Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 (14", i7 Sandy Bridge, nVidia GT 555M Optimus)

Hey there. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I have been kicking around a few ideas for a new laptop over the past week or so...I'm a gamer but I value portability. I've been checking out both extremes - Alienware M11x for portability/gaming then the ASUS G53 for gaming...and now I think I've finally found what meets all of my needs with a good balance: the upcoming Lenovo IdeaPad Y470.

14" screen, i7 Sandy Bridge, and GeForce GT 555M discrete graphics - switchable via Optimus. All around 5lbs.

Press Release for Y470
Graphics in Y470: GeForce GT 555M

It's coming in May...anyone else waiting for this unit?

 

I think I have settled on the y470 aswell. I have a y460p now, but will send it back because of the SB issues. I just hope they don't ruin the keyboard. Because the keyboard on the y460p is awesome.

 

Interesting - I was wondering why the y*60p lappies were missing from the Lenovo site today (they were there a day or two ago). I guess they're included in the Sandy Bridge recall after all. Bummer.

My only problem now is waiting. 3 months is a long time.

 

Just hope it doesn't take a another month to get shipped like my y460 did.....

Looks like a good jump in performance compared to the y460p. Is the 10k 3dmark06 accurate for the 555M.

 

It says it's a 550M, not 555M.

 

555M per this link (halfway down):
Lenovo - New Product Showcase

 

I just wish they offered a better screen on their Ideapad models. I would jump all over that. At least give a 1600 x 900 option! How come thinkpads have it when "entertainment laptops" don't?

 

to keep them cheap. On the other hand, Thinkpads have crap graphics cards! so you end up either with crappy graphics or crappy screens.

 

I WANT ONE OF THOSE. My M1330's GPU is fried, and I'm only getting by using an external 5870 hooked up to my lappy. But come the Y470, I'm definitely going to get one.

 

Another good link that I found:

(Chinese site)

¡¶Ïɽ£·ÖÏí¡·£º³õ̽Y470£¡£¡ÉñÂíÇ¿´ó£¬ÉñÂí²»½âÊÍ£¬Ä㶮µÄ£¡_ÁªÏë YϵÁÐÂÛ̳_̫ƽÑóµçÄÔÍø²úÆ·ÂÛ̳

 

I plan to sell my y560 for $500 and buy the expensive y470 model with rapid drive. I hope the rapid drive is worth it, i havent read anywhere about it or people with reviews yet. Super stoked for the y470, i hope it has the gt 555m instead of the gt 550m.

 

Price for Gb, it's hard to beat. The Seagate Momentus XT might give it a run for it's money as far as price to Gb and speed.

This should show the performance gain of Rapid Drive:

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pj_1yUTyxpY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pj_1yUTyxpY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='640' height="385"></embed></object>

 

Heh. Looks like Canada is getting our's first XD


Lenovo - New Product Showcase

 

You have the same exact tech in your current laptop. It is just an SSD for the OS and a HDD for data. Just save the money and buy a msata ssd from newegg (you may want to wait for Toshiba's to come on the market in q2 - they get 250/180 r/w!)

The momentus xt is slightly tempting, but the speed boost only applies to reads. The system isn't allowed access to the flash module, so your system write speeds will be the same as any 7200rpm drive. I'd just spend the extra $100 on a 32/64gb msata ssd for real performance.




I am looking at this for an option, but the i7 sb was a big attractor for me. I do video editing, and I am hoping to pick up a very large project that will take years to complete for the local university. Being able to utilize a quad-core in premier would be awesome. Too bad the i7 that you can configure for this unit is only a dual core that has been clocked up and added 2mb (50%) more cache. Nice speed boost, but without the added cores, not worth the price jump.

I'm not satisfied with these low-res screens either. Sure, color reproduction and contrast contribute more to a better image, but it is absolutely ridiculous that I can rewind to 2003 and get a powerbook with better resolution than I can in 2011 from a mid-high end computer. I don't want a 1080p screen, but 900p should be attainable by now.

 

Interesting. It does say "Spring 2011" on the U.S. site...so maybe they're being pushed up ahead of May? Although with the recent Sandy Bridge recalls I would think, if anything, they'd be pushed back...

 

The Y470 would be my perfect laptop.. IF it came with a higher resolution screen.

I'm currently using 1366x768 on my 16" laptop and I find I cannot fit all my contents in the screen (running Visual Studio 2010 and MATLAB most of the time)

 

This thread is about the Y470...so I am not sure what the V470 not being available in the U.S. has to do with it?

 

I failed. I misread the "V" as being "Y".

 

Is it possible to upgrade to a higher resolution screen either through some 3rd party or other method?

