Lenovo Y50 Owners and Information Thread

Hey Guys,

I'm thinking about buying a used Y50, 4k, 256gb, GTX 850M 2gb from someone on craigslist. I plan on seeing it before I make the purchase. Is there anything I should be looking for specifically when I look over the laptop, sort of like a diagnostic to test all the functions.? Also, does anyone know if the warranty is transferable if I get the receipt or any important questions that I should ask the seller? Thanks.

 

For any newcomers considering buying this laptop, I thought I'd consolidate all of the issues I've had with this laptop so you can be aware of what you're getting yourself into. For reference, I have the i5 model with a 1TB SSHD and 1080p screen (also Elan touchpad and Intel wireless) which was purchased from Newegg.

• The computer often freezes for 2-3 seconds, caused by the hard drive. Supposedly this is an issue with Windows 8.1 but I haven't been able to fix it yet. My advice: DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP WITHOUT GETTING AN SSD
• The computer was always using the Intel video card in games after a cold boot instead of the 860M. After rebooting the 860 would be used just fine. Changing Nvidia settings to always use the 860 didn't fix the problem. What eventually worked was disabling Fast Boot in Windows - I'm guessing there's some funkiness with how Windows 8 hibernates the kernel that screws with Optimus. Anyway, I don't really see a difference in boot times after disabling it.
• I had refresh rate issues between my computer and an external monitor which was causing me to get out of memory errors in games. I have an external monitor connected via HDMI, and the problem is that in some games (like WoW) the max refresh rate was being detected as 59Hz (actually 59.9Hz) and not 60Hz. But Windows was set to 60Hz, and so this was causing the out of memory error warnings because ANY mismatch between Windows display settings and game display settings will trigger the error. I fixed this eventually by setting the refresh rate in the Intel display control panel to 59Hz, and using that refresh rate across the board.
• In addition to the out of memory errors, sometimes my external display would also go blank and give an error message about an incorrect/out of range resolution being set. The monitor is a Dell U2414H (which is a very nice monitor), and I'm sure the issue isn't with that. Whether it's a Windows or Intel issue I don't know, but like the out of memory error it was fixed by setting the refresh rate in Windows to 59Hz.
• I cannot connect the computer to my wireless network and have to use ethernet (and my Y50 has the Intel wireless card). It will sort of connect, but the computer never actually gets internet access. I have tried updating the drivers, but nothing has worked. The computer works fine with ethernet, but of course now I'm tied to always using it at my desk. That's actually fine as I only use it there, but if I wanted to use this laptop around the house I would've returned it a long time ago already.
• After using the computer on battery power and plugging it back in, it will not use the 860M in games until it's rebooted.

In addition to these actual usability problems, I'll reiterate the other two major downsides: the display quality is HORRIBLE, and the SSHD is terribly slow. The second problem is easily fixed by getting an SSD (assuming you can afford this), and thankfully the first isn't a real issue for me because I use an external monitor 90% of the time.

Overall I'd say I'm maybe 60% satisfied with this laptop. The build quality is quite good, the laptop looks great, it's thin and pretty light, and performance is great (the one upside of the model I got is that it's an i5, which doesn't seem to have throttling problems). For the price, all of that really can't be beat.

However, having to spend days and days fixing nagging issues with a new laptop was a pretty terrible experience, whether they're due to Lenovo or Windows 8.1. I also still haven't been able to fix the hard drive freezing or the wireless connectivity issue. If my model had throttling as well I probably would have returned the laptop already, especially if I wasn't using it with an external monitor most of the time.

 

hello guys!
I'm going to buy Y50-70 but confused about somethings that I've heard,It comes with FHD display:
how is the display quality?(contrast...)
is SSHD so slow?
Is there 2 different GPU for this laptop?if yes how to recognize and get the best one?
BTW I'm currently using ge60 2oe
thanks in advance

 

well, the display is .. mediocre, at best. yes, you can use the laptop without problems. but you should never place it next to a laptop with a great panel (something with an IPS-panel for example). otherwise you might by force to go crying a little bit ... :cry:

the SSHD is really slow. compared to a NB with an SSD. if you haven't had a computer with an SSD before, it should feel okay.

and no, there is only one sort of GPU - the GTX860M with Maxwell-chip. but to be honest: there are two versions out there: one with 2 GB of VRAM, the other with 4 GB. if you have the choice to get the 4 GB without addintional costs, get that (there is never too much VRAM ...). but on the other hand: even for FullHD and some slight AA, the 3 GB will be sufficient. QHD and AA would be another thing, but you wouldn't get enough fps in those setting anyway.

