Lenovo Y470 and Y570 Official Owners Thread

I own a Y570 and use an external 23" 1080P monitor, the 720p resolution is not great for CAD, most of my icons fall off the viewable area in SolidWorks. The graphics card has no issues displaying greater resolution on an external monitor. If I had to though I could definitely work on the current screen with moving icons or reducing the icon sizes. I have not had much time to calibrate the colors with Adobe Illustrator, but I do think this screen has nice color. Hopefully others chime in.

I did not notice ANY of the screen defects listed early on in the thread in my new Y570.

 

Dude if you're having so many unresolved problems with your laptop, I'd highly suggest you call up Lenovo for a RMA.

I'll admit I haven't tried connecting my laptop to a external display yet but I don't think there will be a problem.

I don't mean to be rude but sounds like you're nitpicking on small stuff that's not making you happy, that may or may not be a Lenovo hardware defect and maybe a user end error.

If you're not totally satisfied with the purchase call Lenovo up and make a return before it's too late, just be aware there maybe a 15% restocking fee upon return.

 

Thanks so much for the feedback! A lot of times I won't be able to connect to anything larger, so your input is much appreciated. Good to hear there's not bad colour either. I actually do some 3D (and photography & video), so understand the gajillion icons issue! Being able to work on some stuff in the field will be great.

 

Nemix - I'll admit right up front that I am a bit cheap. I really don't want to drop $150 just for the pleasure of trying out the laptop. Hence the offer to drive 20 miles! Good to know that at least it can be only $150 and not $1,000 if it just doesn't work for me. Thanks.

 

If you are talking to me, you need to quit skimming my posts. I did not mention a single issue in my post. I answered a question about the display for wumpus243 with my honest opinion. I knew the screen was a 720P when I bought it and I'm not complaining about it. I'm just saying that the screen is fine for movies/gaming but using CAD it is not optimal, so I use a 1080P for CAD. Not a complaint at all.

To date there are no unresolved issues with my laptop, thanks to my own efforts, not Lenovo's. I'm going to stop posting in this thread if you keep trolling and posting stuff like that bloating the thread.

 

To be honest you will be hard pressed to find a laptop in that size/price range with a higher resolution monitor, most laptops under 17" have a 720P resolution screen.

 

You seriously misread his post. He did not complain about the laptop at all, but rather answered a question.

 

Sorry man, I took for the other dude who was complaining about his WEI ratings...may bads.

I don't know why but whenever I hear someone complain about the WEI ratings it's like they know nothing about the machine and just want high scores to brag even if they cannot fully take advantage of the performance and there's absolutely nothing wrong with machine in particular.

Maybe I just need to lay off the junk food.

@ bhoran83

Which SSD are you planning to getting, mSATA or regular SSD?

 

lol. Bhoran83 IS the guy that had the bad WEI scores. No worries though. We all see it was a quick post so were moving on.

Still waiting on that headphone jack static noise fix lenovo

 

I was complaining about WEI because it was showing me my hardware was preforming sub-par compared to what other machines with similar hardware were scoring. It is one thing if you are expecting your machine to score a certain score and then receive a bunk score outright. I knew what my numbers should have been and they were not. Ergo my machine was not operating correctly. It is another thing if you are thinking your machine is capable of more when the hardware is not and are not familiar with what similar hardware is scoring and still expect it to be the fastest thing in the world.

I was not wanting imaginary high scores, I was looking for a sign that my hardware was running correctly because it did not seem like it was, so when my scores finally came in correct I knew it was working correctly as apposed to the garbage scores I was receiving. I use WEI as a diagnostics tool and that is all. I am not complaining about the scores now that they are correct.

Ideapad1, the headphone jack noise may be a hardware issue. Incorrect shielding basically. You can add shielding if you know what you are doing but will void the warranty. This is generally not recommended as there is a chance of irreversible damage as it involves soldering.

I plan on going mSATA and was going to get a SSD at 80GB and pair it with my 500GB 7200RPM for the best of both worlds, speed and storage. Might as well use that empty space next to the HDD bay right?

