Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p
Nails the gaming look, but lacks that winning edge
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p’s black casing and red, back-lit keyboard give off a menacing vibe. It might look a bit out of place sitting next to the Toshiba P50t in the boardroom, but it’s instantly recognisable as a gaming machine.
Nvidia’s GeForce GT755M graphics deliver decent 3D performance for a laptop in this price range, while the 15.6-inch, 1920x1080 HD screen does an excellent job of displaying vibrant colours and fast motion. The built-in JBL speakers also put in a great performance, producing powerful, booming audio with no noticeable distortion, even during the loudest and most intense of fire fights.
A 1TB hard drive provides all the space you need for those massive game installs and the quadcore Intel i7 processor is nippy enough to play most current titles – again it’s clocked at a respectable 2.4GHz. Despite that spec line-up, during our benchmarking tests it became clear that the Y510p struggled in comparison to its rivals, with more lag apparent and less graphical detail. That’s disappointing, but hardly a massive shock when you consider the price.
The system’s graphical power can be enhanced by swapping out the pre-installed Blu-ray drive and adding an additional GeForce GT 755M graphics card. The Y510P’s UltraBay makes this swap easy, but it does bump up the price-tag, putting it in direct competition with this test’s big hitters – we doubt it would hold its own.
The Y510p feels a lot more expensive than it actually is and has some excellent ideas, including a massive vent on the bottom to aid heat dissipation, a tough keyboard, and that UltraBay for quick upgrades. But unless you’re willing to spend additional cash on boosting its performance, you’re better off spending slightly more in the first place. It hasn’t launched here, so you’d need to get it via another avenue, which probably isn’t worth the effort. Love Striking design. Rich audio. Decent HD screen Hate Weaker gaming performance than its rivals. Dual GPU setup requires extra expense T3 Says Lenovo has the gaming looks, but its performance just isn’t up to scratch