For the legion! Lenovo Legion Y540 gaming laptop review

A gaming laptop is always a compromise, and an inexpensive gaming laptop is an oxymoron. Well, you can’t just combine high-performance hardware, good cooling, a more or less tolerable display, and then sell it all “for mere pennies.” At least until the end of 2020, the hardware market did not provide for such an opportunity.

However, last year NVIDIA introduced new video chips that simply erased the line between mobile and desktop video cards. No more letters “M” at the end, truncated performance and strange configs from a weak video core with 2-4, or even 6 GB of video memory, because the vendor thought it was cooler. Budget Pascal has finally reached laptops, and today we will deal with one of the first signs of inexpensive gaming models. Lenovo Y520, who are you? Another compromise, or a gaming master who has achieved special enlightenment and balance?

Lenovo Y520 - gaming?

Modest, black, textured planes like carbon braid. The formal affiliation with the gaming line is revealed only by the slightly protruding ridge in the center and the stiffening ribs next to the hinges. Otherwise, a laptop is just like a laptop, there are thousands of them.

Inside is a realm of matte plastic and neat accents. Closer to the display is a panel with a finely ground anodized aluminum texture; smooth polygonal elements are neatly inscribed around the trackpad. Above the display with anti-glare coating, a webcam peephole peeks out slyly.

No parrot colors, no dominance of stickers, macro keys, Super-Mega-Gaming-Boost switches and all those excesses that you mentally prepare for when you notice the “Gaming” prefix before the word “Laptop” on the manufacturer’s website.

A barely audible click of the power button, the rustle of the cooling system - and in front of us is the Windows 10 welcome window. UEFI, SSD and fast boot work wonders. device pop up in my head again.

boat, and hands habitually rest on WASD. Yes, it’s game-like, although it’s skillfully disguised.

Lenovo Legion Y720: optional with 4K panel

The 15.6-inch display has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, but with a peak brightness rating of just 250.1 cd/m2, it's a little dark for our tastes. The checkerboard contrast is at a good level: 186 to 1. Despite the relatively small screen sizes for gaming laptops, even such graphic masterpieces as “Mass Effect Andromeda” look adequate.

One thing that stood out to us during our performance tests was that the Lenovo Legion Y720 remains surprisingly quiet. Although the cooling system fan is clearly audible, under full load it does not make the noise of an airplane taking off, as is the case with many other similar devices. We can also call Dolby Atmos sound top-notch, which comes from two JBL speakers with a power of 2 W and a subwoofer with a power of 3 W.

When comparing the results of benchmark runs with those of the ASUS ROG Strix GL702VM, which is also equipped with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 graphics card and 16 GB of RAM, the Lenovo laptop shows some advantage. In particular, in 3DMark Cloud Gate it reached 25,373 points, while ASUS ROG managed to get only 23,770 points.

However, in PCMark 8: Creative Accelerated, the representative of the Lenovo team was defeated, showing a result of only 6841 points, while the ROG Strix gave 7023 points. The difference in the speed of hard drives was noticeably noticeable, where the victory again went to the Lenovo Legion Y720 . In PCMark 8: Storage System Test, it showed a whopping 421 MB/s, while ASUS tried to catch up, clearly limping, with its 157.46 MB/s.

So the benchmarks are still synthetic estimates and they can be interpreted somewhat freely, there is also a “practical” assessment from us: even after several hours of intense gaming on the Lenovo Legion Y720 , we did not find any significant shortcomings. Current games with appropriate graphics settings run freely. At the same time, the 15.6-inch display benefits from excellent sound, which creates a highly enjoyable gaming atmosphere.

Lenovo Legion Y720 : whether it makes sense to order an optional 4K panel for a display with a diagonal of only 15.6 inches is a matter of taste.

