Lenovo Y50 Owners and Information Thread

Always update from the company that makes the hardware.

 

Try using 16.5.3.6 for the wireless drivers. They seem to be more stable for me than anything newer.

 

Anyone have this strange issue where the discrete graphics (GTX 860M) is completely undetected?

After using it for only an hour, the 860M dissapeared out of Windows. I could not install, or update because NVIDIA detected "incompatible hardware." It is not under DXDIAG nor Device Manager.
I decided to do a clean install of Windows 8.1, but it is the same porblem, the NVIDIA chipset is nowhere to be found and drivers cannot be installed because of it.
The integrated graphics (Intel HD Graphics 4600) installs fine, however..

I am worried that I have a defective model, any help or suggestions?

EDIT: Sorry, stupid mistake, after going to BIOS my graphic setting was not set to "Switchable Graphics". Easy fix

 

You guys want any high-res pics of the inside or anything? Maybe a different angle on the laptop?

 

Yes please, can u also post the quality of the webcam?

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In case anyone is interested Lenovo does provide a coupon for online purchase.

I signed up for a Lenovo account and they emailed me a coupon worth UP TO $100. I ordered the fully loaded Y50 Touchscreen (without DVD; have one) and got $70 off. I ordered directly from Lenovo because the price seemed close enough to what I might get somewhere else, if I could even find it, and I wanted to purchase the 3-year depot service for $99.

 

How difficult is it to do a clean install of Win 8? I know they have options for refreshing the system but I've never done a true reinstall. Not sure if I want to go through and do this, and then spend time looking for all the drivers and such that won't let me zoom with my touchpad and other annoying little features. Wouldn't you get the same gains from just uninstalling the bloatware? Also, if I do a fresh reinstall will I lose any of Lenovo's useful software (if there is any) or can I always get that back later?

 

It's no too difficult. You'll need to download the drivers from their site (easy). You'll need a bootable Windows 8 USB drive. Then you need to enable legacy support and USB boot in your BIOS. After that hit the button next to the power button and it should get things going.

 

Has anyone found a fix for white noise in the audiojack, I seriously hope I don't have that problem...

 

So basically had a discount of 170$ off the 1400 or something $?

Can you stack those discounts with the Barnes and noble one?

Any word on how much will klickonline be charging for the 4k models?

 

Worth it then?

 

Apparently uninstalling the realtek drivers or using headphones with a micro built in solves it..

 

I remember reading that now. Thank you!

 

Those who have posted here said it helped with the overall speed and fixed certain issues/glitches they were having.

Haven't tried it myself, but sine I plan on putting in a SSD to replace the default HDD, I will be doing a clean install, rather than simply cloning the drive.

 

Just make sure you are well-prepared before starting the fresh install. Some of the early adopters had a tough time. But if you read the guides and have everything ready, it shouldn't be too difficult nor take too long.

The hardest part is finding a Windows 8 ISO file to download and make the bootable USB flash drive. You then would probably need to find a program (google it) that tells you what your CD key is, since it's embedded in your system. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

 

No, just $70 off the final price, which includes $200 off list price ($1,599) you get for "on-line purchase", if you want to count that.

Can only use on coupon.

 

For those buying in/from Canada, you can use ebates.ca to get 5% cash back, and I think there's a $50 coupon out there somewhere.

For me, I got the price down to $1099 ($50 coupon), then you get $55 cash back from ebates. So you get your total cost (after 13% HST) to around $1,188.

RMNCALENOVO3 is the coupon I used, not sure if it's still valid.

 

Yes it was

 

I'm using headphones with a mic and I still hear it.

 

Is it worth the $150 more for the UHD display? I definitely want a model with a SSD and was planning on getting the FHD version until I've read all the complaints. I don't need 4k for anything, but I think it might be worth it if the screen is significantly better.

 

Were you to buy an after-market panel and install it yourself, it would run you around $100-$150.

