Lenovo Y470 and Y570 Official Owners Thread

Hey all, ordered my y570 a couple of days ago, should arrive around 28-30th. <del>Question: how did you guys get to combine SSD and normal HD? I did not see that option. Is it too late to combine? How much does that add to the price btw?</del> Nevermind, that was a different model. Also, I have read something about updating BIOS after getting the lappy... Is that recommended? Or just for some specific needs. Thanks!

 

Hello guys,

First I'd like to thank you all for the useful information posted here I bought the Y570 a week ago based on reading this whole thread and so far so good, I love this laptop

My specs are I7 2630, 8GB of ram, gt555 1gb and 750 hdd, now I have a few questions:

1)I'm thinking of buying SSD unfortunatley I dont have too much options here in Egypt I've searched allot and the only one I found was this Kingston SSD now+100 I did some search and I know that this SSD isnt the fastest but its faster than the HDD already installed, so is it worth it ? would I see a significant improvment ?

2)Will it be easy (if I buy it) to install it myself ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Is any one have y470 with i5 processor other than i5 2410M or i5 2430M ???
In specification lenovo claims that they seling that configuration ..... but i havent seen on the market. I have basic i5 2410 . I wonder is there very big difference in performance if we compare it with i7 - which has 4 cores but ...gets more power and produces more heat so maybe suffers for throtling more than other processors ? For now there are not many programs and games that can use more cores.

 

Has anyone found a screen protector and/or a skin to protect the exterior of the laptop, that was preferred? I have a Y570, and cannot find any skins.

 

Alrighty... Skyrim on a Y570 with "Super Energy Saver" settings.

Did the same procedure as last time. Booted up with the wireless turned off, bypassed the Veriface login to save time and power, and went straight to Skyrim.

66 minutes of game time before an 8min warning came up. The screen was really dim though so it was a little hard to see things; playing in a totally dark room might make a difference though (it was daytime here).

Other than the dark screen, the game seemed to play normally. I had RealTemp up this time and my cores maxed at 60-61 degrees (GPU maxed at 65).

Don't know if I'm going to bother trying the Energy Star settings. I guess I will just for the sake of completeness.

 

Diagura,

I always recommend buying the three year warranty for any laptop, because to me it's harder to try to fix one of these things on your own as opposed to a desktop PC, and laptops have the tendency to fail.

Rapiddrive is pretty good, but I don't think it's a necessity. It's faster than a conventional SATA drive, but a little slower than an SSD. We did a comparison and posted it somewhere here.

 

My philosophy is not to update it unless it's absolutely necessary. Windows updates are a different story; you always want that updated.

Drivers... well... for me it depends on what the driver is for and what the new version does, and decide whether or not I really need it.

 

I bought Y470 from Lenovo Outlet I7 2630, 8GB of ram, gt555 1gb and 500 hdd. This is a New item and I got it for $547 (incl tax). Its an awesome laptop. I would have loved a better screen resolution and a backlit keyboard. Can someone tell me that if I install SSD will it void the warranty?

 

@helplaptop : Don't worry.. if you are ordering new laptop from lenovo you will get the latest bios factory Installed.. 2.08 but who knows you might even have 2.09 ( released as per rumor, but not yet documented)..

Those who love to be on the edge..

NVIDIA's Verde Driver 290.53 - BETA released yesterday..

Quick glance at optimizations done tells of The Elder Scrolls Skyrim , COD MW3 , Battlefield 3 improvement.. Does it strike your fancy ..

Graphics Driver - Verde 290.53 Driver - GeForce

 

Chilleezz that is an incredible deal! I really wouldnt mind that model lol.

Just played some Skyward Sword on Dolphin and it is extremely fluent on this model. No issues at all.

