Lenovo Y470 and Y570 Official Owners Thread

Did you find a way to get out of the restocking fee?

 

I don't think anyone has asked this yet but how easy would it be to swap the DVD drive in this for a BluRay drive? And any idea which BluRay drives would be compatible?

 

Yeah, they said no restocking fee since it's defective and I have it less then 21 days. I would never go for a refund it restocking fee applied. 15% too much. But they said none, so I grabed my chance here.
P.S. the video card is a damn good overclocker here, I've managed to pull up to 110 mhz OC on core and 250 mhz OC on gddr5. So basically under OC conditions you can keep up with the fancier version of gt 555m, as for temps -> 78/80 under full stress by OCCT and gaming

 

Tried that... any other people having a similar experience I have sec414c per under hardware id.

 

How do you made that test? (x26 multiplier). Thanks!

 

any thoughts in regards to the screen quality? My screen seems little washed out

 

Try adjusting gamma and saturation, right click your desktop and go to graphic properties... select advance and go to color enhancement...

I used that to remove the blue tint of the OEM setting and increased the saturation by 2 clicks to make it far less washed out.

 

Can you share your screenshots of your settings or screen configuration?

I compared to my uncle's y470 w ( i7) and same factory settings and his screen seem a little more crisp and sharp....

 

All colors

Brightness = 0

Contrast = 50

Gamma = 0.9

Hue = 0

Saturation = 2

Then I selected blue and set it like so

Brightness = 0

Contrast = 50

Gamma = 0.7

Saturation = 0

I recommend using the Windows color calibration alongside the graphics properties just to have a reference... don't adjust anything on the color calibration though... the settings will revert back after a reboot... reason why I used the graphics properties.

 

Is there a way to make the optimus button on the front act as a on/off button for nvidia? I play a game (LoL) that bugs and closes when I alt tab because optimus auto switches to intel graphics when alt tabbing, which results in a graphics card related error message. I messaged them and they said they're working on a fix but that could take a really long time. The fix they recommended was running only nvidia. However nvidia makes the computer hot and will definitely wear the computer down if I use it all the time. I remember somebody posting about this but they never said how.

PS don't bother saying i should set nvidia to run on LoL cuz i did and its the alt tab that bugs the game. (when playing on intel only everything is fine but i have to play on lower settings)

TLDR: How do I make the front switch toggle nvidia on and off?? Thanks

 

Try setting the preferred graphics processor to Nvidia on the global settings...


I doubt you can set it to run on the nvidia all the time though...

 

Hello there guys, first post, long time reader.

I am a computer science student and I like to play games, and not in a casual way but serious gaming within the 14 inches mobile world, so hopefully you will find this review useful.

First off, I want to say I did my homework and I really took the time not to just do online research, but also to go out there to the field and test computers to see with which I was feeling comfortable the most and I can say, that by far, the y470 is the one that stood above all the rest.

My configuration is pretty decent: the i7 2630, 8 of ram, 500 at 7.2k rpm, no solid state, no blue ray and I pay for it less than 1k for it, using my student discount, so no complains.

First impression: I was surprised with how sturdy, stylish but at the same time portable it was. Never had a 14 inches before, and the one before this guy was a Sony vpcf115fm of 16.4 in (I used to carry an IMAX theater to college every day, I know, but my back knows better though). I though that because of the Nvidia 550m, the body would be way thicker than what it actually is. Exterior-wise, the computer is awesome. I love the anti-finger prints cover with the orange trim. It is just different. But Lenovo calls black dusk it is actually a dark grey, just in case you were wondering.
Power cord goes on the right… hmmm… that’s weird I said… still I got pretty used to it very quick, and in some point I rather that that having it in the back. Power management-wise, Lenovo is extremely smart. I’ll explain why in further details in the next section. All the ports that come with it is all that you can expect and more. The USB 3.0 work just swell, you get HDMI, VGA and a Smart Card reader. What else can you ask for? A solid state mSATA port? Of course! They got you covered, just open up a little lid down there (bottom cover) and voila! A mSATA for a 5mm (up to 80gbs) mSATA unit. Ain’t that fantastic? Now you can have all your soft loaded in there with a secondary 500 gbs drive. CD/DVD drive is way sturdier than the one I had on my VAIO. It is thick, it does not bounce, and while working you can barely tell it is doing so. Lenovo did a good job with its storage media devices. Both the HD and the media drive are smooth and quite.
The ventilation is on the left, nothing that would call your attention if you don’t look for it. Is not in middle, it does its job and while playing, you feel nothing but air going out. No noise, I promise. You may think I am exaggerating but please, I dare you to prove me wrong by running the witcher 2 (what a game) for an hour after playing 3 straight of those of Starcraft 2 at EXTREME SETTINGS. I’ll cover that later.

