Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The best kind of laptop is a multi-tasking machine for an affordable price. When you get into the ~$1000 range, the price/performance ratio seems to be at its best. If you're hoping the Lenovo fits the bill, I'm excited to say it does all that plus more, for the most part. Before I get too far, I did not purchase this laptop for the current $1129 on Amazon, and I got it at Costco for $999. It's the better deal for the same configuration and a much better warranty if you can go with it. OVERVIEW: The model comes equipped with most of the high-end specs you'd expect. A fast 7th Gen i7, a strong mid-range 1050 ti NVidia card, 16GB of 2400 ram, 256 SSD and 2TB HDD, and an IPS display (so no washed out angles). For ports with have 2x 3.0, 2.0, USB-C (no thunderbolt), HDMI, and a headphone jack. Unfortunately, there is no display port, so you are limited in some regards. I could not connect my 144hz panel to this laptop, as DP is required to get it to work at that refresh rate. USB-C to DP may work, but I have not tried it yet. The bigger issue is that the NVidia Control Panel is gimped because of the laptop utilizing the Intel GPU for the display. I have been spoiled by higher end Sager and Asus laptops (1080 and 1060 respectively) that have the iGPU turned off, so the NVidia card controls everything, resulting in no issues (but also shorter battery life). DISPLAY The laptop display is above average. It is an IPS panel, so the viewing angles are perfect and no washing out of colors or contrast like most laptops have with TN panels. The good comments end there, however. The screen brightness is lower than on most laptops. Couple this with its very low SRGB color space and it became especially underwhelming. I have noticed eye strain, but I do not have enough time with the laptop yet to determine 100% if it is the screen. I have completed a displaycal calibration with the i1Display X-Rite, and the results were as I expected: About 54% SRGB and 38% AdobeRGB. It's a low grade IPS screen overall, but it is still better than the other laptops below this price range (especially the Dell with competing specs as of right now. which as a low grade TN panel). Note: After calibration and tuning up the saturation about 15-20%, the screen feels a little better. It was heavily shifted to green from the overview before calibration. The screen is mainly the biggest draw back from the package fortunately! PERFORMANCE Here is where the laptop shines. It is a decently sized desktop replacement that stays cool and quiet. Sure, you can get much stronger laptops (or the literal desktop replacement from Sager that weighs 12lb), but noise and overheating will start to become bigger drawbacks. If you need a medium sized 15.6" laptop to travel with, it's a good decision! I am comfortably able to carry it around without stress and even one hand it without struggling. CPU: The i7-7700HQ is a decent ~10% upgrade to the 6th gen. As with the past few generations of Intel chips, they are basically incremental upgrades with beefier iGPUs. It's as fast as the desktop i7 from a few generations past (2700k, 3770k, 4770k), and matches or sometimes beats my laptop champion i7-4900mq in rendering times. For gaming, you won't see much difference from the i5 7th gen laptops you see for $100-300 cheaper, so if gaming is all you care about, you may want to spend less for the same performance. The CPU can get a bit hot under 100% load (77-80C), but maxing the fan will help. This is all without changing the out of box thermal paste, so I expect better long term cooling/performance with the application. GPU: Like the CPU, the NVidia 1050 ti met all of my standards: Can it play Overwatch on High/Ultra above 60fps. Yes. All other games were icing on the cake. The good news is that under max load, I was peaking at around ~63C (other laptops with the 1060 and above easily hit above 80C) after a straight hour of playtime and then letting it hang on the menu for another 30 minutes (used HW Monitor to check low and max temps). With max fans turned on, I was getting ~55C at 100% of GPU use. It idles around 25-30C when web browsing and general use. I noticed a little screen tearing, but the frame-rate stayed a consistent custom 60-70, and I may just be used to 120+Hz panels at this point. Overall, I was highly impressed! It won't blow your socks off with performance, but with this laptop, my main concern was a quiet and efficient machine I could easily carry with me when I do not need the behemoth that is the Sager NP9873. MULTIMEDIA EDITING I was able to easily edit 1080p and UHD footage in Premiere Pro and edit/draw in Photoshop and Illustrator without a hitch. I would not use this screen for ANY color sensitive materials, however. Hooking it up to a color monitor works very well though on all of the Adobe Suite. GAMING Like Overwatch, some of my other tests went as well. The Phantom Pain, Resident Evil 7, Doom, Alien Isolation, GTA V and Rust all handled at above 60fps at High settings. In some cases I even was able to hit Ultra in Doom without any frame drops. For casual gaming, it does its job. Don't expect any serious gaming above 1080p except for older titles. KEYBOARD and TOUCHPAD With a red illuminated backing (with an off, low, and high setting) and a tactile high quality matte plastic design, it feels like the sibling of MSIs top laptop keyboards. The touchpad also surprised my expectations. I've been burnt laptop touchpads (espcially the recent Asus Strix lineup), but I have nothing negative to say. Very impressed overall! DESIGN If you're looking for a "gaming" look, go for the new Acer machine. The exterior is very business and plain looking with a cheaper plastic design. It attracts visible fingerprints rather easily. The interior is a mixture of matte and brushed aluminum, which I rather like. But you know what? I love this! It keeps the laptop out of the spotlight and ensures not only a professional vibe, but may keep potential theft out of your way. AUDIO The audio is nothing to write home about, but has above average clarity and volume compared to other laptops in this range. I prefer MSI or Sager's audio, but I don't mind listening to music on the machine. Gaming with a critical ear (ex. Overwatch) is not recommended, however. STORAGE The M.2 PCIe SSD has an average read speed of 1600 MB/s and the 2TB 5400RPM HDD has an average read speed of 139 MB/s (very good average!). No complaints here! BATTERY LIFE Don't expect anything usable for a full day. I got about 3 hours with balanced performance web work. It varies a lot depending on what you're doing. Don't expect to game more than an hour or two max off of battery. However, given that this is a gaming/performance based laptop, I will rarely use it without the charger anyway. As long as I can write for a few hours on the side, that's all I care about, and it gets the job done good enough. BUILT IN SOFTWARE In short, very little bloatware, thank you! The Lenovo software is basic. You can max the fans, adjust the Dolby sound, network settings, and check your video recordings. Video recordings? Well, this laptop actually has a key on the keyboard that instantly starts recording your screen. Useful for tutorials and whatnot. CONCLUSION All in all, if you're looking for a solid price to performance ratio laptop that is easy to carry with you, definitely consider the Lenovo Y520. Casual and hardcore gamers will find a lot to love here, and video or photo editing folks (who don't need to rely on a laptop screen for color accuracy) will feel at home. The specs are solid, and the 15.6" size is great. My only complaint is the slightly cheap feeling exterior plastic and the low quality IPS panel. Other than that, this is one of my most recommended budget desktop replacements as of April 2017! -Quick Overview- Pros: 1) Cost/Performance ratio is solid 2) Matte IPS Panel for perfect viewing angles 3) Awesome CPU, Cool GPU, 16GB 2400 speed ram, and two HDDs provide a mid-tier desktop replacement Cons: 1) Screen brightness/contrast is low and color is unacceptable for anybody editing photos/videos 2) Battery life on the low side with 3 Cell battery (~3 hours) 3) External build seems more like a ~$500 laptop 4) No Thunderbolt 3 or Display Port