Budget is not an obstacle to quality

The first impression of a laptop in 90% of cases is when you open the lid. The V-shape and wedge-shaped edge of the body eliminates the need for a notch under the display; you simply grab the display with your thumb and lift it with one finger. The effort is perfectly calibrated: what Apple owners boasted about in a device in the mid-price segment is a rarity, and in this regard, the Y520 successfully fit into the club of the best of the best. Little things like this pop up here and there, creating the feeling of a strong average product, something that they really put their soul into the development of and didn’t even bother with such details. The first impression: “A good device,” but there are still a lot of interesting places in the laptop that are worth looking into. What if you find something interesting?

Interface layout

The laptop doesn't break any records in terms of the number of interfaces, but it has everything you need, and even a little more. Let's start from the left side. It contains: a Kensington lock, a connector for connecting a charger, a gigabit LAN port, USB 2.0, a combined 3.5 audio jack and a slot for rebooting the device.

The right side contains the fashionable USB Type-C, an SD card reader, a pair of USB 3.0 and HDMI. The front and back edges are empty.

Display

The debate between matte and glossy continues to this day.
For some, glare interferes with life, for others, the crystalline effect of the scattering reflection of the coating. The Y520 uses a fairly soft matte finish. FE is present, but with such a ratio of resolution and diagonal it is not noticeable. The LCD module itself is very thin, but the frames at the edges of the screen are quite wide and slightly thicker than the matrix. With such an area of ​​the protective structure, contact between the display and the keyboard is practically eliminated, and it will not be “wiped” during transportation (laugh-laugh, and even laptops costing a couple of thousand dollars suffer from this). The backlight is visually very uniform, on the black field there are no spots of brightness, highlights or bright spots visible to the eye, the completely white fill at the minimum brightness of the display has no yellow or blue spots anywhere: the LEDs are perfectly aligned, the phosphor is applied evenly. The system can switch to night mode, making the picture warmer and thereby reducing eye strain. A similar function should appear among the basic capabilities of Windows 10 in the near future, but in the meantime, Lenovo proprietary software will take care of users.

By default, the display is calibrated averagely, giving off a blue tint. What the Lenovo Control Center claims to be 6500K the spectrophotometer estimates at 7300-7400, so it's better to set the blue light filter right out of the box on something really white. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do professional photo and video processing on such a display (at least without further hardware calibration), but for everyday use cases and amateur Photoshop it will do.

Keyboard

The keyboard is a sore spot that all sorts of half-educated designers simply love to put pressure on. The laptop world has never seen any kind of distortions in the design of the main input method on a portable PC. It seems that in many models the developers deliberately come up with ways to squeeze in the unfitting, to make touch typing more difficult, and the position of the hands to be as unnatural as possible. Surely people are sitting somewhere and thinking about how else they can ruin an average laptop.

And it is not clear whether this is some kind of conspiracy, or stupidity and incompetence.
But when creating the Y520, they listened to the right people at the meeting. The keyboard is as close as possible to the title of “best” in many aspects. The 15-inch laptop managed to accommodate full-size keys, a NUM block, arrows, divide the keyboard visually and functionally, and even do without major changes in the layout. Magic!

Esc in the top left corner? Yes, you won’t confuse it with anything else; there are no left macro buttons or random switches nearby.

Ctrl in bottom left? And again, the answer is “Yes,” and for those who like the Fn key in this place, Lenovo has long provided freedom of choice: the corresponding setting in the BIOS swaps the keys.

ALTs close to space? Exactly. Full size arrows? Yes, here they are, and they don’t merge with the main keyboard and number pad, like some people have. Installed separately for maximum comfort when handling them blindly. Even F1-F12 are not short on size and are divided into groups of 4 keys.

Surprises

From the non-standard: Delete is located not above the left arrow, but above Backspace - the keys are functionally similar, this arrangement can be justified, especially since the space above the arrows is occupied by the number pad.

The digital block itself is somewhat different from the full-format one, but even here the changes can be understood logically. Instead of the right Win/FN there is a screen capture key, the behavior of which can be assigned through the corresponding application.

