Please help me choose. i54th gen or i73rd gen on Lenovo and Asus

[dkk]

I am looking at:
Lenovo P400 (best buy model) 14 in. laptop
8gb ddr3 memory
1tb ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
i7 3rd generation
1600x900 touch-screen
5.3 lbs. 1.3 thin

OR
Asus q500a (Best Buy model) 15.6 in. laptop
6 gb memory
750 gb hard drive
i5 4th generation
1920x1080 touch-screen
5.1 lbs. 0.9 thin

The price is not the factor, but the Lenovo is $50 more than the Asus at $799. That does not make the difference though. I am wondering if I should give up memory and hard drive space in the Lenovo for the 4th generation and better screen in the Asus. This is for my college student daughter, no gaming or graphic design or anything of that sort. Probably email, Twitter and let's hope a paper or two!! ) Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[David Lugarov]

If it won't be used for anything intensive, you're probably better off with the cheaper Haswell i5, since it's for college, the Asus is thinner, lighter (meaning more portable, always a plus) a better resolution will mean more enjoyable movies, and a larger screen will mean more space. Usually perfect for any girl, including your daughter. 6GB memory is far more than enough for just about anything, even big games take only 4gb. Also, I'm sorry but can you link me to the 2 laptops to know the exact specs? My internet is having some issues, and I'm having a hard time finding the laptops.

 

[dkk]

Thank you for you quick reply!! I am looking to pick one of them up tonight, they close at 9..lol. I have been grappling with this for days. The Asus is a little lighter but the Lenovo is a little smaller. Here are the links, let me know what you think and thank you!!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+15.6%26%2334%3B+Touch-Screen+Laptop+-+6GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/8937121.p?id=1218954925812&skuId=8937121#tab=overview

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/IdeaPad+14%22+Touch-Screen+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/7729124.p?id=1218858761531&skuId=7729124&st=lenovo%20p400&cp=1&lp=1

 

[David Lugarov]

Oh sometimes I wish I could travel to the west for a couple hours to give myself some more daylight, I'm in Morocco, and it's 1 AM here, but irrelevant, anyways, after checking the specs, there's a couple things I'd like to point out, the i7 is sigificantly faster but even 1.6 (2.6 turbo) GHz of the i5 will be good enough for the usual tasks. Another thing to take in mind is there's no optical drive on the Asus, if your daughter doesn't use DVDs at all, this won't be a problem, but if she buys movies and has music CDs, this might be an issue. If your daughter doesn't mind the 14" laptop size. Then the Lenovo is a sweet deal, otherwise, if she doesn't mind lacking an optical drive and likes the size of the laptop, it's also a good deal, it's not my decision, completely up to her now. So remember, just ask if she needs a CD/DVD reader, and if she doesn't mind having a 14 inch laptop which is also faster, tell her about the other laptop, then if she doesn't need a CD/DVD reader at all, and she wants a bigger screen for the typical dorm movies, the Asus is also good.

 

[dkk]

So the i7 3rd generation in the Lenovo is still faster than the i5 4th generation in the Asus?

 

[David Lugarov]

That's correct.

 

[dkk]

Actually, I see what you mean and how it is faster. So the only plus really to the Haswell processor in the Asus is the battery life then right?

 

[David Lugarov]

Actually, that depends on the battery used, I can't really judge on that, but Haswell uses slightly more power than 3rd gen CPUs, the only benefit to Haswell is usually found on desktops, and that benefit would be that you get some extra connectivity. The i7 is faster due to the clock speed it's running at (2.2Ghz) while the Haswell is running at 1.6Ghz. And the i7 supports some extra technologies and is more optimized to deliver better performance.

 

[David Lugarov]

Actually, that depends on the battery used, I can't really judge on that, since there's not much info given on it, but Haswell uses slightly more power than 3rd gen CPUs, the only benefit to Haswell is usually found on desktops, and that benefit would be that you get some extra connectivity. The i7 is faster due to the clock speed it's running at (2.2Ghz) while the Haswell is running at 1.6Ghz. And the i7 supports some extra technologies and is more optimized to deliver better performance.

 

[dkk]

Ok. I think I am going to have her stick with the Lenovo. I appreciate your help very much. I am off to Best Buy, they close in a half-hour. Morocco looks beautiful, enjoy your evening and thank you again!!

 

[David Lugarov]

Thanks Well, I'm sure it does in pictures at least. Hahah, you're welcome, I'm glad I could help, and if you ever encounter any issues with the laptop or if you have any further questions, send me a message, I'll probably have the answer to your question.