New Y460 and Y560 Ideapads

So, I "tested" the Y560 with a few hours of Dawn of Discovery (Anno 1404) on the highest settings possible, and, while not the most accurate testing possible, it performed brilliantly.

As to the heat, I was actually playing on my lap for about an hour of that time, and it wasn't anywhere near unbearable. In fact, I barely noticed, if not for the weight of the computer. The only real hot spot was the exhaust vent on the left, which, every once in a while, was blowing a bit uncomfortably towards my leg.

So, just based on that, I'd say that it doesn't really have a heat issue like the smaller Y460.

 

I asked one of the sales reps today about the possibility of upgrading to a RapidDrive solution after having already bought the laptop without the feature. His response was that such an upgrade would not be possible... (although I am sure that with some tinkering around you could manage to do it, it just wouldn't be a method supported by Lenovo). He also said that the RapidDrive feature won't be available for purchase until late Summer, which is a huge bummer seeing as how I need to buy a new notebook by the end of May (the Y560 is still a great deal though). I guess it will just come down to me buying the same/better PCIe mini SSD and messing around with some software (and possibly the BIOS).

 

@YiHuan
Would you mind confirming the available/total number of expansion slots in the Y560? (i.e. $ SATA HDD, PCIe, possibly also speed of the memory, etc.) Also, are there any other little nice tidbits about the laptop that were not advertised, such as possibly a little LED light or anything else (in this case I am referring to that light that all Thinkpads have for nighttime typing).

 

Yeah, that is a real bummer. It would be really nice to have Rapid Drive. But nonetheless, it is still very fast even without it.

And I don't think there is a backlit keyboard even though that would be very nice! ( I dont see why all laptops don't include that feature...it's so nice.)

 

Taekwondoboy is right, there's no backlit keyboard.

As to the expansion slots, there are 3 dedicated USB, and 1 eSATA + USB combo, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI. Also, there is 1 Express Card, 1 6-in-1 card reader, and 3 PCI-e, though 2 of them are occupied by the ethernet and wireless cards.

Umm, as to additional features, it has a multi-touch interface on the touch pad,

The memory speed that I'm getting is just under 13000 MB/s (12919). Also, there's a smart lighting feature that will adjust the screen brightness based on the outside lighting.

Oh, and Lenovo split screen is actually pretty handy for multitasking.

 

I've actually been scouring the net looking for a nice mini pci-express ssd and found this one a few days back.
Samsung SSD
It apparently has its own sata controller built onto it and gets some darn good speeds and above all claims to be "universal" in terms of mini pci-e slots. Only problem is that I can't find it anywhere, not even a laptop which uses them. It was supposedly slated for a '09 Q3-Q4 release. I suspect Lenovo to use something like this for their "rapid drive" setup.

If that doesn't come around soon to be able to be purchased I think I may go for a optical bay caddy. $50 and I can throw the 500GB platter drive in it and put like a small 60-ish GB speedy SSD in the main slot without spending too much cash. Then I could just buy a slim dvd drive USB external enclosure for the dvd drive and keep it around for when I need it.

 

Does anyone know if there is another company that already uses a similar product like the Rapid Drive technology? At the very least, I want to be able to buy the hardware that is similar for this and maybe "borrow" the software from Lenovo if they wont release to us non Rapid Drive users.

 

I don't think anyone else is doing something similar to lenovo. Some company are also doing hybrid ss/traditional hdd, but nothing to the point of what Lenovo is offering.

 

Anyone noticing their Y460 Hard Drive white LED light (faint blink) always blinking at least every second? I've been noticing that on my new Y460. When the hard drive is busy, it usually blinks bright white LED, but when it's idle, the LED is faint and blinks about every second.

Can anyone tell me if you guys experience that too? Thanks.

 

Mine is doing this as well and I fired up the old T61 and it also does the hard drive flickering as well. So it seems to be normal.