 

Use the HDMI out.

Pulled this from a Slashgear article...I am guessing around $1300 or so for an i7-based Y470? Since the only info we know is that it starts at $899. That's with the i3, I'm sure.

 

I'm fantasizing about:
i7 2620M
8GB RAM
GT 555M
1TB Hard Drive


Although that would probably add up to about $2000.

 

I setup a Google alert for "y470" so I will keep updating this thread as any new stuff comes out.

 

The Canada website now has a battery listing for the Y470, but still no laptop itself.

 

The GT555m in a 14" sounds great, but wouldn't this be a little wasted on a 720p screen? Are there any views to the quality of the screen (colour gamut & contrast) and whether 1600x900 will be an option?

Thinking core i5 & GT555m & 320gb drive & 80gb SSD with 1600x900 screen would be spot on, but Lenovo appears to like putting good GPUs in one range and good screens in another so having both wouldn't be possible.

 

I think a 1440 screen would already be enough for my gaming needs, because it would be nice to be able to crank every single setting to the max instead of a higher resolution with medium settings.

I have a 22 inch 1366*768 monitor right now, and it suits me fine.

 

Apparently the Y470 (and Y570) will be 'Available April 2011':

Lenovo - Laptops - IdeaPad - Y Series- Y470

 

Oh man, I've been looking for a new laptop for a few months now and I think I'm gonna bite when this IdeaPad Y570 comes out.

How much do you guys think a Y570 with these specs would cost?

i7-2630 Processor
15.6" (1366x768), 16:9 widescreen
Nvidia GeForce 555M 1GB graphics
6GB DDR3 1066/1333Mhz memory
500GB 7200rpm HDD & 32GB SSD
DVD/CD burner reader/Blu-ray reader

I got these from this link.

 

Just wonder, shouldt we have a Business thinkpad forum and a Idearpad forum?

 

Only the Y570(15.6") has the GT555M. The 14" Y470 has the 550M I believe.

 

It was discussed. Until the Ideapad's start getting more posts the mods refuse to split the forum into two sections.

 

I just wish I could configure this, or the y570, to have a quad-core processor

 

Looks like your right I'm afraid.
But still the y470 is not bad spec's with the GT550. Just hope it will come here in Denmark at the same date.

Edit hope they both come with gddr 5 and gddr 3

 

Sigh. I want the GT555m in the Y470. Looks like Alienware takes it again:

Dell Alienware M14X & M18X Gaming Notebooks Specifications

 

Good point, I guess I just assumed the i7 option would be quad core. You are correct, it is not. Maybe I should just keep my y460p... Decisions

 

According to the PDF data sheet, a quad-core CPU will be optional. I'd personally keep the 460p, but that's only because I don't like Optimus.

 

Any particular reason? I thought switchable graphics would be a battery saving benefit. I was considering getting a warranty recall/repair on this unit instead of getting a refund and then purchasing an intel 310 series (soda creek) 80gb mSata ssd and using the readyboot software to configure it like the y470/y570. I dont really need 80gb but the 80gb model is nearly twice the read and write of its 40gb little brother. SSDMAEMC080G2C1 - By the time I go to all that effort, I thought it might just be better to let lenovo do all the work for me.

Not to mention, purchasing a 15.x screen was a mistake for me. I wish I would have gone the 14.x route for portability's sake. I ended up keeping the sony VGN-SZ750n that it was replacing simply because the old laptop is so much more portable.

 

I can't speak for saturnotaku, but from my experience and some of the reviews I have read, Optimus will turn on and off by itself whenever it feels like it. Manual switchable graphics technology found in the AMD is much simpler. I can turn it on or off myself, and don't need to rely on the driver.

 

Unfortunately the Y470 has a GT 550m instead of a GT 555m..
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/ww/pdf/Y470_datasheet.pdf

 

It says for "IdeaPad Y470, Y570 and Y570d"
But for only Y470 its 550M and the y570(Y570d?) 555M.

 

JunkStory pretty much nails it. I tried an Alienware M11x, which has Optimus, and the automatic switching didn't always work. Even putting an application on NVIDIA's "whitelist" to have it use the discreet GPU all the time didn't work on a few applications. I'll take a battery-life hit if I don't need to worry about whether or not my applications will run properly.

 

Saturnotaku, could you please tell us about battery life. y460 with two graphics cards lasts about 4 hours. Yours is much more powerfull so it should last not more than 2 hours ! Is that right !

 

Can't answer that as the system has been returned. It should be on the UPS truck back to Lenovo today.

 

Hey guys,

Does the Y470 have the same screen everyone is complaining about on the Thinkpad E420S?

Thanks!