 

Why do this over the built in Windows 8 reset function? Or is this the same thing? I know the windows refresh reinstalls and keeps the apps, which is half of the reason why we want to reinstall it anyways, but I thought Windows reset starts you on a clean slate and uses the underlying activation key?

 

Reinstalling uses the same activation key already in the laptop too.

We don't want to refresh because that puts the bloatware back on.

 

Honestly I'd recommend spending the extra money and get the 16 gb ram 4gb GPU MODEL I did it and am the cheapest guy you could ever meet boy am I glad I did and I put in a 500 gb SSD and this laptop will not need to be upgraded for many years to come runs games like butter and the non touch screen is not that bad AT ALL.

 

Actually you don't need legacy support for a clean install if you create the USB bootable in fat32. Uefi doesn't see NTFS for some reason. There are utilities available online that do this. The windows 7 USB tool doesn't.

 

How do I turn DPI scaling to 100%?

 

Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Display (change to Smaller 100%)

 

I haven't done it yet, but all you should need is a bootable Windows DVD on an external drive or a bootable install usb. If you install in legacy mode, it will do a legacy install or uefi depending on how you boot. If you turn off legacy mode, you force uefi installation. For any fresh install, Uefi or not, you can remove all the partitions and let Windows do the work. If you want to preserve the recovery partition for whatever odd reason, just back it up externally. From my experience, recovery partitions almost never work when you need them so I just delete them.

 

Snaaapp. I'm about to buy the crucial mx100 512 gb and saw the slow sshd with fresh installation. but i'm learning here:

So in preparation: I downloaded the .iso file which is windows 8.1 pro 64 bit (correct version right?) , then i'm going to use Rufus to move the .iso onto a clean usb. I'll then get the generic windows 8.1 key. Then retrieve the product key from the bios via software. On another usb flash drive, I'll have the drivers from lenovo website.

Next, i'll replace the slooow SSHD with the new crucial ssd. (i might buy a 8gb stick of 1600 ram if my laptop has a single 8gb stick).

Then go into bios and order the usb to boot in highest priority or order. Install windows and put in the generic windows key. blah blah blah. activate windows with the product key obtained earlier. then install drivers. update windows stuff.

that's the gist of it, right??

 

Seems overly complicated to me. I just have a Windows 8 disc and install it. It picks up the embedded key automatically. The trick is to install the same version that the key works with. So don't install pro on a machine that only has a basic key. Your way will probably work, I've just never tried it.

 

Hey guys I need some help. This is my first time PC gaming I when I go to launch steam in fullscreen the screen flickers super bad. I think I manually configured steam to run off the nvidia card and i'm on high performance battery if that matters too....

 

That trick with using the generic key during install, then activate with the embedded key (which you extracted) is only necessary when you want to clean install Win8.1 on a computer that originally had Win8 (or when you have a Win8 Product Key as opposed to a Win8.1 key). Since your computer came with Win8.1 pre-installed, a clean install of 8.1 should pick up the embedded key automatically -- as member Xentar712 wrote.

I work in the Samsung forum and don't know the specifics of Lenovo's BIOS and UEFI implementation. But on Samsung's you have to disable SecureBoot before a clean install (you can re-enable it afterwards). We also need to disable a so-called Fast BIOS setting in order to boot external devices. And you have to make sure the USB is formatted as FAT32 unless you enable hybrid CSM/UEFI mode (I think that was posted earlier).

 

I just used a windows 8.1 pro iso put onto a fat32 bootable USB. Without accessing the bios I selected the USB as the boot drive and away the clean install went. It even selected the 8.1 core automatically and grabbed the key on its own. I didn't have a key entry screen popup during the install. Once I had it setup and WiFi configured it verified my key with Microsoft.

On another note the sshd with the uefi is remarkably fast. Enough that I can deal with it to watch the ssds drop in price a bit more. All of my other machines including work laptop and home desktop run ssd drives and I find no need to replace the drive in the y50 yet. Although when the price is right I will be replacing it immediately as it still doesn't beat an ssd.

