Lenovo Ideapad Y580 Review

I have recently bought a Y580 after reading this review that convinced me it was the right laptop for my needs:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 Review with Nvidia GTX 660M Graphics

But I'd just like to share some of my views on this machine. Since there are different models available in diffrent places, I'd better list out the core specs of my Y580:

Processor: Intel i7-3610QM
RAM: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz (free upgrade to 8GB)
Hard disk: 1TB 5400rpm
Display: 1080p 15.6'' FHD LED Glare (1920x1080)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 660m (2Gb GDDR5)
Optical drive: Bluray Rambo (Burn bluray disk)

1) Build quality
The machines has excellent build quality. The top cover is made of metal which gives a "high-class" feeling to the laptop. The palm rest and its surroundings, as mentioned by anther review, are made of a mixture or plastic and metal, which is unlikely to get dirty easily. The overall construction of the machine is firm and solid.

2) Display
The FHD display is simply gorgeous. It gives sharp images and vivid colours while having no signs of over-saturation. Reading on it is definitely comfortable and enjoyable. I would definitely recommend the upgrade to FHD screen,which allows enhanced experience when watching movies or playing games. The screen is glossy, but the reflection is okay for me.

3)Keyboard
The Y580 has a island-style chiclet backlit keyboard. The slightly curved button design is user-friendly. The physical feedback when pressing the keyboard is great as there is no flex at all and the re-bounce is great. I would say that the keyboard is as great as the MacBook Pro, especially with the backlit feature. Working in a completely dark environment is not a problem, although the intensity of the backlighting cannot be adjusted. Also, the position of the "Shift" key on the right hand side is a bit strange. I need time to adapt to it.

4) Sound/ Audio
The Y580 features JBL speakers and indeed they are impressive. The sound quality they deliver is the best I've ever heard. The sound is solid and focused even at max. volume.

5) Performance
This laptop is like a beast. With the latest i7 ivy bridge processor, it is able to accomplish every task quickly and efficiently. With the GTX 660m, most of the games can be handled quite well under 1080p at high settings. Obviously the fans turn faster under heavy load and more hot air is produced, but the machine shows no signs of over-heating. The palm rest as well as the keyboard is still very comfortable to use.

6) Storage
This is probably the only weakness of the Y580. 1TB of storage is pretty adequate, but the speed of transferring files is relatively slow under 5400rpm. Anyway, this is not a big problem for me. For those who cares about this, an upgrade to SSD can be done by yourself.

7) Conclusion
Before I bought the Y580 I had been actively looking for a capable laptop. Clevo is my first choice because of the monster specs and reasonable price. However, there are no Clevo resellers in HK amd warranty is an issue, so I didn't pull the trigger on that. Finally I decided to get the Y580, which is also in the similar price range and equiped with similar components. Now I find out that the Y580 is actually as good as the other "gaming laptops" manufactured by Clevo, Asus or MSI. For those who have ordered a Y580, you have definitely made a good decision. For those who are consiering, I would definitely recommend it =)

 

Nice review. Will probably order it tomorrow already after project3's review while there is still a coupon.

 

Couldn't agree more, ups downs and all. I'm probably going to order an SSD at this point.
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SSDs here in my country are way too expensive =( Dunno when the general price level will go down...

 

Nice review.

Shame about the glossy screen though, if matte is prefered, not sure it comes with matte, if you haven't got the possibility to buy it customized.
How is battery life?
What are the price compared to Asus N56VZ in your country?

 

No matte. But unless you are going to take it outside all the time, there should be no worries. The whole glossy thing has been blown out of proportion. Ipads are glossy and how often do we hear complaints about that??

 

Each time someone tries to use it in a day light.
Glossy screen is far worse then matte. I *can* tell how much because I have Eizo with matte and TV with matte but phone with glossy and my wife has glossy laptop. It's just harder to focus sight on screen, eyes are tired faster. So she has to sit with it in a way that light won't reflect anything...
The *only* advantage to matte is colour depth (not range) when we're talking about TN because PVA and IPS doesn't have this problem.

 

Sure. Still I hear of no one complaining about using their ipad in the house or phones for that matter. Glossy is not for the person who wants to take their laptop out of the house. I had a glossy screen a couple weeks ago. I had my bedroom light on and unless I put my head on the desk and looked up into my computer screen, I saw no reflection. So if one uses a glossy sceen under normal room illumination they should have no problems. Now if you have a strong light directly behind you at the same level as the computer, yeah you will see a reflection. Seriously its not as bad as people want to think. Give it a try in normal settings and you will see what I mean. Also I stared at the screen for a couple hours and my eyes felt no different than staring at a matte screen.