 

I'm pretty sure its normal for all notebooks. It just lets you know your hard drive is active and not broken.

 

for any of those lucky few people that are already Y560 owners out there:
How much space is available around the 3rd, free PCIe expansion card slot (dimensions please, if possible)? I'm asking because I want to see if one of those 71mm long mini PCIe SSDs will fit or not.

 

The blinking and flickering of the hard drive LED light every second is starting to annoy me

 

Duct tape it!!!!


But on a serious note... As someone pointed out, at least you know it's working correctly.

 

Are you sure you didn't have a virus scanner running in the background? Probably scanning your hhd.

 

Hey guys I'm brand new here. I pulled the trigger on the Y560 i7 three days ago, and I'm just waiting for my ship date now. Thanks for the 77 pages of discussion, it helps calm my obsessive anxiety. I've read every post in this thread. Anyways I'm mostly just saying thanks to all of you for posting. When I receive the laptop (hopefully soon) I can do a thorough review and answer any questions that haven't already been addressed, if there are any.

 

Can anyone with a Y560 post temps under load and battery life? Thanks!

 

Yeah, I want to buy this laptop, but first I would like to know about the temps on iddle and full load. I have read that ir reaches 92ºC. Is this true? Thank you

 

Maybe I missed it while quickly going through the thread, but is there a good review of the Y460 with i5/5650 available? I only noticed a few comments from people about it running warm (which is a concern for longevity).

What's the actual battery life using the integrated graphics in real life?

I'm debating getting this right now instead of waiting for the Acer TimelineX 4820 as I have no idea when it's going to be available in Canada and I wanted something more powerful than the Asus UL30. Are those of you with the Y460 very happy with it? Would you recommend I buy additional 2-3 year warranty and accidental damage coverage?

 

I've been very pleased with my y460 so far. Quality is surprisingly good, powerful, and light and thin. Heat is an issue with heavy gaming but it's not a gaming laptop. I can get 3 to 3 and a half hours of battery at 80%. At 100% you can get well into the 4 hour range. IMO it's not worth getting the i5 version for more than a $1,000. But there is usually a coupon a couple times a month for less than $900 for the i5. As far as the warranty, if your taking it a lot of places and you have some spare change then why not.

 

Playing the occassional 2-3 hours of an RPG or Civilization won't kill it thought right?

Where are these coupons? Are they for the Canadian store as well?

 

In Canada, the Y460 with i5 can currently be had for $839.20 using CAP20OFFIDEAPAD

 

Shouldn't hurt it. If you are going to get it, get a temperature monitor software like HWmonitor or like program(most are free). Most computers will shut off at a certain temperature before it melts everything and a cooling pad might help slightly.

 

Sounds good. I should be getting mine in 2 days. I'll help you with your review if i can!

 

Did anyone download the new Realtek HD Audio Driver from lenovo website? It came out in April 15, 2010 version 6.0.1.6037 for Windows 7. My version is 6.0.1.6010 and I have windows 7 too. Should I upgrade mine?

 

i updated audio driver

doesn't seem to make much difference as far as i'm concerned. but then again i never read the driver release notes

 

-Borrowed straight from Lenovo site.

This is what the new audio driver fixes from what the lenovo info page says.

 

"the TimelineX trio can be yours from £599.99 ($909) in May, and the Ethos for £1,099.99 ($1,666) in June. Until then, gorge yourselves on the photos at the source links."

So, HOPEFULLY, lenovo will take turn and come to Europe with Y560 in May. Best with rapiddrive included.

 

I know this is slightly off topic, but does anyone know of a good 14 inch case? I'm worried that the books in my bag or going to to hurt the screen if they're too heavy.

 

Just got my Y560!

It's not completely set up yet.
But I played a bit of BF2 for about 2 hours and, to my surprise, is very cool. I was expecting my hand to melt based on what people have told me. BUT it is VERY barable (compared to my last laptop). The only real hot spot is the vent on the left side.

