Lenovo Y50 Hard Disk Replacement?

Based on replies on my last question, I've decided on Lenovo Y50 for serious music production plus gaming rig. Just got one last question. Can I replace the internal hard disk with a 7200 RPM one or better, an SSD? Also, is there anything like external 7200 rpm hard disk or SSD available in India?

Another laptop in the similar price range with 7200 rpm disk is Asus G551 but the Indian configuration with GDDR3 2GB NVIDIA GTX 850M is a total no go for me (which I'll have to compromise with if I can't modify Y50) and I put it as the last option. MSI GE60 2PG Apache is also an option but is a little over my budget of Rs. 80k.

Actually, the main purpose of owning a laptop is running a cpu-intensive DAW with lots of VSTi's at home and in a live situation but given the price I'm paying, I'd also want some gaming ability (if possible). For this, I want at least 8GB RAM with 7200 RPM HDD and no less than i7 4710hq/mq. For gaming part, I'd like to have a GDDR5 graphics card. Though I like MacBook, but I need to have i7 which isn't available anywhere near my budget.

Therefore, please tell me if what I want is at all possible. Also, do tell if you think any other laptop packs as much power for music production stuff (I'm ready to part with gaming) in my price range and I'd highly appreciate if you share any tips for regarding music production.

Thanks (for answering and for reading this near-essay)!

Guest

The Lenovo Y50 big flaw is its 1080p LCD. A compatible IPS x1080 display is available in many countries, and in the USA sells for about US$100, but probably higher in India. The display you get with the laptop has two possible manufacturers and one is better than the other, but you don't know what you are getting. The LCD is extremely easy to replace, and you will find blogs and youtube videos discussing IPS LCD replacement Y50. It is a great upgrade in the future sometime after you buy it.

The internal HDD of the Y50 is pretty good on most of the models as an SSD accelerated 1TB HDD. SSD's make faster software load, faster video editing, but don't actually improve performance in general use, and they get expensive. To replace an HDD, the drive has to be larger in storage than all data on the HDD including anything hidden in recovery sections. A 7200rpm non-SSD accelerated is no better in average performance.

You can replace an HDD by buying a 2.5 inch drive and a SATA/USB enclosure, cloning one drive onto the other and then swapping the drives.

I think the JBL Audio speakers of a Lenovo Y50 is pretty good.
You can browse around Flipkart and the IT Depot to see what is available at what price
http://www.theitdepot.com/

My general thinking is that the Y50 benefits more by an LCD change than an HDD change.
You might get a usb3 external flash drive for music production processing and or playing and keep a 2nd copy on the hdd.
You are correct about the quad core i7's versus the dual core U suffix ones.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/...u_list.php
Laptops have moved to the U suffix as aimed to battery conserving.
The sellers in India are difficult to get data about laptops as the descriptions are not specific enough.
You might look for an Asus with Core i7 quad core and 1080p display and cut back on the graphics processing. Their audio is excellent
I think the Y50 is a good choice for the price.

Andy L