Lenovo Y470 and Y570 Official Owners Thread

Would increasing my RAM from 4 to 8 increase the fps?

 

Has anybody played games with a 3d set up using the y470?

 

what are the recommended AA and AF settings for the 555m (Y570)? i don't trust it being too high so i keep them both at 2x

 

I would say 2x and 4x respectively for AA/AF since you're on a 15.6".

 

Just a quick note on a screen brightness issue I was having that is now fixed:

I have a Y470 and all of sudden there was absolutely no way to change the screen brightness. Shortcuts didn't work, changing power settings wouldn't work, there was no Display Brightness icon in the Win7 mobility center. After uninstalling and reinstalling all my drivers I discovered that the program TeamViewer was causing the problem. I uninstalled it and now can change brightness again!

 

@ donkeymania

Maybe, unsure. However, I do know it'll take some load of the CPU, hard drive and will be better with mulit-tasking and battery life.

I'm waiting on my ram to arrive.

 

I'm probably going to buy the y470 as a gaming laptop/college purposes.

Should I get the i7 over the i5? Will it make much difference for games?

I'd like to play Skyrim when it comes out on good settings. And for now, the most demanding games I'll play are Witcher 2, Stalker, Amnesia: Dark Descent, and Mass Effect 2. At 1366x768 resolution, I'm thinking the 550m will be fine with the i5 CPU, right?

 

If you can get the i7 version for under $1k then go for it.

 

With Lenovo's current 20% off coupon, I can.

Does anyone know if that promo code expires today, though?

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...mos/IdeaPad/weekly-sale&ipromoID=ipubnh01046&

 

I would go for the i7 for more future proof software and games. Alot programmes are coming out utilising the quad cores.

 

I'd go for the i5 over the i7 especially on a Y470 where space and airflow is limited and battery life is of some importance. You shouldn't really notice any difference between the two when in comes to games, they have benches of SB i5/i7 desktop counterparts to prove; just Google search.

On the other hand a i7 is more future proof...

 

Helloo

I am interested in buying a lenovo y570 with the i7 cpu for university. I would like you opinion on how suitable it is for university use and would like to know the average battery life when using just internet browsing using wifi?

thanks

 

hmm i get around 4 hours of video watching on battery.
so i guess for browsing and stuff you can get around 4.5-5 hours of battery life out of this guy.

 

You guys are making it so hard for me to decide lol. The i7 config with 8GB RAM, BD/DVD Drive is only $949 on the Lenovo website right now.

The only things stopping me from pulling the trigger are this...I hear the screen/viewing angles are garbage on the Y470.

And I don't want the y570 because for a 15.6" screen, 1366x768 would suck.

 

1366x768 can be annoying, agreed, but since I usually use my y570 for browsing and gaming i'm having no problems. I just zoom out a bit on webpages so i can view more. And run games in windowed mode at x720.

Side to side the viewing angles are actually alright, up and down it's a bit narrow (based off of the y570 screen)

 

Why would I bother getting a 15.6" screen if I'm just going to run games in Windowed mode? Why not just get the Y470?

If only the Y470 had a better screen (I'm going off of this post, btw) and the 555m, the choice would be easy. But the 555m isn't that much better, right?

 

I personally hate running things in fullscreen because i'm usually doing other things at the same time and it's nice to be able to quickly tab out and in of a game. You can still do that with a smaller screen, but by definition, things appear smaller so it's not quite the same experience. Same price, bigger screen, better graphics card, yeah it's a pretty bad resolution for a 15.6 inch and I wish it'd been uped, but there wasn't anything with close to the same specs within a ~$200 range that I felt would satisfy me. It was a hard choice for me between the y470 and 570 but I'm not disapointed, my y570 fits in my bookbag fine & I don't feel the need to pay a premium for a 14" notebook's size & portability.