 

I have a few questions. I have been considering buying an HP Pavilion with the following configurations:

- dark umber
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M Processor (2.4 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) Turbo Boost to 3.0 GHz
- 1GB Discrete GDDR5 Graphics AMD Radeon(TM) [HDMI, VGA] - For Dual Core Processors (Radeon HD 6770)
- FREE UPGRADE to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
- No Additional Office Software
- FREE UPGRADE to Norton Internet Security(TM) 2012 - 15 Months Subscription (activation required)
- 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- 15.6" Full HD HP Anti-glare LED (1920 x 1080)
- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
- HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP
- SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
- 802.11b/g/n WLAN
- Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad
- HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

That came out to around $760 dollars w/ a coupon and tax. I will probably be getting this option, but in my searches I came across these Lenovo Ideapads. The games I plan to be playing are Civilization V, Left 4 Dead 2 and The Sims 3. The Y470 caught my attention, as a portable laptop like such would be nice to have over a 15.6" model. Can I get a good IdeaPad (Y570 would work too) for the same or lower then the price my DV6T was quoted at? I'd like to stick away from refurbished.

I like the 570, but I was told that the GPU (555m) is a 'lower' class one, comparable to an overclocked GT 540m. Is this true, and would I be better off going with the Y470 with the 550m or the Y570 with the 555m. Thanks in advance! Also another thing that pushes me away from the Y570 is its screen resolution. 1366x768 on a 15.6" is a bit too low for me, but I suspect it would be fine on a 14 inch laptop.

 

Dark Umber? No way... definitely not worth it.

... just kidding...

It's pretty hard to beat that price, especially with that resolution. I have no way of actually comparing a Y570 with an HP anything. All I can tell you is that Skyrim rocks on a Y570. But it might rock on a DV6T too (maybe even more so with the higher resolution screen).

If the "lower class" GPU is really a problem, I don't notice it at all. Maybe the hardcore gamers and overclockers can find the difference in performance. All I can say is that Skyrim rocks on high settings. And that's all I can tell you because that's all I've been playing (and I don't bother overclocking anymore).

 

Thanks to those who responded!

Question to Skyrimmers and other hardcore game-runners: Is the problem described at Y570 - Why do games run better off my battery and ... - Lenovo Community prevalent mostly on Y570? There's quite a number of people complaining about it for whom the Lenovo/other people's fixes do not apply, though I am not sure how many people are not having this issue. If this a Y570 thing I am really tempted to call them up right now and tell them to change my order to Y470. I will probably try out the first games on my lappy ~10 weeks after getting the laptop, and I don't want to discover that it stutters and acts up when I ask it to do something it should handle after the return grace period... Maybe I should run some kind of benchmark/stress test software, or just some heavy program to see if it stutters.

 

Well, Skyrim is running fine for me, as you may have seen from my informal battery tests. Although I've only had this laptop for a month now... hopefully everything will be ok.

I don't know if Y470 users had that same problem.

 

How much would the RapidDrive cost me? Anyway I believe I would be buying the 3 year warranty, for an additional SGD200, which is quite expensive I think. Hopefully the Y470s are still in stock... I'm going on the eve of Christmas.

 

My y470 arrived last night am I very impressed. It really is not very heavy and seems pretty portable. I played SWTOR and was able to get around 25 FPS on high settings. Turning shadows off more than doubled that number.

When I first turned it on the screen appeared quite cloudy ( especially compared to my 13" MacBook pro). I think I was able to resolve this by turning the gamma all the way down but I'll see how it looks over the next few days.

 

The RapidDrive technology itself is free (I believe). You do need to have both an SSD and an SATA drive to use it though. I bought my Y570 with the 64GB SSD and 750GB SATA already installed and RapidDrive was active out of the box. I don't know what the process of activating RapidDrive is like, but at least the marketing propaganda makes it look easy.

 

Skyrim Battery Testing - Y570

Tried something a little different: Balanced settings with the GPU switch turned OFF.

55 minutes of game time at medium quality. There was no stutter. Had some combat with bandits, but nothing spectacular.

I'm going to have to try this with the Super Energy Saver setting. <del> Interesting how well the Intel HD 3000 graphics held up though.</del> I had thought that meant the GT555M was disabled but I was told that wasn't the case. Will have to do more research on that to make sure.

