IdeaPad Y500 Laptop 3630QM, 8GB, 1TB, GT650M 2GB, 1080p - $819

[Kueller]

As always, sign in to (or create) your B&N account to see the best prices:
http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrar...ovo:EnterStdAffinity?affinity=barnesnoblegold
Good all around 1920x1080 laptop for the $819 price with coupon DOORBUSTERBF. $30 idiot tax if you don't log in thru B&N. You can search for the model number below on lenovo's site. This has a 650M compared to the 660M in the Y580.


IdeaPad Y500 Laptop - 59360242 - Dusk Black: DOORBUSTER

Model Highlights
Part number: 59360242
Processor 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor( 2.40GHz 6MB)
Operating system Windows 8 64
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT650M 2GB
Memory 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display 15.6" FHD LED Glare Wedge 1920x1080
Pointing device Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
Hard Drive 1TB 5400 rpm
Optical Drive DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Battery 6 Cell Li-Polymer
Network Card Intel Centrino Wireless N-2230
Bluetooth Bluetooth Version 4.0
Warranty One year
Form Factor Notebook
Camera Integrated HD Camera
HDMI HDMI (Out)

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Windows 8 and the slow HDD make it a pass for me

 

[MissJ84]

Windows 8 and the slow HDD make it a pass for me

I am far from a Lenovo fan, but this is an excellent deal. I'd rather them put in an HDD instead of a jenky SSD and increase the price of the laptop ~$100-$200. That way you get to pick your own SSD. I paid about the same for my Samsung Series 7 (3615QM instead of the new 3630QM) back in August and I may have considered this had it been out then. The only bad thing about this laptop, for me anyway, is that it's thick (1.4" vs .98") and heavy (8.6lbs vs 6.2lbs) compared to what I have. Either way this one is on sale and it's an excellent price.

Edit: Looks like I was wrong about weight (~6.2lbs, not 8.6lbs). I bet the HDD is easier to replace on this as well.

 

[HeavensCloud]

Plus if you did swap to an SSD that 1TB hdd would make a great portable drive if you threw it in an enclosure.

 

[Serpent]

It's really not that hot, as the Y580 has been near this price at roughly $850. I know because I got one for roughly that.... but then ... there was a 50 dollar tax on top of it.

So if it's 819 out the door... it's not too bad, I guess.

 

[Blue.chord]

It's really not that hot, as the Y580 has been near this price at roughly $850. I know because I got one for roughly that.... but then ... there was a 50 dollar tax on top of it.

So if it's 819 out the door... it's not too bad, I guess.

So wait, this is 80 dollars cheaper than what you paid for yours, and its not that hot?

 

[rudy]

Does this laptop contain space for 2 hard drives?

 

[Veedo]

still looking for a thinkpad deal, seem to be none this year, other than a 12 inch. anyone comment on the build quality of this line of notebooks?

 

[MissJ84]

Does this laptop contain space for 2 hard drives?

It might have an open msata slot, but outside of that possibility you'd be limited to replacing the the DVD with an HDD/Caddy combo.

 

[Kueller]

still looking for a thinkpad deal, seem to be none this year, other than a 12 inch. anyone comment on the build quality of this line of notebooks?

Define deal. That Barnes & Noble link is golden. About a week ago you had your choice of X230/T430/T530 starting at under $600 (under $650 with upgraded display and wifi). Just keep checking back through the B&N link in the first post for when the base configuration models of the X & T series drop below $600 ($662.xx right now), and you will have about as good a price as you'll find.

 

[Shocked]

This would be really tempting if I didn't want the 660M in the Y580. Still kind of is though.

For $155 more in the Y580 "weekly deal" you can get the 660M, Blu-ray, their 1TB+16GB SSD combo thing, and keep the 1080p resolution. Worth it?

On the downside, the Y580 is backordered (I know someone who ordered one a week or so ago... they told her they're out of stock of one key component and that it could ship anytime in the next 30 days).