FN capabilities

Wherever the placement of keys deviates from the canonical IBM PC Keyboard, the logic of the changes can be traced. For example, the functions PgUp/PgDn and Home/End are combined with the arrow block via FN. The CTRL/FN+Shift combination and arrow keys allow you to perform any text selection action without using a trackpad or mouse. Comfortable. Turn off the sound abruptly? FN and F1 can be pressed with one hand. True, it’s difficult to call the “layout” of functions via FN ideal: using the same “volume up” and “volume down” is no longer so easy - you’ll have to use a second hand.

Feelings from work

The scissor mechanism of the keys provides a moderate travel length; during active typing, they make virtually no sounds.
Surprisingly, with such a quiet operating mechanism, the tactile sensation of pressing perfectly conveys the state of the key. The question “whether it worked out or not” simply won’t arise. The spacebar works quietly and does not clank with an iron bracket. The keyboard has a three-level backlight (off / 50% / 100%), red, uniform fill. In the localized version, both English letters and Cyrillic alphabet will be perfectly visible. The edges of the keys themselves glow slightly, the WASD block is highlighted with a slightly bolder border. Why do manufacturers continue to do this - don’t ask, apparently someone likes it. In the Y520, this selection is made as unobtrusive as possible, apparently to please both.

Trackpad

Traditionally, little attention is paid to this control in gaming laptops: they say, they will use the mouse in games anyway, it’s better to save money here and spend the budget on something else.
And in ordinary laptops with a price tag of up to one and a half to two thousand evergreens, you rarely find anything worthy at all: users for the most part do not buy a trackpad, but megahertz with gigabytes. Fortunately, this is not all about the Y520. The touch panel from Elan Electronics recognizes up to five fingers, understands the fashionable “kinetic” scrolling, distinguishes intentional touches from accidental touches of the palm when typing, in a word - it behaves decently.

The controller can handle sudden finger accelerations and tries to increase sensitivity on the fly, ensuring fast cursor movement, so the system pointer speed slider should be lowered by 2-3 notches: this will significantly increase the accuracy of “everyday” movements, and the trackpad area will not be small.

It would be hard to call the panel’s performance ideal, but there are no significant shortcomings, just nitpicking. Yes, it was possible to choose a better surface material, this one feels a little oily even if it was wiped with a cleaning cloth a minute ago. Sensitivity and gestures need to be adjusted to suit yourself, and you need to get used to certain actions. But overall, everything is not bad, and in everyday use outside of gaming worlds, the mouse will not be a necessary accessory.

The software looks crooked, but all functions work as they should. Among the interesting features is perhaps assistance for performing Drag'n'drop gestures. If you move the cursor to the edge of the window, and you just need a little bit to “drop” the files where you need them, just rest your finger on the edge of the trackpad, and the cursor “reaches” some distance on its own. It takes some getting used to, but it’s quite convenient in everyday life, especially if you actively use Windows 10’s ability to arrange windows side-by-side.

Iron

The older brothers got an NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB of video memory and PCI-Express Samsung 961 series drives installed in parallel with a classic hard drive, the younger brothers got a GTX 1050 without the coveted letters Ti and with half of the video memory, and the slot for a high-speed drive is empty. Both options can be equipped with either a Core i7 or a cheaper Core i5. Either way, you get a more than capable machine with a very nice combination of performance, design, build quality and materials to work with and play with, and there's plenty to choose from if you're on a budget.

Display:
IPS, 15.6'' FullHD (1920×1080), matte;

CPU:

Core i7-7700HQ (4×2.8–3.8 GHz, 6 MB cache, Intel HD 630);
-or-
Core i5-7300HQ (4×2.5–3.5 GHz, 6 MB cache, Intel HD 630);

Video card:

NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti, 4 GB (discrete);
-or-
NVIDIA GTX 1050, 2 GB (discrete);

RAM:

8 GB DDR4 SO-Dimm, 2 slots, up to 32 GB in total;

Data storage:

SSD 128 GB M.2 PCI-Express Samsung 961 (
note:
only in versions with 1050 Ti); HDD 1 or 2 TB 2.5'' @ 5400 rpm; SDHC Card reader;

Network interfaces:

1 Gbit LAN; 1×1 Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac;

Wireless interfaces:

Bluetooth 4.1 low power;

Connectors:

3× USB 3.0 Type A; 1× USB 3.1 Type C; 1× 3.5 mm combo MiniJack; 1× HDMI 2.0

Nutrition:

150 W switching power supply, 20 Volt, 6.25 Ampere; Battery 45 Watt*hours.

⇡#Appearance and input devices

All laptop manufacturers try to adhere to a certain style when creating their own products - the device must be recognizable. Lenovo laptops are no exception, so the Legion Y520 series models are made in the same design as, for example, the IdeaCentre AIO Y910 gaming monoblocks. In both cases, matte plastic, stylized as carbon fiber, is used, because many associate the use of carbon fiber with ultra-fast and lightweight supercars - such associations benefit the manufacturer.

Plastic, although not real carbon, is quite practical and common, although fingerprints and dust on the plastic surface are quite visible. The fact that the laptop has passed through many hands is immediately noticeable by the large accumulation of small but visible scratches.

As for weight, without an external power supply the Legion Y520 weighs 2.4 kg - this is a fairly standard parameter for a laptop with a 15.6-inch screen and gaming hardware inside. For example, the competing model Dell Inspiron 7567 is slightly heavier - 2.6 kg, and ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE weighs almost the same - 2.5 kg. The power supply will make the load heavier by about 400 g. Of course, almost three kilograms are felt during daily travel, for example from work to home and back, but you quickly get used to such a companion. After all, just recently ordinary, non-gaming laptops weighed that much, but laptops together with the power supply still weigh 5 kilos.

When closed, the Legion Y520 is 26mm thick, which is again standard for a gaming laptop. The previously listed Dell Inspiron 7567 and ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE are approximately the same “slim”: 25 and 30 mm, respectively.

The laptop lid opens approximately 135 degrees. And the metal hinges seem to inspire confidence - the display panel rotates with characteristic resistance, but with intensive typing, the device’s lid begins to oscillate noticeably. A similar situation arises during games, and this is perhaps the only significant complaint about the design of the Legion’s body.

The bottom of the laptop is equipped with three legs, two short and one long, thanks to which the laptop rests confidently on any flat and hard surface. Air enters the cooling system through a pentagonal grille at the rear of the base. The photo clearly shows that it is noticeably clogged with dust, so frequent cleaning of the laptop definitely won’t hurt.

There are no elements on the front panel of the device; on the back there is an air duct for exhausting heated air outside the case. All interfaces of Legion are located on the sides.

On the left there is a loop for installing a Kensington lock, a connector for connecting an external power supply, RJ-45 from a gigabit network controller, USB 2.0 Type A and a 3.5 mm mini-jack for connecting a headset. On the right - USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C, card reader (supports SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC formats), two USB 3.0 Type-A and HDMI video output.

The island keyboard with a scissor mechanism and the push-button touchpad are made of matte plastic. The key travel on the Legion Y520 is small - about 1.7 mm, but typing and playing on the laptop is quite comfortable, since pressing is precise. The number pad has been trimmed down to leave some free space around the large arrow buttons. As a result, the Page Up/Down, Home and End functions have lost their separate keys - they are activated by simultaneously pressing one of the arrows and the Fn button. Otherwise, the Legion Y520 has a fairly typical layout.

The WASD block is additionally highlighted with a red border. The keyboard itself is equipped with a two-level backlight, the brightness of which is changed by a combination of the Fn key and the spacebar.

The Legion Y520 webcam operates in 720p resolution at 30 FPS. Under artificial lighting, the image appears hazy and noisy. So this camera is not suitable for high-quality streams.

CPU

The heart of the Lenovo Y520 is Intel Core processors based on the Kaby Lake architecture. Intel's famous "tick-tock" is becoming increasingly expensive, and old development cycles have been replaced by new ones. Previously, changes in the technical process (“tick”) alternated with updates to the architecture itself based on the proven technical process (“so”), but now, after a year, the updated architecture will receive optimizations and improvements in the internal structure. Thus, the technical process step will be used not for 2 years, as before, but for 3. The total will be “tick-tock-tock”, if we consider the usual terminology.