 

Great post. With all of those issues, I'm surprised and give your credit for toughing it out and finding your own solutions! It's annoying to hear people returning something because of ... the way the keys sound when they are pressed, or that it gets fingerprints on it easily or other minor and often fixable reasons. With that said, I really think that if you can you should return yours mostly because of the wifi not working properly. That sounds like you could have a manufacturing defect within the card itself or the circuits leading up to it. That issue will make it extremely hard to sell if you need to down the road.

Oh and as for the freezing every 10 seconds or so. I can confirm that it is due to the HDD but I'm not sure it is a windows 8.1 issue but rather the firmware on the drive itself which is forcing it to slow or stop the disc from spinning only after a couple seconds of inactivity to save power (most likely). It makes the drive unusable for ps2 iso emulation either as an external or an internal. So my guess is that it needs a firmware patch.

 

Regarding the warranty - Lenovo tracks warranty via serial number, not original purchaser, so you'll be fine there. The main thing I would look for is any physical defects - scratches, stuck pixels, etc. Bring up a few full color displays and make sure there are no stuck/dead pixels, as they will not be covered under warranty, nor will any physical damage. If you discover something later on that's wrong other than that stuff, then you'll be able to get it fixed under warranty so you should be good there. Also be sure they didn't install a new OS and delete the recovery partition, as you won't be able to get that back if they did so.

 

Hello everyone,
I recently got my Y50 4k UHD, and I must say I love it.
I fixed the mustard yellows thx to the screen calibration thread (thx Xentar !), the only problem remaining is the 48Hz lock
But I hope we will get news on this issue.

I am writing this post to find an answer to a simple question: why can't you access a 3200x1800 resolution when you have a 4k screen ?
Thank you for your answers.

 

thank you for the response! does it worth to sell my ge60 2oe and get this laptop?

 

If you want the best out of this laptop get a SSD! Huge difference, but it costs.
Also replace the screen and you'll have the ultimate laptop

You need $£ tho.

 

tough question. if you don't have any problems with your GE60, I personally would say: no. the GTX765M is a bit slower, but not that much (it is on the level of the GTX850M, roughly, which means 20-30% less fps). you would notice a difference in playable details, but not much.

AFAIK, the GE60 has two slots for storage, one 2,5''-SATA and one for an mSATA-drive. the Y50 only has that one 2,5''-SATA, so this would be a bit of a step down. the display of the GE should be at least of the same quality, given the FHD-panels of the Y50, the GE60 is most probably even better.

the only thing would be the cooling, where the GE60 is said to be rather weak - loud fans and still high temps for the internals.

overall: the Y50 is better than the GE60 2oe. but not by a big margin. I would say it's not worth the money and the effort (data transition and all that ...

 

1. HDMI is rendered through your nvidia gpu so you are better off tweaking with NV control panel.
2. which wifi adapter did you have? did you update the drivers from intel or lenovo?
3. I assume you are talking about 100% disk usage with the sshd, yes that's a common windows 8.1 problem, but the root of all that is still because of your background processes. remove your bloatware, go to task manager and configure your background programs and you'll be fine. it's not that much of a problem if you know what the problem is.
4. optimus is just screwed up in its own ways, so either deal with it or try your luck updating NV drivers

 

I have NEVER had this issue. Always works just fine for me... I take it you've already tried installing the newest (including beta) drivers for the Intel graphics and Nvidia?

I've found that the card works flawlessly on all of the newer routers that I've been around. I had an old one at home (approx 8 years old) and the only way I was able to get it to work without dropping at certain angles was to change the wifi channel. Updating drivers might have helped too. But before I did all of that, this laptop worked just fine at work where we have a router that was bought this year.

 

Do you have the atheros wifi card ?

Also, can you tell us the model/brand number of router which works flawlessly ?

 

sorry for so many questions! ge60 has 7200rpm, is difference between 5400rpm too much? by the way my ge60 comes with 4800mq! but there is one problem that I have! display has a red stuck pixel and I can't fix it!!

 

Hello everyone,
I recently got my Y50 4k UHD, and I must say I love it.
I fixed the mustard yellows thx to the screen calibration thread (thx Xentar !), the only problem remaining is the 48Hz lock
But I hope we will get news on this issue.

I am writing this post to find an answer to a simple question: why can't you access a 3200x1800 resolution when you have a 4k screen ?
Thank you for your answers.

