Lenovo Y700 Owners Lounge/Info

Hello all!

Just wanted to drop and create a thread for a the new 2015 Y700 Owners, I ordered mine a couple of days ago and I look forward to see how the machine turns out, and would be happy to see if other owners gave in their opinions and advice about the device. Thank you all.

My Y700 Specs:

• 6th Generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ Processor (2.60GHz 1600MHz 6MB)
• Windows 10 Home 64
• 15.6" FHD IPS AntiGlare Backlight (1920x1080)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB
• 16.0GB PC4-17000 DDR4 2133 MHz
• 1TB 5400 RPM+128GB SSD
• No Optical Disk Drive
• Intel Wireless-AC 8260
• Bluetooth Version 4.0
• One year
• ClickPad
• 4 Cell 60 Watt Hour Li-Polymer
• 3Y Depot + ADP

 

Is no one purchasing this computer?

 

Since it's essentially just an optimized y50 it seems not. Still, based on how active this forum was during the y400/500 and y410/510p days you'd think this one would be popular as well.

 

This is the exact model that I am looking to buy right now. Any real complaints about it? My only question is with temperatures and cooling; everything else about it seems perfect for my needs.
There was one review (here: http://laptopmedia.com/review/lenov...verhaul-of-the-popular-gaming-hit-lenovo-y50/) that says the CPU throttled when it, and the GPU, were at 100% load. Obviously this is an unrealistic situation, but in your use with it so far have you any complaints?

 

I ordered the 4k version yesterday so I won't have anything to add until next week. I figure with a 15" 4k display, 1080p upscaling for games should still look solid. Looking forward to hearing people's opinions. I have seen a couple YouTube reviews, which seem like its underwhelming if you are upgrading from last year's model. But thats to be expected since neither Intel or Nvidia had any big performance boosts this year. 2015 was all about efficiency.

 

since im buying fresh, it looks like an awesome buy. im ordering from lenovo today since they have a holiday sale, and a holiday "no questions, no fee" policy until Christmas.

 

I own the touch 15 spec of this laptop. I put it through its paces and watched temps and throttles during games and heaven benchmark. The cpu and gpu throttle at 67C and then stay throttled at 65C until it cools down past 60. the temp is redic low. You can hit that throttle by playing a gpu intensive game with cpu being barely touched, nevertheless a game that taxes both heavily.

Additionally the fans don't scale to max speed by the artificial thermal limit Lenovo set up. So when you hit that 67c fans are only working at about 50% max speed.

I did a little write up and screen shotted a sensor polling that shows this effect and How quickly it can actually take place. Here is the link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/3v8q2o/ideapad_15_y700_gpu_throttle_and_graphs/

 

I am looking at the 14" model, since want a combo of portability, power and decent battery life. The 15" model so far with reviews is less than two hours battery while gaming and of course bigger. Since a 14" display. I am fine with 720p gaming if needed, so the Radeon will be fine. Still, battery life will likely be 3 hours tops for gaming. All trade-offs

 

Good news for owners of the 15" AMD version, FreeSync support is now official.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9836/amd-unveils-2016-vistech-roadmap/2

 

After having for about a week, now I'll share my thoughts.
1) BLAZING FAST! Having windows primarily installed on the 128GB SSD(m.2) is very convenient. Running regular task is also very fast thanks to the new i7-6700HQ and the 16GB of RAM.
2) The screen is not very good at all.. Has a yellowish tint to it--- I have many people online are removing the AntiGlare film off, but I have yet to do that.
3) The speakers are mediocre considering they are JBL and the Subwoofer isn't too impressive either.
4) and finally.. I'm coming from the Dell side, getting used to all this Lenovo software is rather hard, but it'll take time getting used to it.

I will be using it for another week or so, and then deciding if its worth it. I am also at this time considering to look for an alternative, the Alienware 15 R2, I know its a bit more pricey but it'll have some more features that'll stick around for a bit longer than the Y700s.

