| CPU | I7-3630QM |
| GPU | GT 650M SLI (via ultrabay) |
| RAM | 2x4GB DDR3 |
| HDD | 1TB 5400RPM |
| Screen | glossy 1080p, 90% sRGB |
| Keyboard | Backlit (Red) |
| Weight | 6.4 lbs (2.9 kg) |
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I7, GT 650M SLI
Note: The newer model with GT 750M SLI is now available through Lenovo site. This model should have some good advantage over the one with the GT 650Ms model in many cases.
A Very good deal and you can really get a better gaming performance for this price, but see also the I5 version of Y500 which I think more cost effective. Note that you can buy it with the ultrabay (which includes an additional GT 650M) from retailers or you can buy the Y500 from Lenovo and the ultrabay separately, also from Lenovo – Use B&N gold discount.
You should know that there in some of the shipped laptops there is a problem with the trackpad which is not stable. Probably fixed in later shipped ones. It should not be too much a problem since for gaming you’ll be using a mouse and in the worst case the laptop can be return, but still.
You get dual GT 650M GDDR5 GPU, I7-3630QM, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD and a glossy 1080p. This is actually an excellent deal and in terms of performance, you get most of the time a gaming performance between the GTX 670MX and the 675MX, which is excellent, see review.
The battery performance is so-so, but as far as gaming laptop goes – this Y500 has an excellent value per money ratio!
You know you said the i5 was cost-effective. I say otherwise because more games are utilizing quad-cores, such as BF3, and Crysis 3. Future games will most definitely use quad-cores, and the old i5 dual core will bottleneck your precious SLI 650s. I advise you change your post to reflect what I said, as you’re guiding people down the wrong path.
I think currently the I5 is still a good choice if you want to save these 100$. Although some games will utilize four cores in some scenarios, these are rare scenarios and by the time quad cores will have be a significant benefit, they won’t help too much.
In three years from now people will want to replace their laptop to get a much faster GPU in order to get a significantly higher FPS. I don’t think a quad core will add much.
Besides, remember that the I5 are not dual cores, they are 2 + 2.
Quad-cores are already having a significant benefit, especially in multiplayer, where CPU usage is cranked up. A notable game that utilizes quad core is BF3, which most everyone plays. Plus Crysis 3 is unplayable with dual cores. And what do you mean 2+2? It has 2 cores, nothing else to it.
2 cores + 2 HT.
I’ve tested the cores number impact with Crysis 3:
http://www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/crysis-3-gtx-670mx-benchmark-with-the-eurocom-racer-2-0/
+ in real situations, more GPU bound than CPU bound, like paring I7-3630QM and its HD 4000:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html
you’ll see that in many cases the I5s are faster than the I7 (like BL2) and you’ll also notice that many times the lower clocked I7s perform at least as good as the higher clocked I7s, even in BF3 – if BF3 was utilizing even partially efficiently those four cores, you would have gotten better results with the higher clocked cores.
And in the gamer reality you don’t game with an HD 4000 and benchmarks will show that even the much slower core like the AMD A10 cores with their 7660G GPU perform much better than the HD 4000, or even the A8-4500M with its 7640G will perform on the same level like the I7 + HD4000.
Another point of view – the MSI GX60 performs worse than I5 laptops with slower GPU sometimes which means it is mostly, currently, less of the core count and more the core technology and speed given you have enough cores.
If the extra cores were such important, you’d see the I7 perform much better since their cores are faster.
I’m not saying the cores count is not important – you should have at least 3 cores (AMD A8/A10 or Intel I3 and up), but currently, for a gamer, there is not much use for an I7.
Hyper-threading is irrelevant in most gaming situations. No games currently use it (except Crysis 3). A dual-core will not bottleneck the GPU in timed demo loops (single-player) but in multiplayer, 4 cores is essential.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1654043
Shows the i5 with 4 cores performs much better than with 2 cores disabled. (Desktop version of i5). As you can see, the dual-core gets chocked in big 64 player maps, where the CPU has to know what every player is doing. In multiplayer, the true power of the CPU is shown.
1. that’s not what it show.
2. It is the same as with the Crysis 3 benchmarks – if you use such settings that the GPUs are not bottleneck but the CPUs are, than you might get such results as above, but that’s not the case almost never.
3. The tests he has done are with 2 cores only, without the HT, and you are wrong to think it has no impact. Otherwise – prove.
4. Here are benchmarks of 18 CPUs running the same Metro 2033:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-4.html
You can see that even the I3s (2 + 2) are at least as fast as the 4/ 4+4 / 6 / 8 cpus.
5. CPUs with 3 or less cores total do worse and also then, the 3 cores cpu they’ve tested is the older and slower AMD Athlon II X3 450
You have completely disregarded the fact the in multiplayer gaming, the dual core will not cut it. Metro 2033 “is notorious for being GPU-limited”. In timed demo loops, CPU’s aren’t as stressed. But multiplayer is where the CPU shows its true color.
(you have a tomshardware account? what’s the name?)
Here is a benchmarks showing CPU’s with HT and without HT
http://www.overclock.net/t/671977/hyperthreading-in-games
As you see, there is not difference in performance. Hyper-threading is great programs that utilize many threads, such as CAD, image-editing, video-editing, etc.
1. but that’s what I said – if you push the graphics requirements high enough, then the cores count becomes more important. You yourself said the in Metro 2033, in highly multiplayer scenes, the GPU also becomes a bottleneck => CPU is more pronouced (in Metro 2033).
There is no question that you can push almost any modern game to a state where the CPU cores count is important, but you have to compare it to the GPU weight in this equation.
I should add your comment in regard to the heavily multiplayer Metro 2033 case – thanks
2. The benchmark you linked to in overclock.net is with an I7 which already has a 4 cores + 4 HT. Check the 2 + 2 case.
3. no TH account yet, why?
does both version, newegg and bestbuy are equal? because in the bestbuy one says: “Ultrabay swappable drive bay lets you switch out a graphics card for a hard drive (not included).”
the hard drive is not included, not the ultrabay
Yes, both are exactly the same model – 59359557
could you please clarify whether the UK Amazon link does include dual GT650M/SLI graphics card. I cant see this written anywhere like it is in the USA links.
they changed the description. Now I don’t know and I’ve removed the UK option. Sorry. I’ll keep an eye on this one
Right now, if you click on the Lenovo link in your post, it takes you to the page for the non-SLI version of the Y500. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any way to buy the SLI version from Lenovo directly, nor does there seem to be any way to buy the extra video card Ultrabay module by itself. I hope this doesn’t mean they’re pulling the SLI version this early in the life of the system…
please check it now
I have some questions on the Y series.
1.) Any room to customize this? Went to Lenovo’s site and there is no option to add an optical drive.
2.) How compatible is this laptop with some of the SSD’s out there? Easy install or am I looking at some work to put in the SSD myself?
1. No, not really
2. Should be pretty easy. 2.5″ SSD in a 2.5″ slot
I would love to buy this laptop, but do you think I can get the price down a bit lower ?
what do you mean?
You also have the I5 version which is actually my favorite:
http://www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/lenovo-ideapad-y500-15-6-gaming-laptop-dual-gt-650m-gddr5-i5-3230m-6gb-ddr3-nice-1080p-display-1tb-hdd-for-900/
900$ – much more cost effective and practically the same gaming performance.