Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 Laptop: Core i7 3630QM 2.4GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, 15.6" 1920x1080 LED, 2GB GeForce GTX 660M, Blu-ray Drive, WiFi N, 6-cell, Windows 8 $899 + Free Shipping

Quote from jdatb : hmmm, does this version not have a backlit keyboard?

It does

Quote from goibhniu : Yeah, I know someone who went through the same deal with Dell on one of their business class machines. Dell's site showed that 8GB was the limit. My friend pointed out that the chipset should support 16GB and asked if it was really only limited to 8GB, or if they had only validated up to 8GB. Dell swore it would only work with 8GB. So he bought a 16GB kit and installed it, and it worked. Go figure. Support isn't going to hint at anything that they haven't validated, because they don't want to be on the hook for something that hasn't been officially sanctioned.

Wouldn't it be the Dell Inspiron 15R special edition?

I was into this laptop until I went to Frys and tried it. I booted it into Linux with a LiveCD and everything worked great (the speakers were kinda quiet though) with the one exception and deal breaker for me, the touchpad.

I couldn't stand the texture, the sensitivity (adjusting didn't seem to help) nor the lack of separate mouse buttons. In addition I brought in a friend that is used to the MacbookPro touchpad and he couldn't stand it either. However, if you are the type to use a separate mouse this is pretty well spec'd.

My list of cons:
* Touchpad skips
* No buttons on touchpad
* Glossy screen
* No dock connector
* No second battery option
* No expresscard
* No eSATA
* BIOS mSATA gotcha (if you don't order with mSATA they ship with a different BIOS)
* No "charge" usb port (though it'll still charge if you suspend to RAM)

Otherwise it's quite powerful for the price (also this is a gaming laptop so it's 6.2lb)

if only my wallet wasnt so empty

Quote from tekniiiq : solid deal, except it's not sony!! haha

I can vouch for this statement. Bought my first Vaio off Cowboom and am blown away by the quality. I've always avoided Sony like the plague due to their own proprietary designs with cameras, and my Sony AVR was not very high end. But the $350 Vaio I picked up on a laptop flash sale is probably one of my favorite SD purchases of all time. I'm on a Samsung ultrabook right now, and think I like they Sony better. Screen resolution, contrast is jaw dropping. And the Sony website was simple to perform driver updates.

Quote from taurus2007 : I've asked and they told me 8GB is max so I am just repeating what they told me. You can try to put 16GB in there if you want.

I have this notebook from Blackfriday deal. I have upgraded mine to 16gb and it works just fine. Memory controller limitation is 32gb.

Quote from b-random : You gotta put a SSD in this thing, so that wouldn't discourage me one bit. The only downfall about this laptop is Windows 8, in my opinion.

i would recommend mSATA SSD with platter hard drive for bulk media etc.

also windows 8 is great. if you REALLY must have your precious start menu back there are ways of doing that... everything on the backend is much nicer. you're doing yourself a large disservice if you are purposely downgrading to win7.

re: the laptop, the touchpad doesn't have discrete buttons which is a minus. the touchpad's performance is ATROCIOUS without drivers, pretty decent with drivers. the chiclet keyboard takes some getting used to coming off a Dell with a normal keyboard -- you really have to push down to make sure each key is pressed.

overall it's surprisingly really good.

Quote from i_fixed_it : I was into this laptop until I went to Frys and tried it. I booted it into Linux with a LiveCD and everything worked great (the speakers were kinda quiet though) with the one exception and deal breaker for me, the touchpad. I couldn't stand the texture, the sensitivity (adjusting didn't seem to help) nor the lack of separate mouse buttons. In addition I brought in a friend that is used to the MacbookPro touchpad and he couldn't stand it either. However, if you are the type to use a separate mouse this is pretty well spec'd. My list of cons: * Touchpad skips * No buttons on touchpad * Glossy screen * No dock connector * No second battery option * No expresscard * No eSATA * BIOS mSATA gotcha (if you don't order with mSATA they ship with a different BIOS) * No "charge" usb port (though it'll still charge if you suspend to RAM) Otherwise it's quite powerful for the price (also this is a gaming laptop so it's 6.2lb)

the touchpad is due to the lack of proper driver. i have no idea why it's like this, but it's terrible without the proper driver installed. why would you boot into linux to test the accessory hardware, anyway?

re: the mSATA, what do you mean? many people including myself install mSATA SSDs as boot drives in systems that didn't originally ship with mSATA and it works fine. if you're looking to use SRT though, there might be some issue, i'm not sure.