 

Yes, you're right. But the point is you have to make some preparations for glossy to work without disrupts. If you don't see problem with that then that's really great because you'll get more options to choose from when buying hardware.
I bought Y580 and as we all know it has glossy screen - it's for my wife and like you she doesn't have problem with that. I wouldn't buy it for myself. I see the difference.

About eyes...I meant when there aren't "perfect" lighting conditions for glossy. If glossy was so bad then it would've died long ago.

 

If you use it at the same location each time, you'll find a way. But it is a laptop, and of course you'll find a way in the train, in the classroom or where ever you are situated, but often with a compromise, especially whith older screens whith less bright light. You will soon spend a lot of energy adapting you position in the room and still getting tired, sitting awkward focussing on a lesser visual display...

 

I was thinking about what you wrote and maybe I'm seeing the difference because I'm spending a lot of time in front of display (10-14h a day I think)...I even appreciate this small tweaks that some displays have that change brightness depending of light conditions around.

 

hey thanks for the great review! just ordered my unit, how long did it take for yours to ship?

 

I ordered mine last wednesday, and it came today. But then again i live in southern california.

 

i ordered mine on June 11th and it still hasn't even shipped yet!

 

Man, i feel sorry for you. Which model did you order? I got the cheap 768p, 1TB model.

 

I know I've been super pissed! Right now the ship-date is June 28th, but I wouldn't be surprised if it get pushed back again. But if it does, I'm just going to cancel and wait to get it from Amazon, Newegg, or Best Buy.

I got the 209945U model. That's the one with the 1080p screen and the 500gb 7200rpm HD...

 

i ordered mine last tuesda and it got there three days later on fri.... 1080p mode with 1tb

 

I totally agree that this laptop would be a killer if it had an anti-glare lcd option.

I'm an IT and I spend 10+ hours a day in front of computer screens. Where ever I am in the building, there's always too much light reflection. 90% of the company monitors uses matte LCD panel.

Unfortunately for me, there are some personnal computers with glossy screens that are a pain in the a** to use each time I have work to do on them, I get dizzy with all the reflection. Newer laptop like the GlareBook Pro, oups, I met MacBook Pro, that uses glossy screen + some kind of plexi/glassy panel are the worst kind. I could deal with regular glossy screen, but the glossy + glassy combination is just crazy.

Yes it is like an iSh!t iOS device, but a device that you do carry in your hand is very easy to turn around to eleminate the glare or to at least reduce drastically the reflection. A laptop is usually on a desk top, you don't have much room for adjustment. close de lights, close the curtains, change the laptop angle, change the screen open-angle, and then finally you just say "to hell" and put the birghtness at maximum, burn your eyes, and die from a conjunctivitis! (ok, that might not happen)

Does anyone know if there's an matte 1920x1080 lcd panel that would be compatible with this laptop?

 

Matte, FullHD and IPS/PVA you should ask. I would like to know that too.

 

Wow. I never have this problem and I am extremely near sighted. I have to wear either glasses or contacts. I just sit right in front and push the monitor back about 3 or 4 degrees. Seriously how did people deal with glare before matte screens? When crts were all glossy. Regular house lighting should not be an issue for a glossy/glass screen. Yes if its in a brightly lit office building or big box store, you will see reflection. But in a house with an overhead ceiling light you should have no issue. Just dont put a bright light bright you. As for getting dizzy. Never experienced that. Maybe a little eye irritation after staring at a screen for hours on end but EVERY computer monitor has done that to me.

 

CRT were not so glossy and you always could add filter on top of the screen to eliminate some. There were matte displays too.
I've played a little on Y580 last evening. I had only LED light right above my head and if there was some dark scene then glossy would show what it can do.

 

Well after some digging around the Web, I found the maintenance manual of the Y580.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 | Lenovo Y480&Y580 Hardware Maintenance Manual V1.0 - Page 1

Now, on page 90, the LCD panel used are listed:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 | Lenovo Y480&Y580 Hardware Maintenance Manual V1.0 - Page 90

The 1080p panels are LG-Philips's LP156WF1-TLC1 and LP156WF1-TLB2.

