Lenovo Y50 Owners and Information Thread

I think I'm understanding this ... you have the 4k screen with touch capabilities? I didn't know until after my last post that there was such a screen. I thought the 4k was non-touch. So now I know that I can get the 4k and still have touch. Nice. Aside from gaming (and the color) how is the 4k for simple things like the clarity of characters and small fonts, etc. My eyes are getting older and the crisper the image the better for me. Also, have you tried playing a blu-ray disc yet? Just curious how the image quality is for movies. Gaming is an added bonus for me on this next laptop purchase. I still want multi-media capability and good clear images for day to day stuff.

 

It's funny because I was gonna buy it from you guys but through Amazon since you had more stock than MichaelElectronics but I never realised I would get a reply from you guys directly on here , but I would definitively love to have your website link so I could get it from you directly and save myself those $100, or maybe spend them on another model with a larger SSD like maybe 512GB if a model with 512 is on sale.

PS. I would appreciate if you share a link where the UHD touch model is reviewed/showcased.

 

Do all the 4k models have touch screen, or are some of the 4k's touch and some not? If the latter, is this model touch or not?

 

There is currently only one 4k Touch model - the rest are all non-touch.

 

I don't have any links for reviews, but I know there are many in this thread. My contact info is in my sig below if you want more information.

 

Klick Online, could you please tell me what's the difference between this model: Buy Lenovo Y50-70 4K Touchscreen Laptop, Intel Core i7 - Microsoft Store and this model: Buy Lenovo Y50-70 4K Touchscreen Laptop, Intel Core i7 - Microsoft Store

Thnx in advance.

 

Yep, Y50 UHD (4K) Touch. I've purchased from both the MS Store and from Klick and have been very happy with both experiences. I'm not sure if Klick is selling the same one from the MS store, but the MS store sells the Y50 UHD Touch without bloatware... a HUGE deal in my mind. I'd recommend going the non-bloatware route every time.

As for the UHD, the biggest flaw as you've reiterrated is the yellows. I don't mind it as much, but it's hard not to notice when you have anything yellow on your screen, which I'm learning happens far more frequently than you think. It's definitely a flaw, but unless color accuracy is important to you I wouldn't say it's a deal breaker.

As for scaling, you can tell it's 4K resolution is a very new feature that lots of software haven't accounted for. Some software like Chrome will have to be configured to work correctly, while some games fail to run because of the resolution. In my case, I have to play Shank through Steam big picture or else the game will CTD. Other games will run fine, but with a huge black border. There's an example of this at the 6:00 mark on Linus' review showing this issue. Even Windows 8.1 has some scaling issues on the desktop, where some dialog boxes and buttons will be awfully tiny, despite other interaction boxes being scaled rather well. I'm sure these issues will be addressed in the near future, when 4K resolution becomes increasingly popular. Or, it could be that I haven't done enough research to see if I don't have it configured properly.

 

Yes ours is the same as MS Store without the Lenovo bloatware as well (the 4k Touch version).

 

Hello folks.

I hope quoting old-ish posts isn't frowned upon, but I came across this one and I have some related questions.

My Lenovo Y50 finally arrived today and I've spent most of the day trying to find out how to go about partitioning the drive and installing Windows 7. I intend to use Windows 7 as my main OS but since Windows 8 is already on there I figured it would be prudent to let it hang out in the corner in case I ever want to play around with it.

I've mostly been collecting bits and pieces of info since there doesn't seem to be a single step-by-step guide out there (and if there is, I'd be grateful to anyone who can link me to it). This post here has some helpful instructions but I've had problems with the BIOS modifications.

Based on my attempts at steps 1-3, I have determined that changing the SATA setting to Compatible sends the laptop into a continuous restart loop where it thinks something's wrong and has to restart and then something's still wrong so it has to restart etc. etc. That stopped once I changed the setting back to AHCI. Also, the secure boot setting in the Security tab disappears after I enable legacy support. I tried changing and saving the secure boot setting before enabling legacy support, but since the entire secure boot bit disappears I have no idea if it kept the disabled setting.

