HP Envy/Omen/Pavilion and Lenovo Ideapad 700/ Y700 - which brand and series is the best for gaming laptop?

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nnguye20

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Hi I am an animation student and I often work with 3D software such as Maya and Zbrush. I still have a lot to learn about laptop so I really need help choosing the right one, especially when HP and Lenovo are having good promotion.
I have been looking for gaming laptop with 15- 17 inches display under $900. There are a few laptop that I have found so far:
Lenovo Ideapad 700 15", $877
Processor
6th Generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ Processor (2.60GHz 2133MHz 6MB)
Windows 10 Home 64
15.6" FHD IPS AntiGlare LED Backlight (1920x1080)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX950 4GB
8.0GB PC4-17000 DDR4 2133 MHz
1TB 5400 RPM+128GB PCIe SSD
External DVD Recordable
Network Card
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165

Lenovo Ideapad Y700, $824
6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor (2.60GHz 6MB)
Windows 10 Home 64
17.3" FHD IPS AntiGlare with integrated camera (1920x1080)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 2GB
8.0GB DDR4 2133 MHz
1TB 5400 RPM
No Optical Disk Drive
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165
Bluetooth Version 4.0

HP Paviolion 17t gaming latop, $830
HP Wide Vision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone (Natural Silver)
SuperMulti DVD burner
1TB 7200 rpm SATA+ 128GB M.2 SSD
6-cell 62 WHr Lithium-ion Battery
Intel® 802.11ac (2x2) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 Combo
Full-size island-style backlit keyboard (silver)
HP Pavilion - 17t Laptop
8GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 8GB)
Security Software Trial
No Additional Office Software
Windows 10 Home 64
17.3" diagonal FHD IPS UWVA anti-glare WLED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ (2.6 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz, 6 MB cache

HP Envy Laptop, $845
Full-size island-style backlit keyboard
Intel RealSense™ 3D Camera with Dual Digital Microphone, support Windows Hello
Windows 10 Home 64
17.3" diagonal FHD IPS UWVA WLED-backlit edge-to-edge glass (1920 x 1080) Touchscreen
Intel® Core™ i7-6500U (2.5 GHz, up to 3.1 GHz, 2 cores) + NVIDIA® GeForce® 940MX (2GB DDR3 dedicated) (For HDD)
1TB 7200 rpm SATA
12GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 4GB, 1 x 8GB)
Security Software Trial
No Additional Office Software
3-cell 41 WHr Lithium-ion Battery
Intel® 802.11ac (2x2) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 Combo
HP ENVY - 17t Touch Laptop
SuperMulti DVD burner

HP Omen 15t gaming, $799
3-cell 61.5 WHr Lithium-ion Battery
Intel® 802.11ac (2x2) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 Combo
Full-size island-style backlit keyboard
No DVD or CD Drive
Windows 10 Home 64
15.6" diagonal FHD IPS UWVA anti-glare WLED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
8GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 8GB)
Security Software Trial
No Additional Office Software
Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ (2.6 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz, 6 MB cache, 4 cores) + NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 950M (2GB GDDR5 dedicated)
1TB 7200 rpm SATA
HP Wide Vision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone

I know I am asking a lot, but these laptops all seems like great deals. I kinda want to go for the Lenovo Y700, but HP is a bit cheaper and they let me customize. I want to know everyone's experience with the laptop and the brands' customer service as well. Thank you
 
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GreyCatz
I know you've already picked your machine - and the Y700 is a great bargain at $988 - but just for future reference: ThinkPads are also available with Holiday discounts, like this P50:
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/p-series/p50/

The $1,000 version can be customized with a quad-core Skylake i7, 16GBs of RAM, a 4GB Quadro M1000 GPU, a 256GB SSD and a 15.6" 2K IPS screen at $1,112.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.
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nnguye20

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Sep 16, 2016
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Well for me an NVDIA 940 or above is great enough. I just don't really know the difference in performance. I asked the sale rep from HP but he all he said was that Pavilion is the cheap series, Envy is next, and Omen is the later and more expensive. I heard pretty good reviews about the Pavilion series though. Of course, Lenovo Y700 is still my best bet. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't come with an ssd like the other laptops I found. The Y700 with 1TB HDD +128GB SSD is $1100, which is above my budget.
 
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GraySenshi

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Apr 15, 2016
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Just so you know a laptop can't compare to a desktop unless your in the triple digets. They can work yes but look into a micro itx gaming build and see if that will work I used the 380t it has a handle and it's pretty small but you could cram it into something about the size of a console.
 
