New Y460 and Y560 Ideapads

Kingston Gen 2 value 128gb SSD. I currently own three 64gb Kingston SSDnow Gen 2 drives and one 80gb intel SSD.

In my opinion, SSD has not matured yet, so I am only buying value drive. Well my intel 80gb drive was the first one I bought.

 

Once you install it, could you let me know if it boots fine? Mine sometimes will not boot when loading windows and acts like the SSD isn't even there.(The harddrive light stops) I don't know what is wrong and it does it randomly. Works great otherwise.

 

Hm, sounds annoying.
If my SSD does get delivered tomorrow, I can only install it at night after I come back from work.

Or if I get impatient which often happens, I might pull out a 64gb one out of my gaming laptop and try it on it.

 

So is anybody else going to run the PassMark benchmark on their machine?

 

Alright, thanks for the insight. I think I am going to order the Y560 sometime tonight or tomorrow. The specs on it will be a huge improvement over my current laptop and will also allow me to play more modern games than Warcraft 3 (since Starcraft 2 is coming out soon!).

 

So my Y560 came in today, and the first thing I did was check the "moving pixel" problem. From the onset, the screen looked fine, but tilting it 60 degrees would make some of the colors go berserk. I tweaked the brightness/contrast/gamma levels and I don't seem to be having the problems anymore. Then again, I haven't really been exposed to many colors as of yet since I've only had this laptop for a few hours. We'll see how it goes.

 

The display problem has nothing to do with the switchable graphics. I have the i7 with no switchable graphics and still have the problem. Most of the people on the other thread about it don't have the switchable graphics either.

I'd make a video, but my laptop is at the warranty center.

 

Thanks for answering my other question guys. Another one-the i7 is 1.6ghz, how do I pump it to 2.8ghz?

 

It will auto boost itself to 2.8GHz if it's only running 1 or 2 threads. You have no control over it.

 

Here's the description from Intel:


Intel Turbo Boost Technology is activated when the Operating System (OS) requests the highest processor performance state (P0).

The maximum frequency of Intel Turbo Boost Technology is dependent on the number of active cores. The amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology state depends on the workload and operating environment.

Any of the following can set the upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology on a given workload:

* Number of active cores
* Estimated current consumption
* Estimated power consumption
* Processor temperature

When the processor is operating below these limits and the user's workload demands additional performance, the processor frequency will dynamically increase by 133 MHz on short and regular intervals until the upper limit is met or the maximum possible upside for the number of active cores is reached.

http://www.intel.com/technology/product/demos/turboboost/demo.htm?iid=tech_tb+demo

 

You can actually control how fast the processor is with the Energy Management program. When it's on auto or low, it reads about 1.3Ghz at idle. This is on high and idle and is showing 2.93Ghz(Rounded) the highest speed for my processor.

 

My Y560's i7 on High Performance setting -- screen snip below:
(the multiplier doesn't seem to go above x21. The fastest clockspeed I saw was 2792.3 MHz which rounds up to 2.8GHz.)


The Windows Experience Index CPU score is 7.1.

If I put the power plan for the CPU on "Auto", it will idle at about 933MHz but is quick to ramp up under any load.

 

Some of the darker shades of grey/brown/black, no matter what I adjust, still shimmers. It's not that noticeable if you're just looking at it, but if you look really closely, you can tell. Ugh.

 

My Y560 came with a huge 120-Watt AC Adapter. If you go to Lenovo's website and see what power accessories they sell for this model, there are ZERO batteries shown... just two AC Adapters: a 90-Watt and a 65-Watt. What's up with that? If I wanted an extra AC adapter, I'd want another 120-watt one, wouldn't I? OR maybe a 90-watt one is enough?

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:find-compatible-items?category-id=4364BD0F20B94413B5AD6E684D2848E9&model-number=0646&cat=1

 

I am now an owner of Y460.
It doesn't look like anything is wrong with my machine so far.
I just gotta wait for that SSD tomorrow.

 

what is the 3dmark06 score for y460?if we overclock the 5650..this will certainly add more heat to the machine isnt it?since y460 cooling system is already bad..overclock the gpu will make it worse right?

 

Why say cooling system is bad?

 

many reviews and users are complaining about the overheating issue isnt it?

 

Cooling seems no worse than my gaming laptop while playing Mass Effect 2 and Dragon age. I just tested it. Ran the game for 30 minutes through some combat actions.

