Upcoming Y480/Y580 series feat. Ivy Bridge and NVIDIA graphics!

IdeaPad Y480 (20934FU)- Available for pre-order now

Providing more proof that Ivy Bridge is closing in fast, Amazon has put up for pre-order a Lenovo laptop which is powered by an Intel 3rd generation Core processor. The laptop in question is named IdeaPad Y480 (20934FU) and it features a 1.3-inch thick chassis, a 14-inch display, a 2.3 GHz Core i7-3610QM CPU, 8 GB of RAM, a 750 GB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M 1 GB graphics card.

The Y480 also packs two 1.5 W JBL speakers, it runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and apparently has a battery life of only 3.5 hours. The price tag of this new IdeaPad is $999.99.

14-inch Lenovo Ivy Bridge Laptop Up for Pre-Order - techPowerUp! Forums

Here’s another “Ivy Bridge” laptop available for pre-orders. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 14″ entertainment notebook is now listed on Amazon with the Intel Core i7-3610QM quad-core 2.3GHz “Ivy Bridge” CPU. Besides the 3rd generation Intel Core chip, the listed Y480 model has the Nvidia GeForce GT 630M dedicated graphics card, 8GB RAM, a 750GB hard drive, JBL stereo speakers, and a $999 price tag, which is not high for an i7-based laptop with a discrete GPU.

The downside of this notebook, judging from the listed specifications, is its mediocre battery life of 3.5 hours. Other Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 specs are not listed on Amazon, but we know from the previous reports that the notebook has 1366 x 768 screen resolution and brushed metal lid and palm rest, just like its larger sibling – the 15.6″ Y580. Lenovo said at the launch of the 2012 IdeaPad Y-series back in January that the Y580 has a backlight keyboard, without mentionting availability of that feature on the Y480.

There’s no info on shipping date, but Lenovo claimed that the Y480 will start shipping in April. The basic configuration will cost $899.
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 “Ivy Bridge” Notebook Put on Pre-Order | Laptoping

 

IMO pre-orders don't mean much when the actual product won't be out for at least another 3 months since Intel delayed the launch of IB until June.

 

April 29, 2012. This is when the Ivy is unleashed.

 

Which version of the GT 630m is the GPU? The 96 shader version, or the 113 shader one?

I really don't see much incentive to upgrade other than the Ivy Bridge CPU which is debatable.

 

bummer...

At CES, specs were revealed as

GT 650M for the y480

and

GTX 660M for the y580

 

Hmm I dunno about these specs. Y580 was supposed to have 1080p. Also, the 630m is just a rebrand of the 540, so why would battery life be so bad? Ivy bridge will not be using more power...

 

Just a heads up on new Y480/580 screenshots posted in the gaming forum.

Kepler GTX 660M with GDDR5 screenshot:


Kepler GTX 650M with GDDR5 screenshot:


Windows experience index of GTX 660M (I think):


The notebook with these GPUs are the Lenovo Y480/Y580


Y580 comes with a 3610QM Ivy Bridge processor


And a 1080p display


Kepler GPUs will also have turbo boost and hyper threading for efficient and energy saving modes. Here are a sneak peak of it. Name is unknown

 

Hey fellas, i have y470 that i bought back in 2010 september in Usa straight from lenovo.com, when i was in States for vacation. I reside in Norway. what would be a NORMAL/FAIR trade if i wanted to trade it for y480 once it comes out with another user from here? Mine also has mydigital ssd 64gb, and basically brand new battery because im always plugged, so its been in a closet, fully charged and recharged max up to 10 times. never had any issues, except one left side usb is broken, it happened probably 2 months after purchase, blue part is ~3 millimeters pushed in into inside of the laptop. i never had any game issues, and never had heat problems, as im writing right now hwmonitor reports tz00 42c, cpu cores from 42 to 44c, assembly 29c, my room temp is 19c. gaming, the hottest i seen i think 85c on battlefield 3, im dont game much either, during the span that i have mine y470, i did finish the whole story line of battlefield 3, played some la noire (~25 hours), and some nba 2k12 (~20-30 hours). I dont play online. I would say im below average gamer, so its always on native gpu (not the 550gt). i received it with 2.08 bios which was also rare, everyone else who bought at that time had 2,06 i believe. bluray also basically brand new, i dont own a single bluray disc, and i maybe burned up to 5 dvds so probably y470 and up to 200usd for y480 or something of that nature?

