Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 Laptop

The latest Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 and Y460 laptops are indeed spruced up in terms of performance, thanks to the hardware. Today we have with us, the mainstream variant of the Lenovo Y560, and we’re expecting quite a bit from this machine, let’s see if it is able to deliver.

Design
The Ideapad Y560 is quite overtly distinguished as a multimedia desktop replacement. Apart from its 15-inch form factor and 2.7 kg lofty weight, its rugged chassis and solid lid confirm that it’s a machine meant to be kept at home for watching movies and enjoying music. Now, it’s not that you can’t carry it around, but you really don’t want to lug it everyday, unless you want a sore shoulder.

The coffee brown and black theme looks pretty cool on the machine, and the light bronze rim adds to the aesthetics. The lid is mostly matte with a glossy pattern covering the lid partly, and on top is the chrome ‘Lenovo’ logo. The wrist rest is of a darker tint, which is cool, except that it’s all-glossy, which makes finger prints and stains unavoidable. It can make the laptop look quite messy. Overall, though not jazzy and loud, the laptop has something quite funky about it, but in a very subtle way.

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Build quality one of the strongest points in this laptop, perhaps it’s borrowed from the Thinkpads. Ofcourse, it’s not build like a tank or it’s not as slick, but this IdeadPad is quite a rugged thing to handle. Even in terms of ergonomics, there’s nothing to complain about, the large textured touchpad and the chrome mouse buttons are pretty convenient to use.

Thankfully, the mouse clicks are not at all audible. Even the keyboard is good to type on, with the well-sized keys. The one thing you might see as a hindrance when typing, is that the function key is at the bottom-left in the place of the Ctrl key.

Features
The overall functionality, core hardware and affordability are aspects that will take this machine places. While the laptop is designed for movies and music, you can even play games at medium resolutions and settings. So we’d say that, it’s an ideal machine for home users.

You can even watch cable TV, all you have to do is connected the bundled dongle to connect cable TV to the TV socket on the right-hand side of the unit.

Built around and Intel HM55 chipset, this multimedia powerhouse runs off an Intel Core i5-430M CPU, which is clocked at 2.27 GHz with 3 MB L3 cache. It has 4 GB DDR3 RAM (max 8 GB), a 500 GB hard drive and the discrete graphics is courtesy an ATI Radeon HD 5730. Now, this is one area, where this laptop evidently has an upper hand (a much better GPU), over other laptops that feature the Radeon HD 5145 or the Radeon HD 5470. However, considering that it’s a mainstream multimedia machine, that much more value for money is given, nonetheless, it is a plus point.
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Looking at the hardware and performance of this machine, this one is clearly a mainstream multimedia desktop replacement, which is ideal for entertainment at home. Since it is powerful enough, you can use it as an office PC, the only thing is you must have a personal cabin or you won’t be able to enjoy the fantastic built-in JBL speakers. Finally, the machine comes preloaded with Windows 7 Home Premium, it has 3 USB ports, an HDMI and a VGA port, 2 audio jacks, DVD writer, a cable TV jack and a webcam.

Cheaper option
The entry-level Y560 costs around Rs 46,340 and it is powered by an Intel Core i3-350M, it has 4 GB RAM, a 500 GB hard drive and the same GPU as this machine. Basically, the main difference is the CPU. So if you want the same gaming and multimedia experience and if you don’t need much processing power, then the entry-level Y560 should suffice. For more options, check out the official Lenovo India page .

Performance
We watched a couple of movie clips and the playback was stutter-free. What impressed us even more was sound. In addition to that, we ran the standard benchmarks like SiSoft Sandra, video encoding and such. Noticeably, this laptop is quite powerful, not only in terms of multimedia, but even when confronting demanding applications. The powerful Core i5 CPU, along with 4 GB RAM is enough to handle filters in photo editing, and even video and audio editing should be a breeze. Now, although it’s a multimedia laptop and that movies and music is what this machine does best, gaming too is pretty much enjoyable at medium resolutions.

Readers comment
Yesterday we recommended a few entry-level laptops that one should consider when buying, and the entry-level Y560 was part of this list. In the comments section of this article, a reader posted his views regarding this laptop, which he currently owns. Here’s what he has to say.

The bottom line is that, if you’re looking to buy a multimedia laptop which is able to deliver a good multimedia experience, we’d say go with the Lenovo Ideapad, it is indeed worth that extra buck.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 385 x 33 x 255
• Weight: 2.7 kg
• Chipset: Intel HM 55
• Processor: Intel Core i5-430, 2.27 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 / Intel HD (dual-graphics)
• Network: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi N and Bluetooth
• HDD: 500 GB
• Optical Drive: DVD Writer
• Screen: 15.6-inch glossy (1366x768)
• Price: Rs 51,127