A day or 2 ago, I watched the sponsored LTT video about the Acer Nitro 5 (on sale at Best buy for 650, or 690 with tax).
My first impressions were that of anyone who buys a laptop for light gaming. It's not sleek or slim, and it's got red on it. Sounds about right.
But in the day of thin and light laptops, it's wholly refreshing to see a laptop with a removable plastic cover, revealing an empty user-replaceable ram slot (to take the laptop from 8gb to 16gb of the already installed 2666mhz ram). Also discovered, upon searching a bit more, was a full-sized M.2 slot. Whether it's an NVMe capable slot or just a regular SSD slot is beyond me, but it fit my 840 250gb drive in just fine anyway. And yes, it was recognized by windows, and is undergoing drive cloning as we speak, because I DESPISE booting off of HDDs in 2018 (I mean really).
So as of this posting I have not actually played any games on it yet, but have been very pleased so far with the quality and speed of this little it that could.
Thank you Linus, and Acer. Maybe not ALL the sponsored videos are just shill crap
Will update later with more impressions after steam and a few games are installed.
But the only issue is it voids the warranty if you mess anything up - so I dont notice that bad of temps currently so no point to risk it at this moment - Thanks!
Y530 has a good cooling solution. Only thing is the bad stock paste (I mean, really bad). Models with bad cooling will still have throttling (minor throttling also counts) after undervolt+repaste
I'll do a repaste soon in my Y530 so stay tuned
Even the CPU is soldered, you still can do repaste. Please know what you're saying before commenting
Hello, my name is Kiara I’m doing my first ever review on this website, it is for the Lenovo Y530 Legion laptop. As I am not a “Pro” at doing theses and this is my first, please take it easy on me if I don’t do the best job.
Also note, The laptop is a bit finer printed up, But it isnt that bad in person.
Starting off, this is the current custom model I have picked out, Lenovo offers plenty of different options while picking out the Laptop.
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8750H 6 core Processor (2.20GHz, up to 4.10GHz with Turbo Boost, 9MB Cache)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
RAM: 8GB DDR4 2666MHz (1 Dimm)
Storage: 1TB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm, 2.5", SATA3.
This cost me around $1,400 Canadian Dollars, or around $1,000 USD.
Other Configs.
Build
The build of the laptop, I’m in love with it, A very minimalistic design for someone who plans on brining the laptop to school or work without the crazy loud gaming deigns of most laptop.
The Y530 is made of plastic but does feel very premium and has a much better build then most laptops around this price point.
The top outer shell of the laptop is made from a plastic that has a raised groove texture to the top of it, that makes like a zip noise while sliding your hand or finger across it, I like it, Makes the laptop feel more premium although it is a finger print magnet.
The Legion name on the laptop has a tringle like shape, that lights up white while the computer is on.
The bottom of the laptop has a grill like material, that gives amazing air flow to the two fans for the GPU and CPU.
The laptop also extended about an inch or so in the rear of the laptop, for increased cooling and a larger heat sink. This doesn’t affect the size of the laptop.
Ports
On the back of the laptop, the ports are as followed:
USB Type-C Port - Mini Display Port - USB 3.1 Port - HDMI Port - Gigabit Ethernet Port - Power Port and Kingston Lock Port.
On the right of the laptop:
One USB 3.1 Port - An LED power light, and a NOVO power button, A very handy button.
On the left of the laptop:
One USB 3.1 Port - Headphone/Mic combo Jack.
Footprint
Lenovo’s website says the laptop comes in at 5.2 pounds, with my model showing 5 Pounds, and the 135W charger weighing 1.4 pounds.
And the Dimensions of the laptop: 14.4 x 10.2 x 1.0 inches.
Small bit bigger then most entry level laptops, But I think the thin bezels do make up for the extra size.
Personal Experience: I have been bringing the laptop in my backpack for about 2 weeks now, although it does way a good amount, and with the Laptop + Charger + Books the weight of my bag comes in at 14ish pounds... That is rather heavy but with a nice backpack like the Lenovo 15.6" Laptop Backpack by NAVA (Review Coming soon)
It is not that bad... But this really depends how much walking etc. you must do.
Display
I’m going to start with the Display on the laptop, I do think Lenovo did a pretty good job on this every level gaming laptop, with its thin bezel design I think it stands out over most other gaming laptops in this price range, one of the real downsides I found after using the laptop is its brightness, and average color display, but you can’t ask for much when buying an Entry level gaming Laptop.
Brightness coming it at 255 nits of Brightness.
And 80% on the sRGB color spectrum.
Keyboard
One word to explain the keyboard, Amazing. The full-size keyboard is great! The keyboard is great for not only school work / Typing but also great for gaming with the FULL-SIZED ARROW KEYS! Yes, I said it full size… Although, it did take a couple of days to get my normal wpm type speed back up, due to the keyboard having a slight shift. Its great. The keyboard does have a slight flex in the middle, but you only notice this if you are really trying to flex the keyboard.
Specs:
Takes 60grams of force.
2-millimeter key travel.