 

Will you be able to use an external gpu via thunderbolt or an express card slot with y480/580? Would be a very nice feature..

Edit: Maybe Thunderbolt???

 

That is possible if Lenovo includes the ports on the Yx80 series.

 

why is there a crappy battery life?

 

Cool, according to lenovos y480 webpage

IdeaPad Y480 - Powerful Gaming Laptop PC by Lenovo (US)

The y480 will indeed have an option for GT 650M and also an option for the GTX 660M.

I still wish the y480 was 1600x900 and was a little thinner, It would be my next laptop. Instead i'm forced to see what gpu the S430 offers, if its a 640m then thats gonna be my next lappy

 

The keyboard seems to be backlit in the photos, although not mentioned in the spec sheet, and hopefully they'll add a better screen.

 

i think it will be backlit for sure, i remember them actually showing the backlit during the hands on at ces

 

The Y480 looks quite good.Thx+Rep @Oats04
I hope it will get the GDDR5 version of the 650(need it to feed my 24 inch screen).
Only thing im not sure about is the optical driver - if it can be changed with an 2,5' HDD I might just buy this notebook.

The data on the side seems inconsistent. In the gallery u can see the laptop having 3x blue USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 - in the pdf sheet it says 2x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0 under Specs.

Edit: Just found a chinese pdf. The only thing interesting inside is on page 11/12 where one can see that the bottom is removable for both the Y480/580.

 

Was hoping to update from my y460 to y480 but if it's going to have same crappy 1366 x 768 screen resolution I will probably get something else.

 

omg plesae no crappy display D: and the spec pdf says max gt 650m 2gb but the website says up to gtx 660m do u think they might have made an error and that goes for the y580?

 

I'm liking the new simple design if the keyboard layout. just hoping the internals will be just as good as speculated. This may be my next new laptop. Exciting times.

Sent from Samsung Mobile via Tapatalk

 

Inching closer to the release, specs released on the Lenovo Canada site:

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT650M or GTX660M* graphics supports the latest DirectX® 11 games and HD video editing
Dolby® Home Theater® v4 for full impact surround sound with premium JBL® speakers
Blu-ray Disc™ player/writer
OneKey® Theater 2.0: one-touch audio-visual optimization
OneKey® Rescue System
Integrated 720p HD webcam, HDMI out and USB 3.0
Lenovo Energy Management helps you harness your battery's power efficiently
*optional feature

References:
IdeaPad Y480 - Powerful Gaming Laptop PC by Lenovo (CA)
Lenovo Y480 Spec Sheet - PDF

 

Did you even read what oats posted some days ago? same link just a few posts above

 

Yeah I did. His post for the USA, mine is for the neighbor north of the 49th parallel.

Sent from Samsung Mobile via Tapatalk

 

Good news, one of our Chinese friends got hold of a physical set. Have a good look.

ÁªÏëY480 ÁªÏëY480M¿ªÏäÆÀ²â£¬20ƪÌû×ÓÈÃÄãÈ«ÃæÁ˽âÐÂСy_ÁªÏëY480¡¢Y580ÂÛ̳
ÁªÏëY480 ÁªÏëY480M i7-3610QM°æ¸ßÇ忪ÏäÕÕ ÈÃÄã¿´µ½ÕæʵµÄÐÂСy_ÁªÏëY480¡¢Y580ÂÛ̳

 

Does anyone know if the Y580 has switchable graphics or not, because I don't ever want to buy a laptop with switchable graphics again, they sux!

 

eww 640m fermi version..... too thick..... 1366x768 res..... all ewws

 

yeah same reasons I just got turned off by it. also no backlit keyboard and the metal design is good but idk i just like the looks of the actual keyboard and sides =\

 

From what I could see in the photos they removed the eSATA port and the GT640M LE is a fermi based GPU with just 96 shaders.... not good.

A comparison to the y470p:

http://ideapad.it168.com/thread-2040421-1-1.html

It appears that the heatsink in the y480 is made out of aluminum. If so, I think it'll be inferior to the copper based heatsink in the y470p.

 

Video on the y480 right from Lenovo.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 Laptop Product Tour - YouTube

Lists the backlit keyboard as an optional feature.