555m, is better. By "isn't that much" depends on what you want from it. I can play bulletstorm with maxed settings with ~30 fps, where as a y470 owner stated he could not run it at maxed settings. As far as benchmarks go it's about 10% better in the 3dmark06 based off of what peopl've posted here for their y470's (upper 8000's).

 

Just an update. After 11 days, I received my laptop back. I typed up a detailed description of the issue I was having and sent it with the laptop to point the technician in the right direction. Anyway, my laptop was returned with a note saying they re-imaged my hard drive... something I've already done.

 

Just ordered a Y470 from Lenovo Canada, hopefully they deliver it before I grow old!
Quad version!

 

The Y470 has a huge vent/heat sink on the side. On normal usage/idle the CPU will run around 40 degrees C. It's not a problem at all. I've done a load test with a bunch of open programs, 3d stuff, multiple 1080P vids and it gets to around 60 degrees C.

I'm not a hardcore PC gamer so I haven't looked at temps after gaming.

 

How is the screen quality?

And for anyone who uses the y470 for gaming, have you tried Witcher 2 or Stalker with it?

 

It's pretty good IMO. It doesn't compare to any matte screen though.

 

Hi, I wanted to know how to connect such a GPU to this laptop?
thank you

 

After a laptop battle going on for about 6 months, I finally settled on the y470 core i5. Price before tax was $675 and it was the best deal for what I was looking for.
I am just wondering if anyone has messed around with overclocking the cpu/gpu at all? I didnt see anyone talking about it in the thread. I dont have any experience with overclocking but it seems like it could be useful when playing games. The only concern is with the throttling i've been hearing about with the new SBs.

 

How did you get that price? The listed price is 749 on lenovo.com - is there a coupon that you used?

 

Just google ideapad y470 coupons, i found mine on logicbuy. I'm not sure how long they last or the lenovo sale lasts so I didn't waste any time. The i3 version can be picked up for ~600.

 

i just playing FEAR 3. running good without lagging with temperature around 70-60 degree celcius

 

Ok folks; I'm going to most settle for the y470 after months of researching. It was between the dell 14r v lenovo y470. Such a difficult decision because I wanted a laptop to last me at least 3 years or more. I can get the y470 for $674.10 with coupons before tax and recycle fee =(.

For everyone with the y470; how happy are you guys with the laptop? Any regrets (buyers remorse)? Would you recommend this laptop to your friends? Thanks

 

Hey guys, I'm looking at the y570 and I noticed that the ssd/hdd hybrid is gone and the chat support guy seems to not even realize it existed on ideapads... Do you guys know of other sites that sell this option? (I would prefer a quad core, as I believe if I don't get the best tech of now, it'll be super old in a year or so{or will dual cores be legit for years to come?}).

On the ideapad site there are two options the SB i5 and the SB Quad i7. Am I safe buying one and buying a small ssd on my own? If so, any links to the right kind of drive (so i don't buy the wrong thing and waste a ton of money xD). Also degree of difficulty to pull this stunt off? lol

 

Also, I think I saw that the duo core i5s still have 4 memory slots, can you just add another two or would u need the quad i7 to be able to run all 4?

 

Just wondering if anyone has the bilingual keyboard on Y470/Y570? I can't get the US layout from Canada and I have seen some pretty awful bilingual layouts before. Can anyone comment on it? Lenovo is no help. I'm sure the left shift is small, but am really wondering about the enter and arrow keys. Thanks!

 

@leoaj, 4 memory lots? I'm quite sure what you're referring to. If you're talking about hyperthreaeding, yes the i52410m has it, if you're talking about ram slots, there are only 2 slots, no matter what kind of cpu you are using. It shouldn't be hard to find a "rapid drive" you just pop it in like a stick of ram in the mini Pci e slot. I'm not sure how it's set up though.

 

Thanks, I'm pretty set on the quad core anyways.

-Do the non-hybrid(hybrids are 814gb models *750hdd+64ssd* but seem to be sold out) hard drive builds come with the rapid drive software(or is it hardware?) or is it separate(if so where do I get one)?