Now, when googling around both model number, I came across this website that seems to specialize in LCD panel. laptopscreen.com .

This website state the B2 is matte:

LP156WF1(TL)(B2) replacement Laptop LCD Screen $79.99 Brand-new screens (never used).

And that the C1 is available in glossy or matte:

LP156WF1(TL)(C1) replacement Laptop LCD Screen from $79.99 Brand-new screens (never used).

Both panel use a 40 pins socket according to this same website.

Looking back at the maintenance manual, it is by beleive that the 1366x768 screens comes with a single channel cable, and the 1920x1080 with a dual channel cable. Which means that you won't be able to upgrade a low resolution Y580 to a full resolution unless you get the cable from some magical place.

I'll probably give it a try, since I havn't found any laptop that fits our in-house dev team except this Y580. It got all the good spec, except for the antiglare screen, except the lastest MacBook Pro with the 650M GPU, but no dev wants to work on a Mac. "a question of principle" ... bunch of linux geeks.

Now what I need is a disassembly tutorial for the Y580. A Y480 might works, they seems quite similar since they have the same maintenance manual.

 

From what I read in the hardware maintenance manual, the LCD used for the FHD glossy display is the LG LP156WF1 (TL)(C1). They also mention a matte display: the LG LP156WF1 (TL)(B2).

However, you might want to try out the AUO B156HW01 V.4 95% NTSC color gamut matte 1920x1080 LCD that is offered with the Lenovo Thinkpad T/W series laptops. It uses the same connector configuration because I successfully installed the same glossy LG LP156WF1 (TL)(C1) that is used in the Y580 into a friend's W510, and while I cannot guarantee compatibility it should be compatible as long as there is no BIOS whitelist. If you had 5 posts on the forum I could send you a private message with the link, in order to preserve the less-than-plentiful supply of this display .

 

Hmm...interesting. I would like to get my hands on that AUO too.
Thanks both of you for those informations. They really gives me a hope.

 

No problems with glossy for me. In fact I have the whole window behind me reflected at my screen. But I learned to adapt to it.

 

I too prefer AUO screens. I currently have an MacBook Pro that shipped with a Samsung panel, the screen was all yelloish and after 1 year I have at least 10 dead pixels.

Than I switched it for the LG for my laptop model, but I hated the colors, they were always too bright, I had to constaly adjust the gamma. When I saw some used AUO B154PW04 V.0 at a good price on eBay I automatically ordered it to give it a try. I've been using this screen since and I totally enjoy it.

Don't worry about the link, I've found the screen you were talking about. But since I'm buying this for the company, I'll just go with the LG TLB2, since I'm sure it's going to fit.

EDIT: I'll takes pictures when it's done and tell you all the problems I had (if any). I'm quite certain a lot of member here will appreciate.

 

Edit is so sneaky. haha.

What type of battery life are you getting? How does the trackpad handle multi-touch gestures?

 

Hey rules.spain, could you tell us if the Ethernet jack is Gigabit or not? There's no information about it on Lenovo US and Canadian website, and there's no info in all reviews I've seen of this laptop.

I know that this laptop aims for the consumer market, which would probably go wireless with it, but I need a gigabit ethernet for work.

 

Yep, mine has a gig connection. Mine has shown it plugged in and the tech specs on the Lenovo site show that it is.

 

How is battery life when doing normal tasks? fan noise under load and doing normal tasks? Heat under load? thanks!

 

Thank you! For what ever reason I can't seem to find the tech spec on Lenovo website. Now I look pretty dumb lol.

 

I really don't know - between horrible weather this weekend and losing power and craziness at work the week before I haven't used mine as much as I'd like. I was able to watch three hour-long tv shows (42 minutes each), fell asleep at some point during the last one and I'm not sure for how long, and still had 37% battery (and it only started between 80 and 90%.

Fan noise for me is non-existent during normal tasks, but I generally have my ceiling fan on, tv for background noise, the AC on, etc so I don't hear it. Under load (gaming for me) it's definitely noticeable, but I think that's because of how hot it was getting (my cooling pad wasn't doing its job). Tonight and tomorrow I should be able to do some gaming and get some actual numbers for you heat wise.

Haha - it's not a problem. Here's the link - http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/y-series/y580/y580-datasheet.pdf

 

OMG, I had looked this pdf, but never saw that there was a second page... what a shame.

Anyways, I ordered the matte screen today and the laptop, should receive before 20th of July. (laptop estimated ship-out date is July 14th)

Time to search for a display dissassembly tutorial on this laptop.

