What do you guys think of the Lenovo Y500 as a gaming (but mostly general purpose) laptop specifically the top teir one with the 16gb of ram and the dual NVIDIA GeForce GT750Ms. Previosly I was going to build a 3570k based desktop but it turned out that it would be to pricey with the monitor and what not and would be cumbersome at college. I will wait for a sale if I decide to get it.
I know it might seem awkward taking a desktop to college. But, once you transport it there, you're not going to be moving it around. A desktop is well worth its money in comparison to a laptop. Laptops have many points of failure, like the power adaptor coming loose.
I've taken desktops to university. It is no big deal. I just used a spare TV as a monitor.
Also, you could try configuring a less expensive build. But, it depends on your personal preferences and other considerations.
I thought that when I started university I was going to have to shell out the cash on a new laptop. Instead I took my desktop then got myself a cheaper laptop to take notes on specifically a x61 thinkpad. Saved me having to spend unecessary money.
A friend of mine asked for advice for a gaming laptop, and I fell over the Y500. Looks pretty solid.
I would personally go with the i7-3630QM, 8GB DDR3m, and a single GTX750M. Then I would throw a 120 - 256GB SSD in it (OS, drivers and games), and use the included harddrive in the "expansion slot" for media storage.
This was the build I was planning on doing. I included things like mice and keyboards and the Operating system because I wanted to get an idea of total initial cost.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/12aJp
What would you recomend to get the price down?
The Y500 look pretty impressive. But for college/school use, I would go for a second hand smaller laptop. If you can get your hands on a decent X200, or X300/X301. With a well working battery you have a small light laptop for classes, and then use a desktop for gaming etc. The Y500 seems to cumbersome to lug around between classes. :)
In the PC part picker link, you have shosen a 450 Watt PSU, isn't this PSU a bit under powered? I think perhaps a wiser choice would be to go after a 6-800 Watt PSU.