Of the two lenovos, the Z510 has a faster discrete GPU and higher res screen, but the other one has a faster cpu (1Mb more cache and 500Mhz on the top end) and is *probably* better made (more of a biz machine).

For you, I’d choose the 510 – better screen and disk space will help with the video editing. The gpu less than those too points, but nice to have.

For matlab, the faster single threaded performance and extra cache of the S430 will be better. But again, for basic matlab stuff it probably doesn’t matter to you.

The z510 is out of stock now, and I can’t find it similarly priced anywhere, so I’m going to get the s430. Thanks !

It’s the one I would have gone for anyway, probably.
Hope it works out well!