Is this a good laptop?

[RavenSword]

So, I'm in the market for a new laptop. While I'm still back and forth between Windows and MacBook, I may have to go windows just due to budget. Even though a MacBook would go well with my iphone, iPad, and Apple TV.

I was researching windows laptops below 1,000 dollars and a site I frequently read, thewirecutter.com, suggested the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch for $699 at best buy. I walked into a best buy and did use it for a bit (no network access though) and the device does seem pretty solidly built. The screen isn't too great (1600x900) but it does have 8gbs of RAM with a 500gb mechanical drive and it has a Haswell i5 processor.

My concern is how good is this laptop going to be since it only costs 700 dollars? I don't know how stable or reliable windows laptops are in this price. I assume I can't do any gaming on it, right? Even light stuff?

What say you guys?

 

[AwesomeLewis24]

Lenovos are great laptops; built to last. I know this is kind of off topic a little, but my current Lenovo T61 I've had for almost 4-5 years is still working today - running the latest version of Windows 8.1 as well! It's a great little computer, I generally use it for work nowadays.

Get a Lenovo, they truly are awesome computers in build, looks and performance. My friend has a Macbook, it got dented when dropped. Lenovo, however? Probably would come off with a few donks. Nothing major.. Again, as I say, tough build quality - it'll last.

 

[Maaz Mansori]

The main reason why the price is lower is because of the mechanical drive versus SSD. It is still a quality product and should be stable and reliable but the hard drive will slow things down a bit and it's possible that it might need to be replaced at some point (maybe in a few years) but a 500 GB mechanical drive is going to be like $50. You could probably run light games on it without much difficulty but this is not a laptop for a heavy gamer because both the video performance and HDD performance will suffer.

 

[RavenSword]

The main reason why the price is lower is because of the mechanical drive versus SSD. It is still a quality product and should be stable and reliable but the hard drive will slow things down a bit and it's possible that it might need to be replaced at some point (maybe in a few years) but a 500 GB mechanical drive is going to be like $50. You could probably run light games on it without much difficulty but this is not a laptop for a heavy gamer because both the video performance and HDD performance will suffer.

Mainly was just looking to maybe run some blizzard or valve games on low or medium. Or old games that I love. Nothing crazy, I do own a PS4 for most my gaming, and will probably one day build a desktop gaming PC anyway.

I'm wondering if I would lose out on a lot of connectivity not getting a MacBook though. But I'm unsure if this is the right forum to ask that.

 

[switch side method]

Get a pavilion i5 I was lucky to get it for ?200 as i got it sent to me by mistake when I ordered a chrome netbook. In store its worth ?650 and it can play asphalt 8 no problems. Well good laptop

 

[switch side method]

It also come with 1Tb of memory and 720p screen

 

[xandros9]

I personally would avoid HP products, and if unavoidable, at least get their business-class products.

They're cheap for a reason in my experience.

I hold Lenovo highly, but doubted the IdeaPad's hardiness when compared to a ThinkPad, but my friends enjoy theirs.

 

[psudotechzealot]

Stay away from Ideapads and get a older Thinkpad or a Asus laptop.

 

[AwesomeLewis24]

Get a pavilion i5 I was lucky to get it for ?200 as i got it sent to me by mistake when I ordered a chrome netbook. In store its worth ?650 and it can play asphalt 8 no problems. Well good laptop

Wow, you're so lucky... D:

 

[NokianWP]

Dell Xps 12 ATW. A bit on the expensive side though.

 

[12Danny123]

Have you considered the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga. I have one it's GREAT!

 

[salmanahmad]

So, I'm in the market for a new laptop. While I'm still back and forth between Windows and MacBook, I may have to go windows just due to budget. Even though a MacBook would go well with my iphone, iPad, and Apple TV.

I was researching windows laptops below 1,000 dollars and a site I frequently read, thewirecutter.com, suggested the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch for $699 at best buy. I walked into a best buy and did use it for a bit (no network access though) and the device does seem pretty solidly built. The screen isn't too great (1600x900) but it does have 8gbs of RAM with a 500gb mechanical drive and it has a Haswell i5 processor.

My concern is how good is this laptop going to be since it only costs 700 dollars? I don't know how stable or reliable windows laptops are in this price. I assume I can't do any gaming on it, right? Even light stuff?

What say you guys?

No! Your wrong.

There is a huge amount of laptops that cost under $1000 and have amazing specifications!

If you like gaming on your laptop get a laptop with a dedicated Nvidia or AMD GPU.

I'll search up some laptops for you, in a while.

 

[salmanahmad]

Get a pavilion i5 I was lucky to get it for ?200 as i got it sent to me by mistake when I ordered a chrome netbook. In store its worth ?650 and it can play asphalt 8 no problems. Well good laptop

Lololololol Asphalt 8 runs smoothly even on dual core mobile processors.

By gaming I'm pretty sure he means games like Farcry 3 or GTA 4, etc.

 

[salmanahmad]

So, I'm in the market for a new laptop. While I'm still back and forth between Windows and MacBook, I may have to go windows just due to budget. Even though a MacBook would go well with my iphone, iPad, and Apple TV.

I was researching windows laptops below 1,000 dollars and a site I frequently read, thewirecutter.com, suggested the Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch for $699 at best buy. I walked into a best buy and did use it for a bit (no network access though) and the device does seem pretty solidly built. The screen isn't too great (1600x900) but it does have 8gbs of RAM with a 500gb mechanical drive and it has a Haswell i5 processor.

My concern is how good is this laptop going to be since it only costs 700 dollars? I don't know how stable or reliable windows laptops are in this price. I assume I can't do any gaming on it, right? Even light stuff?

What say you guys?

I am sorry at the moment I don't have a lot of time to help you however if you search "gaming laptops under $1000 2014" on YouTube a lot of people have uploaded recent videos on this topic.



Why do I want you to get you a gaming laptop? Because your only occasionally going to play games and when you do, the experience should be smooth. Plus laptops that are smooth in gaming are also very good in performing regular tasks.



After you select a laptop under $1000 come back on this forum and give me the name, I'll search it up and tell you how good it is for gaming.



But seriously you can get an amazing laptop(even for gaming) for under $1000.



I myself have a Sony Vaio Fit 15 which comes with a 1.8 GHz Core i5 3rd generation, Nvidia 740M GPU and 4GB of RAM it handles even the most graphically intensive games at Medium or High very well. The RAM can be expanded upto 8GB.



The only game that has been terribly lagging is Watch Dogs but that is because Watch Dogs needs 6GB of RAM, so I need to expand the RAM of my laptop.



Anyways I'm always willing to help so do talk to me before purchasing the laptop.