 

Guizmo, did you order the 768p model or the 1080p one?

 

I read this and was just wondering, does the Y580 come with a TV tuner as standard or not? It's listed under key specifications.

 

rules.spain, allow me to pick your brain.

You mentioned in your Conclusion, you mentioned Clevo as being your first choice. I'm quite interested in the Clevo P150EM (Sager N9150) with the ATI 7970M because I don't want a Fermi based Graphics card. I understand you chose Lenovo because of geographical reasons, but why Clevo?

I'm was going to customize the P150EM and run up +$400/500 in costs, ($1500/1600) versus just swapping out the HDD in the Y580 ($1200/1300) for an SSD and putting the old HDD in the optical bay. The only innate bonus to the Sager/Clevo is swappable MXM graphics card, Sager is a tiny bit smaller and more ports. (eSata/DVI/Display Port/1394a but minus a VGA) It just pushes my budget and I'm not enthusiastic about using an ATI graphics solution. (I've had a bad track record with them)

So again, why Clevo?

 

The more I read about notebooks like Sager etc. the more I think that they are all based on Clevo with different brand. That's all.
I too was thinking about Clevo...but I red review with 7970 and I was shocked to find out how much noise and heat it generates. Much too much for my taste.

 

The 1080p, because the 768 won't have the good display cable otherwise.

I havn't received the laptop yet, but I just received the screen... no, A screen...

What a bunch of morons, they shipped a Samsung LTN156HT01 instead.... arf, what a pain. Competent people are a rarity. Need to contact them and ship this back.

EDIT: Their customer support says it is a fully compatible screen and that I should install it... !?

That is still not what I ordered. What if I had ordered the screen for color gammut reason. What if the laptop have some kind of firmware with a white list of LCD screen that can be installed in this laptop.

This is totally unacceptable. It's like ordering a Lexus Hybrid CT and getting a Toyota Prius. Imagine the dealer saying: "It's the same car, you should use it".

Arrgg, since I'm super busy, I'll try this Samsung panel into the laptop as soon as it arrives. If it works, we would know another matte screen model that is compatible with this laptop.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Lenovo Enhanced Experience consumer PCs for Windows® 7 | Lenovo | (US)
According to this page, Lenovo installs windows 7 on SSD in models with 32gb SSD. I don't know how but they say 15gb of space on SSD will be available for users to install their favorite applications. Does windows 7 only need 15gb space?

 

I received the laptop yesterday and ent on to replace the LCD panel following the Repair and Maintenance manual. Seriously, I had to disassemble the whole laptop. Motherboard, Hard drive, RAM, DVD, even the speakers and the wireless card. What a pain it was.

Once I got the display removed, I realized that the Maintenant and Repair Manual was made by brainiac people. You do not even have to disassemble the whole laptop to replace the LCD panel... I was so off about the step I went through.

All you need to do, is remove the two little square-like plastic part from the display bezel, near the hinge.

This will unveil two silver Philips screws. Remove those two screws, than use a plastic card, like a credit card, to lift the front bezel of the display off. You'll have to go gently, there's a lot of pin-lock all around the bezel that you need to unpin. It would be easier with a flat head screwdriver, but, you might damage the bezel. The plastic is very fragile and the back display bezel is easy to scratch.

Once you've removed the front display bezel, you'll see 4 black screws, one in each corner(or so) of the lcd panel. The two bottom ones actually fix the hinge to the back bezel of the display. The top two only fix the lcd panel to the back bezel.

Once you've removed those 4 screws, you'll have to carefully withdraw the internal display cable from it's route. Then you can remove the display back bezel from the lcd panel. Be careful, you cannot remov it completely and ut it on a distant shelf, since the webcam came is still attached to it. You'l only be able to let it lay down next to the laptop (like if the screen was open to a 180 angle). Thus give you all the latitude to work on the lcd panel.

The next step would be to unplug the internal display cable from the back of the lcd panel. Be very gentle, since it is quite fragile.

Once that's done, you have 6 more screws to remove. 3 on each sides of the lcd panel. Once you remove them, the lcd panel is freed, you can install the new one.

When reassembling, I would recommend that you only reinstall the 6 last screws that holds the lcd panels to the laptop and plug the internal display cable only for the moment.

