The Lenovo Y500 sucks thread!

I say we start a thread to let off some steam. Can't do it in the Lenovo forums because the mods delete it within seconds. Wish they were that proactive with fixing the touchpad and keyboard issues. LOL So, this gentleman and I were having a discussion about alternatives to the Y500 and he had purchased a HP. Needless to say, everything was erased pretty quickly. Just thought it was funny. Carry on.

P.S. don't try to post a picture over 50kb there because they will modify your post before you blink. I was impressed, here I was trying to help people out with the touchpad issue with pictures and bam, pictures replaced with link and message saying post modded due to exceeding 50kb. Must be automatic but it actually takes a few minutes so I'm thinking they actually have some nerd that sits in front of the computer. If that is the case, he/she needs to be transferred to a more useful department. No in fact it is not automatic because now I remember. I actually compressed the picture to just below 50kb and repost it, and that idiot came back and deleted my picture saying there's no need to have the link and the picture and kept the link but deleted my picture. Now I remember why I am so irritated. Let's hear your story!

 

I've really been bummed out by the decisions made by Lenovo in the last year. I've seen Lenovo roll out some really atrocious products, such as the Y500. It seems that Lenovo does not have ANY hardware testing in their R&D. Some engineer dreams up a hardware configuration that "should" work, and submits that design spec to manufacturing. Marketing begins pushing the machine, advertising functions that will not work in the current product, such as WiDi, and dual graphics. The factory produces the hardware, substituting some inferior part, such as the Elan trackpad, to keep the cost as low as possible. Then they throw on their "Lenovo enhanced" OS, with all the bells, and whistles, and ship the product. They leave it up to the hardware/software support team to deal with any problems that arise due to mis-matched hardware/software, and the marketing screw up that promised WiDi. See these 2 pages that specifically state WiDi in the Y500:

(Pages might be removed by Lenovo)

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/image/s...7498B93E08/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/image/s...A321430A32/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1


Now see how Mark tries to weasel out of that requirement by saying he couldn't find a "page" that promised WiDi in the Y500:

Wireless Display (WIDI) issue on ideapad Y500 - Page 11 - Lenovo Community

Thousands of Y500's have been ordered, under the false advertising that they contained WiDi, and a workable TouchPad.

STILL, THEY HAVEN'T ISSUED A TOTAL SYSTEM RECALL FOR ALL THE AFFECTED MACHINES. IF YOU SCREAM LOUD, AND HARD, YOU "MAY" GET SOME SATISFACTION, although Lenovo continues to push this under the table, and hopes these problems will just go away.

But, that's not the way to do business. If you screw up, you had better get on your knees, and Kow Tow to your consumers, who got inferior systems from the ones you sold them in your advertising.

No amount of driver, or BIOS updates, can fix the lack of a good R&D department, in their product development.

The most grievous sin Lenovo commits, is not having a centralized database for their marketing/production/shipping/support. Never mind that one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing. Their little finger doesn't know what the thumb is doing.

 

Nicely put, I agree completely. Hope they get their stuff together. It's too late for the Y500 but maybe they'll learn something from this debacle. The Y500 really looked great on paper but something as simple as keyboard and touchpad can completely ruin everything. And yeah, Mark sure did try to weasel out of the WiDi support. I got a good laugh out of it. I knew that it wasn't going to support Optimus even though I thought it wouldn't be too hard to make it so the user has the option to switch in between SLi and Optimus in the bios. Just not much development went into this thing as you've said. I'm sure the support for it will be non-existent kind of like those Google products out there. I would switch to Apple, but I'm just too cheap. I have better things to do with my money than to pay double as much for a phone or laptop. I do have an iPad 2 though, and that thing has been trouble free which made it kind of boring actually.

Edit: Lenovo did do a lot right with the Y500 though. It is damn sexy looking, the JBL/ Dolby sounds ridicuously good. I can see the attention to detail everywhere like the cooling, the way they've sealed the heatsink. The 650m overclocks very well both core and memory. It is definitely a step up from the Y580 in so many ways.

