Laptop specs creating headache

My four year old HP now shows the gray screen of death and I am researching new units. I will likely go with Lenovo W520 but the various components if I customize are just numbers to me so I would appreciate some help; in particular, where should I put my money for best results?
First, what is the difference between a 500 GB hard disk drive versus a 160 GB solid state drive?
Second, is boosting the processor from 2.40 GHz 6MB L3 to 2.50 8MB L3 or 2.70 8MB L3 worth the extra funds?
Third, how much difference will I see between resolution 1600 x 900 and 1920 x 1080?
Finally, is there some other component of significance that I am not asking about here?

joseph motto wrote:First, what is the difference between a 500 GB hard disk drive versus a 160 GB solid state drive?

Besides the capacity, solid state drives are generally faster, quieter, generate less heat and presumably consume less power than conventional hard disk drives. Not entirely sure about the last one though...

joseph motto wrote:Second, is boosting the processor from 2.40 GHz 6MB L3 to 2.50 8MB L3 or 2.70 8MB L3 worth the extra funds?

Generally, increases in processor speed are not considered major factors in performance. However, in the series you've outlined there is an increase of the cache memory from 6 MB to 8MB. That may matter. I'd think that the 2.5 8MB L3 is a good compromise.

joseph motto wrote:Third, how much difference will I see between resolution 1600 x 900 and 1920 x 1080

Suggest looking at a display with those resolutions to form your own impression.

joseph motto wrote:Finally, is there some other component of significance that I am not asking about here?

Quality of the display, amount of memory, weight, battery life... Do you expect to travel with it or is this a desktop replacement?

Hope that helps. Joerg

What's your intended use ? Do you intend to have your entire library on there and use it for editing, or as a back up device for trips away ?

Main purpose is as a backup, particularly when traveling. However, when not traveling it will sit on a table and be frequently used, particularly by my wife, for Internet browsing, playing bridge, etc. I am not overly concerned about modest price differences as it will get considerable use over several years and I can rationalize the extra cost by dividing it out over the time span of use. I won't do much processing but I do like to have a reasonable look at my images and I use it for slide shows as well.

Hi Joe,
If you are contemplating using this machine for downloading on trips away, I think you should be considering a machine with a hard drive bigger than 160Gb. A couple of weeks of decent shooting opportunities and you may well be somewhere north of 300Gb.

If you are going to watching any movies on it, I'd go for the 1920x1080 display; if not then it probably doesn't matter.

The bigger processor cache would be good but, for me it would depend on the price premium.

The other things that I would be thinking about is ensuring that it comes with Win 7 64bit OS and at least 6Gb of RAM.

My laptop had a 120GB SSD and i use it when traveling however i take 2 external drives with me for storage and backup, My laptop also has a USB3 port for faster downloading etc so may be worth getting a laptop with one or more of these

Dave

Joseph, our family ended up with not one but two W520s, with somewhat similar specs. Budget dictates all, but if you can go the cost, 1920 X 1080 is full HD, which means, as others have said, you can play HD movies. Also, it gives you more pixels for vertical image compositions. Regarding processors, the cost/performance sweet spot is often one notch down from the fastest processor. Regarding disks, one of the big selling points for the W520 series is that there are two drive bays. You might consider an SSD for your primary/system drive and configure the second bay with a conventional hard drive for data storage. This will mean that you will have to purchase an external USB optical drive for loading programs, etc. Both my W520s are configured with external opticals. (Not sure how well movies will play via USB 2.0.; I haven't tried it.) With this configuration, you will have one of the most capable laptops out there.

You do not have to give up the optical drive for a SSD drive replacement. My computer tech guy was able to drop a mini-SSD into the center of the W520 and leave the optical drive in place. It has turned out to be a great arrangement.

This is a big laptop though.

scorless wrote:You do not have to give up the optical drive for a SSD drive replacement. My computer tech guy was able to drop a mini-SSD into the center of the W520 and leave the optical drive in place. It has turned out to be a great arrangement.

Not sure if that is currently an original seller ordering option. Also would be curious to know what it does to the warranty. But it sounds like a good arrangement if one is willing to go the extra mile. What capacity is the mini-SSD?

Michael,

Does not not invalidate the original warranty. Is not an original seller option. My tech guy came up with it and several out there are using them with the W520. It is one of the few laptops that has room for it under the hood so to speak. The capacity is 128 G. That gives 500 G for storage and 128 G for programs and operating system.

This makes such good sense it should become a standard ordering option.