 

That's marvelous. I'd save a lot of time salvaging train wrecks if Samsung's BIOS was this flexible. So just forget those suggestions I made

 

Here's a high-res pic of the internals:
https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/y50/...ACqHfnz_P4JLfmtI6Qa-1oPRr_aIEaxOKwMvUocbyFmeQ
(Image too large for being put here)
I can take even higher if you want. Get close up shots at that resolution and stitch them together into one. Shouldn't be too hard.

This is the Newegg model with the 7260, 2x4GB.

If anyone wanted to know how well fingerprints show up on the top, I can get a picture of that too. Just ask.

When I have more time tomorrow, I intend on taking a recording of the laptop sound while idle, under load (90fps, BF4, all low settings), and under stress (no framerate cap, BF4, all low settings).
As you can see, I replaced the hard drive with a 512GB MX100. On that note, I also plan on taking a video of start-up and shut down times with and without fast boot.

Battery life is actually better than I expected. With the Balanced profile (and a few edits to it), I get around 4 and a half hours.


If anyone is interested in the memory that Newegg put in the laptop, here ya go:
http://i.imgur.com/kf6TOPw.jpg

 

Switch steam to integrated graphics.


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Do you mean steam big picture?
You need to set the big picture to be rendered with Intel HD graphics.

The setting can be done in NVIDIA control panel --> 3D Settings --> Manage 3D Settings --> Program Settings
Select a program to customize: steam.exe
Select the preferred graphics processor for this program: Integrated graphics

 

I've done this, but I feel like it's still using the 860 as it flickers and looks nice. Whereas when I disable the 860 is doesn't flicker but looks crappy.

 

After some thinking, I think I want to return my Lenovo Y50 in favor of either the Aorus X7 or MSI GS60/70 Ghost.

I don't know if I'm truly happy with it or settling due to its $1100 price point.

I already have plans on buying an SSD, I already wanna get more ram, and I'm even considering getting a new panel like a lot of you guys.

While the MSI is IPS, the Aorus is TN however I feel like the additional performance, keyboard, over all build makes up for it.

I want to know your guys thoughts.

For me I just want a good gaming laptop that won't break when gaming and will provide years of goodness.

Thanks.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

has anyone received the 4k model? just wanted to check i th screen was a good one (even if just a nice tn is fine)

 

Just got mine. Will let everyone know soon

 

Silly question. How do you get the Ethernet cable into the port? Do I have to pull that thing down and how much force do I have to use to get it to lower? I'm scared that I might break it.
Nvm solved!

 

Okay ran into another problem. The spacebar is messed up. When playing ESO I noticed I'm not jumping on demand. After some investigation, the spacebar is uneven for me. So bad to the point if I push the spacebar with my left hand while on "WASD" it hits the far left corner and doesn't register. It's quite bad.

So that makes it official. I'm gonna explore some other options. I don't wanna pay $2k for a laptop, but it seems like I may have more success with what I'm looking for than if I stick with the Lenovo. So I think I'm gonna start off with the Bestbuy model of the MSI GS60 Stealth with the GTX860 KEP and if that doesn't work out then I'll go for the Aorus X7 from Xotic PC or something.

 

Well if you are considering GS60 Ghost 860m be prepared for inferior GPU and hotter temperature

 

can you check if 2560x1440 is a supported res?

 

Isn't it only ten percent lower in terms of performance? However I get a better IPS display? SSD and more RAM?

What about the GS60 870m?

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Well then that settles it. I'm just gonna have to pony up more money to get exactly what I want. I'm just gonna get the Aorus X7 with GTX860 SLI

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Posted my findings here. No 1440p sadly.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ideapad-essential/741832-y50-thread-598.html#post9705841

 

I returned the Lenovo and got the GS60 and I'm surprised how much better the screen is.

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No complaints except for the keyboard isn't very good. And the touchpad definitely takes some getting used to, but then I've always preferred ones with real buttons. Screen is good for me.