Opinion on the Lenovo Ideapad Legion Y530 Laptop

[Miexed]

I'm looking into buying a new laptop for work - video editing mostly. I've found that the gaming laptops work best for me, but I'd appreciate some advice/suggestions.

I need a laptop since I travel around a lot and work in different areas, so a desktop is unfortunately not practical.

I have a budget of about R25 000 and so far I keep on going back to looking at the Lenovo Ideapad Legion Y530.

So, with that in mind, what do you guys think of the Lenovo Ideapad Legion Y530 with the following upgraded specs:

Intel 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H up to 4.10GHz Processor 9MB Cache
6x Cores, 12x Threads
24GB DDR4 RAM
1TB Ultra-Fast SSD + 2TB Hard Drive
15.6" NARROW BEZEL Full HD 1920x1080 Anti-glare IPS Display
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 Graphics With Desktop Level Performance

 

[Petester]

Are you wanting to game as well because Gaming laptops don't really make for great work/travel laptops.
If battery life is a concern then gaming laptops generally have very poor battery life. Their build quality is not as good as a workstation laptop and the same goes for their warranties.
A Dell Precision 3530 would ideally be what you are looking for if you are not a gamer .
For eg: @Zizi thread .

[Sale] - Dell Precision 3530 Workstation | Laptops

Item: Dell Precision 3530 Workstation CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8750H (6 Core, 9M Cache, 2.20GHz up to 4.1GHz Turbo, 35W) RAM: 16GB DDR4 2400MHz Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD Display: 15.6" FHD (1920X1080) IPS Display Graphics: NVidia Quadro® P600 w/4GB GDDR5 Dedicated Memory OS: Windows 10 Pro Extras...

carbonite.co.za

Can be customised Im sure

 

[HelloCat]

Would probably need to get 32GB if you are doing heavy lifting, but the rest seems fine for what you describe. Lenovo has decent build quality and support.

 

[Miexed]

Are you wanting to game as well because Gaming laptops don't really make for great work/travel laptops.
If battery life is a concern then gaming laptops generally have very poor battery life. Their build quality is not as good as a workstation laptop and the same goes for their warranties.
A Dell Precision 3530 would ideally be what you are looking for if you are not a gamer .
For eg: @Zizi thread .

[Sale] - Dell Precision 3530 Workstation | Laptops

Item: Dell Precision 3530 Workstation CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8750H (6 Core, 9M Cache, 2.20GHz up to 4.1GHz Turbo, 35W) RAM: 16GB DDR4 2400MHz Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD Display: 15.6" FHD (1920X1080) IPS Display Graphics: NVidia Quadro® P600 w/4GB GDDR5 Dedicated Memory OS: Windows 10 Pro Extras...

carbonite.co.za

Can be customised Im sure

Thank you for your reply.

I want to game a bit as well, yeah. I have a Gigabyte gaming laptop that I'm using now and it has served me well when it comes to both serious work and some gaming. I currently am using a backup workstation laptop and I have to say that I'm feeling it. I prefer the gaming ones. For some reason my experiences with workstation laptops has been subpar.

Battery life is not much of a concern to me. I can usually plug it in at the different places where I work. I have a 17" now, but I won't mind going back to a 15.6" screen. Either way, a big laptop does not bother me at all.

It would seem that I'd have to make quite a few upgrades on the Dell, and I'd have to be careful to not ruin the warranty by doing it. (My current laptop has 12GB RAM, and I want to take a quite the leap to at least 24GB)

Can you tell me how the colors show on the Dell? I need relatively accurate color portrayal for editing and I'm not familiar with how most Dell laptops do color.

Also note that I changed the specs in my first post from 16GB RAM to 24GB. Didn't see that I copied the wrong one.

 

[Miexed]

Would probably need to get 32GB if you are doing heavy lifting, but the rest seems fine for what you describe. Lenovo has decent build quality and support.

Thanks for your reply.

I editied my first post - 16GB RAM to 24GB. Didn't see that I copied the wrong specs.

32GB would defnitely be great, but the 24 would already be pushing my budget haha. I have 12GB in my current laptop, so even the 24 would ensure a massive difference in performance at least.

 

[Petester]

Thanks for your reply.

I editied my first post - 16GB RAM to 24GB. Didn't see that I copied the wrong specs.

32GB would defnitely be great, but the 24 would already be pushing my budget haha. I have 12GB in my current laptop, so even the 24 would ensure a massive difference in performance at least.

it's not hard to add extra Ram and your warranty is not affected. They also have dual storage if required
If you want to game then you have your hands tied and have to go for a gaming laptop.

 

[Miexed]

it's not hard to add extra Ram and your warranty is not affected. They also have dual storage if required
If you want to game then you have your hands tied and have to go for a gaming laptop.

I'll look into some workstation laptops again, thank you.

The struggle is real haha. Don't want to switch to console gaming only, but if need be...

 

[Max Mudzanani]

Try the 8650U systems for better battery life.
Might get it with a 1050Ti.

