Review Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 Notebook

[Marcus Crosby]

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

[Goran]

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

[Mort411b]

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

[Neil]

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)

[badman]

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.

[Chaos Warrior]

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 :)

[Mladen Mihajlovic]

How about reviewing the Y510p? Pleeeaaaaseeeeeee...

[Mr.Blackwolff]

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

[Florian Glaser]

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

It´s already ordered.  :)

[dr-joe]

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

Lenovo really hit the spot for gamers with this one.

[booba]

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!

[PETER LINDVALL]

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.

[palibalazs]

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

[Alan]

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.