 

The Y580 seems pretty cool specs-wise.. Doesn't Lenovo have some 17'' planned with similar specs?

 

the 640m is only kepler.

 

True. But the 640M LE has a Kepler variant (384 cores) and a Fermi variant (96 cores).

 

The reason why I showed the pictures was for you guys to look at the exterior of the laptop in detail. Specs, as usual, will be SB till IB is ready.

 

The 1080P and backlit keyboard of the Y580 might just be enough to get me to upgrade. The GTX 660M doesn't hurt, either.

It's either this or a Clevo W110ER. That little thing... intrigues me...

 

do u by any chance have one of these? if yes could you comment on the battery life? i heard it was pretty terrible

 

I heard 3-4 hours, which is ridiculous considering the 4/570 gets around 5. I though Ivy Bridge was supposed to be more efficient. Considering that this takes Optimus into consideration, would this really cause that much battery drain?

 

the 70s actually get 5? i heard they got in around 3 hrs... so with ivy it would be 3.5-4

 

Well I get over 5.

 

ah all right i trust u

 

Up for ordering at tigerdirect

Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 2093-4FU Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz, 8GB DDR3, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M, 14 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Gray at TigerDirect.com

I guess ivy is being released early. Just ordered. Estimated delivery is 4/20/12. GT 640m I guess is kepler with 1 gig DDR5.

 

Will do a short review of the system once I get hold of it.

 

yay stuff starting to come out.. it only has 768p screen tho

 

Yup, the screen sucks but with backlit keyboard, reasonable price, i7 quad core ivy bridge, decent GPU (that can be easily OC'd to 650 levels), 8 gb 1600mhz memory, 750 HDD, mini pcie (egpu anyone?), 14 inch screen- although 4 hrs battery (I bet you can extend this to over 5 to 6 with half-brightness + plus using igpu - we'll see).

It will suit my moderate gaming needs with my chess teaching software and database.

Plan on transferring the HDD to the optical drive (which I hardly use) and get a 240-256 gb SSD.

BTW, here is the link for the manual: http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/ideapad_y480_y580_ug.pdf

 

hopefully u get it soon and tell us the battery life and how it is

 

I wonder if the backlit keyboard from one of these will be interchangeable with the keyboard from the Y470 I just bought - would make a nice upgrade if it was.

 

HDMI port according to manual- egpu should be possible with the mini pcie on the bottom

 

the 580 is a serious option for me now. im still wondering about pricing for the upgrades.

 

Do you need any kind of special mount to put a 2.5" drive in the optical drive bay?

I'm also seriously considering the Y580 now too. The GTX 660M is the lowest card I want..

I read somewhere else that the Y570 can have upwards of 8 hours of battery life when the discrete card is turned off. I hope it's the same for the Y580!

 

580 should have the upgraded resolution HD screen and option for GTX 660M. Base price with similar configuration as the y480 should be about a hundred more for the screen and for a GTX 660 maybe an additional $200?
That would be at $1300. Lenovo will give you 10% discount if you have your email subscribed to them. Who knows, Lenovo might give an initial 15-20% discount to get a head start in getting these units out?

But if you are a die-hard gamer, the GTX 670m or 675m with the sagers 150em will give you more omph for $400 more.

This 17-3610qm runs at 45w but the initial reviews shows that it really runs cool so as the GT 640m so you would not have the ghost headaches with the y460's running really hot with 1st gen i cores and lesser degree 2nd gen.

 

Yes you would need a 12.7mm HDD caddy such as this: Amazon.com: 2nd hard drive caddy Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 Y460 Y530: Everything Else

for the Y480. You would have to search the 560/570 forums to make sure this would also do.

Then you can get an enclosure for your ODD and connect it by USB just to have it handy.

Battery life with the 580 should be improved as the new ivy bridge CPUs are more energy efficient & the same goes for the new kepler GPUs.

 

ehh y580 for me is an option but it seems kinda bulky

 

Wait for the Acer S5 -ultrabook, dedicated GPU (gt 640m methinks), thunderbolt, high resolution, Ivy bridge- I am not sure about price point- if it comes later and under $1000- I might get one and I pass on y480 to my daughter who is struggling to get decent fps on her Acer 5253 with E-350 cpu. Lots of choices if you want to wait around June, But that Acer looks sweet but I would suspect you might have heat issues with a 45w quad core in it.