This coming weekend, I'll be doing some stress testing and some gaming on it. I'll share that info as it becomes available.

 

Looks like I'm following in your footsteps. A couple days after ordering my Y700 (which is sitting at the UPS warehouse at the moment, hope I can pick it up tonight) I started thinking on things and also ordered an Alienware 15R2. We'll see what direction I end up going.

 

Thanks for the infos.

1) Did you experience any CPU/GPU throttling issues while playing games or battery discharge (on activated "Conservation Mode") ?
Some users reporting lowered clock speeds if the chips reaching 65 degree celsius and the AMD version does throttle too (but more extreme on far higher temps).

2) Can you give us the model number of the LCD panel ? The FHD panel of the AMD version is very nice (LG Philips LP156WF6-SPK1)

3) Those are the best notebook speakers i heard so far, much better than the already good JBL speakers of the Samsung Ativ Book 7. But the Dolby Audio software to manage sound is crap.

 

1. I havent done much testing with the CPU/GPU. I will be doing a stress test and some gaming this weekend.
2. I will also provide that this weekend, currently dealing with finals week. lol
3. I am coming from a Dell XPS 15 L502x, that has JBL speakers.. which in my opinion are the best speakers around. HANDS DOWN.

 

What 15R2 did you order? My only concern might be the weight.. And the price. But all together the R2 has the option for a 970m which is a better GPU and has the option for the Amplifier.

 

For my Y700, I have the 4k screen with 16GB RAM, SSD+HDD. The Alienware I will end up comparing it with is the 1080p display, i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD version. I think the two laptops are only supposed to be a half a pound different in weight. The Alienware does have a higher cost of entry, but not incredibly so. Both of my builds clocked in around $1200 with the current discounts.

The Y700 showed up yesterday and I spent some hands on time with it. I found the 4k screen to be very crisp for a laptop screen, and didnt have any issues as far as colors or brightness. Take that with a grain of salt though, I am mildly colorblind.

Overall, the Lenovo has passed my expectations to this point. Even during gaming it is pretty quiet, and most surfaces run pretty cool. The vent on the back did get hot to the touch under load so keep that in mind if you are they type to use a laptop in your lap. The touchpad was good as far as touchpads go, but I always use a mouse. The keyboard feels a bit cramped on the right side, but I prefer having the number pad, so that is not a bad tradeoff in my eyes. I agree with dsigala entirely about the Lenovo bloatware. If I keep the Y700, it will get a fresh install to clear all of that off. I haven't had the chance to get a feel for battery life yet.

On to the games. So far I have only tried Fallout 4 and Starcraft II, both at 1080p. Starcraft ran without any issues using "High" settings. For Fallout, it detected my settings as "Low" for 1080, but I changed them myself to the High Preset, but disabled Anti Aliasing. Running through outdoor areas and in gunfights, the framerate hovered around 40, but dip to 27 at one point with some explosions. Playable in my book. I'm not big on most FPSs or quick twitch games.

Overall, I think the Alienware 15R2 will need to have brought its A game for me to pick it over the Y700.

 

I have a question about 17.3 inch model of this laptop if anyone has it.

Considering screen, is it glossy (with anti glare finish), or actual matte, and is it any good.

Any pics of the actual screen (17 inch model) would be helpful (I hate glossy screens because of terrible reflections and don't wanna buy this laptop if it has one).

 

I got the 15 inch non touch version and I want to downgrade to Windows 8.1 Did anyone tried to do so ? Lenovo's official support site doesnt have drivers for Windows 8.1.

 

Anybody find that the ELAN trackpad settings aren't saving on reboot. I have to disable the clicking and change the scrolling options every time I restart. Anyone have any suggestions?

*edit* Nevermind I figured it out. I had previously uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers and that didn't fix it. But I looked again and realized that I reinstalled the Windows 7 drivers forgetting I'm now on Windows 10. Uninstalling the driver again and reinstalling the proper Windows 10 driver from the website fixed it for me.

