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Review – Lenovo Y470
I'm posting this for the sake of all the users who don't want to dig through a 80 page thread to get their answers. Strangely, there are almost no reviews for the Lenovo Y470 online, or even on these forums. Which is a shame, considering that this is a truly attractive machine at a pretty stunning price point. Nonetheless, there are a few flaws that mar an otherwise great machine. Let’s get right into it.
This review is for the top-of-the-line Y470 as of July 2011, equipped with a 14.0” 1366x768 screen, an i7-2630QM quad-core processor, 8 GB of RAM, a 750 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, and an Nvidia 550 GT graphics chip with 1 GB of dedicated video memory. So, what’s not to love? Well, a few things.
Design/Ergonomics
The design of the machine is attractive. The lid is covered with what appears to be aluminum, with light, tasteful etchings. There’s a thin orange/gold trim around the lid which doesn’t look cheap, and I personally don’t mind. The palmrest and keyboard area is aluminum, and the Chiclet-style keys are GREAT to type on. However, the right 'shift' button and the 'backspace' key are smaller than I like. The touchpad is textured and does two-finger scrolling, though it's oversensitive and jerky sometimes. The single mouse button design isn’t the best, though; there’s a dead area between the left and right ‘buttons’ that just doesn’t do anything if you click on it. The touchpad also tends to get brushed while typing, which can move the mouse around when you're not expecting it.
Ports are laid out in a no-nonsense manner along the left and right sides of the laptop. This includes two USB 3.0 ports (yay), a USB 2.0 port, and an eSATA/USB combo port for a total of four USB ports (impressive). There's a VGA port and an HDMI port. Standard card reader in the front.
Along the top edge of the keyboard area are five touch-sensitive buttons that can mute, decrease/increase volume, toggle a ‘movie mode’ for display color enhancement, and put the computer to sleep. They’re fairly responsive and I don’t mind them.
Now, the Y470 is not particularly thin. At up to 1.3”, it’s raised up from the table a fair amount, and it also stands on these pretty substantial rubber nubs (for airflow) which makes the laptop feel even higher. This actually makes uncomfortable, especially because the edge of the palmrest is hard and angular, which tends to dig into my wrists when the laptop is raised, such as on a desk. This is because I have big hands, but still - it's a flaw.
Build quality is very solid and there isn’t much flex from the keyboard area. The pieces fit together nicely with few gaps, and the hinges look to be very solid. At 4.6 lbs, the Y470 isn’t particularly light, nor is it terribly heavy.
Sound
There are two JBL speakers which are easily the best speakers I’ve heard on any laptop – nice, loud, and rich. You still don’t get a ton of bass, but hey, it’s a laptop.
One note about the headphone jack - a few users have reported hearing static or interference noises when plugged in. I have the same issue, and I'm probably going to return my unit. I don't know if this is common with all Y470s or if I just have a defective one. Either way, it's something to note.
Temperature
The machine runs extremely cool and is comfortable to use sitting on a lap, even wearing shorts with exposed skin. Even when playing games, I did not notice a significant heat increase.
Screen
This is definitely the weak point of the machine. The resolution isn’t great at 1366x768. The glossy finish makes sunlight viewing difficult. The vertical viewing angle is a little narrow; you have to get it just right to make the contrast come out. Colors are a little muted, and nowhere near as nice as my two-year old Samsung X460 laptop or any MacBook. You can tell that the blues are a little washed out and the reds are just not as rich. The ‘movie mode’ that can be toggled with the touch buttons at the top of the keyboard just makes the colors oversaturated and too dark, and also decreases the image quality for some reason, making it kind of useless.
For the average user, this all shouldn’t be a huge problem, but as a graphic designer and artist, this is pretty troubling. I’ll definitely have to hook it up to an external LCD. I was half expecting this after reading a few forum posts about this machine, but even so I’m disappointed that such a powerful machine has to be hampered by such a low-end screen.
Performance
The performance of this machine is outstanding. Extremely demanding games like Crysis 2 can be played at max resolution with high details and little to no lag. Multi-threaded apps such as Photoshop, Premiere, and Lightroom are extremely quick, thanks to the Intel i7 processor and the 8 GB of onboard RAM. This is by far where the laptop shines. Almost any program you can throw at the Y470, it will handle with ease. Day-to-day browsing was similarly snappy.
The one downside to the Y470 (in my configuration) is the 5400 RPM hard drive, which feels a bit sluggish when transferring files or booting the machine. That said, the computer does come with an mSATA slot which allows for incredibly easy installation of an SSD drive. There are plenty of guides on these forums as to how to do that. I plan on upgrading when I can scrounge up the cash.
Battery Life
With standard web browsing and light video watching, you can squeeze about 4-4.5 hours out of the Y470. Nvidia’s onboard Optimus helps by switching the graphics card off during basic applications, and only turning it on when you need the juice.
Webcam/microphone
The webcam, unfortunately, is of poor quality. Despite the high resolution (2.0 MP), the default settings make subjects appear really dark and undersaturated. You can, however, tweak these settings with Lenovo’s bundled “Youcam” software, which I did to marginal improvement.
The microphone is mounted next to the webcam and is average, though friends I video chatted with reported hearing their own voices echo. I think this is because the mic is right above the loud JBL speakers.
Accessories/bundled apps
The bundled AC adapter is surprisingly hefty, and the cord is a little shorter than I like it. Also, it has a three-prong plug, which is a little annoying. The machine comes with a 6-cell battery which snaps right into the back of the machine; I like it because it doesn’t protrude from the chassis at all.
The machine does come with a few bundled Lenovo apps which are pretty easy to ignore or get rid of. It’s nothing to really worry about. As a nice touch, the computer comes pre-installed with Chrome, with an option to install Firefox. There is an interesting face-recognition software for user login, a webcam utility, a ‘OneKey’ recovery utility, and a few other things I haven’t really bothered to explore yet. The point is, it’s very simple to get up and running out of the box.
Conclusion
Overall, this is a very solid machine with a few flaws which prevent it from really being perfect. The screen is the biggest weakness. The thickness of the chassis and the uncomfortable palm rest are also a little annoying. Depending on how much you video chat, the webcam quality could also be quite disappointing. The battery life is also not amazing (though it's not bad).
That said, the machine really packs a punch in terms of power and quality. The performance is eye-popping, the build quality feels good, and things are laid out more or less the way a good laptop would have them laid out. The mSATA slot is a great little addition to future-proof this laptop, and with the i7 and 8 GB of RAM, I doubt you’ll have to worry about the Y470 becoming obsolete any time soon.
I personally think that this laptop would be better as a desktop replacement than a portable laptop, simply because it's kind of thick, the touchpad is a little frustrating, the battery is average, the screen is mediocre, and the palmrest edge makes typing uncomfortable. The headphone jack issue is also a little iffy, and enough to make me probably want to return this laptop as I occasionally work with sound production.
If you need gobs of raw power, and plan on hooking this up most of the time to a monitor and keyboard/mouse, then I would recommend the Lenovo Y470. If most of your time will be mobile and you're not going to be gaming or video editing, forget this machine - there are better ones out there for you.
I got mine for $850 before tax using a coupon. I try to check sites like dealnews.com pretty often as I guarantee you Lenovo will have a sale before you know it. So in conclusion, this a powerful laptop that could be a better with a few changes, but for the price, you can't complain too much.
Feel free to ask any questions!!
My complete review of the Y470
Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by kolumbia, Jul 21, 2011.
