Lenovo Essential G770 refurb?

[midapo]

I am looking for a laptop to replace my old desktop. We are scaling down (kids left home, smaller house, nearing retirement, etc). I would like to have a 17" screen, don't care a lot about mobility of the unit. We do mostly web surfing, word processing, and will do light photo editing, converting old video tapes to dvd, etc. Little or no gaming. Will this unit fit the bill and is it a good value?

Lenovo G770 refurb

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2410M (2.30GHz base; 2.9GHz Max Turbo, 3MB Cache)
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 - English
Hard Drive: 750GB, 5400RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Hard Drive
Total Memory: 4GB (2 X 2GB) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM SODIMM Memory
Display: 17.3” HD+ (1600 X 900) LED, W/ 2.0 MP Camera
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Optical Device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer

This unit is 455.00 + tax w/ free shipping.

The processor I think is fine but I am a little worried that I might need more ram. I appreciate any thoughts you may have!

[ZaZ]

The good news is memory is very easy to upgrade on most laptop. Are you buying this directly from Lenovo? I ask because if you are you get a one year warranty, but if it's from a third party, chances are the warranty will be significantly shorter. You want to have year of warranty to give a good break in period to see if any problems come up.

Just to give you another option, the Dell Vostro 3750 might be worth a look. The G770 has a glossy screen which can produce reflections on the screen and it can be annoying at times. The Vostro screen is matte, which means no reflections. Dell sells the 3750 in their outlet too. One benefit of buying form the Dell Outlet is they allow you to upgrade the warranty if desired, which Lenovo does not allow. Dell also sometimes offers coupons in their outlet, which can makes for some even better deals. If you're not in a hurry, you may do better price wise. There's a thread in the Deals forum dedicated to Dell Outlet coupons. You may wish to check it out.

From a performance perspective, I think the Lenovo is fine. Anything more processor intensive like video processing will be faster on a better CPU, but the i5 will work, just a little slower. For general usage, the i5 offers performance aplenty. Probably the biggest bottleneck on the system is the slower 5400RPM drive, but like the memory, is easily upgraded. A faster drive or SSD will make things more snappy. Good luck and welcome to NBR.

[midapo]

The good news is memory is very easy to upgrade on most laptop. Are you buying this directly from Lenovo? I ask because if you are you get a one year warranty, but if it's from a third party, chances are the warranty will be significantly shorter. You want to have year of warranty to give a good break in period to see if any problems come up.

Just to give you another option, the Dell Vostro 3750 might be worth a look. The G770 has a glossy screen which can produce reflections on the screen and it can be annoying at times. The Vostro screen is matte, which means no reflections. Dell sells the 3750 in their outlet too. One benefit of buying form the Dell Outlet is they allow you to upgrade the warranty if desired, which Lenovo does not allow. Dell also sometimes offers coupons in their outlet, which can makes for some even better deals. If you're not in a hurry, you may do better price wise. There's a thread in the Deals forum dedicated to Dell Outlet coupons. You may wish to check it out.

From a performance perspective, I think the Lenovo is fine. Anything more processor intensive like video processing will be faster on a better CPU, but the i5 will work, just a little slower. For general usage, the i5 offers performance aplenty. Probably the biggest bottleneck on the system is the slower 5400RPM drive, but like the memory, is easily upgraded. A faster drive or SSD will make things more snappy. Good luck and welcome to NBR.

Thanks Zaz for your well thought out reply. I had not noticed the speed of the hardrive. I did not know that about the glossy screen.

I am, indeed, looking at this computer at the Lenovo outlet. So it will come with a 1 year warranty. I started looking at this particular computer two days ago. I have noticed that the quanity they have on hand has not changed, so it made me wonder if it is that great a deal. I will check out the Dell thread, thanks again.

[cmick25]

I have very similar G770, only difference is Radeon 6650m graphic card and 8GB RAM
Yes, Vostro 3750 is a worthy alternative, esp., if you don't need the power of Radeon card. Then again, Lenovo machines are ones of the most reliable on the market. Very often refurbs are the one returned because somebody didn't like the feel, texture, colour , etc.
Regardless, of what machine you pick, if it comes by default with a sub-7200rpm hard drive, you might want to look up and replace it with a hybrid Momentus XT 750GB drive, as it is only a fraction more expensive, but greatly improves the system performance. Also, upgrading the RAM to at least 6GB is a good thing to do. Apart from that and according to what you stated you need the laptop for, I wouldn't change anything else. i5 CPU is plenty of performance packed in and there is no need paying extra for i7 processors.