Review Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 Notebook

The IdeaPad Y500 looks rather unimposing in a closed state. The dark color and rather basic design do not exactly indicate potent hardware. Only the wide vents that blow out waste heat toward the (mouse) hand hint at the device's purpose. However, the manufacturer's ambitions quickly become evident as soon as the laptop is opened. The keys' red rim and speakers' red highlighted grille downright scream for games.

While the lid and the wrist rest are made of brushed aluminum, the base is completely composed of plastic. The surfaces will soon be covered with smudge despite the matte finish because the laptop is susceptible to greasy fingers.

The glossy keyboard bed and display bezel is even more sensitive. Particularly the latter proves to be a real dust magnet. Fingerprints and scratches are also an issue here. The wide plastic bezel basically does not quite fit into the overall picture. It mars both the quality impression as well as the looks. Overall, the design places itself between the devices from Clevo (basic) and MSI (flashy).

Although the casing tends to yield in a few areas, such as the keyboard's left and right area, the stability is on a satisfactory to good level. Only the touchpad yields extremely at its sides and toward its bottom. The same applies to workmanship. The positive overall impression is marred by a few irregular material transitions.

The manufacturer earns kudos for the moderate size. With a height of almost 40 millimeters (~1.57 inches) and a weight of approximately 2.9 kilograms (~6.4 pounds), the 15-incher is significantly below the high-end Asus G55VW (50 mm, 3.8 kg/~1.97 inches and ~8.4 pounds), MSI GT60 (58 mm, 3.5 kg/~2.28 inches and ~7.7 pounds) and Schenker XMG P502 (51 mm, 3.2 kg/~2.01 inches and ~7.1 pounds), which may perform slower depending on the hardware configuration. The IdeaPad Y500's numbers are closer to competitors such as Asus' N56VZ GT 650 (37 mm, 2.7 kg/~1.46 inches and ~6.0 pounds), DevilTech's Fire DTX (38 mm, 2.6 kg/~1.50 inches and ~5.7 pounds) and Schenker's XMG A502 (47 mm, 2.9 kg/~1.85 inches and ~6.4 pounds). The laptop is also suitable for frequent transportation owing to its reasonable weight.

As can be seen on the right screenshot, Lenovo installs a lot of software on the laptop. Besides useless bloatware, the hard disk also sports a few convenient programs, such as OneKey Recovery for backing up or recovering the operating system (this is also possible with Windows 8 restore function). The accessories do not include a full version of the recovery DVD. Lenovo stores the drivers on a small 25 GB partition.

The Core i7-3630QM is a mobile high-end processor from Intel's Ivy Bridge range (22nm). The 45 Watt CPU easily deals with even computing-intensive applications with its four cores and six MB L3 cache.

Gamers will particularly be happy about the Turbo Boost technology that lifts the clock considerably above the default rate during load. A theoretical clock frequency of up to 3.4 GHz is possible with the Core i7-3630QM. Hyperthreading, which simulates virtual cores, is more relevant for professional users. Only a few programs presently benefit from eight parallel threads.

The graphics chip dubbed HD Graphics 4000 remains disabled in the IdeaPad Y500. The manufacturer had to waive on Nvidia's Optimus technology due to SLI.

The GeForce GT 650M is based on the GK107 chip from the Kepler generation and is built in a 28 nm process. The DirectX 11 GPU belongs to the upper midrange in view of 1.3 billion transistors and 384 Unified Shaders.

Lenovo opts for the faster 2048 MB GDDR5 version and a 128-bit memory bus. A clock rate of 790 MHz is slightly above average. The previously tested GDDR5 models were usually specified with 745 MHz (e.g. Alienware's M14x R2, Asus' UX51VZ, Dell's Inspiron 17R, DevilTech's Fire DTX or MSI's GE60/GE70).

However, it is too bad that the automatic overclocking GPU Boost (Nvidia's counterpart to Intel's Turbo Boost) is not enabled. Unlike other GT 650M laptops, the core frequency is not increased to a maximum of 835 MHz during load, but stays at 790 MHz. In return, the memory clocks with 1000 MHz.

Two graphics cards are merged to a performance increasing array in SLI mode. We manually updated the GPU driver to the latest version to extract the maximum performance from the 15-incher (ForceWare 310.90 rather than 306.00).

The 16 GB mSATA SSD does not appear in Windows Explorer. Samsung's MZMPA016HMCD solid state drive merely works as a cache that speeds up the system and supports the HDD.

The 1000 GB primary hard disk also comes from Samsung and is dubbed SpinPoint M8 HN-M1010MBB. Although the HDD "only" spins with 5400 rpm, the benchmark results are impressive. An average transfer rate of 86.4 MB/s and an average access time of 17.0 ms in HDTune are pretty decent for a 5400 rpm model. The sequential read and write rate in CrystalDiskMark was just under 100 MB/s.

Subjectively, the operating system is relatively fast although the cache of course cannot replace a "genuine" SSD. Standard laptops without a cache and with a weaker HDD are sometimes much slower in terms of installations, loading and booting times as well as in multitasking. The HDD/SSD combo is more than acceptable in view of the targeted price.