So if anyone has any insight on what's going on there and what I can do about it, I'd appreciate some advice.

Also, I've got some instructions on partitioning that look reasonably easy to follow, but I'm wondering how much of my hard drive space I should devote to Windows 8 (ideally, enough for it to be functional but let Windows 7 have most of the space since that's what I'll actually be using). My model has the 8GB SSD and 1TB HDD. I don't have any plans to change the drives. I'm also considering making three partitions and using one as a shared storage space if that's not too problematic.

And finally (for now), should I do the BIOS changes before or after I make the new partition, or doesn't it matter?

 

Sorry, but one quick question ... if the 4k screen is problematic because software scaling is up to handling 4k yet in many apps, can the Y50 4k screen be set to run at 1080p and then operate as a 1080p screen just like any other (with the ability to go back to 4k at some future date when more software can handle it properly)?

 

Just ordered the Y50 UHD from NewEgg. Has anyone else ordered thir Y50 UHD from Newegg or did everyone get theirs from Microsoft?

 

Hello,

I have the UHD model of the Lenovo Y50 and first and foremost I have to say that I do not recognise a difference between 48Hz or 60Hz, this may just be my eyes but it is such a subtle difference that personally for me it is barely noticeable. If you go over to this website: https://frames-per-second.appspot.com/ and change one ball to 48Hz and the other ball to 60Hz you should be able to see the difference provided you have a monitor currently that can display 60Hz. To be honest there is a difference, but it isn't so drastic to be totally on edge about.

The monitor is actually pretty good and the only issue colour-wise is the yellows which are very mustardy and just not pleasant, hoping this is a software issue and can be fixed. The resizing in 4K on DX11, is a problem but a very small problem, all that is required is for the resolution to be toned down to 1080p the UI elements set to medium and just a sign out and sign back in - you don't even need to restart the computer. Hope I helped answer some of your queries!

 

Hey,

i will answer each of your questions,

1. Yes the UHD model with touch does exist and was previously sold on the official Microsoft Store, people do have this model and it DOES have a touch-screen UHD display. So no worries there. Amazon isn't lying to you.

2. I think you mean is the 860M a Maxwell model. As the CPU is an Intel Haswell CPU. There is no real way of telling as some people have received Maxwell and some have received Kepler the older GPU. But most units that are shipping do have the Maxwell GPU, as does mine, mine is from John Lewis in the UK however, so I cannot confirm the model you have open up on Amazon US.

3. This model was released a while back I think more than a month to be honest, if you read through this ENTIRE thread as I did before purchasing the laptop, you will see that many people have had the 4K touch model so don't be worried at all. That is all legit.

Hope I helped.

 

Yeah man through the Screen resolution settings in Windows, the Y50 can easily be changed to 1080p and vice-versa, you will just need to sign out and sign back in for the UI elements to resize. So in summary, yes you can easily change between 1080p and 4K and all the other resolution options very easily.

 

The ODD is external. From what I've seen, most models sold don't include the ODD.

I don't have any experience trying to dual boot in this sort of situation (UEFI), but maybe I can help you understand what's going on.

The Windows 8.1 installation that comes with the laptop is installed in a GPT partition for UEFI to work. Legacy boot is a different way of booting and it doesn't work with GPT but does MBR. To install Windows 7 alongside Windows 8.1 in UEFI, you'd have to put the Windows 7 installation files on a flash drive in the correct format. There's a program called Rufus that can do this. You would change the Partition Scheme selection to GPT for UEFI. Based off a quick google search, dual booting those two in UEFI is a lot of work. It would be much easier to enable Legacy and re-install both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in the MBR format.

Making a shared storage partition shouldn't be an issue.

As for the BIOS changes, refer to above. It'd be easiest to completely start over and install both 7 and 8.1 after changing the setting to Legacy.

Here's a great article explaining the differences. If you don't want to spend too much time reading, skip straight to the sections that have "vs." in the title.
https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Some_basics_of_MBR_v/s_GPT_and_BIOS_v/s_UEFI

 

Thanks for the info. I'll need to do more reading about it to know exactly what all of those terms mean, but that explanation is a good start.

