New Y460 and Y560 Ideapads

Yes. The "ThinkPad" line is a business / enterprise laptop, not really a entertainment / home / school one. Most business users have no need for a powerful GPU, so they're generally not included. The Quattro 880M in the W510 is equivalent to the GeForce 330M in a regular laptop, but the drivers aren't designed to support games. Any other ThinkPad line has just the Intel integrated graphics, which you can't play any game on that's less than 5 years old.

There are a few IdeaPads, Lenovo's home / entertainment line, that can play games, like the Y460 and Y560, but that's about it for Lenovo.

 

HDMI audio is handled by the audio processor that is built in to the ATI Radeon. The regular audio is by the Realtek chip that is separate. They use 2 different drivers, although shortly after ATI added HDMI audio to the 3000 series Radeon line, Realtek began offering a driver for "ATI HDMI Audio", I guess due to the fact that there were a ton of motherboard manufacturers that sold ATI on board graphics that also used Realtek audio codec chips.

You should be able to get it to work by going into the Windows Control Panel, select sounds, and rummage around in there till you find the HDMI audio output thingy. I got it to work a few times. Its very confusing as its not accessible through the Realtek control panel

 

All true. Its one reason that I have a regular human laptop in addition to my boring and slow Thinkpad X200S. It is probably indestructible, but I do hate it

Whats amazing is that the laptop manufacturers have created these silly market segments, when the machines are all nearly identical. Other than graphics processors, there's not much to differentiate one laptop from another.

 

Screen quality is another differentiator (is that a word?). Compare any Macbook or Sony Z Series to a ThinkPad. Worlds of difference.

I wasn't all that happy with the screen on my Y560 -- that's one (of many) reasons I traded it for a ThinkPad T410.
Not that the screen on the T410 is any better, really, but it's worth more in the long run due to build-quality, etc.

 

yeah....I wish the W510 had ATI gpu...then it would be amazing

 

yeah I kinda agree, but don't the workstation laptops have more powerful CPU as well? Aren't the build qualities better to?

 

really hope someone can help me out of this..i have downloaded CPUID and CPU-Z..both of these software only display 1 core instead of 2cores of my i5-430!!what is going wrong??for the CPUID..it also displays temperature for 1 core only...T.T...pls someone englighten me...

 

Could you post a screen shot of the CPU-Z?

 

the T series has discrete graphics though not a really powerful one

 

I guess. I think that screen quality has become more and more of a cost issue (wow! apples and oranges). The market doesn't support the pricing of the end product that better displays would require, hence the lack of progress in better display technologies. I suspect its also why the 15.6 inchers have become so annoyingly ubiquitous.... I guess there's a giant 15.6 plant somewhere cranking these things out

Not that I can tell. The build quality of my Thinkpad X200s is way overkill, just riduculous, and yet boring. I have a similar sized Toshiba T115D, that cost less than half what the Thinkpad X200s cost, and is infinitely more capable, as well as just plain nicer.

 

OH...wait so the business class notebooks are one of the same? Its just that it comes with different drivers? So no power increase? (power as in processing power). So for me I can choose any lappy?

 

Guess what? I've got the ATI huge cursor problem that's what! I thought there was no way to fix it other than making a reboot. But I just found out that triggering a UAC window sometimes fixes it

 

It has the OPTION for discrete graphics. My T410 has integrated and works well with just the Intel HD.

 

Just wanna ask if anyone of you have ever tried updating all of your drivers including your bios to the one posted over at lenovo's support site?

If so, did you notice any difference? specially the bios update? I've read somewhere it fixes some thermal table issues. Is it true?

Also, I checked there were plenty of upto date drivers of lenovo y460/560 drivers is it recomended I update all my drivers? (I'm using a y460 btw). My laptop's manufacturing date was last Feb. 2010, So my drivers would not be the latest. Although I did not experience the "auto-shutdown" issue or any outstanding issues for the y460. Thanks

 

I did the BIOS update and well, didn't notice a thing. The Fear 2 demo put a hurting on my system(and my mind) so I might give that a go sometime this week.

 

The new BIOS actually let me put my computer into sleep/hibernate when plugged in without shutting down following a stop error. But I think mine was an isolated issue.

Edit: Big mouse thing happened again, what I said before doesn't work.

 

Question to all: anyone got the 06462QU kit yet?

