The Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 is an Achilles heel gaming laptop. Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 is an Achilles heel gaming laptop What customers say in their reviews
When it comes to a gaming laptop, we all vividly imagine a gadget with a large screen that demonstrates perfect color reproduction; the most powerful stuffing and the corresponding impressive gaming appearance. There are a lot of prototypes for creating such an ideal picture in my head, among the most famous representatives we can single out MSI with its G line, Dell with Alienware or the ROG segment in ASUS.
Lenovo is widely known for its devices, and although the gaming segment for it is not yet completely settled, it is definitely only a matter of time. Not so long ago, we wrote about the Lenovo IdeaPad Y7070 laptop, which we liked in absolutely all respects. Today we will talk about his 15.6-inch counterpart - Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070. At first glance, this laptop has a lot of advantages - a Full HD screen, an Intel Core i7 processor, a powerful chipset and good battery life.
Specifications
| CPU: | Intel Core i7-4710HQ 2500 MHz |
| RAM: | 16GB DDR3 1600MHz |
| Data storage: | 1 TB SSHD 5400 rpm + 8 GB SSD |
| Display: | 15.6" 1920x1080 Full HD LED TN, matte |
| Video card: | Intel HD Graphics 4600, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 4 GB GDDR5 |
| Drive unit: | DVD Super Multi |
| Wireless connection: | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Audio: | Dolby Advanced Audio v2, 2 speakers, subwoofer |
| Interfaces: | 2xUSB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, RJ-45, SD/MMC/SDHC/SDXC card reader, S/PDIF, combo audio jack |
| Additionally: | 720p webcam |
| Battery: | 4 cell Li-Ion 6700 mAh |
| Dimensions, weight: | 387x263x24 mm, 2.4 kg |
| Operating system: | Windows 8.1 |
| Equipment: | Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 (59424983) |
Design
Usually gaming laptops have a 17-inch form factor, but in this case the device is more compact, because its diagonal is 15 inches. The lid of the gadget is made of aluminum, it is decorated with many intersecting lines that give the impression of a mottled surface. However, in life it looks quite interesting and unusual, in general, draws attention. In addition, there are two vertical ribs closer to the edges of the lid, adding to the design some degree of rapacity and some brutality. In general, the engineers did their best: the appearance of the laptop is strict, minimalistic, while it is clear that the device is not for everyday use, but for solving serious problems.However, the lid turned out to be imperfect due to its soiledness. The metal actively collects fingerprints as well as dust, so if the laptop is not cleaned regularly, it will quickly lose its presentable appearance.
The inside of the laptop is just as cool as the outside. The display is surrounded by a medium-sized glossy bezel, on the top of which is a webcam. The two parts of the laptop are connected by a hinge mechanism, which is fixed clearly in the center. The abundance of red immediately catches your eye: it adorns the speaker grilles, the side faces of the keyboard buttons. Below it is a medium-sized touchpad, which still occupies a secondary role in gaming laptops.
As for the bottom, it received exactly the same texture as the lid, respectively, soiledness is also present here. The solid bottom is dotted with ventilation grilles, on one side of which you can see the subwoofer's red mesh. Although Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 can not be called compact, in general, as for a gaming laptop, its dimensions (387x263x24 mm) and weight (2.4 kg) are acceptable. But compared to the IdeaPad Y7070, which weighs 3.4 kg, our 15.6-inch model is a feather!
Display, sound and webcam
The 15.6-inch laptop screen received Full HD resolution, and if not for other characteristics, the display could be called good. However, the whole impression is spoiled by the TN-matrix, which, unfortunately, is not capable of providing wide viewing angles, so even a slight deviation inevitably entails an inversion.
The matte finish is good and bad at the same time. The upside is that the sun glare is not as scary on a matte screen as it is on a glossy one, and the downside is that the colors do not look very saturated. The brightness in this case is a little more than 200 cd/m2, and the situation with contrast is also unimportant. Compliance with sRGB-space does not even reach 60%. Touch control, which is present in the 17-inch older brother, is not provided here.
Well, it's easy to guess that all these characteristics make the screen not the most ideal option for games, because it is important for a gamer not only that the toy goes smoothly, but also its visual perception, i.e. how realistic and colorful the characters and events on the screen will be displayed. By the way, there is another package that includes a display with a higher resolution - 3840x2160 pixels (4K). It has a glossy surface and has support for touch input, and the pictures are incredibly clear and juicy.
For a complete immersion in virtual reality, sound is of great importance. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 has no problems with this: JBL speakers support Dolby Advanced Audio v2 technology, so we have a fairly good sound output. By the way, the speakers are hard to miss, the engineers made a special emphasis on them, highlighting their grilles in red.
In order to enhance the bass, a subwoofer is provided on the bottom.
