Lenovo Y470 and Y570 Official Owners Thread

Hey guys. I just received my Y570. I was curious though. My box only came with a McAfee Antivirus Plus (1 Year) installation CD. There are no recovery CDs for Windows, Lenovo Software, etc. Previous notebooks I've owned always had recovery installation CDs and CDs for the drivers and pre-installed software.

I'm quite confused since some unboxing videos on Youtube have owners taking out what looked like the Recovery/Installation CD for this specific model. Other unboxing videos didn't have the CD.

Am I supposed to receive one as well? I purchased my unit from Singapore, if that information helps.

If there really is no Recovery/Installation CD, how would I re-install Windows on the machine, and also the drivers, proprietary software (RapidDrive, etc.)?

Thanks for any replies!

 

Hi everyone, I just wanted to say thanks very much for all of your input into this thread. I don't know a whole ton about the internal workings of computers at all; I just know that my old Sony Vaio from 2004 and my wife's IBM R50e from 2005 just weren't cutting the mustard anymore. After reading about how satisfied so many of you were with your purchases, I ended up ordering the y570 i7 2670 8gb RAM 750gb/64gb SSD from TigerDirect.ca for $1000 CAD (same price as ordering from the manufacturer, except that TD actually had it in stock).

The competitors were the Samsung Series 7 Chronos (not released in Canada for months), Asus A73, Toshiba Satellite, and MSI X460DX, all with roughly similar specifications. I settled on Lenovo as I'm a huge fan of IBM's build quality and I know that they're still very solid.

I probably over-ordered for my needs, but I'm a huge fan of future-proofing when it comes to laptops.

I experienced the headphone static issue, but the solution here seems to have it resolved. I've been able to easily update my drivers, set a few programs to automatically pick the 555m instead of letting Optimus decide, and get everything running smoothly. I am running Left 4 Dead 2 (yes I know it's two years old) at maximum everything, and it runs perfectly. I don't know how many frames per second I'm getting, but it's good enough to be fluid and that's all I need. I know that I won't be running games at maximum quality, but as long as I'll be able to run Deus Ex: HR and Skyrim at medium quality, I'll be 100% satisfied.

The screen resolution doesn't bother me in the slightest; in fact, I think it looks great. Bear in mind that I'm upgrading from laptops that maxed out at 1024x768, with washed out matte screens. This is a huge improvement for me.

I still don't know nearly enough about it and this is my first experience with Windows 7, but so far, so good.

Again, thanks everyone - I appreciate all of the time you've taken to provide your input, reviews, concerns, and solutions. You all helped me with this purchase, and I greatly appreciate it.

 

I didn't see any CD's at all. However, your laptop comes with Lenovo Onekey pre-installed. The laptop has a recovery partition, which I actually used last night. Onekey also has the ability to create restore cd's for you.

 

I do not know what your issue is. Here are my 3Dmarks:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO Base Board Product Name score: 9991 3DMarks
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO Base Board Product Name score: 11412 3DMarks
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO Base Board Product Name score: P5039 3DMarks
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO Base Board Product Name score: P5934 3DMarks

 

I just got a new Y470 with a 500MB drive that is faster than normal (7200 RPM?). Right out of the box there seemed to be a hard drive problem... a series of clicks (about a half-dozen) in a distinctive pattern sometimes followed by a beep. It only comes up while the hard drive is active, comes up even when mute, and the computer freezes while this happens. I hope the replacement is better!

 

I managed a 9415

Comparing the 3dmark06 details, yours says under graphics card

Memory
1024 MB
Core clock
752 MHz
Memory clock
1570 MHz
Driver name
Driver version
8.17.12.8562
Driver status
Not FM Approved

But mine says

Memory
32 MB
Core clock
0 MHz
Memory clock
0 MHz
Driver name
Driver version
8.17.12.8562
Driver status
Not FM Approved

Why a difference?

 

Probably just not reading it right, I dunno. Same driver version though, and you got your score back up.

 

They ended up sending me a replacement drive and I am good to go now . I must say... it was pretty painless working with Lenovo support.

 

Nope it's the standard 5400rpm. Like I've said, apart from boot time, the dual core desktop feels snappier most of the time in opening programs, folders and what nots. Also, its 30-35 sec average boot time is faster than 35-46 sec ave. on my Y470. I know that desktops are generally faster but it's just a bit frustrating that a Pentium dual core(!) could seemingly kick my i7's a$$ boot time wise.

But then again, back reading the previous posts it seems that the boot time of users/owners in this forum (without SSD, with system tweaks) ranges anywhere between 26-70 secs. And yes, I agree that the boot optimizer is not really accurate.