 

I had a Y50 Best Buy model and had to return it. I just couldnt live with how bad the display is. I calibrated it using the Spyder 4 pro and the meter only detected 54% RGB coverage by the LCD which is just plain god awfully terrible. Even playing games everything looked so bland i couldnt tell what was going on anywhere.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ide...wners-information-thread-215.html#post9753416

Netgear N750 (model no: WNDR4300)

 

Yeah I'm going to keep trying with the wifi...I haven't given that much time to troubleshooting it because I was so sick of dealing with this computer after all the other problems, and also because it works just fine with ethernet. But I'm going to spend some time this weekend trying to get it working, as you're right in that if it really is a hardware defect it most definitely will affect the resale value.

Regarding the hard drive, I thought that it was a power-saving issue as well, but I tried turning all power-saving options off from within the Intel RST program...nothing. I looked at Western Digital's website for a firmware update, but their update utility doesn't recognize the drive. Probably because it's a custom OEM drive and not one of their retail drives (funny how none of their retail drives have only 8GB of NAND...wonder why the drive's performance sucks?). So I'm not holding my breath for any update there.

The problem is that I live overseas and I bought the laptop when I was back in the US for a vacation. So even if I were to buy an SSD, I have a limited volume internet connection and there's no way I'd be able to download all my games again (downside of buying games through services like Steam...). So I just have to suck it up and wait until I'm back again, at which point I most definitely will be buying an SSD, and probably also smashing this hard drive best I can

 

Well that was quick! Problem seems to be solved with the wifi

I figured it wasn't a problem with the card itself because when I was at home in the US it was working just fine on the wifi network there. But I also knew the problem wasn't my router here, as my old computer (along with my phone and tablet) can connect to it just fine.

What was the problem? A setting in the advanced properties of the wireless card. I figured there just had to be some kind of compatibility conflict between the wifi card and the router, so I started changing some of the advanced settings around. Which one did it? It was:

802.11n Channel Width (there was one setting for 2.4GHz and one for 5.2GHz) - I changed the setting from Auto to 20Mhz, and voila! As soon as the wifi card reset after accepting the settings, I had internet access!

Also for anyone interested - after doing some searching there seem to be a LOT of people having this problem in Windows 8.1 (i.e. having "limited connectivity" on wireless). So for anyone here having problems, don't assume the problem lies with your wireless card (Intel or not). I don't actually know that in my case it was a Windows issue, but gosh the fact that I had to go into the advanced settings for the Intel card and manually change the channel width tells me there's something very wrong with the way Windows handles wireless.

I think to go along with buying an SSD I'm going to buy Windows 7 as well. As I said before I thought Windows 8 was supposed to be significantly better than 7 under the hood, but 8.1 overall just seems like a horribly half-baked operating system to me (and not just when it comes to the interface)...

 

I purchased the Y50 last week, and wanted to give you guys my first impression of it.

1. Version: Y50 UHD Touch (Microsoft Store Edition)
2. Price: I think this is the best price you could find anywhere for a 4K touch laptop. Original Price: $1500, Instant $100 dollar off + 10% Student Discount = $1259 excl. tax.
3. Specs: 4K Touch, 256gb SSD, i7-4700HQ, 16GB DDR3L, Intel AC network card.
4. First Thoughts: Took me a damn good time to figure out what was going on with the graphics. I was really confused with the High DPI settings and 4k display. After playing with it for a while I figured out that 4K resolution with 125% dpi worked the best for me. Also, Chrome Beta has High DPI support. (was using a very blurry Chrome browser for a good while...). I've not had any problems running any programs or games yet. I've only played LoL and Planetside2, and both of those could be run on very high settings. I haven't' really been bothered by the yellows of this screen. I think I just haven't focused on the yellow colors etc. I'll try playing with the settings when I go home tonight.
5. Negatives: Whenever I highlight text, the display brightness flickers or changes! It's driving me insane. I've been through all the settings etc, but I haven't found a solution yet. If anyone finds one, please let me know!!
   
   That's about it though. The rest is amazing with this computer!
   
   

 

So apparently the Atheros card is only 2.4Ghz and max speed 54 Mbps.
That really sucks, a dual band card was one f the reasons I was looking forward to this machine.

I don't want to have to shell out to get a Lenovo replacement part Intel card. Any way to override the BIOS whitelist?

 

Hey guys. I'm looking for a sleeve for the Y50, could you guys post links of the cases or sleeves you bought for your Y50's?
Thnx in advance.

