List Price: $799.99
Sale Price: $638.98
Today's Bonus: 20% Off
Bought this just before Christmas. It arrived right before New Year's. I started moving my files off my external hard drive to the Lenovo and foolishly thought I was back in business. Wrong. Here are all the problems I confronted in the last 3 weeks. Note that some can be fixed, some can be fixed but instantly revert to how they were before, and some can't be fixed at all.
1) The wifi is shaky. It will connect to some networks, not to others. The computer will slow then halt, and you can't access anything. Rebooting doesn't work and it has nothing to do with resetting the wireless router.
2) The computer crashes in sleep mode. I'm used to being able to have some documents open, close the screen, open it either 5 minutes or 5 hours later and have my documents all there again. It's fine for a few minutes, but anything longer and it crashes. It's hard to tell when this happens since Windows 8 boots so quickly, I'm not sure if the crash is happening on the restart or during sleep, but regardless, it crashes and you have to restore all your work. Lenovo support walked me through a "fix" for this, but it didn't work. In fact, none of their attempts to fix this worked. When you go to your power profile and select "what computer does when I shut lid" as sleep mode, it still crashes. Lenovo support's great idea was to change it to say "do nothing." Well, then it drains the battery down just as fast when it's closed as if you were working on it. I changed it to hibernate, which worked for 2 days, then it started resetting itself backward to "do nothing."
3) The battery indicator cannot be shut off. I first tried to shut off the low battery indicators in the sound profile, that didn't work. I disabled all sound, and that didn't work. I have to mute all sound which does work, but then you can't listen to music at the same time. It's aggravating that at 10%, your computer will loudly beep every 5 seconds and you can't stop it.
4) The media card reader won't read my SD card. Lenovo support had me reinstall drivers, still won't work. They told me I need to connect with a USB cable and I said this is brand new it should work the way it was intended. They said to send it back to them for a factory reset. Three weeks old and this hunk of junk needs a factory reset? Awesome.
5) Every hour the computer tells me that it's running low on memory and I need to reboot. This is fantastic news isn't it?
6) The keyboard is shaky at best. If you know how to type, you'll be shocked that your fingers keep hitting the wrong keys. There's some give in the whole keyboard that makes it feel like it can easily break. In fact, when I pulled this out of the box, the keyboard shell was actually outside of the computer. I had to snap it back in.
7) Why why why did these idiots mess with the function keys? I had to access the BIOS profile (boot up, hit FN F2) and change the hotkeys to legacy mode. I've worked in Excel for years, and F2 allows you to edit inside a cell. But no, Lenovo had to make F2 the volume key.
I did manage to fix some Windows 8 issues added a shutdown key and modified the registry to get rid of the annoying lock screen because it would hijack a couple letters of your password so you'd get the "wrong password" message every time you logged in. But those two fixes weren't enough to console me through the rest of the drama.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
There seems to be a known issue with the touchpad of the U510. Google search query "lenovo jumpy and laggy touchpad" for literally PAGES of complaints. Avoid this model, and potentially the entire U510 series. Below is one excerpt:"After calling Lenovo about the jumpy mouse experience on the first U510 they sent me, they said they would ship me out another laptop as a replacement.
The new machine arrived, and I took it out of the package and turned it on. As it booted for the first time, I was presented with the standard Lenovo "click Accept" screen (so I could create my Windows 8 account, etc.). I touched the touchpad for the first time to try to click `Accept', and the mouse jumped all over the screen! I couldn't even click the very first button to allow the computer to continue setting up! The replacement exhibited all of the same issues as the first laptop!
So I continue working with it. I tried adjusting all of the sensitivities related to the touchpad, but to no avail. I called my wife over, and we stood back and watched the mouse jitter randomly all over the desktop, find its way to a program icon, open the program, and then drag part of the screen to resize the application. ALL. WITHOUT. BEING. TOUCHED.
We now have TWO laptops sitting on our table, each with the mouse jittering away completely unusable as-is. I have a backup corded USB mouse that I am using in the meantime, and the only way I can prevent the machine from randomly clicking and dragging things across the screen is by physically disabling the touchpad using the F-keys.
And I tried everything to fix it: uninstalling the drivers. Reinstalling the drivers. Trying the drivers from ELAN, as well as Synaptics. I tried working with the Device Manager, and with other Windows 8 settings. No solution.
I have to send the first one back, and the second one will follow.
Lenovo, what are you going to do to fix this? I have been a loyal customer for years, and my confidence in your products is severely shaken. When I called the customer service representative the first time, I specifically asked: "Is this problem typical for this model" and I was told "No". Two unusable laptops in a row, now. And as the second one was on its way to me, I was shopping around for other laptops on your website (Yand Z-series)... but I refuse to get ANYTHING from Lenovo since they all seem to list "standard trackpad" as the mouse input.
Unbelievable. What will you do to salvage your reputation? Unless something is done, and quickly, I cannot vouch for your products to my friends or family ever again."
Best Deals for Lenovo U510 15.6-Inch Ultrabook
After a month, I thought I fixed it with Lenovo support, but the laptop's wireless adapter stops functioning occasionally after being asleep or off. The only way to fix this issue was to restart the computer, hoping that it would function correctly upon restart--and sometimes it wouldn't. Another issue was that the laptop would shut down instead of go to sleep upon closing the lid (even though the settings were not set to do that). I thought I solved this issue by installing Lenovo drivers and windows updates, but it turns out that wasn't the case. Finally, the brightness indicator did not function correctly--leaving the brightness fully lit when the indicator showed it at half, etc.Overall, I had purchased this laptop and then exchanged it for a new one when I ran into issues with the first. Turns out, it seems that every one of the laptops have issues like this. In the end, I decided to return and go with a different brand that I've used in the past that I believe is more reliable. Once Lenovo can start proving their consumer lines like they can with the ThinkPad, then maybe I'll pay attention. Until then, consider me a non Lenovo-fanboy.
Honest reviews on Lenovo U510 15.6-Inch Ultrabook
There are so many good things about this computer but I can't understand why Lenovo would release it with this keyboard. The keys have no spring in them & it sticks. The mouse pad is worst. If they couldn't match the Mac pad why not just leave the standard Lenovo mousepad? I'm going to look for another option maybe next year they will fix these kinks. The size, weight & keyboard lights are great... Stinks that they took cheap route on the keyboard & mouse pad.iNick
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo U510 15.6-Inch Ultrabook
I got this product because I was looking for a thin laptop with good capabilities. I especially liked the fact that this laptop looked like a mac without the expensive price. However, I got home and whenever you shut off the laptop the wireless disconnects and it doesn't recognize any wireless networks unless you are within a few feet away from your router. Apparently this is a defect that these laptops have and I am not the only one with this problem. Other than that this laptop is ok. I did notice that the picture quality is just okay and its very pixelated.The bottom line is that I wouldn't recommend this laptop to anyone unless you are going to be using it within a few feet from the router.
No comments:
Post a Comment