But the thing is, the bigger a laptop is, the better cooling it can have. And therefore can house better graphic cards.

There is no magical way to get rid of heat.
I can see Y460 having more heat issues than Y560 after all, one's 14 inch. The other is 15.6 inch. And both have almost same cpu and gpu.

 

I thought it has fine cooling? The heat still manageable, not overheating...

 

can anyone teach me how to uninstall bloatwares inside y460?and one more question..for y460 users out there..after uninstalling all those bloatwares..how many proccess are running(through window task manager)?

 

Cannot believe how slow the laptop is with a 5400rpm HDD...

I've been spoiled by SSD too much ...

 

I've read a large portion of this thread but let me ask. How hot does the Y560 get under load with the 5750 and the i7720???

I kind of wished it was available with an i5 540 or 520.

Thanks.

 

Crappy usual Purolator screwup....

They sent the package to Toronto instead of Windsor ...

ETA has been postponed to next Monday.

:/

 

Around 80 degrees, usually not past that. One model of the newer Y560d will come with an i5 450.

I think setting the CPU to high power makes it more likely to pump 1-2 cores in Turbo boost, however the official gadget from intel's site doesn't show it rising above 2Ghz when it's set.

 

The i7-720QM is awesome. I've put some heavy multitasking loads on it and it hasn't overheated on me yet.

You have enough space in the Y560 to cool the i7. It's a 15.6" model. The cooling system seems to work really well. I haven't monitored temps, but playing heavy games does not make the palmrest or any part of it hot except for the exhaust port (as it should be). Playing COD:MW2 on high settings, I can also be running a virus scan and defrag and I still have a couple threads open in performance monitor. Remember, you've got 4 cores and 8 threads on this CPU. I run it under the "Balanced" power setting and when it needs to, it ramps up to 2.79GHz... I've seen it do it with CPU-Z.

I'm guessing the only game it might choke on is Crysis on high settings. But I've read it will run it on moderate settings although one user said that game did overheat it. You really need a desktop or an Alienware laptop for Crysis. You'll pay thousands, but you can get a desktop Core i7 in an Alienware laptop... just too pricey for me. I think the 560 is an excellent deal for the specs. The power brick is huge and heavy (120-watts). But, you need that power to run the i7 and the ATI card.

I could toast bread if I put it next to the exhaust -- but that's good, it's drawing all that heat off of the CPU and GPU. I've had it nearly two weeks now and no blue screens, no unexpected reboots or freezes. Heat is not an issue, in my opinion. The extra power of the i7 is worth it.

 

so what is the verdict on these?

I have my eye on both models but all this talk of shimmering pixels has me spooked.

are folks with the 460 able to crack 7,000 in 3dmark06?

 

Yes, and then some.

 

Those weird "dancing" pixels appear to be only for Y560.

I received my Y460 yesterday and have been stress testing over night. When I woke up, it was as hot as boobs, but it was stable.
No pixel problems or whatsoever for me on my laptop. (so far, might I add.)

Game playability wise, I don't favor running benchmark programs because I consider them bloatware. However, as far as I can tell, Y460 is performing similar to my gaming laptop witch has P8600 and 9800m GTS. But then my gaming laptop has 1920 x 1080. It's a lot more pixels to process compared to mere 1366 x 768.
At least I couldn't tell any noticeable framerate different from Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Fallout 3, and lastly Oblivion.

As for the build quality, it's not the best. I can tell you that. But it is above average.

I am just waiting for my SSD (ETA monday) before I ditch spindle HDD.

 

i can't find the post in this forum on how to fix audio through HDMI.

anyone can help? I already tried updating the video graphics driver and selecting realtek digital output doesn't seem to work.

 

I have not seen anyone complain about HDMI audio.

1. Did you do a clean install or you have your notebook in factory state?
2. Try update RealTek to latest software
3. Check your playback source in your sound settings. Play sound while this screen is up to see if the green bar moves while you are looking at the default sound source
4. Try your notebook on another TV

I have had issues with another pc that could not play audio on a certain samsung tv via hdmi, yet i could play fine with a ps3 and xb360 on the same samsung tv. The pc worked fine on other tvs.

 

when you have your hdmi connected, right click on the volume icon (white) on the bottom right and click on playback devices. set hdmi as the defult device.

