Lenovo Y50 Owners and Information Thread

What browser are you using? YouTube 4K content plays fine on Internet Explorer. Firefox couldn't handle it, video kept stuttering.

 

It appears Lenovo has updated a few of the drivers on the 12th this month, notably the:

(only available for Windows 8.1 64bit at the moment)
-Bluetooth Driver
-Camera Driver
-Intel Rapid Storage Technology
-Intel WLAN Driver
-Lenovo Energy Management
-Touchpad Driver
-WLAN Driver (Atheros, Broadcom, Realtek)

 

That Lenovo updates app is pretty useless. -.-

 

The only time I ever go to my computer manufacture's drivers update page is when there's a new BIOS. I use the drivers from the hardware manufactures page.

 

I've come to the conclusion that Dolby Digital Plus sucks with external speakers. I run external Logitechs with a bass module and when Dolby is turned on it kills all the bass. No setting changes bring it back. Still haven't figured out how to use the "manual" EQ either. Since you can't really hear the bass on the internal speakers never noticed it. It enhance the overall sound pretty good but no clue why it kills all the bass. In thinking about it, the software might just be geared towards a laptop's internal speakers not an 8" sub.

 

Can anyone comment on the backlight bleeding for the UHD model. I see guys on the newegg reviews say it's really bad. Have you guys had the same problem?

 

What kind of screwdriver should I look into to access the maintenance panel?

3mm Phillips with magnetic tip sound about right?

Also which WLAN driver to use? Intel one, or Atheros one?

My machine came preinstalled with the Atheros one, but I have no idea which WLAN chip it houses. I am aware it's usually either Intel 7260 or 3160 for this machine. I want to open maintenance panel and check the label on the WLAN card since even all hwinfo tells me is "Qualcomm Atheros".

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/pro...ops/y50-70-notebook-lenovo/downloads/DS100268
OR
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/pro...ops/y50-70-notebook-lenovo/downloads/DS100269

 

I have two options for the wlan driver part, am i suppose to download both of them? intel and (atheros, broadcom, realtek)? My wifi card is qualcomm atheros chip.

 

Mine had little or no bleed

 

The two that I had have bleeding near the task bar. Minimal bleeding.

 

I used a Phillips #00 bit for the Y50 screws. Worked fine.

 

Can you please post picture of it. thanks.

 

That doesn't look that bad at all. I will wait till price comes down and place an order hopefully newegg will have it for $1,200 again.

 

Hey Guys,

I purchased this notebook from Lenovo's website directly and it should be coming in the next few days.
A few questions:
Are the lenovo direct models all Elan trackpads?
What bloatware too remove and which is useful?

 

we're on the same boat buddy.. Qualcomm Atheros AR956X...

 

Hey all, I was looking into buying one of these things, primarily for work, and to play a bit of FFXIV on the side. I'm torn between this and the Sager NP7338, and was wondering if anyone could run the benchmark tool on Maximum and High(Laptop), just to give me some perspective on what I should be going for. Thanks a bunch!

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)

 

Hello, I haven a lenovo y50 non touch 8gb no ssd version. I've had the laptop for a week now and I'm randomly getting stutter/freezes for about 1-2 seconds mainly when playing games. I only have dota 2 and diablo 3 and it does it for both. I have tried factory restoring installing/uninstalling drivers, changing power settings and nothing has worked so far. I installed cpu z and gpu z to monitor what happens and when the freezes occur the gpu load is 0%. Does anyone have any advice to this problem? I really want to keep the laptop or find a fix before I return it to lenovo. Any help is greatly appreciated thank you in advance.

 

You sure it's using the right gpu? Maybe force it in Nvidia settings? If you force it, it will use it or won't run at all. Then check gpu-z

 

Thank you for the response when I right click desktop I choose the option use high proformance nvidia processor and I do it under programs for the games as well. That's the only thing I know how to do haha. I also get some audio delay too but I'm more worried about the stutter/freezes than that right now. Thank you again for helping.

 

Make sure your power settings are not set on power saver or other less than optimum settings.

 

Yup battery is on performance and the video card is on max performance I'm starting to lose hope. It's starting to get worse now. The only other thing I haven't tried is a clean install of 8.1 but I'm not entirely sure how to do it and when I tried to start the setup process it said the cd key couldn't be used for some reason..

 

I've seen about 2 or 3 others with the problem, and the common denominator seemed to be the SSHD. I haven't seen the issue with anyone that has a SSD. Now whether that's the problem or not, I do not know.

 

So the solution would be to buy a ssd or another hdd? By the way that sounds it sounds like I should return it haha -_-...well thank you for the advice I'll keep searching and maybe someone knows something.

 

the hole is the same, but there isn't always clearance for the lock itself. i purchased Kensington K64661WW to use with my Y50 and it doesn't quite fit unless i force it, which scuffs the edge. anybody have a kensington-style lock they have used successfully with the Y50?