 

Can this be an lenovo sucks thread? There isn't an ideapad yet that I haven't heard problems for. I'm really really considering selling my y580 and saying adios to Lenovo. I'm just worried how much I'll lose over reselling this junk. Then I've got to find another laptop that will fit my msata card or resale that as well.

 

LOL, Lenovo does suck pretty hard from what I've seen so far. We'll see if they can redeem themselves with future products. The Y500 is a lost cause at this point. But man can it play games though, I'm going to play some more Far Cry 3..... bbl.

 

haha yeah the 500 is a nice unit (if they qc-ed it) but now with the tech essentially being the same it is just a matter of whose logo you want on the outside

but damn I was looking forward to using that ultra bay

(my 500 is in the repair shop then will be returned for a full refund)

 

What exactly sucks that much about the Y500 if you don't mind me asking?
I don't need WiDi and apparently the touch pad issues have all but disappeared with the newer built models.
What other issues are there that I don't know of or am I missing something?

(BTW Keyboard issues go away when you turn of Backlight)

 

Let me see, I paid 1000 bucks for a product that had an inoperable keyboard and touchpad. They can't even get the most basic input devices to function properly, can you imagine what else can be wrong with the product we have yet to discover? Oh, WiDi is important to some people, maybe not to you. I know I would have liked to have the capability available even if I don't always use it. The Y500 is a failed product. I made it work but none of us should have to endure this kind of crap that is the Y500. On another note, just because you have a Synaptic touchpad doesn't mean anything because it still operates like crap from what I've read in the forum. I bet my *fixed* Elan pad functions better. It is a grounding issue, it just happens that the Synaptic touchpad reacts a little better to the design flaw that is the Y500. So, yeah, that is why the Y500 sucks. If you want to know how the touchpad should actually feel and function, you'll have to open it up and relocate the grounding tape Elantech and Synaptic alike.

Turning off the backlight did not make my keyboard issue go away. Turning off USB Always On also did not make the problem go away. Having to turn either one of them off as an solution proves how much the Y500 sucks and puts it in all caps why this product is a FAIL. We haven't even touch the support side of this whole debacle.

It's ok to criticize something you like.

 

I see your point and truly feel sorry for all those that bought the Y500.
What would be a good replacement however?
Asus N56 throttles like crazy, the HP Envy DV6 runs very hot and the Y580 has 660M issues.
Is there even a perfect replacement?

 

Suck it up and get a Macbook? I think the Samsung Series 7 Chronos would probably be the best alternative. Hands on: Samsung Series 7 Chronos review | News | TechRadar

 

I also think Samsung is a good alternative, I use a Samsung by myself and I never had any Problems and in my opinion Macbooks are to expensive for the buildin hardware

 

Getting the Y500 is playing with your cash.
You can get lucky and get one without any issues. Or you can get really unlucky and get a y500 full of issues.

The samsungs looks appealing specs wise. But the design is ugly IMO. Thin, granted. But I don't like silver/chrome colored laptops. Especially samsungs current line, it's almost a macbook.

 

Wait? Is widi not working with optimus +1 x 650m? Or 1x 650 have no optimus?

 

The Y500 sucks...? I was going to buy one today...

 

Lenovo's first jump into the portable gaming laptop market isn't all that bad, I mean there are definitely problems with the Y500 but considering it's like the only 15.6" laptop that has an option for user upgradeable SLI, that's quite a bold statement coming from a company known pretty much only for their ThinkPad business line laptops prior to their IdeaPad Y470/Y570 multimedia line success.

Perfect replacement = Windows 8 RT Tablet...LMAO

 

I'll take a look at the Samsung but I know I need an Nvidia GPU.
Macbooks (apart from OS preference) cant have 3 drives inside so that is a no go as well.
I'm taking a look at the HP Envy DV6 again since it doesn't throttle as much as the Asus N56.

 

Funny how "Y500 sucks!" turned into "Lenovo (as a whole) sucks!". When I had my hands on the Y470p, I admit that I didn't really like the keyboard layout, but overall it wasn't a bad gaming laptop, compared to the competition (as explained by Nemix77). However, their business units (Thinkpad X/T/W) are pretty solid and can make Dell and HP run for their money in that market; I'm a little bummed out about the recent changes, however.

