Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Review

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Review - So there you have it: a wonderfully ordinary laptop. Open it up, though, and it is a different story altogether.

You're immediately treated to at least one of the appealing keyboards I've seen in recent memory. Keys are black on the top with red sides, when lit (yes, there is a backlight), it seems truly impressive.

Of course, a keyboard's looks don't mean anything if this can't function properly. I'm happy to report it's quite comfortable, though early got nothing over a true gaming keyboard.

Spesification :

• Intel Core i5-4200M 2.5 GHz Processor (3 MB Cache)
• 6 GB DDR3 RAM
• 1 TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive, 8 GB Solid-State Drive
• Non-Touchscreen 15.6-Inch Display, Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT750M Discrete Graphics
• Windows 8, 4-hour battery life

Lenovo employs chiclet-style keys that may feel at your home on an ultrabook. When it comes to gaming keyboards, though, you need something with additional "bite." Take the Asus ROG G750JZ, by way of example: It uses thicker, springier keys that recovery immediately after pressing them. The Lenovo board feels almost mushy electrical systems, although it is still a very good device.

While I wouldn't call laptop keyboards disappointing, I would declare that about the touchpad. Pressing it will make the actual pad bend an excessive amount of; I'm curious to view how this will hold up following a year. It still feels smooth enough to simply navigate around Windows 8.1, a minimum of.

As for your Y510p's screen? You can rest easy knowing it's both 1080p and pretty glare-resistant. Compared to the majority of the other laptops we've reviewed, this Lenovo has a incredibly bright screen. Coupled with its insufficient reflectivity, gamers can engage in playing in a very sun-filled room as opposed to a basement dungeon.

When compared to ultrabooks that cost a similar, the Lenovo Y510p offers unrivaled performance. As a pure gaming machine, though, it leaves room for improvement.

This Lenovo's biggest draw is its dual video card configuration, called SLI (Scalable Link Interface). Our review model features two Nvidia GeForce GTX 750M cards, which might be mid-range models from this past year. Just because it runs two cards does not imply it has knock-your-socks-off power, though.

I loaded up Metro: 2033's benchmark software, position the settings on "high," and recorded a normal frame rate of just 25 FPS. Remember: For gaming, you will want frame rate that is at least 30 FPS for completely smooth performance. When jacked approximately "very high" settings, performance dropped to 16.33 FPS. This is slightly disappointing.

Metro: 2033 is definitely a demanding game, though, plus the Lenovo Y510p fared better along with other, less-intensive games. Bioshock: Infinite, for instance, surely could run at a typical of 29.29 FPS on "ultra" settings—a completely playable result. Older games will likely perform better, like Portal 2, which runs at the perfect 60 FPS together with the vertical sync option on.

In the few moments that you aren't gaming about the Y510p, you'll notice speedy performance when performing processor-heavy tasks, due to its quad-core Intel i7-4700MQ chip. We ran complex tests in Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, and Handbrake—a video conversion tool. This Lenovo's processor made quick figure out of each.

Lenovo includes precisely the same app bundle for the Y510p since its Flex 15 laptop, including Encyclopedia Britannica, "rara Music," and Zinio. If you're really considering these apps, browse the Flex's review—they function identically within the Y510p. If you're buying this rig strictly for gaming, though, you may never use those programs.

Since they are available in Nvidia graphics cards, the Y510p can also include the GeForce Experience software. I gave a comprehensive rundown of GeForce Experience's features in this review of the Asus ROG G750JZ, however, many options are omitted on Lenovo's laptop because its video cards are from this past year.

Game optimization and driver updates can be obtained on the Y510p, but other additional features like Battery Boost and ShadowPlay (which records and broadcasts your gaming heroics) aren't supported for the GTX 700-series cards presently. As someone who used Nvidia cards before they received automatic driver updates, I can verify this feature's usefulness. No gamer really wants to hunt down the newest driver—that's a total waste of time.

Lenovo bundles a demo for music-making app StageLight, that is an easy-to-learn digital audio workstation. I won't make any software recommendations to aspiring musicians since everybody has their own preferences, however if you like the product in question with StageLight, the complete version is only $9.99.

One curious inclusion is PowerDVD, that is (you guessed it) DVD-burning software. While some designs of the Y510p contain a DVD drive, our review unit wouldn't. Still, this can be useful software if you absolutely have a DVD drive, even though it's external.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p doesn't offer gamers the most effective graphics, despite its dual GeForce GTX 750M video cards. Even its looks, its keyboard, and it is touchpad aren't the very best out there. But once you bear in mind this multimedia-centric laptop costs only about $1199, those shortcomings tend to be easier to forgive.

We were recently mesmerised by the sheer gaming prowess with the Asus ROG G750JZ, that is by all accounts a monster of an laptop. While the Lenovo Y510p has comparable processing power, it wouldn't compete with that $3000 laptop's graphical output—and it won't have to. You could buy a couple of these laptops for that price of that Asus, and now have money leftover to buy games, a top-notch mouse, as well as a near-endless method of getting Mountain Dew.

If winning contests on medium and high settings is ok with you—and for several gamers, it totally is—then Lenovo's Y510p is a wonderful deal. For everyone else: Start saving your cash, because PC gaming is costly.