 

I was wondering if anyone knows why they the UHD version is not available? I had been looking at it for a few weeks now and I just noticed it was not available from the lenovo site today.

 

Hi all, I just tested my Y50 (FHD, 8GB RAM, 2GB 860m, SSHD, Chi Mei Screen, i7-4710) today on games, and I found something slightly worrying. The game I tested was Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. Settings were Ultra on everything with no AA with the program set to the 860m. Although everything was fine graphics wise (100+ fps with a few resource stalls, but that can be attributed to a lack of a ethernet cable/okay wi-fi), the fan was extremely loud, whirring constantly throughout my gaming session. It only quieted down and went back to the normal once I exited the game. Somewhat concerning since this game is a couple years old and not the most intense graphics wise. Sorry if this has been already answered, but is the loud fan noise normal? Reviews on here seem to indicate that the Y50 was pretty quiet noise-wise even while gaming.

 

If you are getting 100 + fps then you need to enable vsync. Otherwise you are stressing the GPU as much as possible and it is normal to have your fans working at 100%.

 

hi,

just recently bought the lenovo y50, UHD, i am mostly pleased, except for the wifi... i have the atheros AR956x
no matter where i am, my older laptop whit a AR9002wb gets atleast twice the speed, and if i am further then 5meters from the router then i get 10% of the speed..
is the ar956x just a very bad card or is something else the matter?
this is whit the latest drivers (10.0.0.287)

also, do any of you know of a powerbank that is compatible whit the y50? i need to take it whit me to university and want to have some battery life for those longer days.

 

that's normal for SC2 on ultra. old game doesn't mean it can't be demanding, for example far cry was a 2 year old game and still not many mobile cards today can fully handle it on ultra

turn on v sync for a RTS and get input lag? let's get real here, v sync isn't for everything

 

Mine has none... you have to remember usually the only people that are going to comment on something is when something is wrong.

 

Hello All,

I just purchased this Y50 from Newegg.com and I just realized it was a non-touchscreen model. That doesn't bother me too much. Actually, I might like it better because I always use my mouse and setup my system to use a start menu, etc.

I am hoping that this particular model, since it's not a touch model, will have a less glossy screen but I haven't researched the specifics quite yet.

Can anyone tell me the main difference between the touch and non-touch versions of the Y50 and which (if any) option is better?

Thank you,

Jan

P.S. While I was shopping for a gaming laptop I also considered some MSI models as well as Gigabyte. I couldn't find any of those in my price range ($1000-1300) that had all my requirements:

1. Thin
2. Back-lit Keyboard
3. 802.11 AC

I was also wondering, did any of you Y50 owners shop other models before buying the Y50? If so, which ones and what made you choose the Y50?

Thanks again.

 

Well, I saw the Y50 initially at cNET's CES 2014 video, and I loved it immediately. It fulfilled all my intentions, multimedia stuff and gaming.

I was also considering the Gigabyte P34G v2 and Gigabyte P35W v2 but those weren't available where I live. And my parents were buying for me so it was best if they knew the brand, as my dad has a Lenovo Y570.

I personally saw the FHD screen at a display store and it didn't seem that bad, but was gonna do some Graphics work on it, so it was probably best if I got the UHD screen and then calibrate the yellows.

 

That's probably what is confusing me... I don't know much about displays, i.e. what is FHD, UHD, etc...

There are 2 other laptops I am considering, unfortunately Newegg is sold out of both:

ASUS N550JK-DS71T

ASUS ROG G550JK-DS71

I did find the N550JK and the G550JK for less at Office Depot but the shipping time is like 10-15 days and I am impatient.

I think I would probably like the N550JK better as it is silver and less prone to fingerprints. I hear the ROG (black) series is really bad when it comes to fingerprints.

 

Hey guys,

Just got my 4K Lenovo Y50 from John Lewis in the UK a couple days ago, I am willing and able to answer any questions or queries.
The laptop has been a beauty so far and has been brilliant, my only issue so far has been the 48Hz lock and the fact that the laptop all around is an insane fingerprint magnet.

Anyway any questions will be answered to the best of my ability and I can also take images if needs be.

Regards,
Invasion

 

Congrats on your new laptop! Mine is probably going to arrive tomorrow (gotta love Newegg shipping!).

I am still confused about one thing... the difference between the touch and non-touch versions of the Y50. Is yours touch or non-touch?

 

Hey.

I have the non-touch model, would have preferred the touch model but it wasn't available anywhere here in the UK. Another issue I want to note is that in the UK the Y50 ships with the Qualcomm Atheros AR956x, please guys try to stay away from this network card. It has constant drops throughout the day which are extremely frustrating while i'm doing something important and sometimes it just totally doesn't want to connect to my Wi-Fi. I have updated to the latest drivers through the Lenovo UK website on my laptop and I am still experiencing these issues. Please stay away from this card.