Pre-built soft and performance: Ok, when I firs booted the laptop I said to myself, here we go… let’s see how much crap I can actually disable from the windows booting process to make this thing faster. The second boot took 41 seconds (until usable), pretty darn fast, still, when I first saw my desktop the first time, I was like WHAAATTT???, there were like 9 icons (and I DO HATE desktop icons, trust me). I don’t like anything on there but my recycle bin and 3-5 quick access buttons in my task-bar, HOWEVER….. I got rid of course of the AVG one, and a couple more but I created a very well deserved folder with the Lenovo pre-loaded software. The power management and the booting-optimizer are phenomenal. The other couple I don’t even remember what they are for.
After all that homekeeping job, I went into msconfig to check on the running services windows boot and the programs, and I must admit I did not find half of the number I though I would. Good job there. Now it’s been two weeks of heavy use and it still boots between the 45-50 (sometimes less) marks.
I basically use VS2010 and Eclipse and both run pretty decently (extremely well). Not to mention booting in ubuntu, even on live cd, the drive is WAYY faster than the one I had in my VAIO.

GAMES:
Ok, I only had chance to run on them: Witcher 1, Starcraft 2, Witcher 2 and Battlefield 2: Bad Company. I run them all in 1366x768 with high and mid details.
I must say that for a 14 inches laptop, it definitely kicks , because only BF2 and Witcher 2 were the only games I cannot play (I can run them though) in high settings, to laggy, not good, still, medium goes smooth, good FPSs for both.
Starcraft 2 can be played in EXTREME settings without a problem. I did not get into the heavy stuff though (advanced missions), so just in case, I would just stick to High / Ultra.
The Witcher was running just fine in high settings. It may not be a modern game (2007) but it is still pretty demanding, even for a high-end pc. I almost forgot! How could I!??? I also tried Crysis 1 and it was running perfectly smoothly in high setting, sorry I don’t have the second one… I accept donations though.
Just a short word about the Optimus feature: awesome. I could have also come up with: convenient, secure and smart. It is not a swith, but more like a secure switch which you cannot actually activate/deactivate unintentionally. You have to press it and release it all the way up, and is not coming out of place, so no matter where you put your computer (desk, belly, someone else’s belly) it won’t go off or on automatically. The battery performance is really optimized while using the HD 3000 as you can imagine.


Physical USABILITY (  did I just made that word up?):
The computer itself is extremely portable. Once closed is thin, light and while in use the keyboard is extremely typeable (I know I DID made that one up) and the general interface is extremely intuitive. You will find the two JBL + a hidden sub-buff incredibly amazing, the sound is out of this world, just try playing a Dream Theater album on it and you will se… the rest of the buttons are the usual. You will also find a One Key recovery button right next to the power one that in case nothing works, don’t put it on fire, just press that magical little thing and voila again! Everything will reinstall automatically.
Battery life: Very well… Lenovo offers you several power profiles from its own software that you can select from to optimize or kill your battery life at will. If you pick Energy Star for instance, it is going to working as if you were using the balanced feature of windows. Now, there is another one, which is the one I personally use, which is battery optimizator which only allows the battery to go up to 40-50% and after that I have good 3 hrs on the HD 3000 and not playing any game of course.
Another good feature is that you can actually regulate with the Lenovo power-management application the CPU usage as well. If you know you are not going to use all the quad-core goodies, you can just indicate so and CPU is going to be kept in minimal capacity.