 

Really static noise, I haven't tried the headphone jack yet either...lol

If you plan on getting a Intel 310 80GB mSATA SSD then I'd suggest you wait for a month when the new "Paint Creek" 25nm mSATA SSD's are released.

I'm in the same boat as you, I've been planning on getting a Intel mSATA SSD for the past week but I've done so after finding out about "Paint Creek" I've decided to wait since it's so close to release.

 

Just a quick note,

I ordered a runcore sata III mSata 60GB on July 23. I have not heard word one from mydigitaldiscount.com. Has anyone had success getting one of these?

Also, has anyone determined if the cable is 40 pin, and will it take a higher res screen? WHile I am capable of taking it apart (and I may do so), I was hoping someone else had attempted it.

gifdog

Y570: i5, 750Gb, blu-ray, 8Gb

 

@Nemix77 thanks for the heads up on the next gen mSATA. I was about to purchase the SSD this morning. I will hold off as the 25nm design may bring a reduction in cost for sure!

@gifdog I have been contemplating getting a screen compatible with an HP DV6 and seeing if the pinouts were located in similar locations as well as the number of pins in the cable. That is a $200 investment that I'm not ready to make until my warranty is voided.

 

@bhoran83. I found this video, if it helps. Lenovo Ideapad Y570 Laptop Screen Replacement Procedure - YouTube

 

I sent an inquiry to Screen Surgeons Screen Surgeons | Laptop Screen Replacement about swapping screens with a DV6 for a 1080P resolution and they said:

"Not sure, but we can give it a try. If it doesn't work, you would just pay the shipping charges. Please let me know.

Eugene PanRudkevich
Screen Surgeons | Laptop Screen Replacement

$150 – $195 for most laptops. Price includes PARTS, LABOR, RETURN SHIPPING and 2 YR. WARRANTY."

I may go this route as they offer a warranty and a 1-2 day turn-a-round. Much better than waiting on the screen to ship just to find out it is not going to work.

So after a fesh copy of Windows7 Ultimate, a new screen and a next gen SSD I will be a really happy camper. Not that I'm not happy now, but I don't quite have an ear to ear grin just yet.

 

Ordered my y470 today, $896 thats with tax and shipping. Because of the tax, the e-coupon only got it from $929 tot $896, but yeah, 30 bucks still.

Specs are in my sig, can't wait until i got him!

 

hmm how did you get it that low? got mine to 905 after tax

 

This is a guess, but different state tax?

 

I really dont know, i live in Holland and my uncle that lives in Chicago ordered it, he comes to holland in a few days. He told me it was free shipping, and that the price was minus the e-coupon and plus the state tax, so i dont know. The reason why i order it in America is because of the freakin dollar that is worth like. I pay 1000 euro here for the laptop i can buy in America for 900 dollar. 900 dollar is 625 euro, so pretty good deal i guess. Compared to holland, everything is so cheap in the US, and i didnt even talk about the euro/dollar exchange value, it makes it even cheaper.

 

I forgot to follow up on this. The physical connector on the motherboard has 30 pins, which leads into the lid and splits for the LCD and webcam / microphones. The connector on the LCD has 40 pins, but they obviously aren't all used. I replaced my screen (LG, same resolution) already since the Chimei Innolux N140BGE-L41 LCD I had would distort if I lightly pressed on the back of the lid.

As for as the graphical artifacts I had, tightening the left hinge solved everything. I haven't seen anymore artifacting and everything runs smoothly. I have a few pictures of the ddr3 ICs that the hinge was pressing against, if anyone of wants to see if for reference, along with the LVDS connector.

 

I have another quick question.

I've been using the Lenovo Power Management program to set my battery setting to Best Battery Health. However, on each reboot, it seems to switch that option to the Optimize For Battery Runtime option. Any way to fix that?

And sorry if this has already been asked, the search function on this forum never seems to work for me.

 

I recently noticed that I get the same thing, which is a bummer because it defeats the purpose of energy management. Unfortunately I don't have a solution yet.

And you're right, the forum search here is barely functional.