If you really need 6 cores, then there's the Legion Y7000

 

[el3venth]

I had an Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop. 4.1kg and with the adapter probably 5kg.
That laptop taught me the following:

1. Weight is most important.
2. Battery life is secondary.
3. Comfortable keyboard is third.
4. Smaller = better. (Altough anything less that 13" usually implies a reduced keyboard, so that is the minimum size.)
5. Touch pad must be comforable.
6. Spec comes after this.

This is and will be my criteria going forward.

I love my Apple Macbook Air. Fits all the above, although my battery life is now starting to suffer.
I still love gaming, although on the road I just stick to things that run on the air.

I am perfectly happy with still playing Master of Magic.

 

[xyz0]

Try the 8650U systems for better battery life.
Might get it with a 1050Ti.

If you really need 6 cores, then there's the Legion Y7000

as OP said he doesnt care about battery life, and i highly dont recommend using a low power U cpu for video editing. If i recall correctly the Y7000 is limited to US market unless you import.

 

[Miexed]

Try the 8650U systems for better battery life.
Might get it with a 1050Ti.

If you really need 6 cores, then there's the Legion Y7000

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll be looking into those.

 

[Max Mudzanani]

In that case, the Asus Perdotor Helios has an 8750H + GTX 1060 6GB for a good price from Amazon

 

[Miexed]

In that case, the Asus Perdotor Helios has an 8750H + GTX 1060 6GB for a good price from Amazon

Quite tempting, but importing is not really an option for me. If any issues arise, then warranties might be a problem. Even if I can get stuff sorted here in SA, I can't go long without a laptop. No laptop=no job. Waiting days/weeks for something to arrive initially can cause me quite a few problems at work haha.

 

[Miexed]

I had an Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop. 4.1kg and with the adapter probably 5kg.
That laptop taught me the following:

1. Weight is most important.
2. Battery life is secondary.
3. Comfortable keyboard is third.
4. Smaller = better. (Altough anything less that 13" usually implies a reduced keyboard, so that is the minimum size.)
5. Touch pad must be comforable.
6. Spec comes after this.

This is and will be my criteria going forward.

I love my Apple Macbook Air. Fits all the above, although my battery life is now starting to suffer.
I still love gaming, although on the road I just stick to things that run on the air.

I am perfectly happy with still playing Master of Magic.

Thanks for your reply. That is a heavy laptop haha. I had a Macbook, but made quick work of selling it. I never liked Apple products, but decided to give it a shot anyways. Never grew on me though, so selling it felt great. They are good laptops, but not my style.

I'm not bothered by weight and so on. I have two extra monitors and a few choices of keyboards that I use extra depending on where I am and what I'm doing.. The bigger the screen, the more workspace I have for all the stuff that has to happen simultaneously when editing. I have a mouse that I plug in as well, so even if a touchpad is not up to my standards, it doesn't bother me - I need the mouse for precision when it comes to editing.

Specs to me comes first. Editing high res files are extremely hard if the laptop can't handle all the programs I need to use and render/export quickly. Editing is an interesting game sometimes.

 

[DanteFelixCatus]

@Miex13 Have you bought your laptop yet?

 

[Miexed]

@Miex13 Have you bought your laptop yet?

Sadly not yet. I first need to sell the one I have now. Otherwise I can't afford it at all. Also decided to go for the 1050ti with 2TB SSD and 32GB RAM. So it's a lil more expensive than planned, but will be worth it in the long run.

 

[DanteFelixCatus]

You said your original budget was 25k.
Here you go.
Buy Lenovo Legion Y530 GTX 1050 Gaming Laptop 2TB SSD And With 32GB RAM at Evetech.co.za

 

[xyz0]

Sadly not yet. I first need to sell the one I have now. Otherwise I can't afford it at all. Also decided to go for the 1050ti with 2TB SSD and 32GB RAM. So it's a lil more expensive than planned, but will be worth it in the long run.

still plan on getting the lenovo y530?

 

[Miexed]

You said your original budget was 25k.
Here you go.
Buy Lenovo Legion Y530 GTX 1050 Gaming Laptop 2TB SSD And With 32GB RAM at Evetech.co.za

That's the one I was looking at, thank you very much

My budget of 25k was if I really pushed it and I was initially looking at the 1060. Since that was sold out, I started looking at the 1050, but the largest SSD upgrade would have been 1TB, so +-22k defnitely fit the budget more haha. Back to 25k is fine, but now my old laptop really has to go😂

 

[Miexed]

still plan on getting the lenovo y530?

Yep, will be buying from Evetech as soon as I can afford it.

