Which Notebook?

[ajh1979]

Hi Guys,

Im going away to Uni and I dont have my own PC so I can borrow one for the time being until I buy one in the new year.

The system will be used for the below and I already knwo that both are very low spec but whihc one is better out of the two below?

I need this for:

iTunes
Web Browsing
Social Networking
Bit of downloading movies & music
Light Microsoft Office Use
Streaming Downloaded movies to my TV
Being able to play WoW cata & Dawn of War 2 on minimal setting would be a “BIG BONUS” but not essential

Please could you give me your thoughts and advice on the 2 laptops below as im don’t know a great deal about hardware.

LENOVO IDEAPAD S205

Processor AMD E350 Dual Core (1.6GHz, 1MB Cache )
Screen 11.6" (Lenovo Glare, 1366 x 768 HD, WXGA LED Backlit)
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit
RAM 3GB (DDR3 1066MHZ)
Hard Drive 320GB
Graphics Integrated (AMD Radeon HD 6310M)
Wireless LAN Wireless (802.11b/g/n Wireless)
Network Card 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet
Integrated Webcam Integrated Webcam with Microphone
Card Reader 5-in-1 card reader (SD/MS/MS-Pro/MMC/SDHC/)
USB Ports 3x USB 2.0 ports
Bluetooth Version 2.1
Speakers Integrated Sound System
VGA Port 1 External VGA Port
Kensington Lock Kensington lock slot
Charge Time 2.5 Hours
HDMI 1x HDMI Port
Warranty 12 Months Warranty - Direct with Lenovo
Battery Life 5-6 Hours (Upto 5 Hour Battery Life)
Weight 1-2 Kg (This Model 1.46 Kg)

OR

SAMSUNG 300U

Processor Intel Pentium 957 Dual Core (1.20 GHz, 2MB)
Screen 11.6" (HD, 1366 x 768, WXGA LED)
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit
RAM 4GB (DDR3 1333MHZ)
Hard Drive 320GB
Graphics Integrated (Intel® HD 3000 Graphics with up to 1274MB Shared Memory)
Wireless LAN Wireless (802.11b/g/n Wireless)
Network Card 10/100/1000 Gigabit Fast Ethernet
Integrated Webcam Integrated Webcam with Microphone
Card Reader 3-in-1 card reader (SD/SDHC,MMC)
USB Ports 3x USB 2.0 ports
Bluetooth Bluetooth® 3.0+HS
Speakers Integrated Sound System
VGA Port 1 External VGA Port
Kensington Lock Kensington lock slot
Charge Time 2.5 Hours
HDMI 1x HDMI Port
Warranty 12 Months Samsung Collect & Return Warranty
Battery Life 5-6 Hours (up to 5.5 hours with power management)
Weight 1-2 Kg (This Model 1.29 Kg)

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[perfectblue]

There are many other laptops in this range. What is your budget?
OUt of the 2, the lenovo is better for gaming imo.

 

[pro-gamer]

lenovo is better of its high frequency and the major work is cpu speed.

 

[WR2]

SAMSUNG 300U has the better CPU and a roughly equal GPU with the E-350/HD 6310..

The 300U listed you posted has an incorrect graphics chip listed. It's not the HD 3000 Graphics - it's actually Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge).
Samsung Series 3 300U Notebook

Intel Pentium 957 review A Sandy Bridge based entry level ULV CPU.
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)


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http/www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html


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[pro-gamer]

@wr2 is the best helper on this site.

 

[ajh1979]

Hi WR2,

Thank you very much for your reply.

In your opinion the Samsung 300U is slightly better? (I was hoping I would get this reply as it looks so much nicer than the Lenovo even though looks are not everything)

By the way there is no difference in the price on these they are both the same price

I look forward to your reply and again thank you.

 

[WR2]

I think the Samsung 300U is the better option but I'm surprised they're the same price.

I would have expected the Lenovo S205 to be substantially less, as it's being replaced by an upgraded model.
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 £279

Or the upgraded IdeaPad S205 E-450 & HD 6320 £350 The E-450/HD 6320 upgrade is probably not worth the extra £70 on performance alone.

Same for the £90 extra for Samsung 300U if you're looking at just performance. Add in style points, extra points for more RAM or bigger HDD and you can make a case for spending more, if you want.

 

[ajh1979]

Hi WR2

I very much appreciate the advice from you however I now have another option to consider

A second hand Macbook Pro

with the below spec

MacBook Pro 13inch Late 2009 model
Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1067MHz DDR3 RAM
120 GB Solid State Drive 'OWC Mercury Extreme SSD'
NVIDIA GeForce 94000M 256 MB
13inch Glossy Screen 1280 x 800

Please could you advise me on your thoughts baring in mind the macbook is second hand

 

[WR2]

It's practically 3yrs old before you've had it a year. Unless it has a new battery and a warranty that's 90 days (hopefully longer) I'd suggest avoiding it.
The CPU is an improvement over the others but the Geforce 9400M graphics ranks about the same.
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.htmlP8400 (MBP) #126 Pentium 957 #298 AMD E-450/E-350 #331
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

 

[ajh1979]

Hi WR2,

I decided to take your advice and give the Macbook a miss.

I regards to your post above I think ill just wait until next week and order the new S205 you linked above its released on the 1st November and its £50 cheaper than the Samsung 300U

I just want to confirm the spec for the S205 with the E-450 cpu and the HD 6320 is better than that of the Samsung and will perform better?

Again thank you for your reply.

ajh

 

[WR2]

Actually, the Lenovo S205 E-450/HD 6320 will still trail the Samsung 300U in overall performance.
But it's not such a large gap to ignore S205's £50 (13%) lower price.

I saw that your MBP option was, in fact, a family legacy instead of coming from a random prior owner. This is a slightly different situation and gives you some 'leverage' if the MBP suffers an early failure or needs a new battery, etc.
Graphics performance is on par with the rest while the CPU is still a notch above the others.
If you like the MBP, have tested it out some, and it helps the family out? Then Im OK with taking the MBP. WoW/Cat has a OSX version - not sure about DoW2.

Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch 2009) Review
Another MacBook Pro 13" 2009 review

 

[ajh1979]

Hi WR2 again thank you for your advice.

My sister has decided she wants to keep the MBP after having a look around for alternatives (I guess she feels she cant do alot better than what she has at the moment)

And after reading your last post that the Lenovo with the updated AMD E-450 and HD 6210 will still trail the Samsung ive decided that the Samsung will be my final decision as the performance is better (and I loved the looks of this even though looks are not everything) also im not paying for it my Dad is

I understand I could do better with the same money for instance the Acer 5742G for £399.99 but the real thing that mattered here was the size of the unit I didnt want anything over 13.5 inches.

Thank you for your help very much appreciated.

ajh

 

[pro-gamer]

lenovo is better of its high frequency and the major work is cpu speed. WOW Gold
Tera Online Gold
Runescape Gold

what should i do with these three link that you mention