 

[Kueller]

Does this laptop contain space for 2 hard drives?

Yes it contains space for 2 hard drives. It has a modular ultrabay that can accept a number of different goodies:
Optical drive
3-cell Battery
HDD/SSD caddy
OMFG a second 650M for SLI notebook action AWESOME! (Not available on the Y580 btw)

Also has an mSATA slot for 1.8" SSDs.

This would be really tempting if I didn't want the 660M in the Y580. Still kind of is though.

For $155 more in the Y580 "weekly deal" you can get the 660M, Blu-ray, their 1TB+16GB SSD combo thing, and keep the 1080p resolution. Worth it?

On the downside, the Y580 is backordered (I know someone who ordered one a week or so ago... they told her they're out of stock of one key component and that it could ship anytime in the next 30 days).

The Y580 gets cheaper than this. It was $869 a week or two ago with most options (1080p, blu-ray, 1TB), but minus the dinky 16GB SSD cache...who wants 16GB when you can slap a msata crucial M4 128/256GB in there? Regularly gets down to $899. Hold off for them to switch up the deals, happens every 3-4 days.

 

[Shocked]

Yes it contains space for 2 hard drives. It has a modular ultrabay that can accept a number of different goodies:
Optical drive
3-cell Battery
HDD/SSD caddy
OMFG a second 650M for SLI notebook action AWESOME! (Not available on the Y580 btw)

Also has an mSATA slot for 1.8" SSDs.



The Y580 gets cheaper than this. It was $869 a week or two ago with most options (1080p, blu-ray, 1TB), but minus the dinky 16GB SSD cache...who wants 16GB when you can slap a msata crucial M4 128/256GB in there? Regularly gets down to $899. Hold off for them to switch up the deals, happens every 3-4 days.

Your description of the modular bay is actually kind of making the Y500 more tempting. I wonder if it's worth it for the upgraded expandability? Can you actually readily buy a second 650M to stick in there?

Not to mention the fact that it ships a hell of a lot sooner. Kind of wanted a new laptop before classes start again next semester, but it's not a huge deal breaker.

 

[MissJ84]

Your description of the modular bay is actually kind of making the Y500 more tempting. I wonder if it's worth it for the upgraded expandability? Can you actually readily buy a second 650M to stick in there?

Not to mention the fact that it ships a hell of a lot sooner. Kind of wanted a new laptop before classes start again next semester, but it's not a huge deal breaker.

No idea, but it looks nice and is priced well at $1161.75+ tax.

 

[Kueller]

Your description of the modular bay is actually kind of making the Y500 more tempting. I wonder if it's worth it for the upgraded expandability? Can you actually readily buy a second 650M to stick in there?

Not to mention the fact that it ships a hell of a lot sooner. Kind of wanted a new laptop before classes start again next semester, but it's not a huge deal breaker.

The Y500 despite it's lower numerical designation is actually a more recent design with a few improvements in addition to the new ultrabay options. The modular 650M's are not available yet thru lenovo.com to the general public (although you can order the pre-configured SLI version, but that kind of defeats the purpose of this particular deal), there are a few reviews of them floating around the web (and user reviews on notebookreview). The Y500's GT650M is the GDDR5 version, or basically a GTX660M with a slight underclock on the core (easily remedied with a slight overclock back to 660M speeds).
http://www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/gtx-660m-vs-gt-650m-gddr5-the-same/

 

[Shocked]

The Y500 despite it's lower numerical designation is actually a more recent design with a few improvements in addition to the new ultrabay options. The modular 650M's are not available yet thru lenovo.com to the general public, though there are a few reviews of them floating around the web (and user reviews on notebookreview). The Y500's GT650M is the GDDR5 version, or basically a GTX660M with a slight underclock on the core (easily remedied with a slight overclock back to 660M speeds).
http://www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/gtx-660m-vs-gt-650m-gddr5-the-same/

Thanks. Getting really hard not to pull the trigger.