I'm not OC about the boot time by any means; perhaps I just have high expectations that there IS going to be a major diff in speed

Having an SSD upgrade is out of the question for now (at least til the next 6 months) coz it's too costly and difficult to find one where I'm based.

Thanks for the feedback

 

Thanks for sharing - from one new Y470 owner to another.

Maybe I should go for a clean install too. The animated windows logo on my GUI boot screen has a persistent 1-2 sec. jitter/pause. It's also mildly irritating. What could be the problem here?

Haven't upgraded all the available drivers coz i've read somewhere that some newer ones could be more problematic than helpful. Anybody could confirm this?

Just curious man, what is your average boot time and WEI? I'd like to know whether increasing my RAM to 8GB would make a difference in my WEI.

Thanks

 

Well I just ordered the MyDigitalSSD 64GB mSATA SSD. I am excited to pop that in and compare boot times to my desktop's SSD.

 

Just to clarify, it has nothing to do with desktops / desktops having more powerful parts. Most of boot speed has to do with harddrive speed. I believe most people are reporting a 12-20 second boot speed with an SSD. So yea, wait till you can get a small SSD if it really ends up bothering you, or even a hybrid hd

 

OK Dragon...

I feel like a complete idiot, but I can not, for the life of me find the Factory Restore Disk Utility. I've been looking for it for two days!

And you were correct... I absolutely love this Y470.

TY for any help finding this utility.

AQ

 

Hit the button next to the power with the little arrow on it.

 

Configuring speedfan here. Does anyone know the Target Temperature for the cores on i7 2670m and GT550m, idle and under load? Thanks!

 

You can also access the One Key Recovery (OKR) in the All Programs start menu.

Lenovo -> OneKey Recovery -> OneKey Recovery

See the attached thumbnail picture. Use the "Create The Recovery Disc"

DragonRider

 

I just received my Y470 (i7, 500 GB, 8GB RAM)!

I see two partitions one of 421 GB and the other of around 30 GB. Where is the rest of 50GB? Is it being used for recovery copy of windows? If yes, how do I see this partition? Is it recommended that I keep this partition? 50GB is an aweful lot to not use.

Another side note, I did not get extended warranty. Now I am having second thoughts. At the time when I was buying my laptop I think Lenovo was offering 3 yr extended for ~$59-60. Any recommendation where I could buy this for a similar price?

Also, I was to get a keyboard protector/skin. Anyone have good experience with a specific one? The ones on Ebay was mixed reviews mostly saying that the skins don't fit the advertised keyboard.

 

I'm about to place an order. I like gaming & i'm a full time uni student. Budget is lower than 900. I was wondering which one would be better?

Y470
- 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM Processor ( 2.2GHz 1333MHz 6MB )
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB
- 8 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
- 14.0 " HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
- 750GB 5400
- $779.99

Y570
- 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM Processor ( 2.2GHz 1333MHz 6MB )
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 1GB
- 8 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
- 15.6 " HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
- 750GB 5400
- $879.99

 

I've completed applying IC Diamond on my Y570's CPU and GPU alongside a CPU upgrade to i5-2520M and thermal pad replacements. I've also upgraded to BIOS 2.08 via Chinese forum and can confirm the BIOS indeed enables AES-NI.

As promised, I've taken a temperature test of my max CPU and GPU temperatures after applying IC Diamond however I do not my old temps to compare it to because of the CPU upgrade, my older CPU was a i3-2310M.

Here are my results after 1 hour Lost Planet Colonies benchmark loop taken via MSI Afterburner and HWMonitor.

CPU max temp is 70 degrees celcius
GPU max temp is 90 degrees celcius

I think the temps on the GPU is a off and I may have to re-apply on the thermal paste on the GPU. The CPU temps however really low considering my CPU is i5-2520M which is faster then the i5-2410M and newer i5-2430M versions.

I chose Lost Planet Colonies as a benchmarks because I think it's perfect for stress testing both your CPU and GPU for max temps and stability. The game benchmark makes use of all four threads on my CPU and is very graphics heavy, MSI Afterburner shows almost constant 100% GPU usage and Windows task manager shows an almost constant 95% CPU usage on all cores/threads.

I've also tried overclocking my GPU via MSI After Burner since I now feel more confident of my laptop CPU and GPU temps. My best overclock on the GT555M is 900 core, 1800 shader and 1700 memory. I could overclock higher before there are signs of artifacts however I like to round off my overclock to the nearest even numbers below the max overclock achievable.

And my results after 1 hour Lost Planet Colonies benchmark loop taken via MSI Afterburner and HWMonitor with GT555M @ 900/1800/1700:

CPU max temp is 75 degrees celcius
GPU max temp is 95 degrees celcius

I'm hoping after I reply the thermal paste to bring down the max GPU temp with overclock to 85 degrees if it does not work out then I probably will not keep the overclocked GPU settings.