-I hear there is a dedicated slot for a mSATA SSD. Is that true for all models and do you think I will be able to get the 10-15 sec boot up they're braggin about if I change the settings and make the laptop boot/open apps on the mSATA SSD?

Sorry for the question barrage!!! In my defense I don't get laptops very often (once every 4ish yrs) so I wana make sure I get the absolute best for my price range so I'm not so obsolete when this baby starts aging! o.o

 

-It's hardware, and how the drives are partitioned that is different. They come with a 64gb msata ssd drive.
Newegg.com - Intel 310 Series 40GB mSATA mSATA (mini PCIe form factor) MLC Enterprise Solid State Disk SSDMAEMC040G2C1 - Enterprise SSD
Same brand msata lenovo uses.

-Yes it is true. And perhaps, Some people have reported yes to the times and others not so much.

 

Same here =(

Use KeyTweak ( http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/). The site is nonexistant, but the program still works. It let's you remap keys to other keys (I remapped the left backslash to shift, and the right backslash to enter).

So far, Lenovo is being... Lenovo T_T

 

Thank you so much! One last question Would I have to wipe the hdd clean and reinstall windows 7 onto the mSATA SSD? Or is there some kinda sweet option to choose what hard drive to boot/open apps with?

Thanks again!

 

Is this thread slowly dying? It doesn't seem much posting is being done lately except for the few of you.

 

I would like to know this too. Ive been using the 500GB Stock since i got it. I have so much applications and software installed. I dont want to go thru the hassle of reinstalling everything.

If i get a mSATA SSD can i just COPY all my windows files and software then delete it off my 500gb hdd?

 

@tien714, I wouldn't say that, People can only purchase so many notebooks, eh?.

My guess would be you would have to wipe and reinstall, but I may be incorrect, I'm not sure how lenovo actually does it. If someone HAS a rapiddrive version of the y570 I'm just as curious as to how it is partitioned.

There is somebody on youtube who has an i7 w/ rapid drive maybe you could ask him.
YouTube - ‪Lenovo Y570 First Impressions (English)‬‏

 

So I called Lenovo tech support about this and they said its not possible because their ssd/hdd hard drive is calibrated specifically for the rapid drive software and it won't work on just any ssd you add on.

Can anybody confirm that its not possible? (I hope its just tech support trying to make me purchase through them) That would be a big bummer since they are sold out of the ssd hybrid models and don't know when they'll restock .

 

I think is possible to use a second msata HDD. Usually Lenovo is blocking the possibility to change\upgrade hardware via BIOS and as I understand they don't lock PCI-e slot as long as an wireless card can be used in that slot. But BIOS can be modded and full unlocked... Insyde bios mod requests..

 

That's weird, previous people who contacted lenovo support were told they could upgrade it themselves.

 

Yeah these guys seem to have different answers every time I call haha. One said the hybrids should be back in 10 business days. If you are in dire need of a laptop like me they give you a 21 day grace period to trade whatever you get in for a laptop of equal or higher value for free (but you need to re buy the warrenty ).

I think I'm just gunna get the quadcore with minimal warrenty. If they restock the rapid drive in 21 days I'll take their trade deal and if not I'll beef up my warranty and wait for somebody to make a ssd rapid drive installation guide or something.

 

From what I understand, the mSATA drive is pretty much Plug and Play. Put it in the mini-PCIe, install OS on it and any applications and there you go. SSD heaven. I already have my mSATA drive and am waiting for my laptop to arrive...

 

There might be some guides to installing a rapidrive into the y560 the process should be similair.

 

Is there really any big difference between the i3 vs i5 y470/y570? I'm debating on this because I only have until tomorrow to pull the trigger. The i3 is cheaper but the i5 is futureproof? Any suggestions? Thanks

 

@tien714 and in terms of a quick review of the y470

I ordered my y470 in mid June; it was originally scheduled to ship on June 27th, and since I was set to leave the country soon thereafter I paid 25 dollars extra for rush shipping; it ended up shipping on the 20th and arriving on the 22nd.