Should I be concerned that the BIOS doesn't seem to want to let me have legacy enabled and secure boot disabled at the same time? It looks like legacy is the important part in getting both OSes to work with MBR, but I don't want secure boot rejecting my Windows 7 installation later on.

At some point I may decide that Windows 8 isn't worth the extra fuss and just do a regular overall installation of Windows 7. If I do just install Windows 7 and want to add Windows 8.1 back later (which I guess will be the same sort of thing I'm trying now, except I'll be adding 8.1 to 7 and not the other way around), can I just record the serial number of my current 8.1 installation to activate the new installation later? I understand that I can obtain the 8.1 installation files from the internet as long as I have a legit activation code to use.

 

No problem!

Secure boot only works with UEFI. From my understanding, all it does it protect certain system files to prevent a rootkit from getting in. So long as you're at least somewhat careful with what you let on your computer, I'm sure you won't get one.

As for dual booting, MBR would be the best way but that means you'd have to reinstall 8.1 too. It comes with the computer with GPT.

I just got used to Windows 8.1. Boots straight to desktop. I enjoy the extra speed too. You could look up something called Classic Start and that pretty much makes 8.1 have the same interface as 7.

You can record the serial number if you want, but it's already stored in the laptop for when you reinstall 8.1. The key should be automatically detected during installation. It's also hard to get 8.1 because you have to have a retail key, not OEM.

 

Were you able to make this work ?

 

Does anyone know if another lenovo 7260 would work in y50, taken from lenovo yoga 2?

 

Why not try it and let others know too ? Because i am not at all happy with atheros card and looking at other options.

Does anyone have any list of cards which will work on this laptop ?

 

would try it, but I have to buy it from american ebay and ship it to uk, so its not as straightforward as it sounded in my question.

 

Aah! May be if we get a list of which cards will work, that would make things a lot easier.

 

thats good, but how could we find one?

 

actually, I was wondering how you guys partitioned your drives for win8.1. did you split the OS drive up and kept your program and files and into different partitions, or how else did you guys manage to do it? back on my old machine I just partitioned the OS drive and left 100 gigs for it while installing of my programs and storing my files on separate partitions. any advice?

 

Thank you very much you really did help xD

I have another request if you or any one in this thread doesn't mind. I'm looking for a sleeve/case for the laptop but most of the sleeves/cases I look at are not wide enough for the Y60 because the Y50 is significantly wider than most of the other 15.6 laptops (especially the UHD touch which is heavier than the non-touch UHD i think), so I would be grateful if you link me any of the sleeves/cases you got for this device. Thank you in advance.

And also if you have a video link where the UHD touch model is being showcased or reviewed would you care to share it?

 

So the 4K model is the one to get and see there any heat issues when using? Especially during video playback and gaming? Is repasting the thermal compound needed?

-Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk

 

I didn't do any partitioning. Everything is on the C: partition. I keep my machine clear of unneeded programs and start-up programs/services. If I ever do feel like I need to wipe the drive, I'll copy the important files somewhere else and transfer them back once I'm done. Windows Easy Transfer is pretty awesome for that. Just make a backup with that program and after you reinstall 8.1, just run the file that it created and it'll put back all your documents and music and whatnot. I'll also copy the Steam and Origin Games folders too.

I've heard of a lot of people keeping their Program Files data and stuff on a separate partition on the same drive so it's easier to reinstall stuff once they wipe the C: partition. I don't do that because a full wipe gets rid of any extra stuff left over in the Program Files folder that I won't be using anymore. On my desktop at home, I have programs put on a different drive completely but it is a pain to go back through and clean up anything I don't want or need anymore. I did that because I had a 120GB SSD in it with two 1TB HDDs. Now that I've replaced that with a 512GB SSD it's not much of an issue so I can move more games than just BF4 to the SSD.

Point is, I personally didn't but there are advantages to both.

 

so there's no real advantage in repartitioning?

