y500 windows and graphics questions

Hi

I am going to buy y500 this week. I had a couple of questions mainly regarding the OS install and graphics.
And please kindly note that i have read a lot of forums etc already so dont say just use google...

Specs
500gb hdd
Win 8
Sli model
Full HD screen


1. I'd like to know if its possible to dual boot windows 7 and 8. From what I've read the best way to install win8 dual boot is to just backup the lenovo drive (D maybe) and install win8 on that. Now that works if we want to install win8 (from win 7) will it also work for me as i will be on win8 and i need to install win7


2. Is there anyway to install windows 8 pro? I know the bios has locked oem key so how do iupgrade to win8 pro?
I want this final settings on my y500: win8 pro as main OS and a 25-30gb for win7 dual boot

3. My model wont have dvd drive (not available here yet) so how do i create recovery backup?


Now for graphics, i know Optimus is disabled at bios level in y500 so it runs on the nvidia card on battery. Now whats the gamong performance on battery? Can we play games like cs source, fifa etc ON BATTERY? I know this machine is a beast when plugged in what about on battery?
And are we able to watch a HD movie ON BaTTERY?

I coulsnt find answers for these questions after a lot of searching thats why i asked


Thanks

 

Hi
Welcome to the forums
It is very much possible to dual boot windows 7 with windows 8 since both have them use the same kind of bootloader(Difference is there appearance). After installing windows 7,
Press windows key+x and type MSCONFIG and go to boot tab, click windows 8 in the list and then click set as default and that would set windows 8 bootloader as default. The only thing i would be worried about the uefi settings and one key recovery and could be tough process for you. OKR wont work

You can upgrade to windows 8 pro. But you will need the upgrade key. Bios wont cause problems. It has the key for the pre-installed os and you will be able to re install that version without the key. Upgrading would also cause one key recovery to not work.

For creating backup, see this link. It is on usb and cannot fully assure it would work for you.
Methodology to create Recovery Media and reload a Lenovo Think system with Microsoft Windows 8 preload

AFAIK, y500 doesn't have Optimus ie no intel card. There is no widi too. Playing games on battery would cause lag so playing plugged in is recommended.
Y500 Lagging on battery - Lenovo Community
Hope this Helps
Regards

 

Thanks
So i guess dual booting by installing win7 wont be a probelm

Yea i dont trust recovery via usb and i think win8 doesnt allow to make recovery dvds. I hope someone else with the same machine replies if he has any experience about recovering through usb

And yea i know the intel gpu is disabled. So i want to know how bad is the performance of battery.

so my 2 querries remain and hopefully someone with a y500 can give me an exact answer about what games are playable on battery and watching 1080p movies on battery


Thank you for your help sir

 

Watching hd videos on battery wont be a problem since even my old y560 plays it on battery without lag.
I can't tell which games exactly cause lag but most of the high performance games such as mw3, black ops 2, bf3 etc would certainly. Cs source should run better than these but since i dont have the laptop, i cant assure
Regards

 

Thanks for your reply bt you have y560 and i think that has the intel graphics chip which can run things on battery.... i want to know the battery performance of y500 since it doesnt use the intel graphics even when on battery.

 

I had a look in many forums. But i didn't found reports against the running of hd videos either on battery or plugged in. I think it should be fine.

 

Yea neither did i but i just want to be sure. I think i'll post this question in the y500 owners thread. Thank you both for your help

 

Your welcome mate
If you have questions, you can also post in Lenovo forums since it has some lenovo staff members

 

i have tested torchlight 2 on battery with 1080p + max settings and got 20 fps. then 1080p + very low settings and got 35-40 fps. since fifa and torchlight are around the same graphics level, then i guess you can play fifa on lower resolutions or lower graphics settings.

playing fps games is another thing. i tested dead island and got 9-11 fps on 1080p + low to max settings. dead island's graphics is already kinda old tech. just imagine running crysis 2 or 3?

i don't have 1080p videos at the moment so i never get the chance to try testing them. but i did try 720p (even played 3d) videos and there were no difference while plugged in or not.

btw sli is disabled on these tests.

 

You'll be able to game just as you would plugged in, you just have to adjust your power settings. But it will drain fairly quickly that is for sure. I can game on my Y570 for like an hour or so at full speed (playing BF3/GW2 etc...)

 

The Y500 will have no problem at all playing back HD video at it's lowest P-state, but you can forget about playing anything besides solitaire.

The downclocking and undervolting procedures that Lenovo has built in are super conservative and are locked at the vBIOS level so no software can change them unless you can mod the vBIOS, which nobody has successfully done for the Y500 yet. Anyway, I highly doubt that you can force the highest P-state on battery because there are probably hardware failsafes in place or the battery alone can't supply enough current to power the GPU at full throttle. I have never come across a laptop with a high-end Nvidia GPU that could run max clocks and voltage on battery, so this is nothing unique.