EDIT: That link recommends a cooling pad for overclocking the GPU (or even not). How crucial is that really? I already have desktops for gaming needs... so it'd only be for mobile use where I don't want to drag too much extra stuff around.

 

[Serpent]

So wait, this is 80 dollars cheaper than what you paid for yours, and its not that hot?

I checked again and I paid 850 after taxes, but what I said still stands. It's a 660m instead of 650m, and it's after taxes, with a bluray player.

This one is 819 before taxes, from what I can see. And it'll probably be 850 or so after taxes.

 

[pothb]

I think costco and amazon had the 1tb w 32gb ssd version of the y580 a month of so back for 850 or 900.

Can't remember... was on slickdeals.

 

[Kueller]

I checked again and I paid 850 after taxes, but what I said still stands. It's a 660m instead of 650m, and it's after taxes, with a bluray player.

This one is 819 before taxes, from what I can see. And it'll probably be 850 or so after taxes.

Quit hating on this deal just because your gimped ass Y580 can't accept SLI video cards, and all you've got to show for it is an optical drive. Using an optical drive as a selling point pfffft, do you work at Best Buy? This isn't 1999, we have high speed internet for getting movies now.

I think costco and amazon had the 1tb w 32gb ssd version of the y580 a month of so back for 850 or 900.

Can't remember... was on slickdeals.

Great guys, so where's the deal on the time machine so we can all go back and enjoy these past deals? Because right now, the 1TB+Blu-ray Y580 is $974.25
I hear Apple stock was a bargain a few years back, how far back does your magical deal time machine go?

I may have been drinking before/during this posting

 

[Blue.chord]

I checked again and I paid 850 after taxes, but what I said still stands. It's a 660m instead of 650m, and it's after taxes, with a bluray player.

This one is 819 before taxes, from what I can see. And it'll probably be 850 or so after taxes.

There is no tax on this deal. Please read.

You got a bad deal compared to this.

 

[Serpent]

Quit hating on this deal just because your gimped ass Y580 can't accept SLI video cards, and all you've got to show for it is an optical drive. Using an optical drive as a selling point pfffft, do you work at Best Buy? This isn't 1999, we have high speed internet for getting movies now.

Wow, someone's mad. I just stated that the y580 before was a better deal.

Great guys, so where's the deal on the time machine so we can all go back and enjoy these past deals? Because right now, the 1TB+Blu-ray Y580 is $974.25
I hear Apple stock was a bargain a few years back, how far back does your magical deal time machine go?

I may have been drinking before/during this posting

It has gone on sale for roughly the same price multiple times, So you probably won't need to wait, but since you seem to be jealous of my time traveling powers... you prolly won't listen anyway.

There is no tax on this deal. Please read.

You got a bad deal compared to this.

The OP doesn't say anything about taxes, that's true... but it doesn't say out the door either. I didn't have a B&N membership to check the actual deal through the link, so I stated as I saw it. I never said it had taxes added on to it for sure, only that it is 819 before tax is calculated.

If you really think 30 dollars more doesn't warrant the bluray drive and 660m over 650m, then I guess to you, it is a bad deal. I thought it was great personally.

 

[Kueller]

Wow, someone's mad. I just stated that the y580 before was a better deal.

I am just annoyed that you keep repeating the same bad advice to make yourself feel better about your Y580 purchase.

If you care about gaming performance (which you seem to, because you keep mentioning the 660M/650M difference), then the SLI capability of the Y500 is a huge advantage.
This capability is completely absent from your Y580.
Additionally, the 650M and 660M are both 384 pipeline Kepler based cards backed by 2GB of GDDR5. Once turbo boost kicks in for all intents and purposes they are the same card. The 650M with DDR3 is gimped, no doubt, this is not that card.

