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I am buying a college laptop for my brother. I have settled on the Lenovo Thinkpad Edge line due to the Thinkpad's reputation for quality and the Edge's budget price. However, I have a few questions. First of all, I don't know whether to go with the cheaper AMD version or the Intel Core i-series. My brother will be using the system for school work, watching videos, and perhaps Skype. Secondly, I am having trouble deciding between the 14 and 15 inch varieties. Will the additional 1.6 inches of diagonal screen space be worth the extra pound or so the 15" adds ?

I would appreciate any knowledge gained from experience.

For that usage profile, I would go with the AMD model and save a few bucks, myself.

As for 14" versus 15": is your brother the type of user who will carry this thing everywhere, or will he tend to leave it on the desk pretty much continuously? If it will tend to be glued to the desk then you may as well go with the larger screen, because the extra weight doesn't matter. Otherwise, suggest getting the smaller, lighter unit as it will be easier to carry and more durable under the daily abuse associated with being toted around and folded repeatedly.

There's not much difference between the 14 and 15 inch. Both are big machines, but considering the 14 is normally only $20 more expensive I'd go for that. However I would give him an option of a x220.

You can get the 14" with sandy, 4gb, switchable 6360m for about $700 Oz. I'm not sure why but lenovo is selling these for less than there consumer lines.

Make sure to get it through Lenovo's student website (can be found fairly easily from main page). I configured one with an i5 for a friend that came to ~$630 with that discount as opposed to $740 without. I'd also wait for one of their sales as they tend to have 10% or more off sales twice a month.

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to purchase him the E520 (15 inch) because size is more important to him than weight. Also, both are selling for the same price. I have been watching prices in the student section of the Lenovo site for about a month and they have stayed the same. However, on the Lenovo deals page, it says they have a 4GB RAM deal going on now for a limited time. Although the model I am looking at does not have any lower option than 4GB, I am afraid they may lower it to 2GB soon.

Make sure you get your free xbox!

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=21691

I believe Lenovo is not included. I think its best buy, HP and Dell only.

mmmmmdonuts21 wrote:

I believe Lenovo is not included. I think its best buy, HP and Dell only.

They have Lenovo's that qualify on the MS store. Not many (2) but they will still get you a free XBOX.

Thanks for all your help. I just received the laptop yesterday and gave it to my brother. Although it is a bit hefty I think it will work just fine for his purposes.

Here are the specs:

Intel Core i3 2310m 2.1ghz
4GB DDR3 1333
320GB 7200 RPM HDD
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Thanks again!