 

You need Energy Management for on-screen display of the touch panel buttons. If you do not care for the on-screen display and Energy Management then you do not have to install the driver.

I notice other brands have a separate driver for the on-screen display for functions but Lenovo has it built into the Energy Management software which sucks for those who do not want to install Lenovo's Energy Management but still want the on-screen display function.

 

In my case I want the Energy Management software, but just like MattDrumz, mine switches from 'Best Battery Health' to 'Optimize for Battery Runtime' upon reboot. The question is, how do we make it stop doing that?

 

Try running the Battery Calibrate and set it to Health, I've been told the process takes about 6 hours to complete. Resetting the laptop or cancelling the process will not change the battery from Battery Life to Health.

I personally just remove the battery when I'm plugged in.

 

hey guys,

I received my y570 today and i must say that it was worth every penny. The build quality is great and the keyboard feels really good to type on. A couple of negatives, the screen is quite fragile and wobbly. Also, the computer may need some additional tweaking before it can perform up to your expectations. All in all, i would definitely recommend this laptop to anyone whose looking to buy an affordable mid-range gaming machine.

 

I have never had this happen, try uninstalling the Energy Management and re-installing the newest one from Lenovo website, also update your drivers and if all else fails try the BIOS 2.06 that was posted a couple of pages back. I have done a fresh install of everything and this laptop is running like a banshee. Performance wise it is faster than my workstation in everything but CAD.

 

Just got my Y470 today and am loving it. So compact compared to my old 18 inch laptop, as expected.

Only two issues so far, haven't really played around with it enough yet.

One is the headphone static issue and the second is the slight lag when using the touchpad. I remember someone else commenting on the touchpad issue on this thread, but I can't find it anymore =/

Anyways, very solid build, loveeeeee it.

Gonna do a clean install and try about some games sometime next week.

 

*sigh*

So it lives. If you find a fix please share.

 

Am I the only one without any static issues?

*knocks on wood*

 

Yup, I think you got the lucky odd ball; I just tried mine and there's definitely some static. Aside from the headphone static and the multilingual keyboard for Canadian users, I think there's not much else to complain about. I don't think the touchpad is laggy at all, it just takes some time to get use to because of the texture and material; however I do find it's a bit difficult to work on with sweaty fingers (the material feels almost like leather).

Some new Lenovo software updates:

SRS 1.11.19.0: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS018479
Energy Management 6.0.2.1: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS019436

 

For those who really care about headset audio (like me), you can get a usb adapter to remove the static.

Newegg.com - SYBA SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter

($12 shipped)

It looks like I may have to get one ... I can't find mine.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. My machine came with BIOS 2.06, so I'll go ahead and try re-installing Energy Management and updating drivers.

 

I think mine has the static noise, but its hardly noticeable when using decent over the ear headphones. I haven't tried earbuds yet, but that's probably when you hear it the most, I'm guessing.

 

Nothing on my end still... I've used 2 different sets of earbuds and a set of bose headphones

 

Preciously. I hear nothing with my over the ears, but with skull candy earbuds the noise is unbearable.

My headphone jack was broken on my old laptop for over a year and a half. I couldn't watch movies or anything at night. If only i'd known things like this existed... lol

When were these updates released? I try to go to series, Y series then laptops, but I don't see the 570. I then try again and go to Y series then netbooks and i see the 570 but no compatible updates. Something I'm doing wrong?

 

These updates were released on the Lenovo Z575 AMD LLano laptops. They should install right over your existing software with a prompt to update the existing software to a newer version. They are 100% compatible as far as I'm concern, just go to the Lenovo download site and look up Z575; there's also a VeriFace and OneKey Recovery update also.

 

What's the difference between this and dv6t without 1080 p

 

Haha, will do.

No, I'm not talking about the texture, I'm fine with that. I don't find actually using the touchpad as laggy, just when I haven't touched it for a bit if I'm reading something, then when I go back to use the touchpad, when I first touch it and move my finger, nothing happens. I have to do a second swipe before it registers. Hope that made sense =/

 

Try these: Synaptics drivers

 

I'm visiting family at the moment, I'll try out a different driver sometime next week when I get home and will let you know how that goes, thanks!

