(Question)Considering a Y470

Hi everyone, long time lurker who has been eyeing a portable 14" laptop. Lately I have watched the ASUS u46sv make it's slow approach to north America, but since school is starting quite soon, other options have seemed more promising. Optimally, the laptop I want to buy will be somewhat portable with a battery life somewhere between 6-10 hours, and will be used for basic school projects and some light gaming (source engine,diablo, etc).

The Lenovo Y470 is another portable laptop that really caught my eye with the current deals that are available. My big question is: other than the battery and smaller frame, what are the biggest differences between the U46SV and the Y470.

 

I was in the same boat for quite a while but finally gave up waiting on the U46SV when I found out that ETA has been moved up to Oct 1st. Pulled the trigger on a Y470-085526 w/ 3yr warranty and xtra battery for a total cost of $815 plus tax. Here's my take on the differences:

* Battery life - Y470 has pretty poor battery life. ~4 hrs of light use. U46SV will likely clock in around 6-8 hrs of light use
* Design - IMHO the U46SV looks much nicer
* CPU - Y470 has an i7 while the U46SV has an i5
* GPU - 525M (Asus) vs 550M (lenovo) not a big difference maybe ~5%+
* ODD - Bluray (Y470) vs DVD (U46SV)
* USB 3.0 - U46SV has one port, Y470 has two (three? - unclear)
* Speakers - Supposedly the asus speakers are poor quality while lenovo added extra cm3 for richer sounds. DOn't know if there is a difference though
* Webcam - 2.0 Mpix (lenovo) vs 0.3 Mpix (asus)
* Price - Upgraded U46SV to similar spec's will cost ~$250-300 more using gentech customization options

 

I've listened to the U46SV speakers... they suck... badly...

 

There's also the n55 that's coming out soon from Asus.

The U46 looks like it has better quality with it's overall aluminum body. However, if I had to upgrade the u46sv to the same specs as the one I bought from Lenovo with the i7 26xxqm sandy bridge cpu, 8 gb ram, 500 gb (7200rpm), and 550m GPU it would cost me an additional $300-400. I might get better customer service from the reseller though since resellers usually respond faster to problems/questions etc. than manufacturers.

I heard Asus also has better heat management but IMO I don't think there can be good cooling in these 14" notebooks considering they can only put in so much, unless they put in a duo fan like those Sager/ Clevo notebooks.

I ordered the Y470 since it's cheap and seems like the best bang for the buck, and it should be coming in next Wednesday so I'll post a review of my thoughts.