 

Just ordered the Y700 with a 4K screen. Upgrading from the Y580, so I'm sure I'll see a huge difference in terms of performance. Can't wait to get it

 

OK, I have just unboxed my new Y700 15in. Serial number is 80NV004DMZ.

4K non-touch. Panel is LQ156D1JX03 (tried googling but cant find this model). This configuration included a 512Gb SSD (Liteon), no HDD and surprisingly, a bundled external DVD-RW. The 16Gb of DDR-4 Ram is from Samsung.

Build quality is excellent, I was tossing up between the Y700 and the Skylake Acer Nitro 15in 4k. I really didn't like the build quality of the Acer, it looks cheap and nasty imo, and I was concerned by peoples experiences with throttling and heat etc., and so I decided to go for the Y700, as it is supposed to have an excellent cooling system (haven't tried this out yet). I find the keyboard to be fine, not the greatest keyboard but adequate and it looks nice with the red backlight.

The only problem I have is the screen. I was worried about getting a glossy screen, but that's not an issue for me as I'm using the laptop in a dark room, and it does look excellent. But it has some screen bleed, which is a real turn off for me. I'm very unimpressed, as everything else so far (except perhaps the keyboard) oozes with quality...

There is minor screen bleed on the bottom of the panel and also on the left side. It's not really noticeable below 50% brightness, especially at the bottom of the screen. The spot on the left side however, I can see at regular brightness against a black background. During a bright day, when the brightness will be on maximum (as it's not the brightess screen) I'm worried it will bother me. I had the same problem when I bought the Nexus 10 a few years ago, although in that case it was a much worse case of screen bleed. I returned the tablet and it was replaced with another one that almost had zero screen bleed (I told them I wanted a refund if they couldn't provide one with a good screen).

Apart from the minor screen bleed, it is an excellent screen. Whites are slightly yellow, as other users have reported, but apparently removing the screen cover fixes this, and it's not even that bad anyway.

*edit: The screen is excellent, I was watching 4k vids on youtube and the blacks, colors and contrast etc. are exceptional. Such a shame about the backlight bleed. I think its just the way the panel is designed, rather than having a glass panel it has a thin plastic one which is quite flexible, as it seems to be designed for touch even though mine is the non-touch model. I suspect its just luck of the draw, from what Ive read some people have received perfect panels, others not. Ive tried massaging and tapping the screen etc., but it didn't really help, so I will likely RMA

 

I have a 4K Touchscreen model, 512 SSD, etc: I love it, wondering if anyone of you who owns one has any issues with their touchpad?

There's a clunk noise when you tap on it, almost as if it's loose; often won't register taps, have to press down hard. Can't get it to do double-tap for context menu also, have to press down pretty hard with 2 fingers.

 

Got mine off Newegg about 3 days ago (placed my order on Tuesday) to replace my Y500 and I've got to say, I love it so far. I like the design which is very slick, but it feels quite heavy. I got the 80NV0026US configuration which comes with the 1TB HDD. Replaced it with a Crucial MX200 500GB SSD which I had purchased prior. I get about 5 hours of battery life out of it.

My configuration so far:
Intel Core i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz
8 GB DDR4 memory
Crucial MX200 500GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5
External DVD+/-RW

I plan on upgrading to 16 GB RAM within the next couple of months.

 

OK, so I returned the laptop and was given a refund. As I have a low tolerance for backlight bleed, I've decided to stay away from the Y700, although I would say it's a good choice if you receive one without backlight bleed issues. Just be sure to check the resellers return / exchange policy.

For me though, I was prepared to accept a replacement, but I found I was not very impressed with the refresh rate of the screen. I'm not sure if was an IPS thing, or perhaps driver related, but I found the refesh rate to be quite poor when playing hearthstone, even when reduced to lower resolutions. It felt laggy, especially when I switched to my asus n56jr (gtx 760m with TN 1080p screen). The asus frame rates felt much smoother, despite the older hardware even at 1080p vs 1080p. Hearthstone is not the most demanding game, but it was the only one I tested.