It has gone on sale for roughly the same price multiple times, So you probably won't need to wait, but since you seem to be jealous of my time traveling powers... you prolly won't listen anyway.

This would sting more if I hadn't already said exactly the same thing earlier in the thread. I just disagree with your assumption that the single-gpu-limited Y580 is a better machine/deal.

The Y580 gets cheaper than this. It was $869 a week or two ago with most options (1080p, blu-ray, 1TB), but minus the dinky 16GB SSD cache...who wants 16GB when you can slap a msata crucial M4 128/256GB in there? Regularly gets down to $899. Hold off for them to switch up the deals, happens every 3-4 days.

If you really think 30 dollars more doesn't warrant the bluray drive and 660m over 650m, then I guess to you, it is a bad deal. I thought it was great personally.

I think paying $30 extra to lose the capability to add a second GPU is a terrible deal, and the only reason you're saying otherwise is because you feel the need to justify your purchase to yourself and can't analyze the situation objectively.

 

[Radical]

Stupid question, but is this for Barnes and Noble employees only? I'm actually looking for an X230 right now, but from reading this thread it sounds like I should keep my eye on this site for a deal on one. Thanks for posting OP.

 

[Kueller]

Stupid question, but is this for Barnes and Noble employees only? I'm actually looking for an X230 right now, but from reading this thread it sounds like I should keep my eye on this site for a deal on one. Thanks for posting OP.

It's an affiliate portal site, but it's open to public account creation. There is no kind of eligibility verification or anything, just create an account, place your order and enjoy the savings...Lenovo wouldn't be advertising so many discounts if they weren't still making money.


For comparison this is a private portal: IBM EPP

And yes, you should keep checking in on the B&N site. They're the same items that are being discounted on lenovo.com, just steeper discounts.

 

[Radical]

Thanks, I'll keep checking.

 

[Serpent]

I am just annoyed that you keep repeating the same bad advice to make yourself feel better about your Y580 purchase.

Wut? I talked about it twice, and the second time was to correct the price amount. How is that repeating myself?

If you care about gaming performance (which you seem to, because you keep mentioning the 660M/650M difference), then the SLI capability of the Y500 is a huge advantage.
This capability is completely absent from your Y580.
Additionally, the 650M and 660M are both 384 pipeline Kepler based cards backed by 2GB of GDDR5. Once turbo boost kicks in for all intents and purposes they are the same card. The 650M with DDR3 is gimped, no doubt, this is not that card.

Sure, but I mention them because they are the big differences. Which is why I also mention the bluray. Because it's one of the differences.

This would sting more if I hadn't already said exactly the same thing earlier in the thread. I just disagree with your assumption that the single-gpu-limited Y580 is a better machine/deal.

I think paying $30 extra to lose the capability to add a second GPU is a terrible deal, and the only reason you're saying otherwise is because you feel the need to justify your purchase to yourself and can't analyze the situation objectively.

I'm not big on laptop technology, so please, enlighten me. Are you suggesting people to buy this, and then buy an extra video card to add into their laptop? Like paying more to get some more power or something?

I happen to like Blu ray quality videos. So I guess it's my loss somehow.

 

[Shocked]

So, ordered one last night. Still can't decide what to do with the hard drive, though: I can replace it with an older SSD I already own (ancient 80GB X25-M or a 120GB Vertex 3 that I'd have to pull out of one of my older desktops), or a 64GB m4 I have lying around, and use the 1TB drive as storage space for games and whatnot...

Or spend $200 on a decent-sized one that will give me plenty of space and let me use the bay for something else.

There is no tax on this deal. Please read.

You got a bad deal compared to this.

I think it depends where you live? I was charged tax. $819 logging in through B&N + 6% sales tax where I live.

I happen to like Blu ray quality videos. So I guess it's my loss somehow.

I have a decent Blu-ray collection, and my old laptop has a Blu-ray drive. Strangely the two have rarely met. I think it's because when I'm concerned about quality it's usually when I'm watching something on a big screen.

