Christ Centered Gamer

Thoughts on the Lenovo Y700?

I'm thinking about getting a gaming/school computer and found this. It has great ratings, looks cool, and suits both of my needs.

Nieces and nephews? Opinions?

micah211 wrote:Thoughts on the Lenovo Y700?

I'm thinking about getting a gaming/school computer and found this. It has great ratings, looks cool, and suits both of my needs.

Do you want regular opinion, or super nerd opinion?

Regular opinion, I agree on all accounts. I want to give it a hug, because it's so shiny. <3 Pretty good price, too. It's kind of dreamy.

Nerdy opinion...I am perhaps less completely in love? I have a rule of thumb to never buy gaming lappy's. Dollar for dollar, a desktop will always offer more power and expandability for the price, especially if you are willing to scratch build. Generally even after you include a monitor and peripherals, depending on what you go with. When you factor in battery life being super drained by any kind of real game (hampering the mobility aspect of a laptop), and a lack of (or at least increased price and difficulty) future expansion/modification, it's always been enough for me to say no.

That said, that is me and my flavors.

If you are A: a multimedia student and need the increased power to handle your programs, or B: you are going to be in a lot of different places most of the time, or don't have a good place to setup, and having a desktop computer would be about as useful as a very expensive brick, a gaming laptop probably makes very good sense.

RedPlums wrote:Nieces and nephews? Opinions?

Don't have any, so I don't suppose I have an opinion. I have a few furry ones though, and I love them, and don't mind hanging out with them...I'm guessing it would be the same.

I would definitely rather have a PC, but like I said, I need it for college and will probably take notes with it.
But yeah, the case is shiny, it's brushed aluminum.

What would you have in mind for a laptop?

Density, mass or volume? Which would you pick?

Hardware, firmware, or software?

micah211 wrote:I would definitely rather have a PC, but like I said, I need it for college and will probably take notes with it.
But yeah, the case is shiny, it's brushed aluminum.

What would you have in mind for a laptop?

For me personally? I don't have a hard and fast answer. It's been awhile since I've browsed...I would need to figure out what I needed it for, what I needed it to do, and what I wanted it to do. I would also take into consideration whether I wanted it to be my only computer, or just a glorified notebook with internet access and paint. I go through a very long and aggravating thought process before buying pretty much anything, unfortunately. It's only going to get worse from here on in. -_- I haven't kept up with the industry as I should have, of late. But here's my thoughts.

If I just needed something to take notes on, run a few light scholastic applications for test taking and such, and listen to music and watch movies, I would probably search for the best lappy I could find for the lowest price, and try to hit an even keel between power and cost. I would even be tempted to get the cheapest Windows-having netbook I could find (since most school stuffs I have ever used requires Windows), assuming the miniscule keyboard didn't bug me. That and a wireless mouse and I'd be fine. Might even embrace the tablet revolution, if I could find a decent word processor for Android and a nice keyboard.

If I went into something like programming, or any sort of multimedia course, and I needed to have a computer with me in the classroom, then I would consider, though it would be very grudgingly, getting a high-powered gaming lappy, simply because they are surprisingly cost effective compared to a "mobile workstation" when you need portable power. Something like the Lenovo, or HP used to have some really cool ones. Not Alienware, since you're basically paying for the logo. At that point though, I would unfortunately have to consider Apple (barf) products, since most schools brainlessly assume the Apple logo translates into multimedia heaven. <3 I don't think I could ever buy one though; a can of spray paint, a few LEDS, and Ubuntu, and I could disguise a regular computer as a Mac. That's a vendetta of mine though, and probably not a problem you have.

I would then decide whether I truly wanted it to be a gaming machine, or if I could live without a gaming rig and just have a computer. If I am being honest with myself, I get disappointed when my computer can't even sort of handle games, even though I've a perfectly good PS3 right behind me. So I would want at least some capability in the area, if not embraced fully.

Once I waded my way through that garglemesh, I would take a look at specs based upon my decisions. Since CPU's are the most aggravating and expensive thing in a computer to replace, I would dig around for a compy that had a relatively nice CPU, even at the cost of other specs. Preferably an AMD, since they tend to be a bit more janky and less costly, and some of them can be unlocked to run with more cores. RAM isn't too hard to upgrade, nor terribly expensive. HDD replacement is a hassle with data transfer, but it's not impossible, and I've never been particularly particular about screen size. GPU is a trickier question, since if you go with anything that isn't integrated into the CPU, you're going to pay for it, but they also work better.

And then, at the end of the long week I have spent considering a few dozen options and deciding on three or four, I would probably flip a coin and go with either with the cheapest option that was readily available, or the stupidly expensive option I didn't really need. As much fun as computer games are, consoles will always reign in my heart. So all I really need is a computer than can smoothly browse the internet, check emails, and use quality word processors. That's not really very hard to find in relatively low price ranges. But the nerdy heart of me can't help but being enthralled by high powered computers. Some guys get all excited when a car revs up; I get excited when I hear a CPU fan start spinning. XD

I would also want an optical drive. Preferably built in, since those are increasingly rare, and increasingly useful.

So...I don't know, actually. O_o Such a question would require much research to even begin to nail down specifics; it seems that even my taboo about about gaming laptops probably needs to be rethought some in this modern world of computing. The problems with modularity and expandibility are still there, sure; but the price point may negate them some? I mean, even if you build a computer from scratch, there always the possibility that by the time you want to upgrade, the tech you used to build it will be outdated, so that you have to rebuild everything anyway.

