By Udit Garg:
Since 2008, Lenovo’s Ideapad series has been a boon for mediocre gamers and entertainment enthusiasts. According to LaptopNinja, these laptops have been evolving and been presenting themselves at nearly unbeatable costs. In 2012, something like this happened again. In CES-2012, Lenovo launched their latest Ideapad Y-series production line Y480 and Y580, successors of Y470 and Y570 respectively.
Today, my focus will be on Lenovo Ideapad Y580 Laptop inheriting Intel Core I7-3210 (3rd Generation Processor), 8 gigabyte of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, 2 gigabyte NVidia GTX660M DDR5 graphics card, 1 Terabyte 5400 rpm Hard-disk with a 32 gigabyte Solid State Drive for Windows 7 and a 15.6 inch 1366*768 screen.
On unpacking the new Y580, the first word from my mouth was, “awesome”, the laptop provides a metal brush matte finish on top and around the keyboard. This makes the laptop look very nice, neat and clean, though, because of matte finish, one can see finger prints after sometime. On opening the screen of the laptop, one will find a full keyboard including the number pad. The keyboard, just like other latest Lenovo laptops, is an isle chiclet keyboard with a very large track pad in the bottom. The track pad is a very smooth, matte finished unit with integrated left-right keys. The best part about the keyboard is the backlit! The new keyboard features backlit support so that users can see the full keyboard even in dark.
The biggest disappointment is the DVD unit of the laptop; the unit is vulnerable to shocks and feels to be manufactured of cheap plastics and metals. Other than the DVD unit, this laptop is rock solid, using great quality plastics all over. Though, my statement is correct that it is rock-solid because it weight 3 Kilograms.
Performance:
After pressing the power button, it took the laptop less than 10 seconds to start up, i.e. from pressing the button to me clicking the start menu. After having the Windows 7 Performance Index software do its indexing work, I got to know that it gets a 7.2 score in Windows 7 markings (which is very good). The processor got a straight 7.9 score, the Sold State Drive got a 7.6 score, Memory (RAM) got a 7.5 score while the GTX660M got a 7.2is gaming graphics. I was taken aback by the performance of 1 Terabyte 5400 rpm Hard Disk which is a little slow, thus it took me to copy a 100 GB file, around 12 minutes while the SSD was able to transfer a 5GB file in 12 seconds.
During my testing time, I played NFS: Hot Pursuit (2011), Call of Duty, GTA 4 and Counter Strike 1.8; to my surprise, none of the games hanged for a second even on highest settings possible. The laptop’s JBL Dolby certified speakers don’t require one to put on head-phones even for COD; the sound quality is exceptional for this price tag. The fan is super-cool; I have never heard the fan roaring till now even though the laptop is cool as if nothing has ever happened.
Battery Life:
Thanks to Lenovo’s Energy Management System software that comes pre-installed with the Windows 7. The software has an exceptional User Interface where one can easily toggle between various pre-defined power-options including power-saver, balanced, performance and high-performance. In power-saver mode, one can easily get a 5.5 hour battery back-up when fully-charged; this estimate is expected when using laptop for basic uses like Internet browsing, Microsoft Word, listening music, and programming. In balanced mode, one can expect to get anywhere between 3.5 to 4.5 hours depending on the use, like playing online games, watching movies, making heavy PowerPoint presentations. In performance mode, an easy 2.5 hour charge is achievable while using photo-editing programs, movie makers. And in high-performance mode, a 1 to 1.5 hour recharge is achievable while using 3-d rendering and games on medium level.
Verdict:
At $1699, roughly Rs. 80000, this laptop features great gaming hardware and a nice battery life to cope up with the hardware’s demanding requirements. I believe it is a perfect buy at this cost because, the hardware configuration levels to other gaming laptops like Alien ware M14X, Asus G75, Saber tooth etc. while having such a low cost. In addition, one gets warranty assurance from one of the biggest consumer laptop/desktop manufacturer.