Overall: Awesome product. I knew it would be based on my experience with a basic Lenovo T61 I used to have a couple of years ago (very basic but though).
I would definitely recommend expend the asked price ($920 – $950 US site) if you are going to use all its capacity either working or gamming. If you just wanna game, go for the Y570 with the 555m… 15.6 inches… not my kind anymore… but if you are looking for convenient and powerful portability, this is definitely your guy. Good battery life, screen is surprisingly bright, clear and adjustable depending your needs, gaming performance is excellent for a 14 inches laptop, working capabilities are optimal and it looks pretty cool too!

Clear cons:
- Sides of the screen… it is thick, but that’s not my issue… it is too clean! And fingerprint friendly… and as you could have probably figured it out already, I kind of hate that.
- Touchpad… don’t get me wrong, I love the touchpad itself.. I just don’t get along very well with the single bar double-button.


Please feel free to ask any questions. If I did not cover something (which I know I did not because I am doing this in my office dead time so I am half here and half there) just ask.

 

Thanks for the color settings Luis! Screen looks much better now.

Is it true guys that the laptop switches to Intel when you alt tab out of a game? I'm getting low FPS in the Witcher 2, be nice if I could blame it on this

 

I have a feeling the latest driver has poorer optimus support... mine keeps crapping out with the latest drivers, ie. it only uses the intel and no amount of forcing will make it use the nvidia card unless I reboot... I reverted back to OEM drivers and it seems to have eliminated the problem... probably gonna upgrade to beta 275's though...

 

nice review. i agree with your points

my pros/cons 'review' after using my Y570 for about 2mths:

pros:
display (dunno how some ppl are saying the display is poor)
feel (keyboard, underneath, overall)
weight
battery (avg 5-6 hrs on a full charge browsing, music, etc)
speakers (rich JBL sound for a laptop)


cons:
resolution (would've preferred a size up from 1366x768)
no backlit keyboard
bd rom drive (personal)
viewing angle (seems to be touchy)
screen hinge wiggle
touchpad mouse button (i'm not a fan of it as well)

other things i've been experiencing:

-random volume shifts in music/video at random times or when sometimes unplugging a USB cable
-keyboard languages. i'm not sure which key combo changes your keyboard format but when it happens, its annoying. ' key changes to é, etc.

loving the laptop overall!

 

That's an "issue" that happens on most computers and a majority of users don't know how to fix it. You can turn off the keyboard shortcut in the Languages section somewhere in Control Panel, or by right clicking the "Language Bar" in the taskbar if its there.

 

Didn't work :cry: :cry:

Also is there a way to make the nvidia card operate less intensively (under clocking? ) cuz my comp gets preeeeetty hot when running nvidia. Or is it the quad core that's doing this?

 

I bet it's the quad... cause my GFX alone only reaches 63C under full load... when I get the CPU some action... I get 75C

 

A Little update about my laptop problems. I find out that my bios firmware is actually 208 instead of a 206. Which is surprising because no one said anything in this forum about the bios firmware being 208. even the lenovo website only provides 203 firmware. I didnt try to install the 206 firmware cause I got a little annoyed by the number of people in this forum who bought the Laptop and had no problems updating it. So I called Lenovo's technical support. the technician used the remote assistance to see the problem. and he came to a conclusion that my laptop Y470 is in fact a DEFECT. DAMN!! So unlucky. So now, I am getting a replacement. and hopefully, my second Y470 would be a good one.

I am just wondering though. None of you guys have any of my problems with this laptop?

Big Thanks to gifdog who is the only one to replied me.

 

do you have the latest drivers? I've been having issues with the 280.26... try reverting to an older driver.

 

i have the 280.26 but I had the same problems when I was using the older versions too.

 

Thanks, JollyRoger. It's been tough to find full reviews of the y470, so your perspective is greatly appreciated. I'm expecting mine to arrive next week.

 

Has anyone been using the i3 in the y470? I decided to be realistic with my computing needs and save a few bucks on the processor (this is after owning a vaio z133 which has definitely been overkill). I won't be running any sort of processor intensive applications, so going top of the line seemed unnecessary. The most stress I'll put on the system will be from occasional gaming, but everyone seems to be in agreement that the bottleneck always comes from the GPU before the CPU in gaming. Anyway, just curious if there are any other i3s out there and what your experience has been.