Kaby Lake

The current architecture (Kaby Lake) is the same second “so”, compared to SkyLake changes the cat cried. The technical process is the same 14 NM FinFet, albeit polished; The performance per clock has remained virtually unchanged, and if you throttle the processor to the clock speeds of last year's chips, the difference will be barely noticeable in benchmarks. Intel made major improvements in the internal structure of the core and optimized production technologies. The result is a higher yield of suitable processors, better temperature performance, more stable operation at higher frequencies: the overall increase relative to the previous generation is about 7% and is achieved exclusively by a larger
number of megahertz under the hood.

More changes have been made to the video cores and corresponding system logic built into the processor: the former have acquired a set of hardware codecs that support HDR video, 10-bit color and UltraHD resolutions, while the latter can boast support for NVMe SSDs with a direct connection to the PCI Express bus.

The most interesting feature of the new Intel with integrated graphics for players is the QuickSync video capture function. Graphics can be processed on a discrete video card, and the video stream for streaming will be hardware compressed by the Intel HD 600 series video core. In this case, gaming performance, if it changes at all, is on the verge of error.

Core i7-7700 HQ

The most popular i7 for gaming laptops. Yes, there are even cooler processors (with indexes 7820 and 7920), but their destiny is 17-inch models with top-end video adapters (or even more than one), only there they reveal their full potential. There are also 4 cores and 8 threads, 45 Watt thermal package, 2.8 GHz base frequency and automatic overclocking to 3.5 GHz on request, as long as the cooling system can handle it. 6 MB of third-level cache memory, built-in IntelHD 630 video core with a maximum frequency of 1.1 GHz.

Core i5-7300 HQ

This i5 costs manufacturers a good hundred dollars less, and relative to the i7-7700 HQ only loses the ability to run two threads on one core (for a total of 4 cores and 4 threads), as well as base and boost frequencies lowered by 300 MHz: 2.5 and 3.2 GHz respectively. The IntelHD 630 will operate at a frequency of up to 1 GHz, but in a gaming laptop few people care about it: NVIDIA will be responsible for working with graphics.

Performance

There will be almost no difference between these i7 and i5 models in gaming tasks. In some Photoshop, when video editing or working with an archiver, the i7 will perform a little better: in a number of tasks HyperTreading gives up to a 30% increase in performance.

Testing

The laptop's hardware deserves attention - it is based on the latest Kaby Lake architecture, our version has a quad-core Intel Core-i7 7700HQ, in the cheapest configuration you will have to be content with the Intel Core-i7 7300HQ, which is optionally about 10-40% slower than i7-7700HQ. So, the Intel Core-i7 7700HQ differs slightly from its predecessor, the Core-i7 6700HQ. Firstly, the increased nominal frequency is 2.8 GHz, and in Turbo Boost mode – 3.8 GHz. Let us remember that the previous model had frequencies of 2.6 and 3.5 GHz, respectively. The TDP of the processor has not increased or decreased, and is still 45 W, which is quite a lot for a mobile device. Technological process - 14 nm. Secondly, we are dealing with a new graphics core - Intel HD Graphics 630. The main difference from the 530 model is a slightly increased frequency. The processor performance is great, both in games and in synthetic benchmarks. Users of multi-threaded applications will certainly notice the benefits of Hyper Threading technology. A good addition to the powerful processor is 16 GB of DDR4 RAM with a clock frequency of 2400 MHz. Data storage in the laptop is entrusted to a fast SSD Samsung PM961 MZVLW256HEHP with a capacity of 256 GB and a regular 2.5-inch HDD hard drive WD5000LPCX with a capacity of 1 TB and a speed of 5400 rpm. The very fast SSD makes a noticeable contribution to overall performance, which is clearly noticeable in any day-to-day tasks related to processing files on the system drive. A terabyte HDD will be useful for those who like to store large amounts of information on their laptop. The Lenovo Legion Y520 is powered by the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti , a mainstream GPU based on the Pascal architecture, announced in January 2020. Unlike faster models, it uses the GP107 chip, which is produced in Samsung's 14nm process. The mobile version differs from the desktop version only in clock frequencies, while the number of shader units is the same - 768. The amount of GDDR5 video memory reaches 4 GB with a 128-bit interface and a data transfer rate of 7 Gbit. As for performance in modern games, if you have a good cooling system in the laptop (so that the Boost function is not limited), the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti can show very good results. If we compare mobile video cards of the previous 900 series, the power of the new product will be higher than the GeForce GTX 965M and may be at the level of the GeForce GTX 970M.

