Lenovo z580 vs Samsung 550p5c

**Aaron7** · 11-09-2012, 09:10 PM

Hi,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice before I go ahead and make a decision. My budget is around £500-£600. (roughly 950$ USD)
I have found 2 laptops as follows:
Lenovo Z580 - I5-3210M, 8GB 1066MHz,GT630M 2GB, 1366x768 glossy, 1TB 5400rpm - £529.99
Samsung 550P5C - I5-3210M, 6GB 1600MHz,GT650M 2GB, 1366x768 anti-reflective, 1TB 5400rpm - £565.23

I am looking for a 15 inch laptop for university. I will be doing some software development on it so I was hoping for a better resolution but I thought it would be better if I spent the extra money on a 22inch monitor for when I am back in my room. I will be using the laptop in the library fairly often. The battery life should be reasonable and I don't mind if its not ultra portable. When using the laptop over the summer, I will probably play some games and I know the GT650M is a huge improvement over the GT630M but to be honest, I am not a huge gamer. I will be looking to keep the laptop for up to 3 years. I live in the UK.

I am leaning towards the Lenovo since I have heard good things about their reliability and it being very cool and not heating up. The Gun Metal design also looks much more attractive. I have also heard about the Lenovo keyboards but the Samsung seems to have a good keyboard as well so I am pretty much stuck between the two.

Any help is much appreciated,
Thanks.

**Abhishek Nama** · 15-09-2012, 07:26 AM

If gaming is of of huge importance to you go for the Samsung.
Else, I would recommend the Lenovo. BTW Lenovo keyboard is very good.

**Jripper** · 15-09-2012, 10:02 AM

There are talks about lenovo's having a lot of hardware errors these days. Their standards have fallen recently. However 2 of my friends own lenovo laptops and theirs seem to run just fine. No issues whatsoever. So I guess it depends a bit on your luck as well whether you get a faulty piece or not.
In any case, the keyboard of a lenovo laptop is a joy to type on. It is absolutely magniificent and long typing sessions feel easy as a breeze on it.
Haven't tried out a samsung laptop yet but they do provide some very good specifications for the price.
The GPU of the samsung one is a lot better than the 630 in the lenovo though. But the 630m may be sufficient to handle your ocassional gaming needs. And probably it heats up less too. Your call mate.