 

@ angrykenji


Pros:

Display (I think the people who are saying the display is poor either don't like the resolution or got the AOU panel. Mine came with a Samsung panel which is really clear and colors are vibrant; because of the resolution things can get pixelated sometimes but that's expected)

Keyboard (The feel, feedback and good support underneath makes the keyboard very easy and joy to type on. Canadian models come with crappier bilingual keyboard with extra keys and some smaller keys but it's hard to avoid these days)

Cooling (Very quiet, effective cooling and the CPU/GPU heatsink is massive cooper which makes the laptop heavier than some other brands and models in the same size range)

Speakers (Some of the best sounding I've heard on any laptop, there's not a lot of bass but it's there. SRS surround works really well with movies, music and games; gives the speakers a real surround effect)

Battery (62Wh battery is very good with Sandy Bridge and one of the main reason I went with a Y570 even comes on the i3-2310M models)

Video Card (Although not the fastest version of the GT 555M, it still a very good and cool running card. Lenovo offeres the card even with the i3-2310M makes the package even better simply because you will not find a faster video card with a i3-2310M on other brand)

Extras (The inclusion of mSATA slot is too good to ignore on this laptop, it's not the reason why I chose the laptop when buying because I didn't think I was going to SSD at the time. But I'm now planning on getting a SSD and what better way then to go mSATA and not have to deal with a caddy, removing the DVD writer and still be able to keep your original 2.5" hard drive for storage. mSATA's are really taking off and probably the future for laptop SSD's with support for up to 6 Gbps speeds)

- (Touch sensitive volume control, SRS sound/video control, fan control and even a de-dusting mode, makes the laptop multimedia ready and very easy to maintain, Lenovo even allows users to remove the bottom which has direct access to the CPU/GPU heatsink fan to clean off dust from the blades thus the de-dusting mode)

- (Something not found on any other brand with NVIDIA 500M series card is the inclusion of the manual GPU switch which gives Y470/Y570 users more flexibility on how to power manage the GPU's for application that makes use of the GPU's. These feature is also very good for travelers that do not want to deal with Optimus when on battery and can switch off the NVIDIA GPU on-demand at any time)


Cons:

Headphone Jack (Reported as producing static noise from almost all users, there's a work around to reduce and noise and in some cases totally get rid of the static noise. This is probably due to bad or wrong choice of shielding used in the laptop sound wires with the presence of a massive copper heatsink which could potentially act a noise amplifier if there was just a little static noise to start with)

Weight (Heavier than other brands in the same size range due to massive effective copper heatsink. A good trade off for home bound users but not if you're traveling a lot)

Touchpad (The touchpad is very accurate and responsive but the material is very hard to work on with sweaty fingers and if you upgrade to a faster hard drive eg. Momentus XT the touchpad will run hotter because the hard drive bay directly underneath the touchpad. Also, the single rocker style touchpad buttons is not very efficient and the buttons are a bit mushy)

Bloat Software (Lenovo installs a lot of bloat but default from factory some of which are needed for things to function eg. Energy Management is needed for on-screen displayed of touch panel buttons)


Overall this laptop was a killer buy with just the mentioned inclusions of great video card, mSATA slot, high capacity battery and fan de-dusting mode makes this laptop one of my favorite laptops even with a i3-2310M, I'm very happy with the purchase.

 

Great to hear your input on the i3, Nemix. I was having slight buyer's remorse today but it sounds like things will be just fine. My main concerns are in your pros, while your cons aren't too important to me. Really looking forward to my y470.

 

It's just solely based on my personal opinion and experience with the laptop, I'm glad I helped and I hope you share the same experience as myself with your on the way Y470.

 

The weight and everything seems fine to me. It is pretty light, in my opinion. But that might be because I'm used to carrying around a 6lb laptop at school. Also, I found some of the bloatware to be pretty useful. I kept the Power Management program because it is actually helpful. However, it would be nice if the program saved your settings when you turn off your computer. It gets a little annoying having to reset your settings after every boot.

 

Nemix... how did you find out who made your LCD panel?

