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Question

Dell Inspiron 5547, Lenovo Thinkpad E540 or Ideapad Z5070

by Apr 9, 2015 4:48AM PDT

Hi.

I am looking to buy a laptop in South Africa that I intend to use over the next few years primarily for general office/business work that would involve Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Powerpoint presentations etc, as well as E-mail and internet usage. I will not be using the laptop for intense graphic design work, and I am not a big computer gamer. I do, however, like the idea of having a laptop with basic editing and gaming capabilities should I require it at a later stage. I will be using the laptop outside of the office on occasion, therefore weight and battery life are things to take into consideration. I may also use the laptop for watching movies or videos, and therefore a good display would be a bonus.

In general, a well built, all round, reliable and efficient laptop with decent operating capabilities is what I am looking for. I have come across 3 laptops that are within my budget that seem to meet the above criteria. All are 15.6" laptops due to the fact that they all come with a numpad, which is an important feature. I think that all of the below laptops will meet my requirements, If someone could give me some advice in terms of the most reliable, best performing, and ultimately best value for money purchase, then it would be most appreciated.

Dell Inspiron 15 5547 - R9499.90
Intel Core i5-421oU 2.7Ghz 3MB Cache
Windows 8.1
8GB RAM
1TB HDD
15.6" Truelife HD Screen
AMD Radeon HD R7 M265 2GB DDR3
2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
43 Whr 3 Cell Battery
3 Year Onsite Next Business Day Warranty

Lenovo ThinkPad E540 - R7999.00
Intel Core i5-4210M 3.2Ghz 3MB Cache
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit
8GB RAM
500GB HDD
15.6" (1366x76Cool HD Anti-Glare Display
Intel HD Graphics
2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
62 WHr 6 Cell Cylindrical Li-Ion Battery
1 Year Carry In Warranty

Lenovo IdeaPad Z5070 - R7918.00
Intel Core i5 4210U Processor
Windows 8.1 64-Bit
4GB RAM
500 GB + 8GB Hybrid Hard Drive
15.6" HD (1366x76Cool Display
NVIDIA GeForce GT820M 2GB RAM
Battery Unknown
1 Year Carry In Warranty

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
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Answer
Only one has a dedicated GPU.
by Forum moderator Apr 9, 2015 5:09AM PDT

Unless the games are card games folk that game never consider the Intel GMA solutions.
Bob

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One with dedicated GPU or two?
by Hutch_05 Apr 9, 2015 6:34AM PDT

Hi Bob.

Thank you for your response. If I am not mistaken, two of the three options have dedicated graphics cards. The Dell with a 2GB AMD Radeon HD R7 M265, and the Lenovo IdeaPad Z5070 with a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT820M?

Nevertheless, you would rule out the Lenovo ThinkPad E540 due to no dedicated graphics card? In your opinion, what would be the best value for money purchase in terms of reliability and performance?

Hutch.

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Right.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 9, 2015 6:41AM PDT

OK, now you can compare game performance. Google these.

Notebookcheck 820m
Notebookcheck M265

I don't see how you can measure reliability today. Inspirons don't get me excited over their barely acceptable displays. They can be good value in spite of that.
Bob

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