Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 Review: Multimedia laptop for entertainment

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 Home is a multimedia laptop aimed at home and entertainment purposes. It has surround speakers and subwoofer, which is a much-desired feature in computers for homes. Again, it also comprises of HDMI, finger-touch media control keys and frameless LCD screen. With extensive multimedia characteristics, this laptop is aimed at students opting for a PC-cum-entertainment system and people prefering to use a laptop for a home theatre system

Build and Design

The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 Home has dimensions of 14.2″ (w) x 10.3″ (d) x 1.4″ thick and is 6.7 pounds of weight. Though it is a handy and mobile package, it is a bit too heavy. The external casing is black and etched with a weaving tendril pattern that has now become a signature of the ThinkPads and IdeaPads. It provides a strong grip, and also avoids the fingerprints that get stamped on the cases of glossy laptops. Inside the case, you would find the glossy WXGA 15.4 inch screen. The lid hinges are somewhat angled and you would definitely like them. The Lenovo Ideapad Y530 has a good classy look and is a delight to your eyes.

Display

The display has a 1280×800 pixels resolution for a 15.4″ screen. The much popular Lenovo “frameless screen” looks great and is the ideal one for watching movies and playing 3D games. The only thing you would complaint about the screen in Lenovo Ideapad Y530 Home is the extra-reflective finish, which has been predominant in all the Lenovo laptops. Even in this notebook, which has been optimised for entertainment purposes, Lenovo has failed to do away with this screen shortcoming that has been much complained about.

Keyboard and touchpad

Lenovo has always been known for its convenient, stylish keyboards. Although the Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 Home Keyboard is different from the ThinkPad keyboards, it is so very comfortable. The touchpad with its mouse buttons are very well positioned on the panel and thoughtfully-sized. A row of orange glowing finger-touch media control keys is held on a glossy black strip on the panel. The keyboard sports a programmable application-launch button, in addition to some very excellent and thoughtful media control keys.

Performance and Benchmarks

With Core 2 Duo P7350 processor and NVIDIA 9300M graphics card, The Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 home delivers excellent performance for a multimedia oriented laptop. The performance for average user applications like web browsing and office applications etc. was at par with the Gateway MC8703u. However, it isn’t quite well-equipped for gaming freaks. Endowed with perfect visual aids for a great gaming experience, the Ideapad y530, with its 9300M graphics card falls far behind when compared with other gaming and 3D animation oriented laptops, which employ better and powerful graphics cards like ATI 3650. Hence, though a complete package for home-entertainment, if you enjoy high-end gaming, there is a compromise you would have to make when running latest games that demand good resolutions.

Battery Life

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 Home has a battery life of 2 hours and 52 minutes on web browsing with music playback, which drains out all of its 6 batteries. For the entertainment purpose, which this laptop aims at, this is too less. The battery will not last you till the entire length of a single movie. So, you would have to watch movies on AC power.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 Home is a laptop for use at home. It is not designed to be carried around by people on the go. It is a nice entertainment system, for which most homes today are using bulky and powerful desktops. However, Lenovo has overlooked some of the basic needs of an ideal entertainment system, like enhanced graphics for gaming and long enough battery support. However, if you are not a gaming freak,and do not have to use it on battery for long, this is an ideal home PC for you.

Specifications of Lenovo Ideapad Y530
Processor: 2GHz P7350 Core 2 Duo from Intel

OS: Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Memory: 2-GB DDR2

Display: 15.4 inch WXGA, 1280×800

Hard drive: 250 GB SATA

Battery: 6 cell lithium

Weight: 6.7 lbs

Dimensions: 14.2″ (w) x 10.3″ (d) x 1.4″

Pros: Elegant and strong; reasonable price; finger-touch media control keys; excellent audio; face recognition software

Cons: Overly reflective screen; heavy; battery life is quite less; graphics abilities aren’t enhanced

MSRP: $499 (base price)