JUST purchased a Lenovo Y500, bad timing?

Um... if you're running any game or benchmark, whatever resolution you have it set to is the resolution it'll run at. Doesn't matter what your acreen resolution is (aside from running 1080p on a 720p monitor).

 

So I just replaced my screen and it looks amazing with this flat one. I even put a flash light on the screen it was way vizible compared to the glossy scren. I wish that lenovo had that option before purchasing. I totally recommend it, it really gives class to this little machine. And even with the Y480 keyboard (which has white backlight) it makes it look more professional then ever. This is what I wanted!

Is it worth doing it?! No, not really, you are buying a new machine and you expect everything to work as it should. But lenovo support have been very nice and they tried everything possible to help me out. Is just that I did not want to wait another month or so until I get the replacement.

If you have a little money on the side and you are willing to upgrade to this matte finish, it really looks nice. If anyone interested, please PM me; I will not post on the main forum the details i.e. cost, shipping... And if you live in Canada and you can come to me, I will replace it myself for you at a very small cost. I can get both system's screen Y400 & Y500, matte and glossy.

 

ditto. if y400 would have a 900p screen i would have chosen that over y500. maybe everyone else! 900p and sli in a 14" would be just perfect! doesn't matter if matte or glossy. i'm small framed, and just realize that carrying a y500 in a 16" backpack doesn't feel and look so comfortable.

 

So I got my machine yesterday and I got to test it side by side with another machine. Both are identical with the exception of the graphics cards: Y500, i7, 8GB ram. One has 650M SLI and the other has a single 750M. I only got to test two games since those are the only ones they had in common. All modes were tested with the same exact scenes/battles.

Skyrim - Ultra settings 1080p, 8X AA:
650M single: 25-33 fps
650M SLI: 40-44 fps
750M: 30-38 fps

Dragon Age Origins - 1080p, Highest detail and graphics settings, No AA
650M single: 35-42 fps
650M SLI: 72-80 fps
750M 44-55 fps

Hope this helps someone. I know, DA is old but I figured I'd put it up anyway. I'll try to post others, but I'm limited on newer games.

 

Very cool. So it looks like its around that 15-20% faster than 650M. Yes, with overclocking, those numbers become closer. But I do like that 750M gives me these kinds of numbers without overclocking. Now we need some 750M SLI numbers!

 

Yeah, I would have gotten the SLI version if Lenovo's "sale" were better. I did the math and it's a wash to update to SLI from the lowest price model, but in the end you get a second power adapter and a dvd player ultrabay. I'm also assuming sale prices of the accessories will be the same. I don't buy into the 16gb ssd cache either. Just but a 128 or 256gb crucial ssd and make it your primary boot drive. Makes things MUCH faster.


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Yeah I got the 16GB SSD only because I got a good deal on it. It does make boot up a little more speedy. Waiting on the SSD prices to go down a bit. Hoping for a sale on the Ultrabay 750M GPU (when it finally hits the store) and this laptop will fly. But the 750M is no slouch and I am happy I returned the 650M for it. It just takes so long to get everything downloaded again. One of the problems with living in the cloud I guess.

 

Awesome thanks so much. If your willing to post more 750m benchmarks ill be happy to read them!!!!

 

Anybody tried out this new driver released on April 17? Supposedly regarding Optimus and SLI. Nvidia Video Driver for Windows 8 (64-bit) - IdeaPad Y400, Y500

 

I really want the SLI version. Someone already have it ?

 

Don't think so.

I dont recall hearing anybody with GeForce 750M SLI versions of either the Lenovo Y400 or Lenovo Y500.

 

Where do you see Optimus mentioned?

 

Optimus doesn't work and never has.

 

Google "Y500 Optimus driver" and the title will "Nvidia Video Driver (SLI, Optimus) for Windows 8 (64-bit) - IdeaPad ..."

It doesn't mention Optimus in the driver page which is odd, I'm still curious to see if anybody has tried it.

 

I can't even download it. They must have pulled it. My graphics driver has a higher version anyways. 9.18.13.1127

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but this link says dual cards. Is it not SLI?

Enhance your IdeaPad Y500 Laptop - Dual Graphics - 59371963 - Dusk Black: Weekly Deal | Lenovo | (US)

 

Dual graphics and SLI are the same thing.

When Lenovo says "dual graphics" on a Lenovo Y400 or Y500, they specifically mean that the configuration of the laptop includes the 2nd GPU in the ultrabay slot.

If you are looking at a Lenovo Y400 or Y500 that does not specifically say "dual graphics" or 2x 650M / 750M GPU" or "650M / 750M ultrabay", then you are looking at a laptop configuration that is **capable** of supporting dual graphics (SLI ), but requires you to buy the appropriate ultrabay part as a separate part.