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RedSky_Eagle

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Jan 29, 2015
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If you haven't bought one yet, I highly suggest the 17" HP OMEN. I know it is not on your list, but best buy has it on sale for $999.99 currently, brand new ($850 for open box which is how I bought mine). The display is great, it runs games better than my gaming desktop (benchmarked higher by 10%). Just all around a better PC. This laptop will certainly outperform a low end gaming desktop.
 
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GreyCatz

GreyCatz

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Hello, nnguye:

First off, here's the link to RedSky's HP Omen over at BestBuy:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-omen-17-3-laptop-intel-core-i7-12gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-965m-1tb-hybrid-hard-drive-onyx-black/5319501.p?skuId=5319501
No SSD, but a 4GB GTX 965M card and 12GBs of RAM.

Next, the $830 HP Pavilion on your list doesn't seem to have a graphics card.

If HP lets you customize, then try to customize your way into an SSD without blowing your budget apart.

I have no experience with HP's customer service, but with Lenovo I'd say they still have a lot to learn when it comes to servicing private customers, as opposed to business customers. If you're a business or corporation I'm sure you get the red-carpet VIP treatment, but calling Lenovo's helpdesk as a private individual is massively frustrating.

I'm not suggesting that Lenovo is worse than anyone else, but if you go to a manufacturer's forum (they all have this) and spend a few hours reading posts and especially responses from the support staff, you can get some idea about how this brand is perceived.

Finally, if you're an animation student working with 3D software, and so a soon-to-be professional, wouldn't you be more interested in a powerful workstation (Dell Precision or ThinkPad P50)?

Cheers,
GreyCatz.
 
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RedSky_Eagle

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Yes I definitely should have posted the link to the computer, I apologize. GreyCatz did in his comment so thank you for that.

The Laptop does not have an SSD, however the hard drive is a hybrid hard drive with 8GB of flash storage. I was concerned with this also, but as I use the computer, it turns out it runs about as fast as the SSD on my desktop. However when i first bought the computer the hard drive was pretty slow, so take that for what it is.

Getting a desktop would be a good option if you plan on being home often. As an engineering student I find myself on campus more than at home, so the powerful laptop has proven to be worth the money, so you should weigh that option as well.

Hope this helps!
 
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nnguye20

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Sep 16, 2016
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Thank you all for your great advice. GreyCatz as you mentioned workstation laptop, I did not consider to get one because my price range is around $1200 (which I forgot to mentioned sorry), and workstation tends to be more expensive if I want to buy a laptop with enough memory. I ended up buying this model:
Lenovo y700 , $988 (with tax)
• 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor (2.60GHz 2133MHz 6MB)
• Windows 10 Home 64
• 15.6" FHD IPS LED AntiGlare Backlit Multitouch (1920x1080) with integrated camera
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB
• 16.0GB PC4-17000 DDR4 2133 MHz
• 1TB 5400 RPM+128GB SSD
• No Optical Disk Drive
• Intel Wireless-AC 8260
• Bluetooth Version 4.0
• One year
• ClickPad
• 4 Cell 60 Watt Hour Li-Polyme
I've been using maya 2016 on it and it's been working well so far. I did face a few technical issues at first (unresponsive keyboard and crashes), but since I downloaded the new bios that Lenovo's tech support suggested, I haven't had any problems with it since then. But I am still wondering though, is investing in a good CPU over good GPU a good decision? What's the worst thing can happen if I use a gaming graphic card for 3D work?
 
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RedSky_Eagle

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I am no 3D modeler, so take what I say next with some skepticism. I have done some 3D modelling and have noticed only one real difference between rendering games and rendering unfinished 3D models. There is very little difference between rendering games and rending 3D models in a 3D modelling program, as a game is simply a bunch of optimized 3D models. Keyword here is "optimized". You are going to want your graphics card to be better than some of the mid range graphics cards, since you will be rendering your model in an "un-optimized state". I did some 3D modelling with my radeon r9 270x on my desktop and I dont recommend it with anything more complex than a gun or something of that nature.

Again, I am not experienced in the area, but I ASSUME it is about the same as rendering 3D models in a game, as it is technically the same thing. In my own experience 3D modelling, you are going to want something a little more powerful than most gaming graphics cards. Not sure how a laptop will fair with that either.
 
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GreyCatz

GreyCatz

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I know you've already picked your machine - and the Y700 is a great bargain at $988 - but just for future reference: ThinkPads are also available with Holiday discounts, like this P50:
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/p-series/p50/

The $1,000 version can be customized with a quad-core Skylake i7, 16GBs of RAM, a 4GB Quadro M1000 GPU, a 256GB SSD and a 15.6" 2K IPS screen at $1,112.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.
 
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