Lenovo Ideapad Y530 Review

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 is the latest release by Lenovo in its Ideapad range of notebooks. Just as the ThinkPad range is dedicated to business notebooks aimed at professionals, the IdeaPad range of laptops is more Multimedia oriented, and is aimed at basic home users who want a better config than most run of the mill notebooks. The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 lives up to Ideapad standards and sports nice hardware specifications and seems to be priced just right around $1000. It competes with the Dell Studio series primarily considering the pricing and specs. In this detailed review, we check out the Lenovo Ideapad Y530 and see how it stacks up against similar notebooks in the same range.

Lenovo Ideapad Y530 Specifications:

• Dimensions: 14.2 inch x 10.3 inch x 1.4 inch
• Weight: 6.7 pounds
• Display: 15.4 inch WXGA Display, 1280 x 800 pixels, Glossy
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 clocked at 2 GHz with 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz FSB
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M with 256 MB VRAM
• RAM: 2 GB DDR2 System Memory
• Hard Drive: 250GB SATA HDD, 5400 RPM
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
• Optical Drive: DVD RW
• Webcam: 1.3 MP built in
• Speakers: 4 speakers and 1 sub-woofer – Dolby
• Battery: 6 cell 5200 mAh Battery, 57 Wh
• Price Approx: $1000

Design:

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 sports a very simple and minimalistic design. It will instantly strike a chord with those who are fed up of flashy, overtly stylish notebooks aplenty these days. The design and look reminds you of the Thinkpad range, probably Lenovo hired the same designers for both the ranges. The Y530 sports a full black design, which looks elegant. At dimensions of 14.2 inches x 10.3 inches x 1.4 inches and a weight of just about 6.7 pounds, it is quite portable and handy. It should be a nice option for frequent travellers who don’t like underpowered netbooks and overweight regular notebooks.

The body is mostly composed of brushed metal and plastic. The build quality is superb, as expected of any Lenovo Ideapad or Thinkpad. The body offers a nice grip and the styling is consistent through out the body. The chassis of the Ideapad Y530 is very solid and gives the notebook a rugged and sturdy feel. There is little to no flex across the body, even the display. The metal and plastic combo used in constructing the body imparts a kind of durability to it. This notebook should easily last for about 3-4 years if handled properly.

Display and Speakers:

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 sports a standard sized 15.4 inch LCD wide display with a native WXGA resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The display is pretty nice with nice brightness and contrast levels. The images are vibrant and the display is fit for a multimedia notebook. The viewing angles are also pretty decent, the horizontal angles being wider than the vertical ones. The color reproduction is nice and accurate. All in all, a nice display with nothing much to complain of.

As the Ideapad Y530 is a multimedia centric notebook, it is expected to have superb sound. The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 sports a superb Dolby Surround Sound Speaker system with 4 speakers and a sub woofer. They have very nice sound quality and fare better than most notebook speakers. The sound reproduction is superb for all ranges – mids, highs and lows. The sub woofer handles the bass pretty well and provides a fulfilling music experience. The volume levels are also very nice and the sound is loud enough to be heard across a big room. You can always also connect your favorite headphones to the notebook. It is definitely one of the best notebook speaker systems in this range.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 sports a standard full sized keyboard with a normal key layout. The key spacing and travel is adequate. The keyboard provides for a comfortable typing experience just like with a Thinkpad. The keys have a nice feel and provide good feedback and a distinctive click. This is the keyboard touch typists look for. No qualms about the keyboard. Located above the keyboard is an array of touch sensitive media control buttons.

The Synaptics Touchpad is located just below the keyboard and is big enough. Most manufacturers try to skimp on touchpad size, but Lenovo has managed to do it perfect with the Ideapad Y530. The touchpad surface is smooth and helps during navigation while still providing some traction. The touchpad is nice and responsive with optimum sensitivity. The two touchpad buttons located below the touchpad are also pretty nice and offer a distinct click.

Performance:

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 sports a very nice and able hardware configuration – Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 clocked at 2 GHz with 2 MB L2 cache, 2 GB DDR2 RAM and a 5,400 RPM 250 GB hard drive. The graphics department is handled by the new Nvidia Geforce 9300M discrete graphics with 256 MB VRAM. It can easily handle most of what is thrown at it without any problems. The graphic card while new, is relatively underpowered and cannot handle games at high settings. However it is very power efficient and is much better than Intel integrated graphics solution – the GMA 4500 MHD. The configuration can run the bundled Windows Vista easily with no issues and even multitask scores of applications. It is particularly suited for multimedia based usage and is perfect for sound and video playback. It performs just as good as other competitors as far as performance is concerned.

Battery and Other Features:

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 is powered by a 6 cell 5200 mAh Battery rated at 57 Wh. It offers a decent battery life of 3 hrs and 30 mins with moderate usage, just about the category average, slightly better. To further improve the battery life, follow simple tips like lowering the display brightness, lowering the system volume, disabling the Wi-Fi when not in use etc.

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 sports a wide range of expansion ports – it sports three USB ports, a VGA out, HDMI, headphone and mic jacks, LAN, Firewire, modem slot, ExpressCard/54 slot, as well as a 6-in-1 card reader. The ports are distributed evenly across the entire body.

Pros:

• Nice Build Quality
• Superb Keyboard and Touchpad
• Good Display and Dolby Speakers

Cons:

None that I can think of

Final Words:

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 is a superb deal for those who want a nice laptop with great performance primarily for multimedia needs. You may also want to check out the Dell Studio 15 and the HP DV 5T in the same price range. As far as the Ideapad Y530 goes, we would definitely give it a thumbs up.

Our Rating: 4 / 5.