 

Wow! 1 hour and 27 minutes of Skyrim with Super Energy Saver on and the Optimus switch off.

And it still ran pretty good at Medium settings.

 

Wow that's encouraging Fletchman, keep it up, thanks for the tests. So the Intell HD 3000 is decent at running Skyrim at medium? Did not expect that at all.

 

I'm pretty sure the Optimus is always on regardless when you switch it on or off.


Switching the button on makes the gpu more trigger happy on which programs to accelerate. Switching it off will curb the appetite.

It's your 555M that's giving you the good frame rates in skyrim.

 

To all the prospective buyers of Y470 and Y570, keep an eye on outlet.lenovo.com as you can find really incredible deals over there. As said earlier, I got a new Y470 (i7 8gb 500HDD) for $547 incl tax. Cant get better than this. Thanks to all the members of this thread for the vast knowledge base that they have created here.

 

Hmm, really?

Ok, if that's the case, then it's 1 hr 27 minutes with the switch turned off. I'll edit previous posts.

 

Display a black image on both screens side-by-side and you'll notice the biggest difference between the two screens: Contrast (well, essentially the black value).

 

Also be sure to remove the protective film that it ships with if you haven't done so already.

(I know this from experience)

 

Hey you know, I think that might not be right. I tried it with the switch off again and alt-tabbed out of the game. The NVIDIA gadget said that there was no GPU activity (if I do this with the switch on, it indicates that Skryim is using it). So I think it really is the onboard graphics card (Intel HD 3000) that's pushing it on medium.

If that's not right, how do I determine whether or not the 555M is running the game?

 

I doubt an integrated GPU can run a current game at medium details. If it was at the lowest res and details, I would believe it.

 

Wow, I just got an email from Amazon Payments saying that my Lenovo.com order was canceled because the laptop was out of stock. And this is 5 days after my order, and the day before the supposed shipment date. It's unlikely that I'd be able to reorder at such a killer price again... Wow. :/

Was it ever figured out what the 48 vs 60 battery was dependent on? I am considering ordering a Y470, and would obviously prefer the latter battery.

 

Well, whenever I start the game with a different switch setting, it automatically detects and chooses the appropriate setting. With the GPU switch on, it'll select High, and with the switch off, it'll select Medium.

Is there another way of determining which GPU is running the game?

 

I bought my Y470, and didn't have a clue about what battery was included. The data sheet only said "6-cell battery"

http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/y-series/y470/Y470_Datasheet_US.pdf


Even when ordering a replacement battery, it doesn't specify what you really get on Lenovo's parts website.

General Part number 57Y6625
Description IdeaPad Y470/Y570 6Cell Battery B-WW
Architecture Depth Metric 205 mm
Height Metric 20 mm
Weight Metric[2] 0.32 Kg
Width Metric 50 mm

I have a feeling that the capacity is determined by the main CPU chip. Hence an I3-I5 processor would get a lower rated battery, and the I7 gets the higher rated 6 cell.

My Y470 I7 shipped with a PABAS024 rated at 10.8 V, 5.4 Ah (sticker on the battery). So is this a "48" or a "60"? I don't know what those numbers mean. My LTT hardware info shows me these numbers:

Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Battery Name PABAS024
Manufacturer Name PANASONIC
Type Li-I - Lithum Ion
Battery Serial Number 41167
Designed Capacity Percentage 93
Current Charge Percentage 45
Current Charge 2.31 Wh
Full Charged Capacity 5.18 Wh
Designed Capacity 5.62 Wh
Voltage 10.99 V

So according to this formula:

"Battery capacity can also be measured in Watt-Hours. Watt-Hours are calculated by multiplying Volts x Milliamperes. Here is an example:

14.8 Volts X 4060mAh (4000mAh is equal to 4.06 Amperes).
Is also equivalent to:
14.8 x 4.06 = 60.09 Watt-Hours"

So my Y470 battery is a "58" (10.8 Volts X 5.4 Amp Hours = 58.32 Watt-Hours)

Does that make sense? I don't know!

