Soon-to-be Y500 owner, got some quick questions.

I recently sold my ASUS G73Jh gaming laptop and ordered a Y500 with this configuration:

i7-3630QM
1080p screen
1 x GT 650M
1TB 5400 RPM HDD
DVD drive

I also added a second Ultrabay GT 650M and 170W power adapter. It should be arriving in 1-2 weeks and I am stoked! Super excited for something with twice the CPU and graphics horsepower of my ASUS and weighing 2 lbs lighter.

While I twiddle my thumbs waiting for them to bring me my laptop, I've got a few quick questions. Sorry if these have been answered here before, but the search function is just so non-intuitive. It would be cool if there was a sticky with all the FAQ's like they have in the ASUS G Series subforum.

1. Does Optimus work at all in this machine when running either single or SLI graphics? I've read that it is completely disabled but the Indian dude on live chat (why are they always Indian?) repeatedly insisted that it does work.
2. Is the issue with the defective ElanTech touchpads completely resolved? I read that all Y500's manufactured after November last year have been switched to fully-functional Synaptics touchpads. So there's no chance that I would be getting a bad ElanTech one at this point in time right?
3. Is it possible to do a clean install of Windows 8 with only drivers and no Lenovo bloatware? I heard that there's like 20GB of bloat on the machine which is just insane. I remember that with Windows 7 you could simply burn an .iso of the install disk and activate with the serial number on the bottom of the laptop.
4. It's just plug-and-play if I want to install an mSATA SSD in the spare mini-PCIe slot right?

Thanks a bunch. I look forward to spending a lot of time hanging out in here.

 

Doesn't y500 come with a ac adapter of 170 watt power? check here : Review Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews
and see the accessories part. Regarding your queries I only know that Lenovo has said about replacing with synaptics touchpad with existing elan for notebooks manufactured after November-December, I think it is always easy to do the software removing bloatware part, but win8 doesnt come in with any key or serial, its in your bios. so dont remove win8 yet.

 

At the US Lenovo website there is no option for a preconfigured Y500 with SLI so they all come with the standard 120W adapter. The only way to get SLI for me is to buy the Ultrabay GPU and 170W adapter separately. Since Notebookcheck is a German website they probably had the SLI configuration.

I actually think it's much easier to just do a clean install of the OS and latest drivers instead of trying to remove all the bloatware and traces manually, especially with how much crap Lenovo installs. Call it a placebo effect if you will, but I always felt that the reason I never had any major software issues with my G73 was that I did a clean install as soon as I got the laptop

 

well amazon and newegg has the SLI version. I dont think AC adapters are different for SLI version or normal ones. Companies dont make so much detail when they are making accessories, they make a single accessory which goes with all (thats what I know & feel). & removing bloatware manually & doing clean install is the same...

 

I've already answered your question twice but it looks like you're kind of slow so I'll repeat it a third time: THE 170W ADAPTER IS REQUIRED FOR SLI AND YOU ONLY RECEIVE IT IF YOU BUY A Y500 PRECONFIGURED WITH SLI, LIKE THE ONES ON NEWEGG AND AMAZON. SINGLE GPU Y500'S ONLY COME WITH A 120W CHARGER.

I guess if you'd talked with any Lenovo rep or read the previous replies you would know this. Or you can check Lenovo's website and see that they sell both the 120W and 170W adapters for IdeaPad. Many boutique system builders like Alienware and Sager do the same thing and supply different adapters depending on how many GPU's you configure. What you feel is not always reality.

Uninstalling bloatware manually and doing a clean reformat are not the same thing because the former leaves tons of traces in the Windows Registry and elsewhere and is much harder and time-consuming to do. I would much rather just do a complete wipe and start with a clean slate.

 

I had a chat with Lenovo guy he said WEB model with SLI will be coming shortly, and yes about the adpater part amazon has 170w Why not buy it from there (if you are going to have SLI, price difference maybe)? Cleaning registry is simple if you know about CCleaner

 

The Lenovo sales rep I talked to gave me a better deal than what is available on Amazon and Newegg so I bought directly from Lenovo

I know how to use CCleaner but doing it that way is too much work.

