Lenovo Y50 - Quick Review

So I got my Y50 yesterday, been playing around with it. Several people have posted their reviews in both of the Y50 threads, and there's also a very thorough review by alaskajoel in the forums ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ide...-8gb-ddr3-1tb-wd-hybrid-hdd-intel-7260-a.html). As such, I won't go over all of the aspects of the laptop, but touch on the most important issues.

I got the FHD (1080p) matte screen. Lucky me (I think) I got the AU Optronics panel (AUO36ED). I also recently received a Eurocom Shark 3 (Clevo W355SS) that I did a quick review on (check my signature).

Mine has the following specs:
Core i7-4710HQ
GTX 860m 2GB
500GB SSHD (5400rpm + 8GB SSD cache)
FHD matte screen (1080p)
8GB RAM (2x4GB)
Intel 3160 AC wireless card

Design
Very thin and sexy. The brushed aluminum exterior looks slick but is a bloody fingerprint magnet. Glossy bezel is stupid - just make it the same soft-touch plastic as the rest of the interior. It is half the thickness of my Shark 3, though almost as heavy.

Cooling/noise
The noise is very acceptable. The left side of the keyboard, including the space bar, gets warm during load. The right side stays cool. A rather odd design choice to place the CPU/GPU on the side of the keyboard that is most used by gamers. Temperatures overall are acceptable. However, I'm rather concerned about the heat exhaust. The rear-facing fan exhaust blows right onto the screen hinge (which is partly covered in plastic). This obstructs the air as it is blown out. I hope Lenovo designed the hinge to be able to withstand the hot air blowing right onto it. However, the CPU/GPU temps were pretty good, so the hinge didn't prevent the laptops' cooling system from keeping the internals at acceptable levels. I can only imaging how much better it would be if the hinge didn't obstruct the exhaust fan.

On a 15-minute burn-in run using FurMark, the max GPU temp was 63C. Which is 5C less than the Shark 3. Impressive.

UPDATE
It turns out the reason the Y50 keeps the components (mainly the CPU) relatively cool compared to other laptops is because it turns off Turbo Boost as soon as the CPU reaches a temperature of 65C.

Keyboard
One of the hot-button issues. I personally don't have a problem with missed keystrokes, but I can indeed replicate what others have been experiencing. If you hit the key softly on the edge (rather than with force in the centre) the keystroke will not register. Now, I'm what you might call a "classically trained" typist. I learned formally, in class, with proper posture, finger placement, etc. So I type with decent speed and hit all the keys with precision and force. However, I can easily imagine a self-taught typist potentially having issues.

It also lacks important hot keys (mute, play, pause). There are several function keys that have nothing associated with them (F4, F7, F8, F12). Why on Earth did Lenovo not add those really useful hot keys, when they included useless ones like F9 (settings) and F10 (search)? Clearly they did not really think it through, or consult with gamers.

It really seems to be a fundamental design characteristic of the keyboard - it just isn't as sensitive as other keyboards.You really have to try it to see if your typing style meshes well with it. It's overall a pretty good keyboard. Not as good as a Thinkpad keyboard, but better than most keyboards on laptops out there. That being said, I still prefer my Dell's keyboard.

Screen
Ah, here we are. The screen. The other hot-button topic. As I mentioned, I received the AUO panel, which (apparently) isn't as bad as the Chi Mei. It has been described as "horrible, awful, atrocious, bad, unusable, good, ok, adequate". So, what do I think of it?

In a word - bad. I wouldn't call it unusable, because it is perfectly usable. But the colours are nothing special. And more importantly, the viewing angles are really bad. There is no perfect viewing angle - you will always have some amount of colour shifting on the screen.

Now, most TN panels on laptops have some heavy colour shifting if you tilt the screen away from you (i.e you're looking up at the screen from below it). However, from the other three viewing angles (left, right and from above the screen) the viewing angles on most other TN panels I've used are generally pretty good. Not so on the Y50. You start seeing colour shifting regardless of which direction you shift to, although obviously looking up at the screen from beneath produces the worst colour shifting.

This is really disappointing. I have a year-old Dell Inspiron 17R SE with a TN panel that exhibits only minor colour shifting when looking up at the screen from below it, and almost none from the other sides. My Eurocom Shark 3 uses a Samsung TN panel that also exhibits almost no colour shifting aside from the below-the-screen angle (though it's more pronounced than on my Dell).

The AUO panel on the Y50 simply cannot display an entire, full screen image that doesn't suffer from colour shifting, no matter what angle you look at it from. It starts getting very "white" if you look from the left, right or from above the screen. And it gets practically all black if you look at it from below the screen. Seriously, if you need to pass some gas and shift slightly in your seat, the corners start shifting noticeably.