I only run the laptop plugged in, and seldom use the battery. That's why I have it set at "best battery health".

I hope this reply somewhat answers this query.:rolleyes2:

DragonRider

 

I installed and played Skyrim on my Y570 and was getting between 40-50 fps steadily while playing on Medium settings with AA/AF off completely.



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In menus it would hit 60-62 fps and stay there.

I had it hooked to my 50" LG Plasma the entire time as well. I'm not sure what kind of effect if any HDMI output has on performance while gaming but I figured I'd mention it in case it helps anyone that is on the fence about buying a Y470 or Y570



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Have had an Ideapad Y470 for a while now and would like to upgrade the wireless card to take advantage of my Netgear WNDR3700 potential.

My Y470 comes with Intel WiFi Link 1000 and the Intel website shows the Centrino cards only...whats the difference between the Intel WiFi Link and the Intel Centrino Ultimate/Advanced wireless cards?

I've been thinking of upgrading to the Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205 and read in previous posts on here that only genuine OEM should be bought...so no eBay of course, but any recommended retailers? Is it a simple swap (take out 1000 and replace with 6205)

 

I had a similar question and wondering if getting this card, say, from Macmall or Provantage would satisfy the "genuine OEM" definition.
_____________________

Lenovo Y470
i7-2670QM | NVIDIA GeForce 550 GT 1GB | 8GB PC3-8500 DDR3 | 128GB MyDigitalSSD mSATA SSD | 500GB 7200rpm HDD

 

Have people who have been comparing performances so far noticed any sizable upper hand Y570 has on Y470 in, say, Skyrim? I am asking because Y570 has a 'crippled' 555m which is about the same as normal 550m, but Y570's card is DDR5, and Y470's card is DDR3, and I would think this would make Y570 run games more smoothly.

Edit: Thanks Dragnoak and RedxWings!

 

There was a small survey but generally the i7 had the 60 W battery.

 

How is the 3DMark11 like for Y570, GT555m 2gb?

 

I thought it was 1 gb? I think with this video card it won't matter 1 or 2 gb, it will just get bottled up.

Thanks RedxWings! Hopefully that's what I get (after, hopefully, I get my laptop ). Turns out the Y570 shipment was canceled because they were out of spare parts and decided to cancel instead of delaying it! Waiting for Y470 now.

 

The Y570 has a GT555m that has 1GB GDDR5 @ 128-bit with 96 CUDA Cores. I'm not sure on the 3DMark 11 scores since I do not have it.

The Y470's GT550m also has 1GB of DDR3 @ 128-bit with 96 CUDA Cores.

 

It seems you found your answer but from what I've read the 128-bit memory bandwidth limits or nulls the effects of the GDDR5. If the bandwidth was still 192-bit it would outperform the GT550m's DDR3 even more.

 

Edited: I think the main difference between the 2 cards you mentioned, is the ability to connect in the 5 GHz band (AGN).

I gave out this advice in another thread.

If you do want to get a new card, I would advise you to look for the proper FRU in the Y470 HMM, which can be found here:

http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/ot...egoryID=658501

Pages 81-82, Part number 15, show you which cards will work in your system, and their FRU. Please be aware that some cards require an antenna structure to match the card. I think that's what the 1x1,1x2, 2x2, and 3x3 after the WiFi designator in the HMM is all about. I can't figure out how many antennas I have in my Y470. I have the Intel 1000, and in the HMM this card is listed as 1x2. Does this mean I have 1 channel, and 2 antennas? I have posed this question on the Lenovo forum, and no one seems to know. I wouldn't want to get a replacement card, then realize I only have 1 antenna, and the card doesn't work in the 5 GHz band.

If you do replace your WiFi card, please post back, and let me know if the replacement works.