 

If you want to create a separate partition to store documents and programs, it can be useful. If Windows is on the C: partition and all your documents are on the D: partition, if you decide to reinstall Windows, all you have to do is wipe the C: partition and install Windows there. Nothing on your D: partition will be affected. That can make it much easier to get everything back to the way it was.

 

To be honest this laptop stays extremely cool even while throwing some of the latest and greatest games at it. Playing Assassins Creed IV kept it pretty cool as did Battlefield the temp never get too hot and neither does the surface temperature of the laptop. Sure, it does get warm but nothing unbearable. During video playback I haven't noticed any heating up of the device as far as the surface temperature goes.

 

Hey, I haven't purchased this laptop for outdoor use and therefore Haven't needed a sleeve or a case however, you could look at maybe 17" laptop sleeves as a last resort if you find none in the 15" range that can fit the laptop.

Moreover, here is a well made video about the Y50 4K model.

Lenovo Y50 - 4K Performance All-around Notebook: http://youtu.be/vjRJde3Im1I

Credit to LinusTechTips for the video.

 

Bought it from ipc-computer.de as i am from germany.
Costs a hefty 70€ in comparison to the 25€ for the bulk Intel 7260.

Shipping time is estimated between 2 - 4 weeks.

 

Very close to buying one now, TYVM. Has anyone try using a 1TB SSD like Samsung EVO on this? Or is 512GB SSD the biggest you can use?

 

Got my Y50 4k, 256GB SSD, and love it!

The funky yellow will hopefully be fixed with a future firmware, but the color calibration tweak works.

 

Capacity doesn't matter. Only thing that matters is that it uses SATA and can fit in the laptop.

 

First good review for the Y50 Touch (FHD): Lenovo Y50 Touch review - CNET
Sure, it's not particularly detailed and is more qualitative than quantitative. But as far as I could see there were no glaring errors, the problems of the laptop (namely the display quality) were appropriately mentioned and addressed, and the overall tone was what it should be for this laptop: very positive because of its awesome style and power:cost ratio but somewhat hampered by the merely alright display. The final score of 4/5 was super fair too. Basically, there is nothing that comes close to the Y50's sexiness and power at its price point apart from the Asus N550JK. Which is admittedly another great choice, though it is thicker and heavier, only has a GTX850 graphics card, and has its own problems like silver/white key lettering on a silver/white keyboard. Regardless of any problems the Y50 has it deserves a 4/5 for being as economical and attractive as it is.

I've had my Y50 Touch FHD for two months now and still think it is the best model to get. Here are my reasons:
1. Touch is kind of a neat feature and can be fun to use.
2. The edge-to-edge glass is sweet and prevents bezel scratching.
3. The chances of getting the superior AUO36 display (instead of the Chi-Mei panel) seem much higher than with a Non-Touch Y50 FHD.
4. The colours look more vibrant and vivid than on the Non-Touch models because of the glossy finish.
5. The yellows look good unlike the mustardy yellows on the Y50 UHD.
6. There are no irritating scaling/resolution switching problems like the Y50 UHD has in spades.
7. There is no IPS glow whatsoever.
8. The battery draw is slightly smaller than on the Y50 UHD.
9. The laptop is a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than then Y50 UHD.
10. Although the screen could definitely be better it is at least super responsive and looks decent enough if you're fine with occasionally tilting it.

7 and 8 may be barely perceptible but on the whole these are enough reasons for me to not regret my purchase one bit.

 

I am using 1 TB Samsung Evo 840 SSD, no problems at all.

 

Lenovo better get to work on fixing those 4K screen color problems. Asus has announced a 4k screen for its N550JK to be released very soon. And it uses quantum dot technology. From their ads they seem to have noted the comments about the Y50 4k's flaws. Here's a sample of from a couple of sites where I've been reading about this new laptop.

"Back to that screen. Yes, it's 4K and that's incredible in its own right, but ASUS is also ensuring it delivers on color reproduction to, with 100 percent of NTSC's color gamut, and 106 percent of Adobe's RGB. In the flesh, the display is astoundingly crisp, while the fact that it's IPS means it's probably going to be Netflix-friendly too -- especially when that 4K content starts rolling."