If having dual graphics (SLI ) is desirable for you, then I suggest you buy a laptop configuration that already comes with the 2nd GPU ultrabay module. The reason is because we have seen varying levels of product availability and shipping delays with the current generation of Y400/Y500 ultrabay GPUs, when purchased as a separate aftermarket part.

 

So then why did you write "Don't think so" as a reply to BarisIlgin's post?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ide...ed-lenovo-y500-bad-timing-12.html#post9170431

 

"Does someone already have the SLI version [of a 750M GPU equipped laptop]?"
"Don't think so..."

Latest info I have seen of any Lenovo Y400/Y500 with SLI is one particular configuration of the Y500 from the Lenovo website, with estimated ship date on late May 1013.

To my knowledge, I don't think anybody has a Lenovo Y400/Y500 with dual GPUs in-hand.

 

Whenever I inquired about the y500 ship date, the rep said it was because they didn't have the ultrabay components yet. I bought the single card version with a ship date of May 3rd and it came yesterday. I don't believe anything these reps say though so who knows. So far nobody in the forum has claimed to receive theirs yet, nor is the ultrabay card ready to purchase

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Link I posted earlier gives me a ship date of 5/8.

 

The lead time goes up a day every day.

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Jesus, still can't get the Series 7 Chronos with an ATI 8870 gpu either, so what am I supposed to buy if I need a laptop in the next month or so?! (

 

I am in a similar situation. I am relocating to Singapore at the end of April, and needed a gaming-capable laptop in-hand before I left. I went with this:
Amazon.com: Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black): Computers & Accessories

At the same time, buy a Samsung 840 256GB ($173) or 512GB SSD ($330), and you're good to go.

If you have Amazon Prime, you pay only $4 for next-day shipping. You can place your order today, and have it in-hand on Tuesday.

It uses the GeForce 650M GPU, which looks to be about 20% slower than the GeForce 750M GPU. However, it currently looks like it will take at least 4 weeks for dual-GPU equipped Lenovo Y400 / Y500 laptops to get shipped, based on current estimates on Lenovo's website (which has a reputation of being inaccurate).

It's unfortunate that you need to "settle" for a computer with dual GeForce 650M GPUs, especially with 750M-equipped models just around the corner. But if you have been messing around with computer hardware for as long as I have, you know that there's always something better / faster / cheaper "just around the corner." The best time to buy computer hardware is when you need it, and cannot afford to wait any longer. And it sounds like you are in a situation where you cannot afford to wait any longer.

 

Funny, I'm also relocating but I'm not leaving until the end of May, so I'm gonna wait a few more weeks and see.

 

You can get the same performance from the 650m as you can from the 750m if you overclock it, because they're basically the same. It will take you less time, energy, and money to just buy the 650m and overclock it vs. waiting for the 750m.

 

As a 650m SLI owner I hope that's the case, but I suspect the 750m chips are binned higher, meaning they'll generally overclock further.

 

as far as i know there is no way to overclock the 750m yet

 

It is indeed, and it's on sale for $750 until the 24th I believe, although Lenovo is nearly always offering some sort of promotion it seems. On their site it says it's estimated shipping date is the 25th of this month, so they are available. I recommended it last night in the "What Laptop Should I Buy" sub forum. That isn't a bad deal for 14" notebook with a GT 750M that overclocks itself depending on it's temp. I have read that some Lenovos run a bit hot so that could limit the new 700 series. Lenovos are pretty well built machines at a glance, although there are a few owner complaints about track pads (Y500s) and malfunctioning GPUs (Y580s). If I weren't waiting for the Clevo 13.3" W230ST (GTX 760M or GTX 765M) I would possibly consider the Y400 as an alternative for my wife.

 

Is there a matte screen for the 15.6 1920x1080 model? I also can't pm you as I dont have 5 posts yet.

 

overclocking further could also mean pushing the temps hotter. for me, i usually overclock below my maximum stable clock, shaving off a few c of temp. i really want my y500 to last a couple of years. i'm already happy with my 650m sli, you should be too!

 

I dont understand.. Everybody is talking about SLI 650M, but on their website I can only see the SLI 750M..
What am I missing?

 

I don't have specific numbers but the 750m seems noticeably hotter than the 650m. I'll try to get my buddy's computer and get some side by side comparison later in the week. It's hot enough that I wouldn't feel comfortable overclocking it without being on a cooling plate

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Does it make financial sense to get a single 750m version and later buy the SLI card separately?
same goes for ram.