My general first impression was what remains my only complaint about what otherwise seems to be a great machine: poor build quality. The screen wobbles, the body creaks and bends all over the place; in short I am very careful when transporting it and a bit fearful about something breaking.

I was even more fearful as I opened its guts and did some replacements almost immediately after getting it. I took out the optical drive and replaced it with a hard drive caddy. Originally I put an SSD (Kingston V100 128gb) in there, restored an Acronis True Image partition backup of the original drive onto it, and was in business. I noticed though that my write speeds were quite slow (70-80 mbps), so I ended up doing a full swap, putting the SSD in the main hdd bay and putting the hdd in the caddy. Now the speeds are up to 180-200. All of this fiddling was extremely nerve-racking; definitely didn't like putting pressure on that plastic. I've got the optical drive in a usb enclosure and it works great.

With the SSD it boots in 20-30 seconds. I have no idea if it is taking advantage of any special Lenovo technology, and I haven't really gone through much trouble to optimize the boot. I have kept most of the preinstalled software except for obvious bloat like that ridiculous RIC dog thing.

Battery life has been surprisingly impressive. I get 5.5 hours casual web surfing on battery saver mode, 50 percent brightness, 3.5 watching movies. Under heavy load the fan is noticeable, but heavy loads usually mean I'm gaming or otherwise equipped with headphones so I don't care. I quite like the thermal management button; in super silent mode the fan is barely noticeable, even in a hot, unairconditioned apartment in July.

Performance is great, as expected. I havent had much gaming time, but Starcraft II and King Arthur run great at medium-high settings. Adobe Premiere runs like a champ, renders video very quickly.

The screen is perfectly acceptable to my weak, quasi color blind eyes. No idea if it would please someone picky. Sound is quite loud and strong to my non-audiophile ears. In the past I have always used speakers to watch movies on a laptop, and haven't felt the need so far.

Its definitely heavier then the 12 incher I was replacing. I haven't dealt with anything larger in years, but I'm glad I didn't go with 15 to 17 inch machine, which were the main alternatives I was finding with these specs anywhere near this price range.

I'll try to answer any other questions from prospective buyers. The lack of comprehensive reviews was a bit troubling, and I kind of bought it on a gamble. So far I think it has paid off.

 

Keep us updated on how it goes! I think there are some settings they tweaked to get the 10 second start up milestone, so 15-20 sec is prob still good.

Seems like there's a mini guide for the y560.
Installing mSATA SSD In Y560p - Lenovo Community

If you install the OS onto the ssd do you have to wipe the hard drive it came with? Do you have to re-install all the drivers and what not as well? I might try this myself so I don't have to deal with the hassle of exchanging for the hybrid.
If you have a link to some kind of guide that would be greatly appreciated!

 

Gotta say lenovo ships fast, ordered my Y470 on July 6, and I already have it in my possession... now it's time to wait for my mSATA SSD to be delivered, ordered a 64GB Mydigital SSD.

So far, love the laptop... the speakers sound great!!! not as loud as my dell's, but they definitely have better bass, and the 2 pounds of weight shedding is really nice!!!

Although... after using a Sager with a 1080p for a couple of days... the resolution downgrade is really apparent... lol

Note that I'm from Puerto Rico... I'm amazed UPS delivered so fast... usually 2nd day air takes a week... not 2 days ( shipped the 8th of July)

 

Lucky you. I paid for my machine 1 month ago last week and I'm still waiting. I was initially going to recommend the computer to everyone if it performed as well as I suspect it will, but at this point it could be the best laptop in all of creation and I won't ever recommend it to anyone.

Hope you are reading this Lenovo. I would assume any halfway intelligent laptop maker would have someone scouring forums, so I'll assume you aren't.