The screen is surrounded by a glossy frame, which, to be honest, does not look very solid, bringing a touch of cheapness. On its top frame you can see a webcam with a resolution of 720p. It is suitable, say, for video conferencing, but it is out of the question to take full-fledged pictures with it.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard of a gaming laptop is an important element of the gaming process, because how comfortable and ergonomic it is determines the quality of the game itself. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 has a full-sized AccuType keyboard. The entire working surface received a soft-touch coating, fortunately, not very easily soiled and tactilely pleasant. The keyboard is island type, the buttons are of the usual size, there is a lot of space around them. The key travel is average, there are no particular problems with the response either, the pressing is soft, but at the same time clear. The substrate does not flex, even if you deliberately put pressure on it.
The buttons are marked in white, and their side faces are painted in red. Based on this, it is easy to guess that the keyboard backlight is also red. It is moderately bright, however, such an aggressive color is still more for an amateur, and therefore it can annoy someone. The brightness of the backlight (here it is two-level) is adjusted using the + key combination. The arrow block received notches, which makes it easier to print blindly during the next game battle.
The area above the keyboard is glossy and very willing to collect dust. There are two buttons next to the right speaker: the larger one is used to turn on the laptop, but the smaller one, or, as it is also called the Lenovo super key, launches the system recovery mode.
Under the keyboard, with a clear shift to the left side, there is a large touchpad. He received a smooth surface and well-tangible borders, but, admittedly, the characteristics of the manipulator for the gameplay do not really matter. Usually gamers use gaming mice, neglecting the touchpad, and the latter will fit only for web surfing.
Performance
Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 (59424983) comes with Windows 8.1 operating system. As for the filling of the laptop, it includes a quad-core processor Intel Core i7-4710HQ generation Haswell. Thanks to Turbo Boost technology, the operating frequency can range from 2.5 to 3.5 GHz, and the presence of Hyper-Threading means that four cores can process up to eight threads simultaneously. The CPU is made according to the 22 nm process technology, the L3 cache is 6 MB, and the heat dissipation does not exceed 47 watts.Of course, the gaming laptop has two graphics cards. In the role of integrated - Intel HD Graphics 4600, which is the best suited for everyday work. Its frequency depends on the load: the minimum is 400 MHz, and the maximum is 1350 MHz. The video card supports DirectX 11.1, OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL 4.0, has a 4K decoder and a Quick Sync encoder.
An important role is assigned to discrete graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M with 4 GB of GDDR5 video memory, built on the Maxwell architecture. It has a rather high operating frequency, which ranges from 1029 MHz to 5000 MHz. Among the advantages of the discreet is the presence of the PureVideo HD (VP6) video processor, which decodes H.264 and MPEG-2 video, support for DirectX 11 and Shader 5.0.
The amount of RAM in the laptop is 16 GB DDR3-1600 MHz, and this is the maximum available. If we talk about the memory allocated for information storage, then in this case there is a hybrid drive SSHD with a capacity of 1 TB with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm and 8 GB of cache memory used to speed up the launch of the OS and applications.
Games
You can understand the real possibilities of this graphic editor only by the results of running games. For example, an Evolve toy with native resolution at maximum settings will run at 27-30 fps. The notorious game Tomb Raider with the same parameters will show 39-43 frames per second. And, finally, our third "test subject" - GRID: Autosport on ultra-settings will start at about 40 fps.
Ports and communications
Well, let's see how things are with the ports on the Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 laptop. On the left side you can see two USB 3.0 ports, which cannot be confused with anything, because they are highlighted in the same red color. Next to them is an HDMI video output, an RJ-45 port and a Lenovo-branded rectangular charging jack.On the opposite side are located: USB 2.0, 4-in-1 card reader (SD/MMC/SDXC/SDHC), S/PDIF for connecting external speakers, combined audio jack and Kensington lock.
There are no interfaces on the back, but in the front there are four indicators: laptop and drive operation, touchpad and battery charge status.
There is also an optical DVD drive, however, it is not built-in, but external, that is, it is connected via a USB port. By the way, it comes with a kit, and you do not need to spend extra money on it. Although it is difficult to get rid of the idea that such a bonus is very doubtful. Nowadays, the optical drive is rather considered a relic of the past, and many would rather see a lower price tag on a laptop than an external drive in the kit, the price of which is already included in the general price.
Wireless modules are standard: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.
Battery and heating
Of course, all components are important for any laptop, however, depending on its positioning, certain characteristics may fade into the background. For example, for an ultrabook, its battery life is important, but for a gaming laptop, on the contrary, survivability indicators are not so significant, because such a gadget is usually within reach of an outlet. But, of course, good "vital" indicators are a great bonus and an additional opportunity to stand out from the competition.This notebook is equipped with a 4-cell Li-Ion 6700 mAh battery. This is enough for about 2 hours of gameplay and about 4 hours in reading mode. In principle, this is a common result that gaming laptops tend to show.
