Monday, December 29, 2014

Lenovo Y580 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dawn Grey) Review

Lenovo Y580 15.6-Inch Laptop
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
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Aesthetics: I think it's a beautiful laptop. Metal all around the keyboard area. The lid is entirely metal on the outside. It's a sleek design that is minimalist which I love.

Function: The 1080P screen is gorgeous. Watching movies and high quality YouTube videos is great. The JBL speakers sound better than any laptop speakers I have heard. One of my favorite features is the keyboard the feedback you get from the keys and the solid build quality makes it enjoyable to type on. Also, for you gamers, I get a solid 40-50 FPS on medium to high settings playing Battlefield 3.

I looked at about 5 different models from a variety of companies and this beat them in almost every category. My one gripe so far is Windows 8. The touchpad gestures can be quite annoying but I'm sure I will adjust to it in time. Of course, that is not the fault of the laptop, just an observation.

Also DO NOT ORDER THROUGH LENOVO. I had a lot of issues ordering through them and their customer service has been less than helpful (that is putting it very nicely). I don't know why I made the mistake of ordering through them initially. Ordered through Amazon and it was easy and they delivered on time, as always.

All in all, if this laptop fits in your price range, you will not find a better product. Highly recommend.

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This is an amazing product. Not only super fast, with excellent screen resolution and very reliable but for sure the best that you can get for this Price.

On top of that it comes with Windows 8 which believe me is simply fantastic and easy to use with your current mouse.

I can see now everything in just one single dynamic tiles based home screen. My mail (all accounts), my messages, sports news, whats going on in Facebook, twitter etc.

If you are considering buying a computer in this price range, this is by far the best choice.

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The Laptop runs smoothly, has great resolution and graphics and also has a blue-ray player! The computer is equipped with a full keyboard with number pad, which is a plus, and is a good looking design. However, I don't particularly care for Windows 8; there still seems to be some issues that need to be worked out. Also, the track pad needs some getting used to. I often find myself playing a game using the track pad and then all of a sudden I am brought to the desktop screen. Overall, I recommend this computer to anyone interested in a multi-media device that doesn't want to spend over $2,000 on a Mac Book Pro, but still wants to have great performance.

Honest reviews on Lenovo Y580 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dawn Grey)

I purchased the IdeaPad Y580 model 59359513 directly from Lenovo. It came with a 1TB HDD, 8GB of RAM, a Blu-Rady/DVD-RW optical drive, and no mSATA. It replaced a 6-year-old ThinkPad T60p. I have been using my Y580 since late December, 2012. So far, it has been a very good computer.

The Good:

Fast Processor

Great graphics card

Beautiful full-HD display

Blu-Ray drive

JBL speakers

Fast boot time

Large hard drive

Backlit keyboard

The not-so-good (but definitely not deal-breakers):

Overall construction feels a little fragile, especially if you are used to a rugged ThinkPad

Keyboard takes a little getting used to

Windows 8 is a bit clunky

Generates some heat

A bit noisy

Could use more RAM

Some junkware, not enough useful software preloaded

Size & weight

Slow 5400 rpm hard drive

The Bad:

Awful track-pad

Glossy screen

Detailed review:

On the plus side, this machine is very fast, both in terms of performance and boot time. The NVIDIA video card and on-board Intel GPU work beautifully together and provide great graphics. This is a great machine for work (astrophysics) and play (games and movies). The display is crisp and gorgeous, and games look stunning on it. The JBL speakers perform amazingly well. Honestly, this machine is worth the price just for the speakers. It came with a huge, but slow (5400 rpm), 1 TB hard drive (although there are 4 partitions pre-installed on it, which makes the usable size about 884 GB; and you would have to clear out and resize one partition if you wanted to dual-boot Linux).

The machine is a little on the big and heavy side. But, it is supposed to be more of a desktop replacement than a mobile laptop. If you are looking for a machine to take on trips (especially when flying), this is probably not the best option.

Unfortunately, the overall feel of the machine is a little cheap. However, this could just come from me comparing it to my old, rugged ThinkPad. I often feel the shell bending when I carry the laptop from room to room, and the keyboard flexes noticeably when I am typing. Also, the screen hinges are not very stiff and the screen shakes a bit even when on a sturdy desk. The machine generates a significant amount of heat and makes some annoying noises, but both of these are only really noticeable when you have it actually sitting on your lap. I wish it came with more RAM. Both the Lenovo and Crucial websites claim the max supported RAM for this machine is 8 GB. I have read on a couple online forums that it is possible to upgrade the RAM to 16 GB (usually the claim is that the European models are based on the same motherboard and they come with 16 GB of RAM), but I have not tried it myself.

The new Windows 8 OS is not as bad as I feared it would be. It is a little clunky, though. I think Microsoft did their customers a serious disservice by getting rid of the Start button. Almost all of my complaints about the OS experience would have been avoided if they had just kept the Start button (and there are ways of putting it back, if you really just can't live without it). Overall, Windows 8 boots very fast, runs smoothly, and is not hard to get used to, but it does still feel like a beta release and often seems to have unnecessary steps for what used to be simple tasks (e.g., opening Notepad).

The machine comes loaded with some junk software, but that is easy to fix (once you figure out how to get to the Control Panel under Windows 8). The real annoyance is that it did not come loaded with enough of the standard software. A great example of this is the lack of Adobe Reader. Instead, it came with Microsoft's terrible PDF Reader application (an app which is so poorly made that I think it should be classified as a war crime). Again, a minor complaint and easily fixed.

There are only two genuinely bad aspects of this computer. First, the track-pad is absolutely awful. It is oversensitive in some spots and not sensitive enough in others. It seems to love the Windows 8 Charms menu and takes you there whenever you make the smallest mistake in movement. Clicking and dragging is often tricky and unpleasant. I highly recommend getting an external mouse with this machine. Second, the glossy screen is like a mirror. Even in a dim office, you can see your reflection. I honestly do not know why there is such a fad for glossy displays in the computer world right now. A matte screen is so much more useful in ALL settings.

Overall:

I definitely like this computer and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great work-horse/gaming/entertainment laptop. It has some shortcomings, but for the price it is by far the best machine out there. To get a similar laptop from any other manufacturer would cost you at least $400 over the price of a Y580. I have yet to have any real problems with mine.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo Y580 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dawn Grey)

This is a great gaming/college pc. It has a great video card, fast processor, and comes with 8gb of preinstalled ram. The hard drive is a little slow but it's an easy replacement for a faster one or possibly an ssd. Build quality is excellent and the backlit keyboard is very nice.

The only complaint I had with this computer ( and the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5) is that when it arrived the backlit keyboard was not working. Rather than send it back for who knows how long I searched around online for a fix. In order to fix this you have to remove the keyboard and check if all the connections underneath are intact. Sounds simple enough. It took about 1 1/2 hours to do this. The manual says to simple press on the keyboard with your fingers and it will lift out. Not the case. There are tiny little black clips along the top and sides of the keyboard. you have to gently pry the keyboard up with one hand while using an extremely small needle to push the black clips in. Once you have them all pressed the keyboard will come out. It sounds simple but is extremely hard and time consuming. After the keyboard was out I had to simply connect the ribbon that had come undone. It was a ton of work but worth it as I didn't have to send it back for an unknown amount of time.

Overall it's a fantastic keyboard and Amazon had the cheapest price around when I purchased it in early January ($1,049.) If you're not sure about it just go for it. You won't regret it.

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