so Lenovo's contractor website is doing some really weird math again. A T420 specc'd out the way I want costs $723 with the earlybird coupon. But when I get to checkout, the price rises to 870+ pre-tax. Same goes for the student portal.

Oh Lenovo, your computers rock my world but your website? It stinks!

 

The prices are pretty liquid; if you build a great quote; save it if you are not going to buy it immediately. I learned the hard way.

 

Yes, but their store is still showing the lower price even though the shopping cart price is significantly higher than it.

 

Go old school; print it, call CS, and tell rep what you have.

 

You sure you're not missing a coupon code?

 

I've checked - the Earlybird coupon is supposed to give you "10%" off and the problem is, it does just that - the price when you navigate to the T420 page says that the same coupon gets you a much larger discount. I've already dropped them a message telling them about this on their site. Will check again later.

Yeah, at this point, I'm thinking about making some calls and having them email the cart to me so I can checkout online.

They can do this, right?

 

Okay - I'm on the home stretch - I've got the computer specc'd out, the price worked out after many hours of blood, sweat, and waiting and it's all come down to one last question:

The warranty.

I'm thinking about spending the extra $47.20 for the 2yr Depot warranty as I basically wore out my ThinkPad's keyboard in about two years and by wearing out I mean that the keys are worn smooth - there's a glossy sheen on the keys and the edges on the Ultranav left/right click have the edges worn off.

Is it better to get the warranty or should I just buy a new keyboard when the time comes? I'm pretty mechanically aptitude - I'm a mechanical engineering major with access to a shop, tools, and a computer engineer.

 

warranty covers more than just a laptop keyboard, as such you should get the extra warranty if you can afford it.

 

Is three years a bit excessive? I'm a third year and I don't think I'll be going past a fourth year but it's $32 usd more.

Edit: Also, how useful is a webcam? It's $27 that could be going towards a warranty upgrade...

 

The webcam? depends on how useful it is to you. I use skype and gchat a lot and sometimes teamview. If you're really not gonna use VOIP that much then it's not useful to you. That said, lack of a webcam can make resale difficult and it puts you at a disadvantage, and then you feel bad because it was like 30 bucks extra when you bought it.

The warranty is also personal preference. Personally I prefer onsite+tpp warranties. I can see the install, it's faster, and they don't break anything that wasn't broken before hand. Depot can be slower, sometimes you get your laptop back exactly how you sent it, or even worse, something else is messed up now. And I mean, NBD onsite is a feature of business machines right? Can't get that on a IdeaPad! So personally I think it's worth getting onsite. As for the number of years.. how long do you plan on keeping your laptop? An extended warranty can easily pay itself off in the course of 2-3 repairs, which isn't unheard of for owning a laptop for 3+ years. I owned my last lattitude for 6 years and used the onsite once. I've had the thinkpad 2 years and have used onsite twice already. But if you have onsite your more likely to make warranty claims and get your money's worth! Hell you can call them out to fix the rubber feet if you damn well please. Your less likely to give your laptop to a depot for cosmetic damages and you'll only use your warranty when it's mechanically not functioning. It's best to buy the full term upfront as extensions generally cost more.

Extended onsite+tpp warranties also have the advantage of maxing out the resale. You have left over warranty AND you can get it repaired to pristine condition before resale.

 

I'm not the kind of person who video chats with people, I just thought it would be useful as I had some weird paranoid thought/fantasy that a future employer might want to interview via skype or something.

I plan to use this until it quite literally dies on me and even then I'll probably revive it if it's not too far gone, so I don't really think that resale is going to be a factor in my decision. Still, it is my only computer but it's going to live a lot less...violent of a life than my T400. As-is I'll most likely keep the T520 another two-three years before passing it down to my mother.

Also, will Lenovo reject your warranty if you use aftermarket RAM? I want to get 8GB total and it's cheapest off Amazon.

 

No aftermarket CRU's do not void the warranty as long as it is installed properly.

 

Just one last question:

Is cosmetic damage going to be taken care of by the depot warranty?

Edit: perhaps I should clarify this - I notice a small chip/hairline crack in my T400's bezel and was wondering if stuff like that would be covered in the warranty.

 

Most likely no, though it never hurts to ask.

 

AFAIK Lenovo no longer covers cosmetic damage (i.e. cracks, chips, etc) under normal depot warranty unless it is a design fault.

 

Is there a minimum price for the eCoupons? I keep getting a N/A price when I try to downgrade to 7 Home Premium.

 

They wont cover cosmetic damage unless it was shipped to you that way. Anythings cosmetic after you've accepted the laptop won't be repaired under warranty unless you have TPP. This can be frustrating because sometimes damage, although cosmetic, is due to poor design! See: cracked palmrest.

 

Well, after four weeks of missed sales, hours searching, and going back and forth between it and an ideapad, I finally ordered a T520.

Bits of note:
i5-2420
500 GB (now standard equipment)
1600x900 (nice upgrade from a 1280*800!)
9-cell battery (because they wouldn't let me go under a certain price and big battery upgrade > small wifi improvement)
Intel Advanced-N 6205 (better than stock)

Oh and a two-year depot warranty. As I wore out my T400's in a year (bent trackpoint and keys worn smooth) I figured out it was cheaper to buy the warranty that covers the whole computer for the price of a replacement keyboard.

 

you must type very hard, so how much did you get the T520 for?

 

Yes/no, I was in several very writing-intensive courses my first year; I figure I cranked out somewhere in the 10-15,000 words in that academic year alone, in addition to the off-topic writing that I do.

It ended up costing around the 900 with the dreaded California sales tax. The pre-tax sum was around 840 as the Barnes and Noble store also had some kind of weekend sale.

For other people who want in, you may still be able to get the T520 with NVS card and base warranty for under 800. Get the 9-cell instead of Win 7 Pro.