Specifically its the newest i5 450M and supposedly has the 32Gb SSD. Yes I know many current spec owners got lied to re: the SSD, I'm not really sure whether to expect it or not.

If anyone has it can they confirm
- is the SSD (or not) there?
- is the display problem there?
- is it shipped with the 'fixed' BIOS and ATI drivers?

Also, is it true that you can't use the standard ATI catalyst drivers and must wait for Lenovo specific releases? if so that really bites

alas I've already bought it (awaiting shipping, got relatives in US to score a deal) so this is more in hope than anything else (crosses fingers)

 

just like how the y460 has the OPTION for intergrated/discrete graphics?

 

BIOS 58 is out and I'll let you guys know if it solves the display problem.

 

Can't wait... are u sure that this one exactly should fix the display problem? Mark from Lenovo stated it to be expected in about a month.

Although here in Czech republic is still no i5 model, so i must wait anyway

 

Okay, first of all the grainyness is fixed. But I think with this solution comes another problem - the color palette seems to be a bit limited and this screenshot of Chrome's tab bar might show something a bit off, can you tell?
It's a PNG so don't blame it on lossyness.

 

I was wondering if anyone would be able to chime in on the y460 screen, is the screen of decent quality? Is the glossy factor of it really that much of a killer? Ive read about keyboard and touchpad lockups too, is this true? And what of heating? Is it not able to handle its graphics causing the thing to damage itself or get extremely hot?

Thanks for anyone who could help me out.

 

I think the screen is just fine. Although the lower res does let it down, the high color that it can provide is great. I've had no problem with the glossy screen as you can overpower glare with the screen brightness. Never heard of the keyboard and touchpad problems..... It gets hot during gaming. The only real negative of this laptop but it's not enough to damage the components.(Will shutdown if it gets too hot) Keeping an eye on temps is a must and getting a cooling pad would help. Normal usage it stays nice and cool.

 

TheWahbinator: Huh, shouldn't the left border be blue? Or maybe u're just using another color scheme for it ... Could you take a picture of your color palette or something? It would be a better thing to compare with. Thanks.

 

No that has nothing to do with it, look in the background of the title tab text. It looks like a white cut-out around where the grey area behind the text is normally supposed to be.

 

Okay this definitely needs its own post. Any Y560 owners with BIOS 58 open up a library in explorer and look in the background of the title where it says "Documents library" or something similar.

In short, this is unacceptable.

 

Yeah Same here I didn't notice any difference but I've read in the text file of the bios update that there seems to be some change on the thermal table.. I'm not really aware if it refers to the heating mechanism of the laptop.

Anyway, just wanna get your insights on this. Do you guys think that Lenovo y460 is the best buy when it comes to price-specs-quality ratio on the 14" category? Explain your take...

I tried checking on other 14" with similar CPU and GPU specs and it seems that the y460 has more advantages. Here are some of those laptops with similar specs like Sony vaio ea16 (the new e series) or the new Acer Timeline?

 

i am wondering while y460 is plugged in to AC..can we insert the battery eventhough it has fully charged(btw..it appears to be99%/charging all the time..is it normal?)..from the y460 user's guide..it is advisable that we insert the battery most of the time to prevent dust particles from entering the laptop through holes in the battery slot but isnt it AC plugged with battery there will spoil the battery(overload charging)??

 

anyone with y460 has thier dolby home theather working?i have only realtek audio settings available..

 

This is my first post in this thread. I just want to know the CPU-GPU temps the users get from the y560.

I'm too busy to read all the posts in this thread. Sorry.

 

i believe the dolby is just using the film camera (onekey theater) like touch sensitive button

 

Could you show us a screen shot? My laptop is still in the depot for this same problem, and I haven't been able to try the new BIOS yet. After all the trouble they've put me through, I think I'm just going to return it whenever it comes back from the depot.

Also, could you post a description of your problem here: Widespread Y560 Display Problem? - Page 12 - lenovo community

There's several active members of that thread with the same display problems, plus we've received some replies from Lenovo employees that are following our issue. Recently, they specifically asked on feedback for the new BIOS.

 

The Lenovo power management application has an option where it will stop charging the battery at 80%, in order to extend battery life.

 

I'm actually pretty sure there's no way of showing you without taking a photo, as uploading this screenshot and viewing it on a better monitor will make it appear as if there are no problems. It requires you to view it on a Y560.

