Best New Laptop for the Job

[goalie13456]

Hello Everyone,
I am in the market for a new laptop and wanted some input from everyone. I was thinking about getting the Lenovo IdeaPad P500. It has a 2.56 GHz i5 processor along with the Intel® HD Graphics 4000 card. It also had 6 GB of memory. What do you think? Any suggestions?
Thanks!!

[lbuttery]

Intel® HD Graphics 4000 card

avoid getting any kind of integrated video

get an independent video card with its own ram, 1 GB or more
must support open GL (see CA's website for specs) - preferably an Nvidia card

the more cores the better, try to get i7 CPU

8 GB is recommended for CPU - allow for adding more in the future

Lew

[goalie13456]

Thanks Lew. I ended up buying the Lenovo Y580. It's got an i7, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M with 6GB of ram. Ended up getting it refurbished from Lenovo for $629. Great deal.

[lbuttery]

Just curious:

what size screen ???

did you get Win8 ???

Lew

[goalie13456]

It's a 15.6 full HD screen. I opted not to get Win8. I think that Win8 is hard to use and is pointless without a touchscreen. It did come with the software to upgrade to it if I do choose to do so.

[perryh]

I love win 8, you can just go to the desktop setup very easily.

[goalie13456]

I just don't think that I have any use for the metro style tiles if the interface doesn't include a touch input.

[lbuttery]

Jack:

I agree with you

If I had to buy a PC now it would be Win7

If I buy one with a touch screen in the future I might opt for Win 8

I would need to play with Win 8 to make the final decision

Lew

[jcaffee]

So don't use them. I use "Classic Start Menu" to bypass Metro and add a start button.

jon

[lbuttery]

Jon:

I'm reading in my PC mags that Win 8.1 will "fix" some of the "issues"

so before I purchase I will check Win 8 out first

Lew

[johnnyprc]

I'm all for Win 8. I have a Lenovo Yoga13 for my "tablet", and I even use my blue-tooth mouse with Win 8 and like the side-to-side scroll with the mouse wheel. Then in tablet mode it gets even better, but I have to say Win 8 is very nice either way.

I'm stuck with integrated graphics, and for presenting things its not bad. I do all my modeling on a beast of a workstation with proper video card - but I love the Lenovo for meetings. I even got a pocket projector that works very well in quick meetings. Lenovo is great hardware - almost Apple-like.

[dgavin]

Johnny - what pocket projector did you get? Does it work well? Do you need a dark room?
what distance from lap top to wall/screen?

[countryxdesign]

I would also like to know about this "pocket projector". It sounds like a great idea for client presentations.

[lbuttery]

I have the AAXA P300

works great

not pocket size - about the size of a book

Lew

[johnnyprc]

Johnny - what pocket projector did you get? Does it work well? Do you need a dark room?
what distance from lap top to wall/screen?

Hey Dennis - I got the 3M Mobile Projector. Yes, it does an amazing job for its size, and the fact its battery powered - you don't NEED a dark room, but it always looks sharper a little bit dark. Meaning, if I go to Starbucks or somewhere, I don't need to plug either my Ultrabook/Tablet OR the projector into a power source and its a very bright display (I bring a background). Very convenient, and you don't even need a computer if you are showing images and slides. I think it was only $300ish - and without the onscreen is only $150ish. The onscreen is very cool if you are in a rush, and you don't want to have computer issues.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Pocket-Proj...pd_sim_sbs_e_5