When I first got my Shark 3, I thought the screen was just average (when compared to my Dell). However, the Y50's screen makes it look glorious in comparison.

The colour shifting is most noticeable on dark images/backgrounds. If you mostly work with lighter-coloured backgrounds, you may not notice it as much. But playing games (which often have dark colour palettes) will have you notice the extreme colour shifts.

So, on the subject of the screen - it's bad, but not unusable. Like the keyboard you have to experience it first hand to see if you can live with it.

UPDATE: I created three ICC profiles for the AUO36ED display. You can find the link in my signature.

Speakers
The JBL speakers and subwoofer are outstanding as far as a laptop goes. Really, very good. Too bad Lenovo cut costs on the screen to pour the extra money into the speakers.

Conclusion
There's a lot to like about this laptop. Price, performance, design, finish are all great. But the keyboard and screen are potential deal-breakers: either you can live with them or you can't. There is no middle ground.

There is also the lack of optical drive, no secondary HDD slot, no mSATA slots and the fact it comes with 2x4GB of RAM (thereby using both RAM slots) to consider. But that's part of the price you pay for such a slim device.

It is apparent to me that Lenovo did not consult gamers when designing this gaming machine. No gamer would suggest cutting costs on the display in order to put in premium speakers - that's just silly. It would be the other way round - put in a premium display panel, and get the best speakers you can with whatever money you have left in your budget. You can easily compensate for bad speakers - its what we've been doing since laptops were first introduced (plug in external speakers or use headphones).

So really, barring the lack of upgrades (HDD, mSATA, optical drive) the only real issue facing a potential owner is whether or not the keyboard and screen will be adequate. If you have no issues with missed keystrokes and you can live the the screen, you've got a great laptop at a very reasonable price. If not, you will end up returning this otherwise nice piece of hardware.

If the screen is the only obstacle, you can always replace it yourself. Check out the thread I started (link in my sig) where we discuss replacement options.

UPDATE:
Here are some comparative shots of the screen. Y50 on the left, Shark 3 on the right. This was while running FurMark.

Apologies, only had my Note 3 with me, and I'm not a professional photographer.

"Ideal" viewing angle


Viewed from blow the screen (looking up/screen tilted away from you)


Viewed from the right

 

When will a company build based on the needs of its users...

 

They already have. The Sony Play Station, and MS Xbox comes to mind. :laugh:

Oh, you mean a laptop.

Well, if you really want a laptop built on some specification, you have to put in a special order. You can't just click on some "deal" that only fulfills half of your requirements. Sure it costs more, to get them to include the screen/processor/video card/wireless/... that you want. I don't think that most buyers even know that the manufacturers have the ability to do a deal with you, for a special order. Just call them, and be sure you have the knowledge about the different hardware, so you can dicker with them. Tell them you want to generate a purchase order (PO), and have them send the PO to you. If you're satisfied with the PO they sent to you, all you have to do is arrange for the payment, and they'll release the order to the plant. If you are not satisfied with it, don't pay, and it goes in the round file after a certain amount of time. Yeah, it takes longer than just clicking on a "deal", but you can get what you want.

IMHO laptop computing, came off the rails, when they started making them primarily "for gamers". It was OK when they made desktops, with liquid cooled processors, and separate powerful GPUs, that could handle the temperatures required for intensive gaming. Then the PC makers thought, "Hey, we could cram these smaller CPUs, and GPUs, in some of our laptops, and market them to the 14-24 year old gaming crowd." Fortunately, the hype worked, as laptop sales went through the roof. Unfortunately, for the gamers, you never got the pristine gaming experience, you were used to on your desktop. Plus, and all laptop makers absolutely know this:

1. For most modern games being produced today, you can't game exclusively on the battery. You must be plugged in.
2. Even though they can "fit" the CPUs, and GPUs, into the cramped space that is in a laptop, they really can't vent/cool the temperature continually produced by high powered gaming. The way they handle this situation is by throttling/down clocking your computer when it reaches a certain temp.
3. If you are going to participate in an on-line game, you had better be hard wired to the internet connection. Most "off the self" wireless cards, give you spotty, inconsistent speeds. That, along with your ISP's speed limitation, and your crappy router, will leave you in the dust when it comes to an intense battle. (Don't forget that your upload speed of the connection, is just as important as your download speed. You can get a zillion Mbps download, but if your ISP's plan only gives you <1 Mbps, before your weapon fires, some other user with 100 Mbps upload speed has already killed you. )

I never answer questions, in any forum, that have to do with poor gaming FPS on a laptop. It always comes down to 1, or all 3 of those "issues". Also, a lot of the hardware failures on laptops, comes from the heat generated, from pushing the envelope of the processor/video card.