I've not found a software that can tell me and removing the screen is not really an option... I have not been able to remove the screw covers... lol

Edit... nevermind... found a software... mines an LG screen

 

HP, Dell and even Acer offers laptops of the same size with good video cards that are 500 - 700g lighter. That's just something I noticed when shopping for the laptop and reality is it is pretty heavy for a 15.6" when I actually had it on hand.

I think I should add customer support is not the best in the business as a con but I got a free 1 year extended warranty with my laptop so who I am to complain about support.

@ Luis_GT

AI64, HWiNFO or Sandra will tell you the make and model of the LCD panel on your laptop.

 

Thanks... found PCwizard and it gave me the info... I have an LG panel... not bad

 

Looking good, glad I could help.

PS. PC Wizard also works as pointed out be Luis_GT to find out the make and model of the LCD panel of your Y470/Y570 laptop.

 

awesome. removed the French and Cdn multilingual..dunno how they got there.

 

Hi everyone. Has anyone here actually replaced the WLAN card in a Y570 or Y470 with one of the supported cards listed in the hardware manual? If so where did you get your wireless card from (lenovo/other)?


Currently Supported Intel Cards
Intel 6250NX
Intel 6150GX
Intel 6250GX
Intel 6150NX
Intel 6205N

 

I just installed PCwizard and found that I also have an LG panel. Are those pretty good? I don't know much about screens, but it seems like a pretty good screen.

 

Sorry I don't know the answer to your question Crcarithers, but I will use it to ask another question. What are the benefits to switching out the wireless card for the y570? Faster speeds?

There are many questions are about adding stuff and switching stuff out of the y570. I've seen questions on the msata, wireless card, and of course the screen. Perhaps we should make a sticky/faq with suggested links to all of the products we recommend, to save time and etc?

Just a thought.

 

Is there any way to make it so that SRS Premium Sound STAYS on the music setting? Every time I restart I have to put it back to music...

 

With the latest drivers it automatically switches to music whenever you turn on a player (like winamp). This driver was posted by nemix(?) a few numbers back. its not an official release though because its technically for another system, but its compatible with the y570.

Question:

 

Hi Ideapad1,

In regards to the wireless card I would just like to use one that has a more steady consistent connection along with a bit better transfer rate. The 1000bgn is 2x1 (sends 150 mbps receives 300 mbps) those others I listed are 2x2 (300 mbps both ways). Also I would like to have the ability to connect to a 5ghz network when needed. Msata I could see if you either don't want to put in a full blown ssd replacing the hard drive but still want to boot and run a few apps quicker.

I agree a sticky that would be nice, if I ever figure out where to purchase a supported wlan card (matching fru listing in the manual) I'll defiantly post.

 

LCD DeadPixel Test, steps:

To use, just click the link in FireFox or Chrome and press F11 for full-screen then click on the each background color to find if you have any dead pixels on your laptop's LCD.

Link: LCD Dead Pixel Test Backgrounds

This is one of the first things I did with my laptop when it arrived at my home but I don't think I've ever posted the link up and read of anyone who've posted a similar link in this thread.

PS. While it may not me important to some, I've had a brand new 2011 Dell Vostro laptop that came with a dead pixel right in the middle of the screen. Good thing I ran the test from day one and sent the laptop back for a replacement.

 

Hey guys, I just received my Y570 and have some problems with gaming performance.

What version of the GPU driver are you using? Mine came with 268.44, I would like to upgrade it to a newer version if possible, because I have been getting low FPS in games like GTA4, SC:conviction and FalloutNV

GTA4 setting: 1366X768, all high except shadow is medium, view distance 25, density 30. FPS:15~25

SC: conviction: 1024X768, all high, no AA, FPS below 20

FalloutNV: 1366X768, high quality, FPS:18-25

Or maybe I am overestimating the power of GT555M?
Thanks in advance

 

How long does the order take to process? I ordered on Monday and it still says "In Process". The estimated ship date is still the same but I'm afraid its going to jump drastically when it actually does go out to ship.

I'm just used to online shopping where it usually gets processed in hours. =/

 

By all accounts, Lenovo is quite slow at processing and shipping orders. I placed mine on Sunday and it is still "In Process".

 

I have the y470. Also, I'm not looking for something that just changes it to music when opening a player. I want it to be on music 24/7.