After almost 90 gaming benchmarks, we dare say that an SLI array of two GT 650M cards is an appealing option for casual gamers.

The majority of games also ran well with 1920x1080 pixels when the ultra-level and 4x anti-aliasing was left disabled where necessary. High graphics settings and 2x anti-aliasing were usually rendered smoothly. Reducing the pixel count was not necessary in most cases.

A single GeForce GT 650M lags behind by about 66% in all benchmarks. The performance gain is between 0 and over 90% depending on the game. The GeForce GTX 670MX also lags behind, although its difference of 10% is rather marginal. The SLI array is no threat for the GeForce GTX 675MX. Nvidia's Kepler-based high-end graphics card manages a lead of approximately 20%.

A few words about micro-stutters as they are a significant issue in the IdeaPad Y500. Annoying interruptions sometimes occur due to the varying frame spacing, which is caused by the deviating image calculation and theoretically affects all dual GPU systems. The range below 40 fps, where the laptop often hovers in demanding tracks, is particularly affected. Rendering appears a lot smoother with the GeForce GTX 670MX despite its weaker performance.

We included a comprehensive comparison chart at the end of this review. More information about the different graphics cards can also be found in our gaming list.

System Noise

Many multimedia and gaming laptops have to accept serious reproach when it comes to noise development. The casing’s fan spins at a high speed particularly under load. Although the IdeaPad Y500 is not exceptionally quiet in gaming operation, the 15-incher is far from a distractingly loud level. Just under 40 dB (A) in 3DMark 06 is a decent result.

For comparison: Schenker's XMG A522 (GeForce GTX 660M) and Medion's Erazer X6821 (GeForce GTX 670M) both reached approximately 43 dB (A) in the test. The fan sometimes completely receded into the background depending on the volume and intensity of the game's soundtrack.

The laptop is generally hardly audible at idle. Except for an unobtrusive fan or HDD noise, the laptop remains agreeably quiet. An average of 31 dB (A) will unlikely aggravate even sensitive users.

The temperatures only partly convinced us. When the laptop was idle, (hardly or not at all loaded), the casing's surface temperature settled to an acceptable 31 °C (87.8 °F).

In return, the chassis heated up quite strongly during full load. Our thermometer recorded an average of 43 °C (109.4 °F) on the top and 41 °C (105.8 °F) on the bottom after one hour of stress testing via the tools FurMark and Prime95. At times we even measured 50 °C (122 °F). The IdeaPad Y500 did not heat up quite as badly in "normal" 3D programs. Games can thus be enjoyed without major restrictions.

The components also get fairly warm in extreme conditions. The CPU clock dropped to a still viable 2.4 GHz while climbing up to 90 °C (194 °F). The graphics cards exhibited a completely different behavior in the stress test. While the one GT 650M ran with the usual 790/1000 MHz (maximum 84 °C/183.2 °F), the second GT 650M throttled to low 135/203 MHz very soon. However, we are not sure whether FurMark ran properly on the second accelerator since the load tended to 0 in GPU-Z.

The removable lithium-ion battery provides a decent capacity of 72 Wh or 6700 mAh; at least theoretically because its real-life runtimes are not exactly compelling. 1.5 hours during high load and maximum brightness are just as poor as three hours of wireless Internet browsing (medium brightness). The 15-incher only managed a little over four hours at idle and minimum brightness.

Following the successful IdeaPad Y580, Lenovo presents the next gaming-suitable laptop based on Nvidia's Kepler architecture. The IdeaPad Y500 particularly impresses with its well-conceived UltraBay. The option of inserting an optical drive, a second graphics card or an additional hard disk is a fresh idea in the gaming sector.

Owing to Nvidia's great driver support, the GeForce GT 650M really revs up in SLI mode. Even high-end graphics cards like the GeForce GTX 670MX play catch-up in most games. There is hardly a faster laptop currently available for 1100 Euros (~$1481). The lush memory configuration and the swift quad-core processor contribute to the high overall performance. The lack of a "full-blown" solid state drive is somewhat regrettable, but the small 16 GB ExpressCache compensates this drawback quite well.

The fairly high-quality TN screen draws praise although its glossy surface disturbed us. The relatively good JBL speakers are another plus point. Owing to the bright red keyboard light, the 15-incher looks good 24 hours a day (with exception of the sensitive surfaces).

Regrettably, the black and mainly metal casing exhibits a few needless flaws. For example, its clattery touchpad that does not always work reliably and displays poor stability or the adverse placing of interfaces and fan. Who wants the whole waste heat to be blown on their hand when playing with an external mouse? Moreover, the keyboard lacks crisp feedback. Lenovo's IdeaPad Y500 proves to be inconspicuous, that is average up to good, in the other categories (build, noise, temperature, battery runtime, weight, etc.).

Buyers looking for a versatile and a (still) attractively priced gaming laptop and who can live with the listed shortcomings should give the 15-incher a chance. The non-SLI version is not quite as interesting due to superior and/or cheaper alternatives. The surcharge for the dual GPU model is definitely worthwhile in view of performance.