With heating, things are much better, because the powerful cooling system does its job perfectly. During the game, the bottom may become warm, but not so much as to cause discomfort.
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Conclusion
Notebook Lenovo IdeaPad Y5070 belongs to the gaming segment, and therefore has some specific features. From ordinary laptops, first of all, it differs in its design. In its appearance, in addition to black, red dominates, which makes the device somewhat aggressive, emphasizing its belonging to the gaming niche. The filling of this gadget is its strongest point, because it is represented by a powerful Intel Core i7-4710HQ processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M graphics card. Thanks to this tandem, it is really possible to run demanding games, even at maximum settings.Unfortunately, the laptop is not without flaws. Its weakness turned out to be a screen with a far from the highest quality TN-matrix. Full HD resolution and a 15-inch diagonal should seem to cause a feeling of satisfaction on the user's face, but in fact, all other indicators leave much to be desired: the display turned out to be dull, with poor viewing angles. Accordingly, it will not be possible to appreciate the game with high-level graphics. The keyboard performed well, and there are no complaints about the interfaces, except that the lack of a VGA video output is a little frustrating. As for the cost, the price of our complete set is about $1500, and it could be considered acceptable, if not for the weak display.
Gaming laptops are a very specific product - the manufacturer needs to place high-performance components in a compact device, take care of heat dissipation, remember to draw a catchy design, add a comfortable keyboard, etc. You should not miss the cost of such devices, often the price tag tends to look like a phone number. Today we will get acquainted with one of these devices, meet - Lenovo Y50-70 (59-430837).
Outwardly, we have in front of us a gaming device with a bright appearance, aggressive air ducts, a slanted speaker grid and a general supercar style. It seems that Filippo Perini, in addition to his main job at Lamborghini, takes a hack from Lenovo and draws laptop designs for the latter - the style is painfully similar.
The outer part is completely framed in aluminum with a worn texture. There is a dark Lenovo logo on the lid, which you might not notice at first. The lower part has a woofer with a bright burgundy perforation, rubber feet for better grip on the road, a more stable position on the table and heat dissipation. Also at the bottom there is a grid for the cooling system.
Opening the laptop, you immediately notice the speakers, again made like headlights or Lamborghini air ducts, which, by the way, are from the well-known company JBL, but more on that later. And the keyboard, which has a black finish and burgundy ends, stands out - it looks expensive and beautiful.
The main material under the keyboard is matte plastic with soft-touch coating. The touchpad is minimalistic, supports multi-touch and has a short, but rather tight stroke.
The area of the speakers and the power and recovery buttons is made of glossy plastic, which goes to the matte display bezel. Above the screen is a camera, an LED indicator and two microphones. To prevent damage to the display, the frame around it has a small protrusion.
We must warn you that fingerprints are quite noticeable and, due to the specifics of the materials, are very difficult to remove. The soft-touch coating on the inside also perfectly preserves any traces. But the assembly for 5 out of 5 - nothing bad can be said.
Connection, indication
The left end has collected a socket for a charger, an Ethernet connector, HDMI and two always active USB 3.0.
The right one, in addition to the hole for the lock, has a USB 2.0 port, a slot for SD memory cards, a combined 3.5 mm Jack for headphones and a microphone, and 3.5 mm SPDIF.
On the front side, there are four indicators in the left corner - power, battery, touchpad and hard drive.
Most users will have nothing to complain about.
Communications
Lenovo Y50, depending on the configuration, are equipped with one of two wireless adapters - Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 (802.11ac) or Qualcomm Atheros AR956x (802.11 a/b/g/n). In our case, this is the solution from Qualcomm, which almost always worked stably, only once the signal was unstable and disappeared, but this did not happen again in the future.
The Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 adapter is responsible for Bluetooth 4.0, with which we had no problems. Connection via Ethernet is implemented thanks to a gigabit adapter from Realtek.
Ergonomics
I remember the Dell Alienware M15x gaming laptop of the 2010 model, which at that time had both impressive equipment and dimensions with weight. Judge for yourself - four kilograms and a thickness of 50 mm. Even though it didn't seem like much at the time. Now, manufacturers have learned how to fit stuffing into more compact cases, the level of tower-type gaming computers. Lenovo Y50 is just such a representative of modern gaming laptops.
Discrete video adapter NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M with 4 GB memory + integrated video Intel HD Graphics 4600.
1TB 5400 RPM hybrid hard drive with 8GB built-in NAND Flash.
16GB DDR3L RAM.
Performance, of course, at a high level, it is proved by benchmarks and modern computer games.
But, unfortunately, the new Assassin's Creed Unity and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, when all graphics settings are turned to the maximum, give out a completely indecent amount of FPS - from 1 to 10. At high settings, the Lenovo Y50 demonstrates excellent performance with a highly detailed picture.