OR you can use realtek software and do the same thing. Have the hdmi pluged in, double click on the realtek volume icon, click on the hdmi tab, and set it as defult device

 

i don't have the HDMI icon. I installed everything fresh, and updated the Realtek and ATI drivers. Still not there. is going on?

 

nvm. got it to work.

didn't realize that HDMI audio ONLY works when ATI graphics is on.

 

What SSD are you getting?

 

Kingston SSDnow Gen 2 value 128gb SSD @ 221 CAD.

Basically, the cheapest I could find. I am also using Kingston SSDnow gen 2 64gb as OS drive on my gamping laptop. It has two slots for HDDs, so 64gb works.
But Y460 has only one slot for HDD, so I had to go for higher capacity. I need around 40gb for steam games.

The reason I am buying the cheapest is that I could not tell any noticeable performance difference by eyes when I compared Kingston value line SSD with Intel Gen 2 80gb, so I figured I might as well save some money.
Still those value line SSDs provide a world difference in performance anyway.

 

when you plug in the HDMI it automactically turns on ati graphics

 

That's a really good choice right now IMO.

The Y560 with i3 and 5730 is $765 CDN this weekend. How bad are those shimmering pixels?

And what is the battery life on the 560 like? I am having a devil of a time finding a review.

 

Yay, found a dead pixel. Fortunately, it's on very bottom right next to the lid border, so it won't bother me.

That's a good deal, dude. I wish I could tell you about the shimmering pixels. If it is like shimmering pixels I had with my retired XPS M1330, you don't want it. It's not so bad, but it will keep annoying ya.

 

I also need some info about the battery life of y560...How long does it lasts? I guess 9 cell batteries are not available for ideapads

 

With this kind of hardware you really can't expect much in the way of battery life. 3 to 4 hours at most. Less when gaming or watching HD video.

 

I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.

I've been using this laptop for almost a week now and it's great!

The screen is grainy, but I think it is like this for most 15 inch laptops with this resolution.. And I'm used to it now. It looks fine.
Sound quality superb, fast, keyboard feels great to type on.
Not as much bloatware as people talked about (for me anyway).

For that price I highly recommend!

 

Question for Current OWNERS!!!


For your notebook fan vent on the left side, do you notice that it isn't very strong and that it seems the heat passively comes out?

 

Depends on what I'm doing. When playing a hardware-demanding game, the air comes blasting out the vent and it's hot. But just sitting here idling I can feel a little bit of air movement and heat but not much.

 

my fan never seems to be blasting out of the vent. faulty notebook?

 

Get that speedfan program to see how fast your fan is spinning. Sometimes I'll be doing minimal activities and the fan will be like a mini hurricane. If you play games or anything that requires heavy load, the fan should be blowing out air strong. However, if the system components are relatively cool, then the fan will stay slow.

 

Well? Don't ask that here. It's really easy to test that out. Play a game, and you will find out.
If you can play it for 30 minutes, or even 10 minutes, your laptop's cooling system is working.

This is kinda ironic because everyone wants quiet laptop. Now when it's too quiet, they get worried.

 

Can you describe the grain more closely, or compare to your desktop screen? Do your eyes suffer after few hours of using? I've seen a HD video of a guy showing the Y560's display problems on Youtube: YouTube - Ideapad Y560 problem. But it's quite difficult to evaluate the display just by watching a video, so I'd appreciate some practical experience.

AboutThreeFitty: Could you find out which model of LCD panel is used in Y460? I'd like to know if it's the same manufacturer, or if Y460 is using a better-quality screen.

Thanks.

 

Not sure if it is accurate or not, but I have not had any problems that some y560 users are having nor have I heard anyone else complain about their y460.

 

The video actually does a pretty good job of depicting the problem. It's not like looking at it in person, but it isn't a bad recording. You can only barely see it when looking straight at the screen, but if you bend the screen back you can see it clear as day. The screen looks like an old analog TV with bad reception. The pixels in the screen constantly change color. The overall color of the area is the same, but the individual pixels 'sparkle'. I've also heard it described as 'grainy'.

It's subtle if you're looking dead on, but still annoying as hell. It may not affect everybody the same, but it strains my eyes badly. Using it for more than an hour hurts my eyes and gives me a splitting headache.

As far as I know, no one with a Y460 has reported this problem, just some people with the Y560.

I should be hearing back from the warranty repair center tomorrow. I hope they can fix it. Otherwise it's a great laptop, but the screen problem is so bad for me it just ruins the whole thing.