Thing is, I've never actually bought a computer. I get hand-me downs and restore them, or junk computers and rebuild them. Always have. My current computer is a 7 or 8 year old laptop that has had the HDD replaced at least once, lost its keyboard in a milk spilling incident (>_> I was thirsty, dang it, and everyone knows that only happens on TV.) and probably wouldn't run if I didn't have it fueled by Linux. Turns out being a console gamer means I'm not driven to have a nice computer. XD

RedPlums wrote:Density, mass or volume? Which would you pick?

Depends. Are we talking fruitcake, gold, or cotton candy?

Probably density; because if you switch a few letters, you get Destiny, which is an amazing game.

skeer wrote:Hardware, firmware, or software?

Hardware. Definitely hardware. I love taking apart and rebuilding computers. The arcane workings of the bits? Much more annoying.

Firmware isn't too bad though. If you mess it up you're probably sank forever, but it's still easier in some ways than software.

Probably density; because if you switch a few letters, you get Destiny, which is an amazing game.


Yes, that is correct.

Favorite Elder Scrolls game, so far?

Morrowind, bar none. I played around with Arena, put a few hundred hours into Oblivion, and haven't even gotten close to how much I loved Morrowind.

I don't even kind of know how many hundreds of hours I put into that game. I traveled from one end of that island to the other, maxed out three or four characters, and completed pretty much all the major (and house) quest lines, and I would still go back and do it all again (if I hadn't sworn off of it; the game is literally addictive for me, to the point it's a problem. ).

I also have no doubt that I would still find new things. The world is just too big, and lack of instant travel options meant that you either paid to travel or walked, so you got to see all of it. The world of Morrowind is also a strangely wonderful blend of fantasy and alien that I've never seen equaled. Oblivion feels, until you get leveled enough to see the strange critters, like a generic fantasy world, which was a major turn off for me. Skyrim looks like it has some strange stuff, but I haven't seen anything that equals giant bug dogs running around the world and talking mudcrabs. XD The mythology is cool too.

Caveat: I haven't played Skyrim. And I have heard that if you like Morrowind, you will like Skyrim.

Plus, Skyrim Dragonborn DLC lets you go to an island of Morrowind. Skyrim is my favourite thus far, I prefer it's story to that of oblivion or morrowind. I'd love to see Bethesda make a Valenwood/Elsweyr Elder Scrolls. That would make me happy.

On the topic of Elder Scrolls,

Favourite race to play as?

Difficult to say, since I usually go through the game multiple times with different classes, and I pick a race suiting the class.

If I'm playing a tank, I use Redguard. If I want agility, I usually reach for khajit. Magery is trickier; I used a breton once, but found that I preferred Argonian more, since water breathing came in handy. Plus, I like lizards.

The wood elves (can't remember their name) are fun too; I made a wood elf archer once, and despite being cliche, it turned out really well. XD

Actually, the only races I don't really like are the elves. The exception being the wood elves. Altmer?

If you had $20, would you buy 1 game that lasts 10 hours, or 10 games that last 1 hour each? Assuming the games are near equal fun

Just beat the game, speed running/TAS, or competitionist?

Wood Elves are Bosmer, Altmer are the High Elves. Dunmer are the Dark Elves, a personal favourite for magic classes.

I like to challenge myself in the classes by using the opposite race for the class, like a high elf for a sneak, or an Orc for magic or a khajiit for a warrior. It's a fun challenge.

Continuing on this Elder Scrolls topic,

Favourite DLC of all the games so far?

skeer wrote:If you had $20, would you buy 1 game that lasts 10 hours, or 10 games that last 1 hour each? Assuming the games are near equal fun

Just beat the game, speed running/TAS, or competitionist?

Difficult to say. It probably depends on my mood; if I wanted a good RPG, I would probably be willing to spend $20 on one game.

On the other hand, frugality is mah ways; and ten games is quite a good buy, even if they're short. I wouldn't be opposed to either option, actually.

Again, it depends; I play games to have fun. If collecting every item or doing it as fast as I can is fun, I'll do it. Most of the time, I just beat it though. I'm not a completionist by any stretch of the imagination, because to me...that makes the game work. I don't enjoy it. The exception to this rule is when finding every item grants me a power of some sort; I don't want to know how many hours I spent looking for all the bottles in Sly Cooper. @_@

RedPlums wrote:Wood Elves are Bosmer, Altmer are the High Elves. Dunmer are the Dark Elves, a personal favourite for magic classes.

I like to challenge myself in the classes by using the opposite race for the class, like a high elf for a sneak, or an Orc for magic or a khajiit for a warrior. It's a fun challenge.

Continuing on this Elder Scrolls topic,

Favourite DLC of all the games so far?

I did that with my first character, actually. I made a Redguard mage when I didn't know what I was doing. Took awhile and a lot of gold to get there, and in the end it just got frustrating, and I hit things with a sword. XD So he was kind of a battle mage, emphasis on the battle. The alteration spells came in handy though; water walk is awesome. Throw in a bit of alchemy and levitation potions, and you are pretty much set.

I've never actually bought DLC. Didn't like Oblivion enough for it (it only took a few hundred hours to figure this out. >_>), and I bought the console version of Morrowind a decade after its release, which in the Xbox days meant the DLC wasn't easy to get ahold of.

I've been tempted to buy it for PC and get the DLC, especially Bloodmoon, since vampires in Morrowind were cool, and I wanted to try out being a werewolf. But again...addicting. I don't need to crack open that bottle again. O_o

I think this Lenovo is sold then, I just might have to upgrade to 16Gb's of RAM though.
I'm going to save that whole reply for the future if you don't mind.

The awesome amount of suits Spiderman has?