Quote from kizag : solid deal imo.. been looking at this laptop. any other opinions?

The HD is only 5400rpm, I think it would have been better if it had a 7200rpm one

and its Windows 8 but not Windows 8 Pro.

I just bought 2 Windows 8 Pro upgrades and I had to call Microsoft for some technical advice because I set up 2 laptops as dual boot Windows 7/ Windows 8.

It was pointed out to me that the big advantage of the Pro is that its backwards compatible with older other software and other versions of Windows 8 are not necessarily so.
also if you get the Pro you can install Windows Media center on it for free right now.

I think those are my 2 cons on this deal.

They just took away my money and I couldn't make order
It said they failed transaction but when I checked my bank, the transaction is on my bank.
I can't order this laptop and my money is stolen
and they don't answer my phone because it is not their business hours.
wtf

Quote from Buckeyefan 1 : I can vouch for this statement. Bought my first Vaio off Cowboom and am blown away by the quality. I've always avoided Sony like the plague due to their own proprietary designs with cameras, and my Sony AVR was not very high end. But the $350 Vaio I picked up on a laptop flash sale is probably one of my favorite SD purchases of all time. I'm on a Samsung ultrabook right now, and think I like they Sony better. Screen resolution, contrast is jaw dropping. And the Sony website was simple to perform driver updates.

I agree I LOVE SONY laptops .They are solid built laptops. I got a deal on one from Comp USA 2 months ago with Windows 7 for $399 and it HAS A BACKLIT KEYBOARD. It was discounted because it had Windows 7 if you can believe it.
I purchased the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $14.99 and did a dual boot set up, now I have Wndows 7/Windows 8 Pro dual boot laptop and I love it

BTW, I also avoided Sony cameras because of their special memory cards!

What does this mean?

Quote from i_fixed_it : * No "charge" usb port (though it'll still charge if you suspend to RAM)

Quote from lostlizard : I agree I LOVE SONY laptops .They are solid built laptops. I got a deal on one from Circuit City 2 months ago with Windows 7 for $399 and it HAS A BACKLIT KEYBOARD. It was discounted because it had Windows 7 if you can believe it. I purchased the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $14.99 and did a dual boot set up, now I have Wndows 7/Windows 8 Pro dual boot laptop and I love it BTW, I also avoided Sony cameras because of their special memory cards!

How many hard drive you can put in? my SSD needs a slot. How long can it last for the 6 cell battery for one charge?

"LED Glare Wedge.." Who comes up with these awful display names? Just bought a U310 and a Y400 for the Missus. We're both very happy, but the screens on those are just awful. Really wish I had held out for this one.

Quote from Blade2187 : re: the touchpad is due to the lack of proper driver. i have no idea why it's like this, but it's terrible without the proper driver installed. why would you boot into linux to test the accessory hardware, anyway? re: the mSATA, what do you mean? many people including myself install mSATA SSDs as boot drives in systems that didn't originally ship with mSATA and it works fine. if you're looking to use SRT though, there might be some issue, i'm not sure.

You're correct that the DIY mSATA upgrade only affects Intel's SRT caching feature.
Otherwise adding one is a great idea and they can be had for ~$1/GB (versus 2.5" SSDs @ ~$0.50/GB)

I wasn't going to install drivers on floor model But that's good to know. Also they initially had the session locked (to force you to bring over a sales rep) so I didn't spend much time with it in Win8 except when I was about to leave.

And I've used Linux "exclusively" for nearly 10 years now, not going to drink the Microsoft "kool-aid". I spent about an hour with this laptop but if I was there longer I would have tried some other drivers. I assumed it was a hardware defect since it wasn't working correctly in either OS.

Quote from kidooo : What does this mean?

Some laptops (popular on Thinkpads) have a USB port that can provide power to charge usb devices (phones) even when the machine is off.

Quote from ubets : How many hard drive you can put in? my SSD needs a slot. How long can it last for the 6 cell battery for one charge?

You can replace the bluray/optical drive with a hard drive "caddy" available on Ebay and add a SDD that way. That would give you a potential total of 3 hard drives - 2x 2.5" and 1x mSATA.

It comes with a 6-cell 72Wh battery and a 120W charger. Battery life varies a lot, but this uses Nvidia's Optimus GPU switching so you will be using Intel graphics except while gaming which will help.