That way, you'll be able to power up the machine and check if your display cable is correctly pluged in. At first, I had nothing on the screen. I played with the connector, and then I finally got something, but no backllight. I replayed a little more, and finaly got everything working good. I used electric tape to make sure the connector wasn't moving anymore and stick in place.

Then reassemble the screen by reverting the rest of the steps and you are now the proud owner of Y580 with an 1080p matte screen. And what a difference it does. I could literally brush my teeth while looking at the glossy screen.

The only problem that I have now, is the front bezel of the display is so glossy that it act as a source or glare. Fortunately you do not look at it directly like the screen. Might remove it and paint it.

I'll take pictures of all the steps later on this week, I'm just to busy right now.

So I can confirm that the Samsung panel I received is compatible with this laptop and that there's no display white list in the BIOS firmware.

 

I'm curious, Guizmo, when did you order the laptop? I ordered it on June 27 and it still hasn't even been shipped yet... :S

 

Sorry for the delay, I am quite busy with work at the moment. I ordered the laptop on Lenovo Canada website on July 5th and received it on July 16th.

Lenovo ships from the U.S. via UPS, but they don't use UPS broker, the laptop was on hold at custums for 3 days, and the tracking number provided never worked...

This laptop is awesome, but I hate the keyboard. It feels so cheap.

EDIT: I ordered the less expensive model that ships with the 1080p display. Maybe the other two models are back ordered.

 

Hi everybody, I am new in the Forum

Is there not the option to buy also the cable and built in the B156HW01 V.4 in the version with 768p ?

I want to buy a new Laptop, after some research I find the Asus N56VZ and the Ideapad Y580.

The reason why I prefer Y580 was that I can built in a mSATA Drive and the better Graphics.
But now I have second thoughts because it will be very expensive in my country (Germany) when I have to buy the FullHD version and then a new panel and mSATA SSD.

 

there are tons of Y580 resellers on ebay

 

How is it holding up rules.spain?

I spent over an hour comparing equivalent laptops (msi gt60, asus g55vw) and I can't help but wonder if build quality varies in batches or is different in different parts of the world.

By far the three different y580s I fondled I could in no way, with good conscious, call them 'firm' nor 'solid' nor 'excellent' in build quality. They were some of the most flexy, plasticy and almost toy-like computers among any gaming laptops I've experienced.

I think where the y580 shines is value for the price...

So rules.spain/other owners do you think my experience is a fluke? (the y580 is still on my short list for new laptops)

thanks

 

Currently on my second Y580.

I'd kinda have to agree with you about build quality. The metal finish and casing is nice enough, but the keyboard and trackpad feel pretty cheap and poorly put together really.
And I'm really not adjusting well from a history of matte screens to this glossy one, will definitely be looking into replacing the screen if I can find the cash/time.

 

I find the plastic quality the same as other manufacturer. I usualy buy Dell for the office, but we needed something with a GeForce, not an NVS in this case, so I went for the Y580 and replaced the screen for a matte one.

Like Nick said, the keyboard and trackpad are the worst thing on this laptop (once you have a matte screen installed). It feels soooooo cheap.

And the keyboard keys contour keeps poping out, it's a pain in the butt.

 

How about wireless card? I heard rumors that it's a lousy piece.

 

My y580s have these
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2200, Single Band

I haven't had any problems with the wifi card/signal strength/disconnects/slowness/antenna issues/etc. I am a bit annoyed that it's single band only but it's easy access to that pcie slot to replace it if that's ends up being a big deal.

 

After waiting for a very long while for Gigabyte to release the P2542G to make comparisons as they have very similar components but at 25 percent more cost of purchase with much prettier yellow dressing. Gigabyte keeps dangling the carrot but not really offering any details and I very much dislike this being kept in suspense by their PR. I decided to configure this Y580 even though some members have reported issues.

Unfortunately, Lenovo UK seems to have pulled this product from its website although USA is still available for configuration. Are there any reports with regard to Y580 having serious issues and that Lenovo is keeping mum ?

I would not have thought these Chiclet keypads have such serious problems (for all info regarding keyboards, visit www.geekhack.org); to not offer a better Wifi card at this price-point is just silly; as this is supposedly a gaming laptop in general then a glossy screen maybe more suitable to the majority. Hopefully they have realized some of the consumer dislikes with regard to glossy/matt screen, keyboard and wireless card and rectify before a re-release. If other third generation Core i7 laptops reach retail then all the better; Lenovo would have missed the boat even though it was originally a fast boat from China.