Thank you,

DragonRider

 

I am not that handy but i needed suggestions on the best tools for opening the y470 and replacing the ram and hard drive in the future...please also specifics on brand (also name) as well and size of the tool..thank and happy holidays.

 

Replacing the RAM is easy and straightforward. I replaced my standard for 4GB with G. Skill 204-pin 8 GB DDR3 10600. This video is a good way to learn how to do it. It's for a Y570 but the Y470 is identical in all the major ways. It also shows you the location of HDD.

Lenovo y570 Ram Upgrade and Overview (English) - YouTube


My wife has a Y470 and I took the 4 GB out of mine and replaced one of the 2GB sticks out of hers. The screws in both plates remain in place so you do not have to worry about them falling out and getting lost. A standard philips head screwdriver is needed. You don't need any special tools for the RAM removal or insertion. It's a laptop so you're not going to need a large screwdriver, a small-medium sized screwdriver should do the job. The location of backplate indentions for the Y470 are on the right side and not the bottom as it is on the Y570 when you replace it.

I hope thats specific enough.

 

thanks for the response..im trying to upgrade to 8gb in the next few weeks or months...what is the best ram (a link would help) for this ltask ...

 

It all depends on you preference but it should be 204-pin DDR3 at a minimum.

Here are two suggestions the only difference is the speed of the memory. I went with 10600 because that is what came in my laptop. I'm not 100% sure but I believe we can use up to 10666.

G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)

G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

 

I'm considering buying the Y470, but the main thing that I'm worried about is the low screen resolution. I've heard rumors that it might be possible to upgrade it to a 900P screen. Has anyone been able to do this successfully? If so, which screen did they use? Were they able to use the webcam and mic afterwards?

 

thanks bro

 

I just bought lenovo y470 and was pretty impressed with what this thing does for such a small scale!

anyway, my question is

There is a bundled microsoft office 2010 on this thing
I tried using it but it asked for an activation key,
so I looked underneath the laptop and there was an activation key!
Typed it in.(tried 4x on this one) and to no avail it is still not activated, Is there a problem with my activation key?

or is it for the windows7 activation key and not for microsoft office?


Other question is I tired using the EE boot optimizer on this one.
It restarted my windows and it is trying to calculate for an optimization.

And after that it just went black and nothing is happening, it keeps on doing the same thing all over again.!
I updated the ee boot optimizer by downloading the update.
still the same!
any ideas anyone? thanks thanks


One love!

 

The Y470 has 2 antennas, the 1000 is 1x2 as in 150 mb send and 300 receive all on the 2.4 GHz.

Like you said the manual shows the 6205 being an acceptable upgrade but Lenovo likes us to use particular FRU. The 20002533 FRU for the 6205 is not available anywhere (ebay, amazon, macmall, provantage, and lenovo tech/customer/sales support do not even know where to find one)

There is a seller on eBay who has Thinkpad 6205 but different FRU
( 60Y3253 Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 62205ANHMW CARD fr Lenovo T520i T520 T520 | eBay)

I'm thinking of trying these out, will post when I know.

 

Hi avanish, the resolution doesn't seem to be that much of a problem on Y470 since 1366x768 is pretty standard for a 14-incher. I recall someone trying to find a way to attach a screen of a higher resolution to Y570 (470 too?), and it turned out that the motherboard had 30-pin connector for the screen cable, while the screen had 40, or something like that. It was possible to hook the screen up, using a 30 to 40 cable, but only at the expense of the built-in camera and microphone, I think.


EDIT: People, anyone has an idea of what game demo I could try out to test-drive my y470 when it arrives, to make sure it's not a lemon? I won't be able to buy & play games on it until ~10 weeks after the purchase, and returning the laptop then is too late. I am looking for some pretty demanding demo; I know there isn't one for Skyrim, what about GTA 4, any other ideas? Thanks!

 

For a game 'demo' I'd recommend checking out 'Hard Reset'. Its a pretty demanding and beautiful game engine. Its available on steam and from the developers website.

I have a y470 coming in the next week too, can't wait for it to show up.