The built-in benchmark Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor shows a decent 30+ frames per second on ultra graphics settings.
Need for Speed: Rivals also shows a fixed 30 FPS at maximum graphics settings.
Many may be upset by the fact that when buying such an expensive solution, there is no way to squeeze the maximum out of absolutely all modern gaming products, but the fact remains that you have to pay for portability.
Lenovo Y50-70 (59-430837) ships with Windows 8.1 preinstalled. And of course, a whole set of pre-installed software is available.
The Energy Manager program, which has already become a classic for Lenovo laptops, deserves special attention. Here you can set the performance mode (power saving, balanced, high performance) and a special boot mode that prevents the sleep mode from entering and turning off the display. To avoid premature battery wear, there is a storage function that does not allow you to keep the charge level at 100% when charging, but maintains a value in the range from 55 to 60%. Also, in addition to all of the above, there are a number of other useful functions.
autonomy
The battery is built-in and in order to get to it you need to remove the back cover of the laptop, which I personally could not remove, because there is a chance to break the fasteners in the speaker area.
When tested in the Battery Eater program with the maximum screen brightness, it turned out a little more than 3:30 hours in reading mode and about 1:15 in maximum load mode. These results are typical for such devices.
Eventually
So, what will an intrigued player get when buying this device? A modern, thin, beautiful, productive portable game processor that allows you to play all modern games at high graphics settings. The cost is quite justified, especially if you look at classmates
Problem solved
Pros: The laptop was bought mainly for gaming. All basic requirements met. Will pull out almost any modern graphics. It is also good for online MMO games, if the game has a normal engine and Internet speed, the FPS does not sag. 1) Processor. Video card!!! Yeah ^^ The laptop is very powerful. high-speed, modern games fly at the best settings. I put 10 out of 10. The power and speed of work is the MAIN advantage of this laptop. 2) The sound is very high quality, clear, voluminous. 3) Top cover - metal, durable, with a beautiful surface effect. But easily soiled - see the shortcomings. However, in general, the design is very good, it looks stylish and solid. 4) The cooling system is easy to disassemble and clean. The cooling circuit runs along the top of the motherboard. It is easy to change the paste yourself. Two coolers work well. 5) The battery holds a charge for a long time, in the absence of power, you can play at high settings for up to an hour and a half, at low settings - up to 2.5 hours (tested), print, crawl on the network - up to 3 hours in power saving mode. Disadvantages: 1) Hard drive!!! Rather slow and, as it turned out, unreliable. Died after a year and a half of active use, even with regular checks, service and defragmentation. I had to change and, as a result, rearrange all the software. 3) Yes, the case is very easily soiled from all sides. If near the touchpad and keyboard there are traces only from greasy or wet fingers, then on the top cover of the laptop - from any fingers, except to take them with gloves. In general, this is not significant if you periodically wipe the surface. 3) Color rendering is incorrect, even after calibration. I do not recommend for working with graphic editors, you can get a completely unpredictable result in terms of color. At the same time, in games, the picture is bright, juicy, contrasting, you can enjoy the spectacle. 4) Back (bottom) cover. Bad and low-quality plastic in the place where the laptop lid opens and where the ventilation holes are located. The bad news is that this flimsy plastic part contains bolts that secure the cover to the case. If you remove the cover, after several times of use it will crack and 100% break off at the slightest wrong movement (which, in fact, happened). Be very careful! 5) Finding certain spare parts for this model in Kazakhstan is not just difficult - it is impossible. Chinese online stores will be saved, everything is there. Commentary: The location of the connectors is a little strange, but oh well. There are 2 USB ports on the left, one more USB 3.0 on the right. Not all external hard drives are recognized by the ports on the left side. Connectors for power, headphones, microphone, LAN port - on the left. The external DVD drive works flawlessly. I think it's reasonable that it was taken out of the case - the laptop is quite light and compact due to this. The keyboard is comfortable for gaming. but not very convenient for typing large amounts of text, because the keys protrude slightly above the plane. At the same time, the keyboard has a rich red backlight, which is a big plus when using the laptop in the dark. The backlight can be turned off. To remove the battery, you need to remove the back cover. In general, not a very big problem. but be very careful when removing the cover!!! (see disadvantages). After six months of active use, it began to get very hot (during an active game, when the main load was on the processor and graphics) in the upper part, between the keyboard and the monitor. Actually, there is a cooling system. Cleaning partially solved the problem, with active use in the summer heat, it is better to use a cooling pad. Conclusion: This laptop is a great entertainment and media center, ideal for gamers. At the same time, I do not recommend for solving professional design problems due to the color rendering curve. If you need a machine for surfing the net, watching videos on YouTube (and any video) and printing documents - the price will not justify itself, it's too expensive, feel free to take something cheaper. Despite a number of these problems, this is an excellent gaming laptop. Let's just say that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.