 

Unfortunately no, WiDi will not work on the Y500. There is no "optimus" or "switchable graphics" available, as the Intel HD 4000 is disabled at the BIOS. The latest report is, even with an unlocked, modded BIOS, nobody can enable the Intel HD 4000. For the Intel WiDi to work, you need to have these four things:

1. An Intel 3 or 4 generation processor.
2. An Intel HD video card (3000/4000) that is enabled at the BIOS level.
3. An Intel WiFi card.
4. WiDi must be preloaded, at the factory.

See the Intel requirements for WiDi:

Intel® Wireless Display — System requirements for the Intel® Wireless Display

Here are a couple of threads about this issue at the Levono forums:

Wireless Display (WIDI) issue on ideapad Y500 - Lenovo Community

LENOVO Y 400\ 500 UNLOCKED BIOS -FULL WIDI ,RAID,S... - Lenovo Community

Just don't believe that last thread regarding the unlocked BIOS being able to access the Intel HD 4000, for the WiDi. He hasn't proved it yet. :tongue:

 

Okay, so lenovo mess up when their employee design to just copy and paste everything. How about ask for a exchange for y580?

 

Sounds reasonable is price since price is in the same range for both, this should get Lenovo thinking and prepared for the successor to the Y500 series if enough Y500 users request for such an exchange from Lenovo with valid argue statement.

 

i got my y400 two ago, (the 750$ with a coupon one) and i have to say for the price i paid im prettysure this is the best laptop i could've bought.. i don't know if the y400 has the same grouding issues as the y500 but i didn't notice any touchpad or keyboard problems. the only negative comment i have to say is the poor display quality the resolution is kinda OK 1366x768 in a 14'' is acceptable but viewing angles are very poor and you can easily use your screen as a mirror (the thing is very glossy !!!) but again for the price i paid i gess i'll have to close my eyes on this... So as of today i would recommend the y400 to everyone who wants a decent gaming laptop with a low budget..

 

Your problem seems to be a defective keyboard and touchpad. Did you try to have them replaced?

 

Use the laptop for now till the warranty runs out then replace the panel.

 

What's the issue of 660M in Y580? I never encountered any issues so far.

 

Negative, the defective systems would be the ones that are actually functioning properly. It is a design issue, there is nothing wrong with the Elan touchpad. It is improperly grounded, once grounded properly the touchpad works smoothly. As I've said, the people with the Synaptics still have a touchpad that is not working as well as it should, but it is able to react to the poor design better than the Elantech. Same thing with the keyboard but to a lesser extent but it is quite easy to see it is not a keyboard issue when the problem goes away if you turn off USB Always On. It is a design flaw, the Y500 is defective not the individual parts. Read the thread in the Lenovo support forum and you'll understand. Lenovo Ideapad Y500 Touchpad Not Working - Lenovo Community

 

Good old Elantech touchpad, same thing happened to the ASUS eee PC 10.2" series Netbooks (yup remember those) a few years back.

Not entirely Lenovo's fault but still a good place to start blaming.

 

My y500 i got two weeks ago is great overclocks great looks great

 

As I was reading on the Lenovo forums there was a long thread about graphical glitches when playing games.
The initial solution for many was to down clock the GPU memory by 100Mhz or have the motherboard replaced.
The latest bios update was seen to fix it for many as well, again reading from the Lenovo forums.
So the Y580 is back on my list again lol

 

I truly do not understand how frustrated you guys probably are. The thing is that the y500 i received was issue less. The thing runs brilliantly and if i were to still "waste" that 850 bucks on a laptop again i would still buy this because of its good performance screen speakers and the general [sexy] look of it. If you had a broken y500 blame lenovo for not giving you what you paid for which i am certain is one of the best products i have used. So the title of this thread "Y500 sucks" is quite inaccurate instead it should be "lenovo sucks" which by the way i would completely agree with.the only reason i am writing this is that this is luring away many people from this laptop which i truly beleive is a good one.

 

Yup. Face it, even with the issues. This laptop is awesome price/specs wise. You won't find anything better.
The customer service might lack to some though.