However I can confirm the my laptop is very stable even with the GPU at 95 degrees celcius after 1 hour Lost Planet Colonies benchmark loop, I cannot detect any stutters during the game benchmark and after in Windows, no signs that says the laptop is overheating and needs a reboot.

ATM, I'm working on my SSD and OS installation when I get this done and have some time I will re-apply the thermal paste and post up my temperature results again.

 

Yep, I can confirm that, 11s to logon screen (confirmed via Bootracer). Login after I hit enter on the login screen takes less than 1.5 seconds. And this is running a SSD salvaged from a C2D-era MBP, lol.

 

It's really up to you Tanjid... if you prefer a smaller computer, I would go with the Y470 and then use the saved money to buy a mSATA solid state drive. I had a 14 inch notebook in university and I loved it. The 15 inch can be better for gaming from what I've been hearing due to better cooling and a slightly better graphics card. I have the Y570 and my temps are excellent (CPU no higher than 81 and GPU peaking in low 70s) but I have heard the Y570 can run hotter.

Just my two cents. Hope this helps!

 

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Honestly, if I was looking at 15" notebooks and had $900, Id probably look at something else. You can get good Sagers or a nice Asus with 1080p screen and better GPU. Y570 or 470 are great thoguh but I personally would not pay anything more than $800 for one.

 

Oh and Nemix, definitely redo the paste. Overclocked to 900/1750 my max GPU reached 73C after couple hours of BF3. My CPU hits low 80s, so you definitely are doing great there. I love IC7 and will eventually use it. Thanks for sharing.

 

I'm having an issue with my wifes Y470.

specs are:

Core i5 2410m @ 2.3 Ghz
4GB DDR3 PC 10600
nVidia GeForce GT 550M
Windows 7 64-bit

She has had her laptop since June and wasn't having any issues until recently. The things I've noticed and she has mentioned to me are:

sometimes the laptop will not recognize the charger and will not indicate it is being charged.

will not charge or maintain battery level if energy management is set to Battery Health.

Random BSOD's, taking multiple restarts for laptop to work again.

and now after a few days of no issues it won't start. It powers up but after the BIOS is a black screen. The fan is also starting to push out hot air as soon as we turn it on even if its been sitting for a few hours. I tried the OneKey Recovery button in an attempt to restore it without any success.

We called Lenovo support, they sent a recovery disc ( within 48 hours). I wasn't with her when they ran through attempts but from what I gathered from her is that he tried to have her access the BIOS so she could boot from the disc and/or safe mode. Both attempts failed. My opinion right now is a bad HDD but that doesn't explain the heat, so my other thought is it may be bad thermal paste on the CPU.

Anyone else have any ideas what could be going on?




On a side note: It now takes my laptop (Y570) 2:02 seconds to boot from the time the power on light illuminates until it gets to the log in screen. It only took about 30-40 seconds if not less when I first got it. I defrag regularly and have anti-virus etc so idk what the issue is.

 

Got my y470, its awesome minus the touchpad. the touch pad is just awful. If I hold down a key and try to move on my mouse pad, the mouse pad simply does not move. Is there another software manager i can use for my mouse, or some way to fix this? Also the scrolling is chunky and does not feel smooth at all.

 

Also what are some essential driver updates I need / things to do? I've heard lenovo is pretty awful with driver updates

 

DanVan,
What driver are you using for your Synaptics Touch Pad? The latest is 15.3.31.1. You "should" be able to adjust all of your settings via the mouse icon in the control panel. See my attached thumbnails. There are a lot of settings to play around with.

Still, I don't think you will be able to depress a key, and move the mouse around. I have never had a need to do that. I think that once you depress a key, the input shifts to your keyboard. If you don't mind my stupidity, which app requires you to do that? Is it some kind of visual graphics program?:confused2:

You're right about Lenovo's Y470 update page. They are slow to provide the most up-to-date drivers. If you check out the drivers they delivered on your "new" Y470, you'll notice that your machine probably has a lot of newer drivers than on Lenovo's update website. That is, only if you bought it from Lenovo's "official" web retailer. If you bought it from some 3rd party source, all bets are off.

I downloaded the 15.3.31.1 Touch Pad driver at the Synaptics site. You can check for other drivers at the NVidia, and Intel web sites. Still, one caveat is, if the driver hasn't been "customized" by Lenovo, you may lose some of their functions. Particularly, the Intel HD Video driver. If you update to the latest version from the Intel site, the on screen FN+Up/Down brightness display breaks.

Enjoy, and cheers!