Laptop makers will continue to make machines that can't to what the gamers really want, and gamers will continue to buy them on the hype. It's a burn them up, synthetic, throwaway world. It's like Vegas. As long as you ante up, they'll deal. Just remember, the house always wins in the end.

I'm not a laptop gamer. When I want to game, I take out my Nintendo. (Old fart) :yes:

Once again, this is just my humble opinion! I could be wrong.

:laugh:

 

Entertaining post there, I must admit!

And Dragnoak is right, you can get pretty much what you want, if you custom order it (and pay the premium).

Most Clevo-resellers/builders, for example, will put whatever you tell them to in the system. Dual-fan Clevo laptops can generally keep the system cool enough. It won't be thin and sexy though.

That's the thing - a laptop as thin as the Y50 has to make compromises - you won't get desktop-like performance from something 22mm thick.

Personally, since I don't do intense gaming, the performance I get from this range of "gaming" laptop (GTX 860m) is sufficient. It stays cool enough that it won't fry the system.

If you're running a dual-880m setup in a 17" laptop...you're asking for trouble down the road.

 

Nice review. Much better than my Amazon review
So how many stars you giving it and are you keeping it? I think I already know the answer.

 

Well, not sure yet on the stars. Definitely more than 1/5

I'm not sure if I'm keeping it. The screen is pretty bad compared to my Shark 3. I could change it myself, but that would add over $100 to the cost, and probably void my warranty.

On the other hand, it is a pretty slick device. It even (surprisingly) runs cooler than the much thicker Shark 3 (Clevo W355SS).

 

Well stick to your crusty old Nintendo console and desktop if YOU want to game. (Nintendo isn't exactly doing too well these days are they?)
Gaming laptops offer a much better gaming experience than today's gaming consoles any day of the week.
I've had gaming laptops for years with no heating problems that some basic cleaning/maintenance does not fix but had 3 xbox 360's die with ROD.
I really don't know what your post has to do with the Y50, try to keep on topic and not go on a wild long winded speech on " what the gamers really want" .

 

Added some pictures.

 

That's the AUO panel? That's ridiculous. Did you do any kind of calibration? If not, I don't even want to think about what the chi mei panel looks like. And I was ready to pull the trigger on this one, despite the screen... hopefully people start finding good replacements. :/

EDIT: silly me, you got the matte version. I read your review yesterday but only skimmed it today before posting.

 

I didn't do any calibration.

 

Hi Ramzay,

thanks for your review.
Are you going to replace the screen on your Y50? If i would decide for that laptop, i would defnitely go for a replacement as the Y50 is quite cheap and therefore 100 $ or € for a better screen would definitely be within the budget.

What about temps (CPU & GPU) under longer load and real gaming? Did you monitor your temps while playing an intensive game for about 2 hours or so?

 

The only game I play nowadays is Diablo 3 (17 month-old daughter, don't play much). The temps were within range of what I posted after a few hours of playing. I don't really play anything more demanding, so I can't really give an idea.

 

Great review- thanks so much for it. Don't know if it will help me decide, but now I know a lot more about what exactly a 'bad' display means.

Are the photo's a fair/accurate assessment on colors as the OP said they didn't calibrate the screen?

 

Well it's an actual picture of the screen, so those are the colours you can expect.

I did change the mode to "cinema" after, which made the colours a bit more vibrant. But they still look washed out compared to the Shark 3.

 

I created three ICC profiles for the AUO36ED panel - the link is in my signature.

 

Does the glossy lcd bezel still scratch as badly as on the Y500/Y510p? The bezel on my Y500 was scratched within one day of use after wiping it with a super soft micro fibre cloth, unacceptable in my opinion.

 

No scratches yet, but others have mentioned that it does scratch very easily. And don't forget that the top portion of the keyboard (where the speakers and power button are) is also glossy.

 

Yeah not sure why Lenovo or any laptop maker still use glossy finishes for parts you are going to touch, yeah they look nice but only if you don't touch them.But putting a glossy finish around the screen is always a terrible idea for any laptop manufacturer.

 

Thanks, guess I'll have to be careful with that if I choose to purchase a Y50. I was about to buy the new Acer V5 with GTX 850M graphics, but since the price of the Y50 is lower than I was expecting here in The Netherlands I've put it on my list. I can live with the screen I think. I will be using it mostly with an external IPS display.

I do have one question though. I want to replace the hard disk with my 240GB Crucial SSD, is the bottom plate hard to take off? I did it with my Y500 and a few of those plastic tabs broke off. Is the Y50 bottom plate easy to remove without breaking the whole thing?

 

It apparently isn't too bad, there are a lot of screws to take off though. Several people have replaced the HDD with an SSD.

Have a look at the review posted by alaskajoel (link in my review) - he took some pictures of the inside of the laptop.

 

Thanks I will look in to that!