Lenovo has, over the past couple of years, focused on promoting its Y-range of products as multimedia powerhouses that also boast of good performance. By and large this tactic has worked well for the company. Does the recently introduced Y510 break the mold, or does it offer more of the same? Read on to find out.
Design and Features
The Y510, in a departure from previous models in this range, has a sober all-black finish. The lid has a beautiful matte finish, with grids reminiscent of expensive wallpaper paneling. The area around the keyboard has a smoothly diffused lead-colored finish that looks very classy. The LCD panel, however, is a bit of a disappointment, as it has a highly reflective surface and causes all kind of viewing problems.
Physically, the laptop is similar to other previous Lenovo models. Its profile is similar to that of a body-builder, so weight-wise it could do with a bit of slimming down. However, like most Lenovo models, the construction is quite sound – the sturdy plastic emits no audible squeak nor shows any extra flex.
The keyboard of the Y510 is top-notch. The keys are well spaced and offer great tactile feedback. Their texture is just right and permits hours of use without any of the fatigue that creeps in when one uses a laptop extensively. The touchpad is a tad large, but along with the firm mouse buttons, is better than offerings from other manufacturers. The area above the keyboard offers a digital touch panel for controlling your media players.
The Y510 sports a 15.4 inch panel with a native resolution of 1280x800 pixels. While this is a standard resolution, the LCD panel is quite troublesome. It's unusually glossy and reflective, and despite having the brightness set to full, I could see myself on it! This caused problems during our movie tests, as it was very distracting.
On its own, the LCD panel offers average level of brightness, sharpness and color. The viewing angle wasn't too good, with images fading away if not viewed straight-on. The laptop claims to be 'Dolby Home Theater' ready. In essence, all this means is that it packs a 4.1 surround system with a subwoofer underside. The main speaker is positioned just above the keyboard area.
In terms of wireless/wired connectivity, the Y510 is decently equipped. It offers 4 USB ports, a multi-format card reader, and a VGA-out. For further details, click on the 'specifications' link directly under the headline of this article.
The Y410 has a Centrino Duo T5450 CPU, 2 GB RAM and a 160GB HDD, and is powered by an Nvidia GeForce Go 8400M GS chipset for its graphics with 256MB of VRAM support. These specs are pretty basic, and this was reflected in the 3DMark and PCMark scores.
Our next test was multimedia functionality. This was a bit of a hit-and-miss. While the sound quality was top-notch, it was a bit soft and had to be cranked up. The LCD’s reflective nature was another problem as it was quite distracting while trying to watch a movie. It required a fair bit of fiddling with contrast and brightness levels to solve this problem.
The battery life was quite decent. Under full strain and brightness, the laptop was able to last a full three hours, which is good.
Conclusion
The Y510 has ultimately fallen prey to the same problem that plagued the series earlier: it skimps on performance to offer better multimedia performance. However, at Rs 55,900 it offers good value for money, and is therefore recommended.