 

How much are u paying for the whole set? Lappy,Ultrabay Graphics & adapter?

 

$959 before tax. The laptop was $809 and the GPU and adapter were $150 together.

 

you might be IBM(lenovo) employee then...
so its $809 for you

 

Just saying, but all reviewed versions of the Y500, even without SLI came with the 170w power brick, ordered from Lenovo too.

Come to think of it, the Y400 came with the 170w power brick too.

 

Haha good joke, but no. I got that price on the laptop because I used the Barnes and Noble Gold offer. As for the second GPU and AC adapter, that was the result of my negotiations with a Lenovo sales rep on the phone.

 

LOL this is my fourth time answering this question! Only the SLI versions of the Y500/Y400 (currently unavailable through Lenovo's website) come with the 170W charger! Not only do the sales rep confirm this but a bunch of owners in this forum verified this as well. That's why they have been asking whether SLI works with the 120W charger.

I think I may have to start a new thread because this one has turned into people asking me about the charger over and over again while the questions in my OP go unanswered.

 

Alright then, what questions in the OP couldn't be answered by digging around the Y500 owners thread?

People have answered 3 of your 4 questions multiple times on this forum, and some of them don't pertain to this specific laptop either.

Hard drives aren't set with a permanent OS, so why shouldn't you be able to put a clean install of Windows 8 on it? The only problem would be finding the drivers, but that shouldn't be that hard.

There are also quite a few threads, here and at Lenovo forums, about the inability to detect the integrated graphics card, as well as the inability to turn on Optimus, due to SLI not being compatible with it.

The spare PCIe slot requires a unique caddy if I'm not mistaken, and if you get a defective touchpad, just return it.

All these questions have been answered multiple times on multiple pages in the Y500 owners thread, except maybe one,which would be the PCIe question, but the only thing this thread tells me is that you're too lazy to search for these answers yourself.

Also, you're welcome.

 

The Y500 has Optimus disabled because apparently it causes issues with the SLI configuration. It even has it disabled in the non-SLI version, in case you wanted to put a second GPU in. Also, since November the started putting Synaptics touchpads on the Y500, so as long as you ordered yours directly from Lenovo, you should be getting the fixed version. The Synaptics has none of the problems the Elan's did.

 

You don't need to clean install windows 8, because it have option to "restart" it self.
Msata only work in msata(it look pcie but with sata routed to it) slot and it should be obvious, plug and play.

 

No need to get angry and start name calling. I prefaced my OP by apologizing if these questions had been answered before because I had a very hard time finding what I was looking for using the search function here. I suggested having a sticky at the top of this forum for the FAQ's.

I never said that it's impossible to clean install Windows 8, but if my research is correct, the process is a lot more difficult than it was in Windows 7. Microsoft doesn't provide downloadable installation media through places like Digital River and I have no place to obtain Windows 8 install discs for free. I can't do an in-place upgrade install from Windows 7 to Windows 8 because I don't have a spare license of Windows 7 to forfeit. It looks like my only option at the moment is to obtain a Windows 8 .iso from "alternate channels" but I would really like to avoid that if at all possible.

About my Optimus question, I just wanted clarification because several Lenovo reps on live chat have told me that it does indeed work (even with SLI!) but apparently they are mistaken.

And if you're such a know-it-all, why bring up the issue of the different chargers? You should've already known the answer to that. I'm guessing you either don't own said laptop or were too lazy to search for the answers by yourself?

 

If you're talking about the System Refresh option in Windows 8, that doesn't get rid of the bloatware because it simply reinstalls them again using the factory image in the recovery partition.

 

There is refresh but also reset.

 

They do the same thing in regards to bloatware, only refresh keeps your personal data, installed apps, and system settings intact while reset wipes all of them and restores the laptop to factory condition.

 

Probably because either all Y500's before the touch pad fix had the charger, or Lenovo mispackaged them.

Either way,if the search function on the forum doesn't work well, there's always Google.