And this ""The display...delivers lifelike color reproduction with a wide color gamut...plus factory-calibrated color temperature, making it perfect for photographers and other professionals who need accurate and consistent color fidelity for their workflows," Asus said in a press release."

I guess we'll see when it actually comes out. In the meantime Lenovo - take note, and get working on those fixes, or find a new 4k screen to go in the Y50.

 

ASUS is going hardcore moving forward with 4K, the laptop your talking about I think is the ASUS NX500 which is a 4K display, but it has a pre-order of £1500 here in the UK on Amazon, plus considering it only has a Nvidia GTX 850M compared to the Y50's 860M doesn't make it too attractive of an option personally for me. They do have another model which is the GX500 with the 860M but I fear that will be even more expensive. But very good laptops nonetheless considering the fact that ASUS will probably be pushing them and removing issues with their display's such as the 48Hz issue and the mustardy yellow issue. The market for good gaming, 4K laptops is just going to increase rapidly over the next year and beyond, i'm just happy that Lenovo were some of the first to jump in and actually make a very good and competitive product considering the price tag.

 

Anyone who bought FHD model from newegg, do these models have elan touchpad or synaptics one. I see that they have 7260 compared to 3160 on lenovo store, which is a big plus.

 

Bought mine at amazon for 1050

lenovo y50 touch fhd
8gb ram
gtx 860m
1tb
came with portable dvd

 

The one that I got ( Lenovo Y50 (59425944) Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4700HQ (2.40GHz) 8GB Memory 1TB HDD 8GB SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 15.6" Windows 8.1 64-Bit - Newegg.com) has an elan touchpad.

 

Actually they're coming out with an N551JK which I guess is the successor to the N550JK and it will be available with the 860 graphics option- at least that's what I've read. So should be a direct competitor to the Y50 UHD. I'm guessing they will price it competively - in other words probably in the same range as the Y50.

 

just got my newegg 4710HQ base model today. so far I am very satisfied by it. I mean, everything that's bad or needs improvement on, I anticipated those already. so I either how to resolve the problem or I can just suck it up.

I did get a chimei lcd. it's pretty subpar, I can notice the yellowish white easily. it didn't help even after I installed the ICC profile calibrated by notebookcheck, but I don't care much as I will be swapping the display soon.

the temperature are satisfying. I did run a few stress tests and they all come out pretty good. the turbo disabled after 65C is a problem still.
one thing I recommend you all to do though, is to undervolt the CPU using XTU. haswell surprisingly left the mobile CPUs unlocked for undervolting (for desktop you are just locked no matter what) and they undervolt pretty well.

since I didn't have enough time I just left it at -75mV, when I have more time I'll definitely push it for a little more. the CPU is pretty stable there, and overall temp did drop around 3-5C along with about 5-8W less power.
even under 10 minutes of double stress test the CPU peaked to 93C, which is lower than other people's 98C or so.

I will update to you guys with a more thorough written up, or video perhaps, but for now it's pretty good.

PS: lenovo just needs to seriously chill with the bloatware...

 

double post

 

To those with the Chi-Mei panel, try this intel color setting. Mitigates the yellowish tint a bit:

Color>Basic

Brightness 10
Contrast 40
Gamma .9

Color>advanced

Saturation 60

Screen brightness 60% or higher.

 

Does anyone have any advice about swapping out the hard drive with an SSD? I'd like to be able to use the same windows product key and not have to buy an 8.1 install disc if possible.

 

Just download a windows 8.1 iso and make a bootable usb device then put your ssd and installed windows from the usb device and will automatically detect the key from the bios.

 

well, downloading an ISO of Win8.1 isn't that easy as it was for Win7. though there do exist guides, if you have a legit key (which happens in your case). I do have a link, but it's in german only ...

but I guess using google will surely give you some useful results.

 

Create a recovery drive first, then replace the hard disk and restore to SSD using the recovery drive.

This way, you get everything as it is. Even recovery partition and one key recovery work 100%. Good luck.