3D Mark Fire Strike Graphics

3DMark Fire Strike is a beautiful, popular application that supports the DirectX 11 API for testing computers with high-end gaming graphics cards in a Windows environment. 3DMark Fire Strike results help evaluate the comparative performance of a video card and its suitability for running the most demanding computer games.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBN)

7682

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Asus ROG Strix GL553VD)

6013

NVIDIA GeForce 945M (Acer Aspire V Nitro VN7-792G)

2575

Game tests

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a multi-platform computer role-playing game developed by the Polish studio CD Projekt RED based on the Witcher novel series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, a continuation of the computer games The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The final part of the trilogy. According to the developers, the third part of the series will combine a non-linear plot and a multi-regional open game world, which will be thirty times larger than the world of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. To get around, you can use various types of transport, such as a horse or a ship. Completing the main storyline will take about 50 hours of play. Side quests will take about the same amount of time. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was developed on the RedEngine 3 game engine, which is aimed at next-generation platforms and will ultimately break the boundaries between game graphics and CGI videos. The fundamental difference between RedEngine 3 and its predecessor is that REDengine 3 is designed to support open world games. RED Engine 3 focuses not only on graphics and physics, but also on building a non-linear quest system, making the gameplay even closer to real life. RED Engine supports dynamic shadows, normal mapping and parallax. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has both basic and advanced graphics settings. Any user will be able to customize the game at their own discretion, based on the performance of the existing system.

Battlefield 1 is based on Frostbite Engine 3.5. Frostbite Engine is a game engine developed by EA Digital Illusions CE; used both in its own developments and in projects of other Electronic Arts branches. The first game created using this engine was Battlefield: Bad Company in 2008. The engine was developed to replace the technically outdated Refractor Engine technology that was used in the company's previous games. The technology is capable of handling the destructibility of the landscape and environment. Supports dynamic lighting and shading with the HBAO function, procedural shading, various post-effects (for example, HDR and depth of field), a particle system and texturing techniques such as bump mapping. The maximum location size is limited to 32 × 32 kilometers of displayed area and 4 × 4 kilometers of playable space. Battlefield 1 has incredible graphics, which in turn are very well optimized. Scale, effects, destruction - all this is presented at a very high level and will not make you doubt the professionalism of the developers.

Rise of the Tomb Raider makes it clear from the first minutes of the game that we have never seen anything like this before. The term “realistic” is probably not entirely appropriate, since with each new step in game graphics, on a wave of delight, it seems that the picture has finally become “like in life,” and when you look at the same game a few years later, all that remains is laugh at how crude and ridiculous everything really was. For Rise of the Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics is using a new game engine called the Foundation Engine. Whether it is a revision of the previous Crystal Engine, or a new development, this question remains a mystery. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a very beautiful game and in many visual parameters it is quite superior to other modern game projects. The graphics have become noticeably brighter and more expressive compared to its predecessor Tomb Raider 2013.