Though, I will miss that it can read BD-R's.

 

[rolling_tiger]

I've had my Y580 for a couple months now (typing on it now!) and love it.

I mainly bought it for the cpu, 1080p screen, and 650/660 gpu. If this was available for this price at the time I would have jumped on it.

I ended up removing the bluray drive and replaced the drive bay with a 256gb samsung 830 and dont miss the optical drive one bit.

 

[jebo_4jc]

That modular bay for an extra GPU is genius. Wish my envy 15 had that

 

[pelo]

Does this laptop contain space for 2 hard drives?

It has an Ultrabay slot, meaning you can take out the GPU or DVD or whatever and pop in another GPU or hard drive.

It's a great laptop with a really interesting design feature. I really wish other companies would follow suit and allow for upgrades like that

 

[Dark12]

Has anyone seen any other good gaming laptop deals out there for under a grand?

 

[Briguyatx]

So, ordered one last night. Still can't decide what to do with the hard drive, though: I can replace it with an older SSD I already own (ancient 80GB X25-M or a 120GB Vertex 3 that I'd have to pull out of one of my older desktops), or a 64GB m4 I have lying around, and use the 1TB drive as storage space for games and whatnot...

Or spend $200 on a decent-sized one that will give me plenty of space and let me use the bay for something else.

I think it depends where you live? I was charged tax. $819 logging in through B&N + 6% sales tax where I live.

I have a decent Blu-ray collection, and my old laptop has a Blu-ray drive. Strangely the two have rarely met. I think it's because when I'm concerned about quality it's usually when I'm watching something on a big screen.

Though, I will miss that it can read BD-R's.

Doesn't the system also have an m-sata slot? Fill it with an ssd, keep the 1tb in the normal hdd bay. Then you can use the ultrabay for whatever you like.

 

[Blue.chord]

It has an Ultrabay slot, meaning you can take out the GPU or DVD or whatever and pop in another GPU or hard drive.

It's a great laptop with a really interesting design feature. I really wish other companies would follow suit and allow for upgrades like that

Alienware, and Clevo have had it for awhile now. Also alot of european brands (msi, eurocom etc) though I do believe those are also Clevo's.

 

[Shocked]

Doesn't the system also have an m-sata slot? Fill it with an ssd, keep the 1tb in the normal hdd bay. Then you can use the ultrabay for whatever you like.

I thought about that, but it'd be the same option as using one of the older drives I already have lying around, only it would be faster and save the ultrabay slot (at the expense of not being free). Still would have to run games off the 1TB drive, since the mSATA drives in the 250GB+ range seem a little pricier than what I'm looking to spend.

On the other hand, Tiger has a 250GB 840 for $150 (after MIR though - yuck). But then I could just stick the 1TB drive in a portable enclosure I already have.

Choices...

 

[Kueller]

So, ordered one last night. Still can't decide what to do with the hard drive, though: I can replace it with an older SSD I already own (ancient 80GB X25-M or a 120GB Vertex 3 that I'd have to pull out of one of my older desktops), or a 64GB m4 I have lying around, and use the 1TB drive as storage space for games and whatnot...

Or spend $200 on a decent-sized one that will give me plenty of space and let me use the bay for something else.

I never answered your cooling pad question earlier and I wanted to make sure I covered that because any gaming laptop should be used with a cooling pad for extended gaming sessions, the tiny fans in a laptop case can only do so much, a cooling pad really brings down the ambient temps

But in general, I would expect the heat management system in a laptop designed to accept 2 video cards to be superior to the heat management in a laptop only designed for 1 video card. The Y500 is a more recent design that the Y580.