 

I did the math and made the decision yes. You need to wait for when Lenovo takes 15% off accessories or wait until an outside store sells the card with the power adapter combo for $200. You can buy the 16gb of ram and sell the old 8gb on ebay for a net loss of about $40-50. In the end, you just about break even than if you bought the combo, but you end up with an additional power cord (for non sli mode only) and the dvd burner. You'll also have to buy the cache drive but I saw little point in one since purchasing a 256gb drive to load windows onto seemed the better option

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Thanks! I dont understand about the power cord though. does the SLI require an additional power cord?
I also have a 256 solid state I'm using on this laptop. I like the idea of a lot of space through for games/movies/music/etc (yes, I do use externals as well)

 

For GPU... Financially, you're looking at somewhere between a small savings ($100) and breaking even, depending on when you buy and what kind of deals you can get (e.g. 15% off accessories sale).

The big variable with the GPU is the availability of the 750M Ultrabay accessory. At this point, we don't know when they will ship, because I don't think anyone on these forums actually has a Lenovo Y400 / Y500 with dual 750M GPU's in-hand (where the Ultrabay module was either purchased as a bundled accessory with the laptop, or purchased as a separate accessory).

The real question here is how long you can afford to wait for a laptop with dual 750M GPUs.
* If you can wait a few weeks to get your laptop, and can wait a few more weeks after that to get a 750M Ultrabay module, then go ahead and buy separately.
* If you can only wait a few weeks to get both your laptop + 2nd GPU, then buy it pre-bundled with the machine.
* If you absolutely need a laptop within 3 days, buy a Lenovo Y500 w/dual 650M graphics off of Amazon.com or NewEgg, and have it shipped 1-day or 2-day to you.


As for the RAM... I assume you're talking about going from 8GB (2x 4GB) to 16GB (2x 8GB). You're looking at about $45 - $50 net costs for this route. I recently did this with my laptop, where I:
* Bought a Lenovo Y500 with 8GB RAM configuration (2x 4GB).
* Immediately replaced the RAM configuration with 16GB RAM (2x 8GB) for about $90 from a name-brand vendor (Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, etc).
* Sold my 8GB kit (2x 4GB) on eBay for about $45.

 

Some people bought their Y500 650m SLI from Newegg. They currently sell the 650m SLI version.

I think at one point Lenovo had it on their website prior to releasing the 750m version.

 

Correct.

I shopped for my laptop 5 days ago (Wednesday, April 17th). At that time, Lenovo's website listed different configurations for the Lenovo Ideapad Y500 for both 750M GPUs (single) or 650M GPUs (dual).

As of today, it looks like Lenovo's website only lets you order a Lenovo Ideapad Y500 with 750M GPUs (single or dual configuration), with an approximate 2.5 week lead time before shipping. And Lenovo only offers ground-based shipping methods (no express shipping).

It seems like the only place to get a Lenovo Y500 with dual 650M GPUs is from a 3rd party reseller (NewEgg or Amazon). However, the advantage here is that those resellers have those laptops in-stock, and offer express shipping. So if you absolutely MUST have a Lenovo Y500 in-hand ASAP, and are willing to settle for 650M GPUs, then you can order a Lenovo Y500 from Amazon / NewEgg right now and have the laptop delivered to you tomorrow.

 

Fyi, I ordered The 750M model from Lenovo on April 14th when their lead time stated May 3rd. It shipped on April 17th and was received on the 19th via ups ground from NC to FL. I think they are leaving a generous lead time to prevent supply issues.

 

I'm primarily in a hurry to order before the $300 and $470 discounts run out. Other than that, I have no timeline. I have a working laptop and am just looking for a portable gaming upgrade with minimal costs. This seems to be the best bang for the buck atm, but one always has to wonder if anything better can be done.
Right now, it seems like the best idea is to buy a 12 GB ram, hybrid hdd version with only 1 video card (if the general consensus is that I can get the SLI for ~200 later.)

Web price: $1,399.00 --> After eCoupon: $929.00 + $200 = $1129 + free dvd burner
Vs.
Web price: $1,449.00 --> After eCoupon: $1,149.00

Thoughts?

 

Don't forget you may need to add $80 for the 170w AC adapter to power the Dual cards. The single card version only comes with the 120w adapter. Some people here say that the 120w adapter is sufficient... but in my opinion, I would get what Lenovo suggested.

 

I vote for whichever model comes pre-configured with 2x GeForce 750M's. Because waiting for an extra accessory (GeForce 750M Ultrabay module) to show up several weeks later in a separate order is a bummer.

But I am also a person that tends to be impatient, and am willing to pay extra for instant gratification.

The honest truth is that the DVD burner is pretty useless. You don't need an optical drive to (re)install an OS. You probably do some kind of streaming or digital download for your movies / media consumption. And you probably get all your games digitally through Steam / Origin anyway. Personally, I haven't touched an optical drive in literally 3.5 years.