 

Ok, got my y470 (i7, 8gb ram, bly ray) in and I like it, but I'm not a fan of the bloatware and have a few questions. I've never done this with a laptop and I'm sorry in advance.

My intel 80gb msata and seagate momentus xt (hybrid HDD) come in tomorrow and I was going to do a clean vanilla install, is there anything that I should know or any major disadvantage to doing this rather than copy and put the preinstalled os on the msata? Or is it easier to copy (never done it) the installed os and just remove the bloatware (not sure how much is on there)?

Do they have a copy of the orginal software pack to download?

Next is there a driver pack with all the needed drivers (no bloatware) or do I just need to get them individuality from Lenovo's site here?

Any that I should skip or get from somewhere else (like the nvidia drivers)?

Are there any on Lenovo's site that I must or should get besides the basic's? Maybe blu-ray drivers and Rapid Drive or anything else that helps?

I think most of the stuff Lenovo put on here is ok, but I really have not had much time with it (Chrome browser, games, power dvd and cyberlink burner, engery management, and boot optimizer?).

Should I get the latest bios?

I guess in the end I want everything to work correctly and be stable. I've only done desktop clean installs and was going to do the same on this, but I don't know if that is the best route. Sorry for so many questions, but I was wondering what to do and I appreciate the feed back.

 

Easiest is to use the one key recovery, build your recovery disks, install and then remove bloatware.

Hardest route:
Get your video card drivers from Intel and NVIDIA.
Then get the rest of the drivers from Lenovo site and any software you may want (Boot optimizer, Veriface, ect.) If you just received your Y470 chances are that is has BIOS 2.06 on it already, so no upgrade needed.
Swap drives out, install mSATA.
Run your vanilla windows install.
Install all drivers.
Update Windows fully, will take several reboots.

I went the latter route as there seemed to be something in the Lenovo version of Windows that was acting goofy.

$160 later and a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate and I was in a better position performance wise.

 

The video card in the DV6T is ATI and is marginally comparable to this one but plays nicer with Optimus. Nothing that future software support should be able to eliminate. Also some DV6T Quads have a more advanced sound system with subwoofer. I have no complaints about the Y570 sound though as it has even enough bass to rattle the dvd drive door from time to time.

In my opinion Lenovo (IBM) has a more solid build than HP and should stand up to more travel abuse. But that is just my honest opinion.

 

Maybe try turning off the palm detection, it basically keeps you from using the touch pad while typing. It may be assuming you are touching it unintentionally...

EDIT:Upon re-reading, those last three words sound dirty... Just thought that was funny and had to add that in...

 

I had static problems with my earbuds like many others, but for whatever reason it's gone now.
What I did to originally reduce/remove the static was to plug in the headphones and go to the Realtek HD Audio Manager and then double-click on the headphone jack under "Analog" on the right (which should be the only highlighted jack if you don't have a mic plugged in). Tick the "Line Out" box rather than the "Headphones" box. I did that once and the static never appeared again (even though right now it's still defaulting to "headphones"). I simply assumed it was always on "Line Out" but apparently I was wrong.
No idea why that worked or why the static problem went away, this is my best guess.

P.S. Not my own discovery, forget where I found it on Google though.

 

I don't like the rapid drive drivers. They "trick" your computer into thinking your 2 drives are just 1 big one.

 

This dramatically reduced the static for me as well. Its still there (though very, very low). This i can tolerate.

THANKS SO MUCH. I wish i could sticky your fix.

 

+1 rep MrEngenious.

This got rid of my static completely using Creative EP-630's, thanks for the tip.

I'm looking to get better earbuds, best sound and bang for the buck; any suggestions?

 

I have the S4s ( http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-IMAGE-S4-Noise-Isolating-Headphones/dp/B001V9LPT4). Expensive yes, but VERY much worth the money. Three different tips, completely cancels noise, super durable, and the sound is great. Had em for a year and half now and no problems. Highly recommend.