NotebookCHECK - Notebook Forum

finally! a y500 review! it's like having a gtx 670mx notebook for $1200. *drool

Heya, I would like notebookcheck to review the Lenovo Ideapad Y400 with the 2 GT 650s and see whether a config like that would benefit a 14.1' display at 1366 by 768 like the way the Asus G46 did with the GTX 660. That laptop I guess would be the main rival to Lenovo's Y400/500.

Overall, I like the idea of using that Optical Bay caddy for another GPU. Really, nobody uses a Disk Drive anymore and you can always buy one USB powered one for cheap anyway.

There is a known serious problem with the touchpad (beyond just being annoying).  Just go on to the Lenovo forums and read up.  I had to return mine.  Maybe the next batch will be better.  Overall the laptop is very good considering the price.   But the touchpad is killing it.

Anyone know where you can buy it with this config in the uk?

Good piece of hardware. Forget the touchpad issues, they're history. And the keyboard is perfectly fine. Critics.

Y500 impressions

My Specs:
i5 2,5 GHz model with 8 Gb of RAM.
DVD module in ultrabay.
500 Gb HD (without the small 16 Gb SSD
swapdrive)
Synaptics touchpad (!)

Pros:
-----------------------
* Good screen - Bright and nice colours,
not sure how close to RGB, but as an
enthusiast photographer I have no
complaints. Contrast 500:1 according to
Lenovo. Not very glary.
* Power adapter - has what seems like a
non-flimsy and solid, thick connecter. I
think it'll stand the distance.
* Red keyboard backlighting - 2 values,
shortcut key on hardware level (works
even when booting)
* Powerful CPU and graphics.
* Ultrabay can be fitted with optional
extra GPU (SLI mode), fan, HD or
BluRay.
* Very low noise levels - although when
on battery and "power saver preset" it
sometimes spins up and down erratically.
For comparison the MacBook Retina is
considerably louder under load.
* Heat levels seems reasonably
controlled. Using Speedfan I measured
temps of CPU+GPU cores of no higher
levels than 75 degrees celsius during high
load. No excess heat around handrest
areas.
* Connectivity just works. USB ports,
HDMI, audio jacks (metal)
* Windows 8 (WITH the Classic Start
Menu addon) is a breeze working with.
So far the best Windows experience ever
for me. So fast and responsive.

Neither good or bad:
-----------------------
* Speakers are fine enough, although they
don't handle a lot of deep frequencies.

Cons:
-----------------------
* Update: Keyboard has started acting up
(when I wrote this sentence, it just wrote
"acwegwegkwæe" and then stopped
responding for 2-3 seconds)
* Tried updating to newest Nvidia drivers
- and lost the ability to adjust brightness
with Fn+up/down keys. Come on, this
shouldn't be nessecary.
* Intel 4000 Graphics hidden or not
working. I don't see why, it should be on
the chipset. WiDi also does not seem to
be working. EDIT: Best guess, is that this
is due to the SLI possibility in the laptop.
* Touchpad (mine is Synaptics) - flimsy
buttons, seems like it's a bit loose, very
plasticky feeling. Two-finger scroll works
fine enough. NOTE: I have the Synaptics,
but the Y500 model is also shipped with
Elan touchpads that are prone to failure!
Make sure to get Synaptics.
* Screen has a lot of flex at the top, you
can twist it from side to side around 1 cm
in depth, although it's hard to say
whether it will last or not.
* Preinstalled Windows 8 Recovery
partitions. I don't like it, frankly. Please
give me a USB media with everything on
it, so I can partition my goddamn
harddrive as I wish. If you resize a
partition, you risk losing an OS installer
that you paid for.
* Ultrabay DVD-drive seems VERY flimsy.
I wouldn't want to change it around too
often.
* Chassis of laptop prone to smudges
and finger marks. Easily cleaned off
though.

VERDICT:
There's a lot to like (screen, GFX, CPU,
noise levels, heat levels etc.), but in all
honesty, I don't really trust this laptop.
As recently added, the keyboard has
started acting up. What will be next?

Very Deep review thanks!! What I did not like, only seen manual and U tube stuff yet !! is the fact that for a multimedia machine there are no dedicated multimedia keys- soft-like z560-one key theatre,or fullkeys AT ALL. No dedicated MUTE key ! one has to use the fn and volume down key to lower volume. Very strange, did they forget or what ????

Come on notebookcheck review the y400 SLI.

i have bought the i5 version.
really like to see some sli benchmarks on that.
i'm really happy that it can go sli.
but i have to wait till end of this month when it goes on sale in stores or at lenovo itself.

what i also like to know ( before i open it ) can i put in a ssd without removing the hdd?
so i can have a ssd in it for speed and a hdd in it for storage.

Quote from: paulx on March 05, 2013, 17:22:14
i have bought the i5 version.  I'd really like to see some sli benchmarks on that.

In a recent desktop benchmark on YouTube (sorry, forgot the name), a 2-cpu gaming rig and a 4-cpu gaming rig were compared, all with state-of-the-art equipment (best NVidia card, best CPUs, etc.)  Also, 1-cpu mode was tested, too.  There was no discernable difference between 2x and 4x.  In fact, in blind tests, the player generally thought the 2-cpu rig was faster.  Most games can take advantage of 2 cpus, but few of them can take good advantage of 4 cpus.  So if your 2-cpu Y500 has the same L2 cache first, and similar Mhz - which is only of secondary importance, 2-cpus and 4-cpus should not matter, except for very unusual and rare applications, like mpeg encoding.  It should not matter for gaming.

why is the graphics and gaming graphics score for windows experience index 6.5. Even without SLI GT650M GDDR5 gives more than 7.0 for other laptops like inspiron 17R

I had the laptop for 1 month now and it's pretty good: fast but still light, has great looks and red keyboard light, does not get hot even if you have it on the lap, battery holds up to 3,5-4,5 hours depending on what are you doing, I even start to like windows 8 and its integration. BUUUT the touchpad is killing me. WHAT THE HELL??? how can you screw up the touchpad. usualy i work with mouse, but today I forgot it at home and its just impossible to work wihtout it!! had compaq cq60 before and never encountered such a difficulty  using touchpad!!