 

[DanteFelixCatus]

Just to support this choice over any of the "Workstation" laptop.
This would be the obvious competitor: Buy Lenovo Ideapad 330 Core i7 GTX 1050 Gaming Laptop With 1TB SSD And 20GB RAM at Evetech.co.za

However the legion has a better battery, a 3 Cell 52.5WHr 135W Li-Polymer Battery vs a regular one in any workstation, you also get way more storage space with the 2TB SSD and the 2TB HDD.
My main reason I would recommend the Legion over any of the workstation setups is 2 reasons, firstly the Legion supports up to 32Gig RAM from its motherboard, where the comparative workstations as pointed to above, supports only 20Gigs of RAM. That means while both these laptops have the same processor, same graphics card and SSD, the Legion has a superior motherboard. Which ensures that no bottlenecks will be created between the CPU, the GPU, the RAM and the SSD. Secondly as mentioned the legion comes with better cooling and power, this again does a lot when all these bits are put together to compare the total performance you will be getting out of your work station. Yes, you get the 32GB of RAM which is a total overkill even in gaming terms. How Much RAM Do Gamers Need? 8GB vs. 16GB vs. 32GB but this serves to future proof your laptop.

You don't need it now, but if you are going to be doing any sort of 4k rendering in the next 5 years you will be so glad that you got every last inch of performance out of your purchase.

"Goedkoop koop is duur koop".

I am in a very similar position to you in needs of requirements for my next laptop, and seriously I can not find a better deal than this.

If you had to shave off a bit from the budget I would recommend going for the 2TB SSD option with the 24Gig RAM.

Buy Lenovo Legion Y530 GTX 1050 Gaming Laptop 2TB SSD And With 24GB RAM at Evetech.co.za

RAM is a lot cheaper and quicker to upgrade than a SSD, and can be done later on, as 24Gig would still be a total overkill right now.

Lastly the look of the thing, I mean I like gaming rigs, but I hate everything having to be a Rainbow of RGB.
This is atleast discreet looking.

Lastly the Legion also comes with a 3 year collect & return warranty, where the workstations comes with a standard 2 year warranty.


So there you have my 2c lads.

 

[Miexed]

Thanks for your 2c. It's appreciated. What you says makes perfect sense. The pros and cons of a gaming laptop vs that of a workstation laptop can't be compared and for that price, I can't find anything that will be able to beat the Legion either.

Only con about the y530 it to me is that the screen's colors may be a bit off compared to a workstation lappy made for editing, but I use 2 external monitors anyways, so that's not a dealbreaker at all if it is the case.

Fortunately I also might not need to shave off of the budget, with the amount of interest shown in my laptop now, I'll have enough money extra so that I can take the 32GB when payday comes. With my luck though, the Legion might just be sold out by that time😂

But I agree with everything you said. Rather shell out money now for something that I know will last me a while and will be able to handle a tough workload.

And yes, rainbows all over the place are not that great. I don't feel the need to let everyone know when I'm working.

Thanks again and I hope you enjoy yours when you get it!

 

[xyz0]

i recently got my y530, have it for about 2 weeks now. I have the 1050ti i5 and 144hz display variant, there are a few things i wanna mention. Physically the keyboard isnt bad, but the placement of the buttons are questionable, the function key, printscreen key etc. The palm rest area isnt so well against stains, can wipe to get rid of stains, but the mark will remains; eg on a hot day when using the keyboard, my palm would sweats leaves a shiny mark, need to wipe with water. The speakers are also better than expected, quite clear for youtube videos.

Battery is alright, have a undervolted profile limited the clock speed when on battery, can do 3hrs with web browsing on a third of the max brightness. Oh and about the undervolt, on my laptop by default settings it thermal throttles when playing games like csgo and overwatch (144fps), 95c on cpu and 70c on gpu. After some tuning and stresstest, its at 75c on cpu and 60 on gpu when gaming (-100mV). The laptops default profile will make the laptops fan ramp upfor a few seconds whenever the cpu clock spikes, even like say when you open chrome. Basicallly happens every 5 mins or so.

overall after some tuning to get rid of the sudden fans noise, and have a cloth as a palm rest, the laptop is good

 

[Miexed]

i recently got my y530, have it for about 2 weeks now. I have the 1050ti i5 and 144hz display variant, there are a few things i wanna mention. Physically the keyboard isnt bad, but the placement of the buttons are questionable, the function key, printscreen key etc. The palm rest area isnt so well against stains, can wipe to get rid of stains, but the mark will remains; eg on a hot day when using the keyboard, my palm would sweats leaves a shiny mark, need to wipe with water. The speakers are also better than expected, quite clear for youtube videos.

Battery is alright, have a undervolted profile limited the clock speed when on battery, can do 3hrs with web browsing on a third of the max brightness. Oh and about the undervolt, on my laptop by default settings it thermal throttles when playing games like csgo and overwatch (144fps), 95c on cpu and 70c on gpu. After some tuning and stresstest, its at 75c on cpu and 60 on gpu when gaming (-100mV). The laptops default profile will make the laptops fan ramp upfor a few seconds whenever the cpu clock spikes, even like say when you open chrome. Basicallly happens every 5 mins or so.

overall after some tuning to get rid of the sudden fans noise, and have a cloth as a palm rest, the laptop is good

Thanks for your reply. I'm defnitely going to take note of the fans and doa a lil tweaking if needed