 

Can't be disabled, it is a hardware feature of the screen (it also affects the way the yellow color is displayed). You can read up a lot about this in the thread. So far no way to fix this.

 

While opening the case, have any of you broken the clips at the back, near the monitor?

 

I've now had this laptop for like 2 months, these are my issues:

I hate how it goes on low CPU mode when on battery, I've disabled all battery saving functions but this still occurs. Also, when on battery I sometimes notice that the audio does weird robotic freezes (not static, this is a loud noise coming from the speakers), especially when closing the lid if some audio is playing.

I cant seem to be able to connect a 3.5mm microphone, since theres only an audio output jack and an S/PDIF jack (what do I even use this for?). Has anyone found a working solution for this?

The biggest issue is that I get random second long stutters where everything stops. Ive only noticed this during gaming (mostly dota 2, where I get it like once a game - enough to affect the game play), but it might occur at other times as well. I have the i7 version with the SHDD, if that matters.

Does anyone know how to solve any of the problems?

 

New here with anew y50, just wanted to give my two cents after spending a small eternity bickering with lenovo sales reps. Worst customer service on the planet btw.
I got the y50 after returning the y510p because they discontinued the ultrabay second gpu.big mistake on a new purchase. first thoughts on the y50 after 2 days? i dunno, i've spent the entire time trying to figure out why my internet connection slows to a crawl more than 5 feet away from my router. My system came with the following:

1tb+8gb hybrid hdd- Which i immedietly swapped out for a 500gb samsung ssd with no issues.
8gb samsung ram- swaped out for 16gb crucial again with no problem
The gpu i got was the 4gb nvidia gtx 860m so far, so good.also as a not, its the maxwell version,so thats a plus
i read a trillion reviews about the horrible screen, this has been remedied. at least in my model. its not super colorful, but the colors are correct in the rgb scale and there is no image angle distortion.
the touchpad is better then the y510p, but still not super. the keyboard is short, and not super responsive, allows lots of typing errors. not even as good as the y510, spacebar is very shalow.
mine came with the intel ac 3160 wifi dual blutooth cards.. it sucks.. hard. I've ordered the 7160 from amazon for 30 bucks, hopefully i dont have the whitelist issue.
ive also got the i7 4810 which is very snappy, though i notice no difference from the one in the y510p
ive had zero heating issues, where as the y510p got extremely hot.
my system came with the blu ray player.. which is an external model, they dont list that little fact.

i think thats about it. i wont get my wifi card until monday, but i ordered a new ac router that should be here tomorrow. hopefully that fixes at least part of the connection issues.

 

Hi guys, I just got the y50 from the Newegg deal ( here).

I went through some pages to find some fixes and tweaks to make the laptop better. I'm sure I haven't found all of them and was wonder if anyone has a list.
Heres the list I have so far.

For blurry text on chrome:
chrome icon > right click > properties > compatibility > disable display scaling on high DPI

For blurry text on windows:
search for in windows cleartype > configure it

For better color settings:
search calibrate display color in windows >

Brightness 10
Contrast 40
Gamma .9

Color>advanced

Saturation 60

Screen brightness 60% or higher.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi...

You need a combo jack splitter to make a microphone work... Or.. Just go for a USB to microphone/audio jack... I'm using the latter.. And it works...

The stuttering problem is due to sshd... It's a good option to upgrade to ssd

 

It seems like the people that are having the stuttering issue all seem to have the SSHD. I haven't heard complains of stuttering in any of the threads from anyone using an SSD in their laptop. Wanna be our guinea pig and clone your drive to a SSD and put that in the computer to see if it fixes the problem?
(you'll love yourself for buying a SSD anyway)

 

Could you give me the listing link on Amazon ?

Also, please keep us updated whether its accepted or not. I hope it does.

 

anyone having the problem being throttled to 1.8Ghz in battlefield 4...? i am on Maximum performance and and 4710 quadcore....

 

Hello,

Could anyone explain me why I can't choose a 3200x1800 resolution on my UHD Y50 when I can choose a strange resolution like 2100x1152 ?

 

This seems like a fault of Lenovo, you think I could have any luck if I get in touch with them? Maybe they can let me swap to a SSD model? I have a really nice Samsung SSD that I will probably install otherwise, but the problem is that its only 128 gb.. Too bad this model doesn't allow for two hard drives at the same time

 

yea, me too, same cpu.. dont know why,, i got max temp 78 celcius.. very impressive though

 

actually I was about to address that. weirdly, I have the FHD model yet I still experience things like weird scaling and weird fonts on chrome, AND I'm on chrome 37 beta

how did you guys configure your chrome settings for 1080p?