Edit: I've read elsewhere that the refresh rates of TN panels are generally faster than IPS panel. So it's not Lenovo's fault about the refreh rate of the IPS, however, the unit I received should never have left the factory with the amount of backlight bleed it had. In the end I decided to go for the Dell XPS 15 9550. It's more expensive but the screen is better, plus it has PCIE SSD.

My summary: The Y700 has one of the best cooling systems of all of the 15in Skylake laptops, and the price seems reasonable. Although the 4k is pretty decent (perhaps on the yellow side, but easy on the eyes) the cheap plastic cover over the screen and potential for backlight bleed are two things to be wary of. It's also supposed to have good speakers, but I never tried them as this feature is not important for me.

Edit 2: As i now have the dell xps 15 9550, in comparison, the dell has a much better screen. Im not sure if the y700 that i received had a defective screen, or just heavy lightbleed, but it was behaving like it was running at 30hz, even though it was 60hz. The laggy screen tear on the y700 was driving me crazy, i was actually thankful for the backlight bleed because it made it easierto return.

 

I'm thinking of getting a Y700 with the Nvidia GTX 960M primarily for gaming. But I read its got throttling. I want to know 2 things:

1) Does it experience game throttling?

2) Is the trackpad very responsive? Any issues?

3) Are the keys on the keyboard so small and close to each other that its hard to type?

 

1: I have experienced no throttling in my day-to-day use. This is only light gaming though (Dota 2, CS:GO), but I am doing programming in Unreal Engine 4 without any problems.

2: No complaints with the trackpad. Smooth, no issues. But if you are getting it for gaming, then i imagine you would have a mouse anyway

3: Typing is great. Takes some getting used to just because the enter/shift keys on the right side are a little smaller than im used to. But no big really.

Hope this helps. Love the laptop.

 

How many hours of non-gaming battery life do you get?

Aldo, I got a new HP laptop with 4 hours battery life. I'm not pleased with this. Do you think I should return it and get the Lenovo Y700?

Wish I knew how good the Y700 is when gaming heavy games like GTAV.

 

Well first off if you are looking to game on it, as you have said, battery life shouldnt really matter that much .. there is no reason to play on battery as you will never get good battery life no matter what laptop you are using, AND your performance will suffer. But that said, I use it for school and with the right settings I can get around 5 to 6 hours. Otherwise im plugged in

As far as heavier games like GTA you CAN definitely run them and find an enjoyable experience, just not with the highest graphics settings. Set a game like GTA 5 on medium-high settings and you could get 60 fps.

What HP was it? During my search for a decent gaming/everyday laptop i never saw an HP that I particularly liked. So i would probably say yes, if you can return it without incurring extra costs, do it and get the y700, or something similar.

 

Hi GloryHole. To answer your question, I got the HP Omen 2 days ago. Its giving me just 4 hours of battery.

 

Is there a way to peel off the anti-glare film from the scrren? Any videos on how to do that?

 

I want to buy the Y700. But I read that it throttles when game playing. If this is true, does it mean that its no good for playing games? Is there a fix to eliminate all throttling?

 

Does anyone know what the performance difference will be with ddr3l and ddr4, from what i can read, its gonna be about the same.

 

My only upgrade was the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB (somehow this laptop uses a PCI-E v2.0 for the M.2 slot). Blazing fast...even while capped at v2.0 speeds....

I am currently using this laptop daily, i only had a driver problem with the Intel HD 530 gpu, which i fixed by installing latest drivers.

A minor problem is that the subwoofer has a kind of delay on my Win 7 installation (i'm hearing a low-freq "echo"),

but i guess i'll fix it somehow (i read somewhere about registry settings for audio timings etc.)

Screen is 1080p and i have the 6700HQ with 2x4GB ram.