I've had it for 2 months now. All I can say is, that it outperforms the charts given in this review by at least 10% (up to 20% in a few select). The touchpad is crap, and the way they designed it, causes dust and dirt to accumulate along the edges of the touchpad, however, I don't use the touchpad, so I couldn't care less. The screen bezel has a very plastic feel and could have been made better, but hardly something you notice unless you grab a hold of it and gently twist it. Overall, this is by far the strongest, most sleek, quality desktop replacement that you can get for your money (value-wise). I will readily recommend this laptop to anyone who might consider buying it - you will not regret. Also, the sound from those speakers... oh god... the sound. I have never seen a laptop play music this well!

Thanks for the review! I just want to point out one thing that may be useful to people regarding the clickpad. I, like many, was not thrilled with it -- especially how the cursor would jump slightly when trying to click the bottom buttons (that alone is almost a deal-breaker when it comes to the precision needed when using photoshop). The default clickpad settings don't have all the settings you need to improve this, but if you go to http://www.synaptics.com/resources/drivers and install the latest (gives me settings v8.1 vs v1.1 that came installed), there is a setting that lets you adjust the starting zone for cursor movement. In SmartSense > Advanced Filters just remove the bottom portion from the start zone and you can click the bottom buttons freely without moving the cursor. It also helped lessen the cursor jumping in general when I decreased the pressure sensitivity a bit.

I hope this helps some people. I was about ready to return it but now I'm satisfied. It's still not the best clickpad, but much better now that I've adjusted it. - MC

I am currently in the mood of getting a better gaming laptop i currently have the Y570 and i am not that happy whit it it unperformed and most games are unplayable.
It's the I7 model with 555m and to be honest even Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 lagg on it. I am currently thinking between this one and the Asus G75 which is more expensive

Just bought the laptop saturday totally thrilled to get it on wednessday!! :-D

awesome review, but why not have tested the version with single GT 750M ? (see if single gpu can last more time on battery even without optimus)

It would be super useful if some one benchmarked the 750M SLI model. Also are the rumours true regarding lenovo's "Battery guage test" wherein if we run it the laptop won't charge/start up.

Any one knows how to make make Battery second priority , cause there are two modes of charging , first keep charging even if battery is full but the shorten your battery span , and the second option is to charge then discharge then charge again and so on this gives you maximum span
but there are some laps with the option to disconnect the battery and take charge only from AC Supply when it is Plugged in
so any help please :)

How about reviewing the Y510p? Pleeeaaaaseeeeeee...

please review about y510p...
please.
it looks high end.

Quote from: Mr.Blackwolff on July 04, 2013, 10:46:22
please review about y510p...
please.
it looks high end.

It´s already ordered.  :)

Y500's ability to support 670MX, may remove the need to use x2 650m video cards.

I've created a comparison of Y500 with Y580 and Y400, for people who are not sure which is better:

ideapad y500 vs y580 laptop (http://squidoo.com/lenovo-ideapad-y500-laptop-review)

Lenovo really hit the spot for gamers with this one.

NO OPTIMUS...NO OPTIMUS...NO OPTIMUS...NO OPTIMUS...NO OPTIMUS...

I was just about to buy this in the i7 3630QM 8Gb single 750m but NO OPTIMUS, no purchase.

plus multiple reports of bad trackpad/ touchpad and breaking keyboards and ghost typing, extreme heat just doesn't seem worth taking the chance spending €969 on it

finally - LENOVO stick the power-in on the right side not the left - jeeeshh!

Awesome review! The best one I've read...

Regarding the 2 modes of battery charging; I have my Y500 set to charge up to 60%, so that the battery will have a longer life. If you click on the battery/plug icon, it says something like 60%, plugged in, but not charging.
Samsung has a similar option, but they charge the battery to 80%.
If you are going to run off of the battery, it's easy to set it to charge the battery a 100%.
My biggest complaint is Windows 8... I ordered Windows 7 Professional, and I'm planning on installing it to the SSD, and have a dual boot. If that doesn't work, I''ll install a Samsung SSD and just run WIN 7.
Lenovo said that Windows 8 will not fit on the 16GB SSD, and that's why it is used as a buffer.
WIN 8 makes it run kind of sluggish for an I7-3rd gen, and it should fly with WIN 7.

I've had to restore WIN 8 2 times so far, backing it up is a must with this operating system.
Refresh is a nice idea, saving your data, but it does not work, neither does restoring it to an earlier restoration point. I had 3 restoration points, and I tried each one, before being forced to restore it using the one key setup, which restores it back to new.

Ive got only one question that all fps tests are in full HD or what Resolution? Thank you for your answers

The Y500 is, by far, the worst computer I've ever owned.

First of all, the keyboard and trackpad DO NOT WORK. I get duplicated keytypes all the time and the trackpad was so glitchy I had to ditch it for a mouse. AND WHO DOESN'T PUT A CAPS-LOCK LIGHT ON THE TOP OF THE COMPUTER???

Secondly, the SSD in this machine WILL burn out. I replaced the garbage Sandisk SSD module after only 3 months of use.

Thirdly, you will deal with the graphics card driver resetting itself every 10-15 minutes when you stream a video.

Truly trash and I will never buy another Lenovo product again.