 

Just scored a y50 for $900 on eBay. Am I doing it right? Went ahead and bought a Samsung 840 500gb ssd to put in it when it gets here.

 

That is a software issue and can therefore be fixed later on with updates. However, you can try right clicking on the Desktop going down to Graphics Options and clicking Custom Resolutions, I haven't tried this myself but you can sure give it a go. If any issues occur just revert back to the normal resolutions.

 

It has not been confirmed to be a software issue nor is there any indication that a fix is on the horizon. The screen model is SDC 4852 with emphasis on the 48. Also, your suggestion has already been tried and it does not work unfortunately. I still think the best thing to do is buy the i7 FHD model and swap screens.

 

Hello everybody, i was willing and impulsive to get the Lenovo y50 laptop but some comments in the thread made me hesitate about it a little bit...

I just wanna ask those who already bought this laptop what do u think about it now, i mean is it worth what's the problems u r facing...

What model should I get for ≤ 1500 and WHY?
Plz reply

 

Hey man,

I wasn't talking about the 48Hz lock being a software issue but I was talking about the lack of 3200x1800 resolution (or any custom resolutions) being a software issue as most laptops allow for custom resolutions to be set and also have a plethora of other resolutions available. Oh and if my method doesn't work then i'm not too sure guess we're just waiting until someone finds a workaround.

 

Thank you, I will try that. BTW, If each of us could add his commentaries here: Help Y50 4k UHD 48hz locked refresh rate and low n... - Lenovo Community

And call the lenovo tech support to report the black border gaming issue, 48Hz lock and mustard yellows (even if it's a hardware issue, they could give us a better icc), they might take this issue seriously:

1-877-453-6686 Ideapad tech support

Let's all unite on the same front and things will change.

 

Don't have that option on Windows 8

 

Hello, does someone know the brand of the 256 and 512 GB SSD's? How is the quality? Which brand/type did you use if you replaced the 1 TB hybride SSHD by a SSD?

 

I might be getting a Lenovo Y50 over the weekend and I was wondering if installing a SSD would void the warranty.

 

I've just had a quick go at overclocking both CPU and GPU and this thing is pretty good. Repasted with Gelid GC Extreme before benchmarking as with stock paste CPU would throttle.
During stress test CPU comfortably starts at 3.5Ghz during the prime run, but drops down to 3.2Ghz when turbo TDP limit is reduced back to 47w. Sustained 3.5Ghz on all 4 cores should be easily possible when we can mod the TDP limit from 47w to 60w. Whilst XTU lets you change the turbo TDP settings, it does not allow modification of normal TDP limit. CPU temps just sit around 72c to 75c after 10 mins of running prime.
GPU runs very cool as well, with overclock of +135Mhz core and +500Mhz memory it never went higher than 65c.
Should be able to reach much higher on GPU once modded bios are released, but for now this seems to be stable max on my machine with current driver:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4710HQ,LENOVO Lenovo Y50-70
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4710HQ,LENOVO Lenovo Y50-70
Overall im very pleased with this machine, I will be swapping out wireless card asap though, that qualcomm card is atrocious, even in ideal conditions. I might also swap the 4k screen for the 3200 x 1800 IGZO panel that is found in m3800 to get past the 48Hz issue, which I'm pretty sure is due to hardware limit on the panel itself.

 

Hey guys I am having problems finding enhancements for sound. I checked everywhere, but I can't simply find it.

 

Did you managed to change the screen yet? I am not sure if I can change the 4K screen just like the regular FHD ones. Do you think it might cause and hardware / driver issue?
I really appreciate if you can comment on this. I am a graphic designer and the yellow issue bothers me a lot, also if you open a color gradient sample, you will wee very poor quality of it. I want to do the screen replacement ASAP but not sure if it will be OK.

 

i see no reason it should be any different than swapping a 1080p panel. in the end its just a standard 30pin eDP screen, so as long as dimensions are correct then it should be fine. i'm still struggling to source the 3200x1800 panel, every place currently has it out of stock. but will keep an eye for it, something will show up.

 

No it doesn't. They don't have stickers locking the bottom of the laptop and as long as you don't damage anything, the warranty is still good.

 

Thanks, Do you mind share the IGZO screen (or any superb quality screen) models so I keep my eye on them too?