 

i did more research on gaming portables and found this marvel: Sager NP9130
It comes with an upgradable NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 670MX 3Gb GPU, which is comparable to the SLI bundle of 750M's, has space for 2 hdd's, has a matte display, essential ports (eSATA), is comparable in weight (6.83 LBs) and comes down to around $1150, and is super-customizable afterwards.

What do you guys think? doesn't that sound like a better deal? Because the only reason I started rushing with the lenovo is the fact that they are having this huge sale (-$470). If there is a comparable machine available for that price with no discount, doesnt it make sense to maybe wait for coupons/depreciation of the other machine?

 

You also have to include OS since that does not include one. Also no backlit keyboard. Also on the portable side its 1.7 inches thick. Its a pretty bulky computer. The Y500 and the Sager NP9130 are both very different machines. They are kind of hard to compare.

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That is what I have always said. I would have never gone with the Y500 because it does not compete with the other gaming notebooks of 15.6". The only advantage is at first buy to get the discount and keep using it as it is. When you keep adding things like extra SLi card, then the power adapter, you already hit a bigger budget and its better to go with something much better and faster as the Sager NP9130 or even NP9150 - which is very much upgradable in the future. You can get an NP9150 for $1350 with AMD 7970 which laughs at dual 750M.

So yeah, think it 10 times when you buy it, because it really matters what you need to go for. As per the weight, I do not think it makes much difference in weight if you compare the Y500 with NP9130 / NP9150 (+ thoes systems are easy to customize in the future).

 

Comparing the y400 here (ignoring screen resolution), you've got a 5.5 pound laptop at 14" vs. a nearly 7 pound laptop at 15.6". The former has great graphics performance, and upgradeability that, with overclocking, could likely double graphics performance in 650m models. Considering I paid $699 for a 650m model, with the prospect of upgrading to nearly twice the performance for a cost of around $200 (with the necessity of a 170 watt power brick being arguable), that's still over $400 cheaper than a big bulky Sager. Even in comparing the Y500 model, at the rather consistent sale prices, the two computers are in very different price and size categories, like comparing a $1000 laptop to a $500 one...

 

You are correct that there are other laptop models out there, with comparable specs to a Lenovo Y500. If you feel that the Sager NP9130 is a better choice for you because of its features (additional HDD bay, eSATA port, etc), then go for it. It looks like a laptop with decent specs. I saw a lot of similar laptops when I was doing my research as well. You get a lot of options when you are looking at 15.6" gaming-capable laptops, all within similar price ranges ($1100 - $1500).

The one reason I ended up buying a Lenovo is this: A Lenovo laptop fits in a corporate boardroom, which would allow me to use a single laptop for work and for personal gaming in the evenings. I would never be able to bring a flashy laptop (e.g. Alienware) or a laptop made by a generic no-name Taiwanese OEM manufacturer (Sager, Clevo) in to a corporate boardroom. That pretty much meant I had to buy laptops from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Sony, or Apple. And among those brands, the Lenovo Y500 had the best 15.6" gaming-capable laptop package.

 

You absolutely cannot ignore screen resolution or screen quality. This is a trap I often saw in desktop computer hardware enthusiasts, where they will comb over every little detail about GPU specs and benchmarks, and then hook it up to a crappy 14" CRT (back in 1994). You interact with your display, mouse, and keyboard every single time you touch your computer to do ANYTHING. Having a high-quality display should be one of your absolute top priorities. And sorry, but a 1366x768 LCD panel on a 14" laptop is just unacceptable. These days, a 14" panel should be at least 1600x900, or 1920x1080.

If you're talking about the difference between a GeForce 650M --> 750M GPU in the newest Lenovo Y400 / Y500 refreshes, you're looking at a performance jump of about 20%.

If you're talking about the difference between 1x GeForce 650M --> 2x GeForce 650M in SLI, then you're looking at a performance jump of about 50%. SLI almost never scales perfectly to 100% performance boost.

 

"The one reason I ended up buying a Lenovo is this: A Lenovo laptop fits in a corporate boardroom"

^^^ You make me laugh here. The Y400 / Y500 in a board room?! It looks like a toy and it is cheap made. You must have never seen an Alienware or Clevo / Sager in front of you to even think of comparing them. Even if you compare the Y400 / Y500 with a ThinkPad, I will laugh even more. The sales guys themselves recommend their customers to go for ThinkPad systems and not IdeaPad Y400 / Y500 due to the quality of the product.

I have nothing against Lenovo and the reason I went for the Y400 is because I travel a lot during the day and because of the option of having a second GPU in a 14" system.