As far as SSD's, I'd probably just suffer with the platter drive for the moment and plan on snagging an mSATA drive when I could find one on sale. The curcial M4 256GB was $170 at Newegg, Amazon and Buy.com within the last week. 10/3/12: $170 11/5/12: $165 12/3/12: $170. I'm not promising anything, but I would say the odds are in your favor of finding it for ~$170 if you're patient. Figure that you'd have to spend $10-$20 on an ultrabay caddy to hold a regular sized drive, and you might as well go with the msata.

That's how I'd sell myself on the idea anyways...

 

[Shocked]

I never answered your cooling pad question earlier and I wanted to make sure I covered that because any gaming laptop should be used with a cooling pad for extended gaming sessions, the tiny fans in a laptop case can only do so much, a cooling pad really brings down the ambient temps

But in general, I would expect the heat management system in a laptop designed to accept 2 video cards to be superior to the heat management in a laptop only designed for 1 video card. The Y500 is a more recent design that the Y580.

As far as SSD's, I'd probably just suffer with the platter drive for the moment and plan on snagging an mSATA drive when I could find one on sale. The curcial M4 256GB was $170 at Newegg, Amazon and Buy.com within the last week. 10/3/12: $170 11/5/12: $165 12/3/12: $170. I'm not promising anything, but I would say the odds are in your favor of finding it for ~$170 if you're patient. Figure that you'd have to spend $10-$20 on an ultrabay caddy to hold a regular sized drive, and you might as well go with the msata.

That's how I'd sell myself on the idea anyways...

Thanks. I appreciate the advice. I was kind of leaning towards the msata option the more I thought about it, but I might have to wait a while for a sale... the 256GB m4 isn't in stock at Newegg and only via third party seller at Amazon, and not even listed on TD.

As far as cooling, I read something interesting: apparently you can stick a cooling device in the ultrabay (http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/3232-580x321.png). Of course, such things are nowhere to be found by my Google search skills (or lack thereof, sometimes). I'm not even sure which ultrabay standard the laptop is using (there seem to be quite a few from the days of IBM Thinkpads).

 

[FinalAura]

DOes this laptop have an IPS screen?

 

[Shocked]

Well, speak of the devil. Just ordered that msata m4 on sale at buy.com.

The last thing I'm concerned about is the laptop's supposedly atrocious battery life. Thinking about picking up a 10,000 mAh Anker Astro3 - which would be awesome to have for my phone as well - but I can't find a USB to power connector cable that would work for it. I contacted Lenovo sales and they said to look in retail stores, but couldn't even tell me what kind of power connector I'm looking for.

DOes this laptop have an IPS screen?

Unfortunately, I don't think so.

 

[Anticommon]

DOes this laptop have an IPS screen?

Well, speak of the devil. Just ordered that msata m4 on sale at buy.com.

The last thing I'm concerned about is the laptop's supposedly atrocious battery life. Thinking about picking up a 10,000 mAh Anker Astro3 - which would be awesome to have for my phone as well - but I can't find a USB to power connector cable that would work for it. I contacted Lenovo sales and they said to look in retail stores, but couldn't even tell me what kind of power connector I'm looking for.

Unfortunately, I don't think so.

I literally missed the 256GB drive by 15 minutes. I saw it while I was in class and by the time I got to my room to place the order it was gone. Would have ordered on my phone except for the fact that I couldn't apply the Buy.com coupon code to the drive.

Ohh well, I may try looking for a cheap (used?) 64GB drive for cache, or maybe larger if someone can give me a deal.

 

[Shocked]

Last day of the sale. For what it's worth, I got mine today, it looks awesome...

Seems I underestimated how terrible Windows 8 is, though. I can't stand it. If I pick up an oem copy of Windows 7, am I going to have any difficulties finding drivers?

(EDIT: Based on what I could find, there are drivers via Lenovo's Chinese site, but they're not entirely glitch-free )

Also... trying to find the msata slot. Don't see mention of it in the manual. There's a mesh cover underneath the battery that looks like it might house it, and it definitely looks like it's meant to be removed, but I feel like I'm going to break the damn thing trying.