The sound is AMAZING! They weren't lying when they said RICH sounds. I didn't think it was that great, but it totally outbeats my current Bose speakers. This was such an upgrade for me!

It's very slim and light for something of its stature. I love it thus far!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

 

Can we have some pics please.

Also, how is the quality of the screen and battery life?

 

taekwondoboy- What are the specs?

 

just got my y460!! yippie....

its been a long long long time since i last post here lol

 

oh, forget to add, just after i got it, i straight away do a format, and do a clean install of windows 7

just finish install all the driver, havent got time to play with it yet

 

how long did it take for u to get it ?
i just ordered my last night

 

taekwondoboy: Do u have i7? Max battery life? Still deciding which version is better (i5/i7)

 

I just got my Y560 today! As it has been said before, this laptop runs cool! It does get hot by the vents after a good while but the palmrests and trackpad is not warm at all. I have the Core i7 version. This thing runs remarkably fast, however considering I am upgrading from a Pentium 4 this is no surprise. The screen resolution is abysmal though, sorry to say. The screen is bright and crisp but is nothing compared to the 1680x1050 that it should have had. The entire laptop, except for the bottom, is glossy. It's not bad looking, just attracts fingerprints. The webcam seems like a good quality one. The speakers blew me away, loud and crisp, they are some of the best computer speakers I've ever heard. I can't take good quality pictures due to lack of camera, but I can answer questions that any of you might have. The i5 will give you better battery life, but I don't think the power is up to the same level. Windows 7 is reading 8 cores though!! I'm loving that. I got about 2 hours without charging it and playing loud music, but that was without ever charging the battery.

 

Where did you order yours from? I ordered mine right from Lenovo, and the estimated ship date is still three weeks away...

 

I am not surprised about the temps on the Y560. The Y550p i owned ran cool after hours of gaming. Nice notebooks. Wish they did not go with such a funky lid and a thinkpad edge style keyboard would have been really nice.

 

Just to help answer your question. My laptop also just came in from Lenovo a few days ago. I ordered my Y460 at April 12th it was due to ship April 29th and ended up arriving early at the 28th. I was pretty excited still playing around with it atm. It is quite possible Lenovo will ship your lappie early just do not be surprised it if takes as long as the estimated ship date.

I ordered the ideapad cause it fit the power to budget ratio that I had. Plus I fell in love with the design when I saw a friends y450, too bad the y460 does not have the white keyboard. It still looks good though, the orange accents are highlighted more with a full black lappie.

 

Sounds great. Could you please post a few pictures of the screen - preferably an all-black screen (so I can get a sense of the display's black levels).

Thanks!

 

I was wondering. I am looking to spend about $1000, and so I think my best options are the y460 with the i5-520 and HD5650 graphics or the y560 with the i5-430 and HD5730. The screen size doesn't matter to me. What should I get? Should I go for the graphics card or the processor?

 

if you game, the answer is a no brainer

GPU >>> CPU

 

it took less than 24 hours after i order it lol

i order on 5pm, and get it 1pm the next day

PS: i order from a reseller, not lenovo myself

 

Does the Y560 have switchable graphics? What's the battery life like with the i5 version?

 

Only the Y560 with the i5 CPUs have switchable graphics.

 

Still on the fence Rustican?

 

Klover, I tried to take some quick pictures of the screen using different settings on the camera, and different color settings on the laptop itself. It is quite difficult to get a proper color representation due to the auto adjustment of the camera so make of these pictures what you will.

This was one of the first pictures I took, color did not come out accurately on the camera possibly because of the lighting...


so tried to trick it by turning on my computer monitor.


Other Pictures from different angles and settings featuring the grey scale.

 

Hello,

I am interested in purchasing the Y560 i7. I am sensitive to fan noise and I was wondering about the fan noise. I am not a gamer.

I currently have a R500 p8600 and it is almost silent.

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

 

Great photos - thanks so much for taking the time to do that for me. Repped.