 

no optimus, i'm not buyin it, god i'm disappointed..

 

after perusing this thread, i decided not to buy y500. thanks guys

 

A friend of mine have just bought a Y500 and I went to his place to play together for several hours, and I am quite impressed. Didn't notice any issues with the keyboard, and the touchpad is on par with other PC ones.

 

Thank god my build date was after the majority of the initial complaints on here. ^^

Also, if you bought a gaming laptop due to it's Optimus features. Perhaps you should be looking more at your reasoning abilities than the laptop itself.

 

Maybe the person who you are criticizing wants to have it both ways: mid-high range gaming capability and a longer battery life when not gaming.

 

I'd like to have a Bugatti at the price of a can of Pringles, I'm not going to get my way either.

 

The y580 is similar price ~$50-100 difference. which in term give ~1hour wlan battery life and cooler operation when not using dGPU.

 

Tsk,tsk. Like the person above me stated, you can get decent gaming with the Y580 (GTX 660M is an upper-mid range chip) and still have 5hrs of battery life under optimus (with 8/10 display brightness), which is disabled BTW in the Y500.

 

Owned by the previous posts
No seriously, the y580 got a better GPU, Optimus and cooler temps and there is no problem with it's touchpad.
Plus you got to know that there is people like "students and pre-Ph.D students or engineers" who need a good GPU for gaming and a high battery life while running on the intel chip..

sorry all for my bad english

 

Seems the newer builds solved the keyboard and trackpad issues. Mine has a Synaptics and is a fantastic touchpad over the Elan that was in my Asus Zenbook.

 

yeap but still no optimus fix with unofficial bios ?

 

Optimus shouldn't be fixed due to it's incompatibility with the SLI features of this notebook

 

I currently own the y500 as a 2ndry computer for work and light gaming, I have the weird trackpad issue, lenovo was on the verge of producing a very promising gaming/ decent looking laptop but failed to pay more attention to the very basic functions of the laptop such as the trackpad and the keyboard issues ( can be fixed when turning USB charge off from the bios).
I must say however no laptop is perfect, I`ve had the asus g53 few months ago and it had its share of problems and for the price you pay after the 400$ off coupon I don`t think you will ever find a pc with such high specs for 930$. especially with the aluminum casing. and the upgrade options, lenovo kinda pushed this product prematurely into the market before proper testing and Q.A, but so far apart from the trackpad issue, performance and reliability wise the laptop is solid and for the price I got it I don`t think I can complain much, am just a little bit disappointed at the trackpad which is a bit loose and is not flush with the rest of the palm rest, especially after I pounded on it with anger yesterday when it deleted an important E-mail while I was writing it .

 

You all are actually making me want to get a Y500. I love my Y570 and it has been trouble free for almost a year and a half.

 

Exactly. These "complaints" are ridiculous.

They have a right to be mad over a defective keyboard/track pad, but it all is fixed now by lenovo.

I have an order pending for my Y500. I read every post in this thread and at the end, laughed at this thread. There are no real complaints about a something that can't be fixed.

For the price, the specs on here are the best I can find. I can't wait until I get mine

 

I bought a HP Envy 17 3200 a while back, and this thread sounds similar to my issues with the Envy. Great looking computer with good specs and a decent price. Trackpad sucks and issues with graphics (Mine won't do eyefinity, and the drivers in the beginning were crap).

For the price, I don't think Quality testing will ever come standard. Just hope your model doesn't get discontinued so if you need to to warranty work, they try to swap you to a different product.

I was going to buy one of these and give my Envy to my brother, but not anymore. Thanks for the info here.

 

You are going to make a bad mistake if you think this issues are still on the new y500 laptops.

 

trackpad has been fixed on newer models, when it comes to graphics, I dont know what u are talking about. I never had any issues with it, it can play any game pretty much on max settings, my buddy who has the same laptop never had any issues with the graphics either

 

So wireless display and enduro are functioning then?

 

Lol read the other responses; this has been answered a million times. And I think you mean Optimus not Enduro. The Intel HD 4000 is disabled due to a frame buffer issue so WiDi and Optimus are a no-go.