DragonRider

 

Great advice, thank you.

Video games / photo editing require me to hold keys and move the mouse. I was able to do this with my inspiron. I have looked through all the options and changed things quiet a bit, thank you for the advice.

If anyone knows how to fix the problem of holding a key and moving the track pad please let me know

 

Yea I hate that mouse issue too. Try playing a game...forget about it.

OK nm figured it out. It is the palm check feature. Put it to minimum and you are golden.

 

Works great, thanks wildcard

 

So who wants to Beta test for the Y470/Y570 Community ?

Seeking Brave volunteer(s) for BIOS .. On your own risk !!
Post your CPU,BIOS versions and performance before/after update.

New BIOS 47CN31WW (V2.09) file posted without EC update( 64Bit Link click on the button right to Red VIP button)
BUT since this is not officially released, it was extracted from a machine which was at 2.09 it will only update the BIOS but not the EC Version.

Q. What is EC Version ? A: Embedded Controller Firmware - ThinkWiki is a good source for explaining although it talks of thinkpad it apples to ideapad too.

Features are unknown at this moment but rumors that it "BIOS (v2.09) will GT555M raised voltage from 1.08v 0.83v? 3DMark06 SM3.0 to run sub-high 1,000 points!"
This means graphics boost but could also have heat issues.

For Those who got BIOS 47CN31WW (V2.09) already installed from factory itself please let us know your EC Version as shown in the BIOS.

Reminder : Those doing the above flash do so at there own risk. I am not responsible for any Issues you may get. Please do so if you are 100% sure know what you are doing else BACK OFF till Official Firmware update file get posted.
Also Please have BIOS flashed to 47CN30WW (V2.08) before attempting the 2.09 and as usual have bios defaults set after bios flash then start OS before proceeding.

 

No thank you! Ill wait a month or so haha.

 

lol im still on 2.06 i need 2.08

 

My temps on the cpu get up to 90C and the gpu only at 65C while play CS:S.

Is that normal or should I hack up the case to re-do the TIM on the CPU?

 

GPU temps are good, but this is a source game you are talking about. You have the fan on Efficient Thermal Dissipation? The CPU is kinda hot, but technically it starts throttling at 100C. I still would try to do something about it.

 

Lenovo just announced the Ideapad Y480 and Y580 (with 1080p screen!). Specs seem to be awesome.

 

aradalf2: so do you think i should return my unit???

 

Yea the y580 does seem nice with the 660 gpu. And afaik, the 6 series are mobile/oem only and are just rebrands of the 5 series. I wonder if it will be a gimped 660 like the Asus G53s 560. Either way I am sure it will have optimus and it looks great so definitely a good contender.

 

Hmm is mSATA worth it? I think I'm just going to get a normal 120 ssd, and pull out my 750 hd (give it to my dad). My question is, are there any draw backs to just having an ssd as an hd? Or should I steal his laptops 120 hd

 

Not at all, just space is the issue. I wanted to keep the 750 hd because it would just be sitting on a shelf. The mSATA I ordered is 64gb which is more than enough for OS and main programs. I will use my regular HDD for the games and media. I could probably get away with a 120GB SSD and use my external 500GB for storage, but again, I wanted to keep the 750 gb and actually use it.

Just read that the 660m has 2GB RAM which means it is a gimped version. (128bit vs 192bit) Regardless this looks to be a good laptop that can compete with ASUS or even Sagers.

 

Thanks for the advice, maybe I'll just get a 64gb sata 2 then.

 

So I am now on my new install on the 64GB SSD, things are running great. Just wondering if anyone would mind sharing the Lenovo Windows 7 theme? I kinda miss it haha.

 

Sure wild, what file should I upload?

 

Anyone have a recommendation for a ~60gb ssd for around 60-90?

 

I've heard good things about this drive: MyDigitalSSD 64GB 50mm Bulletproof mSATA SSD | My Digital Discount

If you go to the Hardware SSD forum, they usually have some current threads about the Bulletproof mSATA SSDs.

 

Yeah my CPU temperatures get to like 90+ when gaming. GPU gets to 85 on BF3.

 

Looking at the BIOS (206A), CPU throttling starts at 85C and shuts the OS down at 100C.

 

Don't worry about it, someone uploaded a file with all the themes.

http://s10lenovo.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=3503

I just installed the 64GB Bulletproof. Works quite well. I am trying to get boot times quicker but best I got is mid 20's. I have tried using Windows driver vs. Intel Rapid Storage, and with the Intel all my benchmarks for the SSD are slower, so I am sticking with Windows default driver. Other than wanting quicker boot times, programs open nearly instantly. Love it.

 

Only thing I worry about is the 1 year warranty