 

I think it's just the time of year when there's a lot of orders being placed from back to school students. My experience in early June was totally different, placed the order on Monday processed and shipped on Thursday and arrived at my door the following Tuesday.

I was thinking of cancelling and going with a HP DV6T or DV6Z but in my case cancellation was not an option because the service was a bit too fast. During the normal months of the year, I think most orders should be be processed and shipped within a week.

 

Run up a game ( deus ex mainly) in windowed mode with CPU-Z runnin on background. Stuttering happened on intervals when the multiplier would hit x26.

 

Hey guys, I can't decide between the ideapad y570 and the y470

y570
$899
$1151 (including 3 year warranty + tax)
Blu-ray
i7 2630
8gbram
gt555m

y470
$749
$950 (including 3 year warranty + tax tax)
i5 2410
no-blu ray
6gb ram
gt 550

At first I was going to buy the asus g53, but people told me its going to be too bulky and hard to carry. I'm going to be travelling on the train for hour then bus for 30 minutes daily there , then same thing back just to get to university. I want to play games, but people told me don't get a gaming laptop because they are expensive and in a year they get out dated. That is why I am looking at the y series. They have everything I need. The only problem now is that I can't decide between the 470 and the 570.

I am going to Engineering Science at UofT, I am going to have 30 hours of class, average 6 hours per day (all 5 days...), so I'm going to have to fit textbooks in my back pack too. I am going to carry it all day , everywhere I go.

I use my laptop ALOt and mainly I use it for gaming or just surfing the web. I know this laptop can handle most games (just not on extreme settings) which obviously I have to pay another $1000 for.

I wish I could compare them in front of my eyes, but no where close by they have both these laptops. I have only seen the y570 (which I found was too wide) and I havn't seen the y470.

I am leaning towards the y470 right now because its smaller, but is it too small or is it perfect size?

Is the i7 processor , gt555m and extra 2gb ram worth the extra $150? The 570 is also 1lb heavier, and quite a bit larger than the y470. (which is the disadvantage)

P.S I love the V570, that looks amazing and I find it smaller than the y570 (width wise), it was jus missing the graphics card for me (N)

Also, if you guys suggest the G53 > the y570/470 let me know

The G53sw A-2
$999 ($1350 including 3-year warranty and tax)
1 year accidental warranty free
i5 2410
gtx 460
1080p screen , 1920x1080
6gb ram
(7200 rpm hardive)
cons, 8 pounds and the depth is gigantic, and low battery life
pros. the graphics card and the screen are orgasmic, I personally saw it and fell in love with it. I just don't know if the 8lb laptop would me off after a while or if it will even fit in my bag

I am really confused since i havn't started and most companies charge restocking fee (N)

 

If it's for school with lots of luggage (other text books), the Y470 with i5 is your best bet.

In gaming the i7 and the i5 is really close in performance unless the game makes use of quads which aren't too many besides the GT 555M/550M won't be enough to run those type of games at max anyways, so you not loosing out on much going with a i5.

In terms of desktop performance, again there's not much difference between a i5 and i7 unless the program makes use of quads like heavy video encoding, DVD ripping, video editing and big-time photo editing.

Ram is dirt cheap, once you get the laptop you can upgrade is for much less; most likely you'll max out the ram upgrade at 8GB on the Y470.

Lastly the GT 555M is only a bit faster than the GT 550M but the GT 550M should run cooler and Y470 is much lighter when traveling with other things, my opinion is not worth it for a GT 555M cause it involves weight on your trip which might make a difference in your case.

Given the choice I'd get the Y470 if I faced a similar situation where I had to be traveling on average 30 hours per week with the laptop.

 

Using 280.26 from the NVida site on mine, so far no issues I've had that version of the driver installed for about two weeks now. I don't have any of those games installed so I can't really give a good comparisons of the performance with an updated driver (might load FalloutNV to see). Maybe go to the NVida settings 3d settings > adjust image settings with preview > use my preference emphasizing > slide the bar to performance, then see how the games perform.

 

@Zaidpass

Go with this guys advice, its spot on. The only other thing i'd recommend is not to get the lenovo warranty. go with square trade instead and use their 30% labor day coupon. Much cheaper.

 

Surprisingly enough, it just shipped.