Solved! $350 Gateway vs. $380 Lenovo. What's the true difference?

[goodenough]

Will a typical home user (non-gamer) really notice any difference?

$350
Gateway
3GB DDR-2
Intel 2.3GHz T4500 (800MHz frontside bus, 1MB L2 cache)
14" LCD
320GB HD

vs.

$380
Lenovo.
2GB DDR-3
Intel 2.13GHz P6200 (1066MHz system bus, 3MB cache)
15.6" LCD
320GB HD

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&id=1218273045570

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&id=1218303031767

 

[4745454b]

You might. If you have lots of programs open at once, the extra 1GB of ram on the gateway might help. If however you tend to do one thing at a time, the Lenovo's faster CPU will help you do things faster. If you are really a very basic user meaning web, email, and facebook, just get whichever it cheaper.

 

[mlcaouette]

Well the lenovo has DDR3 which is faster ram and laptop ram is cheap and simple to upgrade just make sure you buy the ram online newegg/tigerdirect and not retail as the retail stores have a large markup on ram sticks and they usually aren't even up to date.

 

[skaz]

Between those two? No. At that price point your really not going to notice a difference. Especially for someone who is going to be running one or two applications at a time.

 

[omnipanzer]

+1 for the Lenovo.

It's using newer tech - has a larger screen - the RAM can always be upgraded cheeply. Also:

T4500 = Lithography 45 nm
P6200 = Lithography 32 nm

That P6200 has a lot of features to it the T4500 does not have simply benefiting by being one generation newer. So the Lenovo is just a touch more futurproofed.

In short it's a big difference for $30.

 

[goodenough]

Thanks for the ideas. Much appreciated.

I ended up getting the $350 GTW.

* Preferred the 14" size.
* Read that DDR2/DDR3 is not a huge difference (10%), so I took the 3GB over 2GB.
* CPU seemed to be comparable in terms of some "rating/ranking"
(Yea, just need something to type on. I can't imagine CPU being a bottleneck. )
* GTW had the HDMI port, which is a key feature for laptops these days.

 

[4745454b]

I thought the Len had a bigger screen as well, but they are both 1366x768 screens. Nearly two inches smaller, the GW will probably look better as the dot pitch will be smaller. Toss in HDMI and more memory, and it being cheaper, the GW is probably the better buy for a basic user.

 

[goodenough]

You indeed are a voice of reason.
It is too easy to get lured by the latest and greatest,
instead of sticking with "GOOD ENOUGH"