Personal Experience: So far, I really do like they keyboard, Even more so being a business major, I really needed the full-sized keyboard, I have noticed the number pad is slightly smaller, but that had no effect. They keyboard is much quieter then your average gaming laptop, with a less tactile key presses, this is great for school, but some people find it hard for gaming, while playing games like COD, Overwatch, GTA 5 I never really noticed anything wrong with the keys, might be a problem for a game like World of warcraft, or something where you must press plenty of keys.
Touch Pad
Somewhat disappointed, tracking amazing but that is to be expected with windows drivers on the track pad.
Where I am disappointed is the buttons, yes, they have a nice click both Right and Left, but I would have much preferred a full touch bad, with no dedicated buttons. They are very loud, and while using the laptop in class, it really does stand out.
But yes, the trackpad is great, I personally don’t like the buttons. But it still has amazing tracking, and very good palm rejections.
Webcam
… Yea… Let’s just skip this... Due the thin bezels the webcam had to be placed at the bottom the screen... Although, the webcam is in 720p, but it was pretty alright while I was testing it and taking photos. But it is very sad to see the placement of the Camera, if the laptop is at 90 Degrease it is going to be perfectly inline with your hands on the keyboard, you need to tilt the screen to at least 135 degrees to see your face in the camera.
Sound
The Y530 comes with very nice Harman Tuned speakers, this allows the laptop to have above average speaker sound quality, it is nothing out of the water but very nice for music or watching Netflix or even playing games with. They also get very loud. I would not recommend playing them at max volume starts getting somewhat disordered around 90% +
Battery Life
The life of the battery is about average for most gaming laptops, you might want to be near a charging port.
The laptop for me lasted around 4 hours 30mins at 70% brightness while in school.
Sources say the laptop has lasted around near 5 hours at 150nts
Note, Anything below 40% brightness I think, Is rather hard to see on daily use, although 100% brightness is amazing.. But id only suggest 100% if you are near an outlet
Undervolting CPU
Currently I have undervolted both the CPU core and Cache to -140mv and it has been running stable in both gaming and Stress tests, I have noticed 5-15C temp difference, but this depends on the work load.
Gaming / Heat.
Currently a work in progress. If you would like me to do more tests, please feel free to comment below. But theses are some of the games I play.
**All the tests are with the CPU Undervolted, and around 25c in my house. **
The laptop Idles at around 40-50c with random spikes to higher temps.
After using the laptop for about 4 hours during school.
With at least 6+ chrome tabs open, a Word document open, and an Excel spreadsheet open, the laptop was still at 45c when I took the screen shot, with max temps on the all cores in the 60s, I was very surprised with this, I noticed some heat, But nothing crazy.
Overwatch: *I normally play on Capped 60FPS. *
1920x1080 Low – Around 190-220FPS, Temps: 60s- low 70s This kept the fans on.
1920x1080 Low – Capped 60FPS, Temps: high 50s- low 60s No fan sound.
1920x1080 High – Around 150-160FPS, Temps: 70s- 80s This also kept the fans on.
1920x1080 High – Capped 60FPS, Temps: high 55s- low 65s Some slight fan sounds.
**Note, the FPS change depending on what’s happing on the screen. **
Player Unknown Battle Grounds:
1920x1080 medium Anti-Aliasing Ultra – low 50FPS – 70fps – I was getting around 85-90C on the CPU. This kept the fans on.
Did not test at other settings.
**Note, the FPS change depending on what’s happing on the screen. **
Fortnite:
1920x1080 Low Preset With 100% 3D scaling, What I play at.
1920x1080 Low – Around 150-190FPS, Temps: 65s- low 75s Saw some to 80 at max. Some fan noise.
1920x1080 Low – 60FPS Capped, Temps: 60s- low 70s Saw some Spikes to 80 at max. No fan sounds.
I can test other games, that is if I have the game you are looking for.
Conclusion, I really like the laptop, and would suggest it to anyone that is looking for an entry level gaming laptop, who doesn’t want an eye catcher while sitting at work or at school.
Pros: Sleek look, Very nice keyboard, Good cooling, Portable for a gaming laptop, Nice build quality for the price point.
Cons: 4ish hour battery life, Low brightness compared to other laptops, Trackpad buttons (Might be fine for you) Webcam location.
That’s it!
Thank you so much for reading, again this is my first ever review, this took me a good 3/4 hours to write, so please if there are mistakes, I am sorry I will fix them.
If you would like me to do any other Benchmarks on games, or CPU tests, let me know ?
MSI GV62 has OKish build quality and display but has OK-good cooling. Dell G3, Acer Nitro 5 and HP Pavilion Gaming need repaste due to OK-mediocre cooling
If you're buying from US you can also look into Eluctronics NB50, CyberpowerPC Tracer III, Lenovo Legion Y530, HP Omen dc
this acer nitro 5 should be good https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Gaming-i5-7300HQ-GeForce-AN515-51-55WL/dp/B074Q54GSR
also you might want to grab an external drive for games
Here's a WD 2TB external hard drive https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU6Y0020BBK-WESN/dp/B06W55K9N6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1534967071&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=2tb+external&psc=1
Near a Micro Center? Get this: http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294967288+4294818187+594+82+593+43&myStore=true
Life of Boris made a video where he assembled new water cooling system, but instead of using casual coolant he decided to try vodka instead.
I was wondering if it actually helps cool the cpu or gpu?
I believe that this would be a good idea for a video.
Change my mind if you dare!
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