Heat, noise, battery life

The Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor under intense load may drop below the declared Turbo level. The reason lies in high temperatures up to 92 °C. At least we did not encounter thermal throttling; the frequency did not drop below the base one. That is, you will always get 2.5 GHz. There were no complaints regarding the operation of the AMD Radeon RX 560 video card; no reduction in operating frequencies was detected under high load. As for heating the case, the surface did not overheat. The temperatures of the top panel of the main body and the bottom of the Lenovo Legion Y520 remained relatively low. We got an average of 33°C, with the highest temperature of 41°C observed in the upper right corner of the workspace. The Lenovo Legion Y520 battery cannot be called very capacious; we got about 45 Wh. But thanks to the economical and efficient filling, the battery life is very decent. Under normal office workload, the laptop lasted about five hours. Surfing the Internet over Wi-Fi at medium display brightness drained the battery after five and a half hours. After starting the game, battery life is reduced to one third - 59 minutes.

Video card

NVIDIA video cards with Pascal architecture are responsible for turning polygons, textures and complex shaders into a beautiful picture. As of February 2020, nothing better or newer can be found in a laptop: AMD has never released mass mobile Polaris to the world, the capabilities of the next architecture (Vega) are still hidden in the fog of war, and what NVIDIA has done simply destroys interest in last year's laptops with Maxwells inside.

Pascal

With the 900 series (Maxwell) graphics cards, NVIDIA has done a lot to ensure that the powerful Kepler legacy is not only productive, but also energy efficient. Pascal confidently consolidated its results, becoming both a “tick” and a “tock”. A new technical process, a whole series of improvements within the architecture, new technologies, only 6 different video cards instead of a dozen and a half barely distinguishable products, and all this was rolled out in one announcement. If year after year, video cards with the X60 index were approximately equal to last year's X70, and the X70 competed with last year's X80, then Pascal is so cool that the 1060 can compete with the 980. And the reason for this is one of the deepest architecture upgrades in the last few years. The key changes are:

• Transition from the mossy 28 NM technical process (it was used in budget phones of the 600 series back in 2012) to modern 14/16 NM;
• The emergence of hardware support for VR helmets + a whole set of software and hardware technologies that improve work with VR;
• New, more efficient compression of textures in memory (without loss of quality), in practice provides from 10 to 30% bandwidth savings;
• Supports fast synchronization to eliminate gaps in the displayed picture;
• Improved automatic overclocking algorithm: the system takes into account three parameters - GPU load, current temperature and core voltage, situationally raising operating frequencies and voltage to eliminate drops in FPS.

1080, 1070 and 1060 are relatives, their processors GP-104 and GP-106 (the latter is half of 104) contain blocks of 5 SM computing clusters and are produced on a 16 NM process technology. The younger Pascals - 1050 and 1050 Ti use the GP-107 processor, blocks of 3 clusters, are produced according to thinner standards (14 NM at Samsung factories) and are not “offcuts” of failed chips from older series.

NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti

The eldest of the youngest works on a full-fledged GP-107.
6 clusters, each with 128 cores and 8 texturing units (total 768 cores and 48 texturing units per processor), 32 rasterization units, 4 GDDR5 memory controllers of 32 bits each (total bandwidth - 128 bits at 7000 MHz), 4 GB of video memory. The performance of this baby is more than enough to play everything that was released before 2020. The GTX 1050 Ti produces a comfortable 60 FPS at “high” resolutions of 1920x1080 in games such as DOOM, GTA V, Battlefield 1. It can handle all sorts of e-sports toys with just its left hand.

NVIDIA GTX 1050

The smallest Pascal differs from its “big brother” 1050Ti by one disabled cluster (a total of 640 cores and 40 texturing units), and a halved amount of available memory (2 GB). The geometric part of the processor was not damaged, and the 1050 can turn three-dimensional models into flat images almost as efficiently as the 1050Ti; But it copes a little worse with applying textures, and there is less space for storing data.

In modern games with complex graphics, you will have to put textures and expensive special effects under the knife. In dynamic online shooters, MOBAs and other tournament disciplines, the restrictions will be almost unnoticeable, and no one will notice a slight decrease in graphics settings: the gameplay there is much more important than the graphics.