Regards,
Invasion

 

How do you like the display so far? Is the viewing angle and colors as bad as some people are saying?

 

The 4K model has beautiful viewing angles, both vertical and horizontal. The issues people were having were related with the 1080p models. If you have ordered the 4K model you will be pleasantly surprised. The images I can take of the viewing angles don't do justice as to how good they are. Take my word for it, while closing the laptop lid you will be able to see the beautiful colours untill the display turns off, nothing gets washed out, grainy or anything else. The display is an absolute beauty to use. However, I will say that certain apps have issues scaling to the 4K resolution of the display such as Adobe Photoshop and if you are heavy user of these apps, it may be a slight issue (however you can just decrease the resolution to 1080p and it will be perfectly fine). Overall, the display is jaw-dropping, I am not a hardcore imagery guy so I may not have the greatest review on the display, however, the general consensus does seem to be that the 4K display has beautiful colours all except yellow. Yellow is a colour the display has issues handling and the yellow colour looks mustardy but if you can get over this (like I did), then you are in for a treat. The 48Hz lock is also a bit of a bummer hopefully, this is just a software lock and can be fixed through future updates (fingers crossed).

Hope I helped ease some of your worries about the display.

 

I ordered the 1080 non touch model. I guess it does not have an IPS display. I have been reading review sites online and there are a lot of people complaining about the display.

As far as the 4k.. I had a 4k laptop once (Dell XPS 15) and I returned it. The display was amazing, the problem was with applications. About 50% of the applications I ran had skewed/distorted interfaces. Like really small buttons, tiny menu items, etc. I am sure eventually most companies will release software that is compatible with displays over 1080 but I couldn't wait that long.

 

Oh right I see yeah the 1080 non touch model, let's just hope you get a panel that your fond of. I don't think you will be too happy if you care about viewing angles, but personally I don't think viewing angles are a big thing since usually laptops are only something people use on an individual basis. But yes, it is true, people have been complaining about the display, hopefully their complaints are not present on your model (somehow).

And yeah the second part you explain about distorted interfaces is what I am experiencing with tons of apps aswell as games whereby I have to change the resolution to 1080p and then sign out to rescale the UI elements of Windows and then alas use my application or game. Hopefully more and more applications quickly become synonymous with 4K as higher pixel monitors is where we are currently headed. Just personally love the 4K display because of the clarity of the text and icons and elements it's all just jaw-dropping.

 

I am also having a hard time finding out if it's an IPS or TN display. It doesn't show on Newegg's specs tab or at Lenovo's website. Since no one talks about it it's probably the lesser quality display (TN). If it were IPS I am sure they would put it in bold letters.

 

Yeah I'm no expert but reading through tons of forums about this laptop I can basically confirm that this is a TN panel, the only IPS panel is the one used on the 4K displays. Kind of a bummer, but I guess you can manually change the panel which will be costly ofcourse but will definitely make it more appealing to the eye. Even retailers such as TigerDirect who have been writing IPS in the description of the device have also confirmed to be shipping TN panels, so basically anything Lenovo Y50 1080p thus far has been TN.

 

Again, not positive that it's the problem, but I've seen HDDs cause computers to hang for a split second. If the computer decides to do some power saving with the hard drive, it's possible that that is what is causing the hanging. A solid state drive could wake up and get to work many times faster so you won't notice any lag. So to reiterate, it's possible that the SSHD is the problem but don't quote me on this. The only way to see if it really was the problem would be to basically clone your current drive onto a SSD and see if you still get them.

Well that's news to me. Thanks, learned something new today!

 

I have this issue too. I hate this. Has anyone with this same card solved the range/speed problem ?

 

sometimes i had signal drops,, and thats not good along LAN gaming..
consider to change the wlan card, but will it have whitelist issue just like the old Y500?

 

I am sure it has whitelist/bios issues and only few cards will work.

I hope there is some driver/settings fix which sorts this out.

 

how do u check the drivers for the wifi card?

 

Hello guys,

I have Y50 since friday and everything went well until yesterday. I play BF3 and 4 and suddenly Windows showed me the Insufficient memory warning. But 4GB was only used I tried bigger swap file, new drivers, compatibility mode and run out of ideas. Only more thing i got was DirextX Graphics card run out of memory error I dno´t know, everything was good on PC with W7 and only 4 GB of RAM and 2GB of VRAM.

Could you please someone help me?
Thank you

 

Are you on Win 8.1? This is a known issue.

Here's a solution for Win 8 Pro.

This can also be avoided if you set your game's resolution to your monitor's native resolution. Not a great workaround but I can't find any better way at the moment.