 

Could you post a photo then? Some of the guys in the other thread created videos of the 'static' of the monitors, and they went a long way to proving to Lenovo that we had a legitimate problem. Maybe a photo of their botched 'fix' will either help Lenovo fix it, or convince others not to waste their money on a Y560.

 

i think that part of the design for that folder... im using y460

it's also in control panel



it is not in other folders


windows 7 isnt really consistant

 

Is it visible now? You can see some dithering from the normal screenshot.

 

Yeah, that's kinda ugly. I doubt that Windows 7 intentionally designed the folder to look like it has light blue tiger stripes going through the menus. Maybe the BIOS update just reduces the aggressiveness of the dithering. No static, but less colors? Couldn't they just give us a decent screen...

 

Yeesh... thats fugly. I just ordered a Y460 sport model... I hope the display doesn't suck too bad. I'll send it back if it does.

FYI, if u know someone who works for IBM, the Y460-063346 is $803 US today with the employee discount plus the IBM coupon that they give you on the website. Not bad actually. Was gonna get yet another Toshiba, cuz the Y460 has been stubbornly expensive, but at 800 clams, how can I say no

 

Anyone with a Y560 and BIOS 58 go watch a video at Hulu.com. Is the black border messed up?

 

Well, after all the display trouble I've had with the Y560, at least Lenovo gave me a 100% refund, with no problems.

 

Just a friendly heads up for USA buyers: 15% off Code: USPLENOVO708 on the Lenovo site. Great deals.

 

Yeah the gradient jumps.
That's what I call a half-assed fix.

 

I think I preferred the shining pixels. At least those were less noticeable than the gradient.

 

OK, I am having a HUGE problem with my y560 (i5 version).

For the 3rd time now, my computer locks up, BSOD comes up. After my computer restarts after the BSOD, Windows fails to load, it stays at the screen where you see the Windows Logo. I then try to startup repair, which seems to work at first, but then when I actually start up Windows, it is REALLY slow and explorer eventually freezes up. I've had to factory restore for the 3rd time now because this keeps happening.

I'm not the most tech-savvy person, but I have general knowledge of computers. Atm, i'm assuming it might be a problem with the Hard Drive, something is screwing with my windows files everytime the BSOD comes up. I've read that some1 else said that they're ram is faulty, could it be that? Anyways right now I'm just trying to figure out whats wrong before I call Lenovo to send it back

 

In my experience, the most common cause of BSOD are bad video drivers, overheating due to overclocking too far, and bad ram. A bad HDD is possible, but not as likely as RAM. If you already did a factory recovery, then I doubt it's the video drivers, but you can install the newest ones anyway, just in case.

To test the RAM, either make a bootable Memtest CD Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic

Or, try removing one of the sticks of RAM. If it still BSODs, then switch them out. If it BSODs on one stick, but not on the other, then you have a bad stick of RAM. You should be able to have Lenovo just send you a new stick without having to send your laptop to the depot (which I'd avoid, they had mine for a month, just to send it back to me unfixed).

 

I'm trying to decide between a few laptops now and wanted some input. Choices are:

1. Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820T - $650 Canadian - core i3, integrated gfx
2. Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG - $800 Canadian - core i5-450, Radeon 5470
3. Lenovo Y460 - $1050 Canadian - core i5-520, Radeon 5650
4. Lenovo Y560 - $849 Canadian; $746.10 with 10% coupon - core i3, Radeon 5730

I wanted to confirm some things:
1. Battery life on Y460 is about 4 hours using integreated video card?
2. Battery life of Y560 with core i3 is??? I read in this thread that the i7 has about 3 hours of battery life.
3. Does the Y560 with core i3 have switchable graphics?
4. What resolution is the webcam on the Y560? I think the Y460 is 1.3 megapixels, right?


I want a videocard to be able to handle some light gaming with decent battery life for the best price possible. I wouldn't be doing anything more demanding than maybe Dragon Age Origins (and Diablo III, Civ 5, Dragon Age 2 when they are released). Thanks

 

I would take an Aspire 3820TG with i5 430M/Radeon HD 5650, as it has great cooling (2 fans) and very good battery life even with the 6cell battery. Here in Europe it's for about 800€, but don't know about its availability in Canada.

 

It's not available in Canada with a 5650.

 

Well, these Acers' configurations aren't so interesting - HD 5470 is lowend, so why pay so much. If I could have the Y460 for less than 1000 USD, then i would be very happy But count with a cooling pad to avoid overheating.