Lenovo Legion 5 laptop review

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Specifications
• Appearance and design
• Keyboard and touchpad
• Display
• Software and firmware
• Hardware platform and performance
• Communication and security
• File system
• Battery life
• Conclusion

Introduction

Despite the global situation, manufacturers continue to delight us with new products.
One of them was Lenovo, which updated its line of gaming laptops and released a successor to the Lenovo Legion Y540. The new version retained the general concept, received a redesigned body and modern components, as well as a number of technical solutions. As you may have guessed, we will next talk about the updated Lenovo Legion 5.

It was conceived by the manufacturer as a model that offers the ideal compromise between gaming performance and strict design, and was developed taking into account the widest possible range of tasks performed.

We will evaluate the build quality, cooling system efficiency and performance. The image quality and battery life are also noteworthy. These factors will help you understand whether the manufacturer has achieved its goal.

Specifications

*The cost may vary depending on the ruble exchange rate.
announcements and advertising

2080 Super Gigabyte Gaming OC for 60 rubles.

Compeo.ru - the right comp store without any tricks

RTX 2060 becomes cheaper before the arrival of 3xxx

Ryzen 4000

series included in computers already in Citylink

The price of MSI RTX 2070 has collapsed after the announcement of RTX 3xxx

Core i9 10 series is half the price of the same 9 series

The price of memory has been halved in Regard - it’s more expensive everywhere

We are already familiar with this hardware platform and can evaluate it as optimal for modern gaming laptops. Perhaps, if we consider this option only for games, we could take a less powerful processor, but in general the characteristics of the model are typical, the main issue is performance - that’s what we’ll talk about.

Appearance and design

The design of the new product continues with the Legion Y540 model with a similar design. However, there are enough differences.

The top cover is now smooth and without texture. It is made of plastic reinforced with talc. The surface is decorated with the classic manufacturer logo. The logo of the Legion model range is larger and has a rainbow “chameleon” effect.

The surface turned out to be hard to the touch and not prone to collecting fingerprints. During operation, it will retain its original appearance for a long time.

The bottom of the case is closed with a single plastic cover. It is fixed with latches and screws around the perimeter and in the center. About a third of the space is occupied by a ventilation grille to provide air access to the cooling system and internal components.

Several large rubber feet are responsible for the stability of the laptop, providing optimal clearance for air circulation between the case and the surface.

Here you can also notice that the speaker grilles are located on the side slopes and will not overlap even when installed on a soft surface.

Interfaces and connectors are distributed on the sides and rear of the case. On the left we find one USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 port and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack. The main space is occupied by a large ventilation grille.

At the back we see two large ventilation grilles and a large assortment of connectors. These include an RJ-45 port for connecting to a wired LAN, USB-C 3.1 with support for the DisplayPort interface, two USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, full-size HDMI, a rectangular plug for connecting a charger and a Kensington lock.

On the right side there is an LED activity indicator and another USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 port. Here we also see a fourth ventilation grille for air exhaust.

The hinge mechanism is made tight enough to accurately fix the lid in any selected position. At the same time, the lid can be easily opened with one hand, without requiring you to hold the base of the case - the weight distribution plays into your hands.

The hinges themselves are shifted from the edge of the case closer to the user. And the display can open 180 degrees, allowing the user to choose any convenient position.

The design of the work area is subordinated to minimalism and conciseness. There are no designer delights here, only severity and calm shades. “Topcase” received a soft-touch coating, pleasant to the touch and with a dark blue tint.

There are two logos - the manufacturer and the model line. The configuration is classic for the vast majority of laptops.

Now let’s evaluate the “inner world” of the new product - dismantle the cover and take a look at the main components.

First of all, attention is drawn to the developed cooling system and heat dissipators on almost all components. The design was reminiscent of modern cars, where absolutely the entire engine compartment is covered with decorative panels.

The case of the review hero turned out to be restrained in terms of design, although not without interesting finds, such as the rainbow logo. But the manufacturer took care of the reliability of the design. All elements of the case fit well together and are firmly fixed in place; there are no backlashes or extraneous sounds under torsional loads.

Keyboard and touchpad

The touchpad has also been updated - now it is combined with buttons and supports pressing anywhere on the panel. The surface itself is pleasant to the touch and comfortable to operate with your fingers. Multi-touch gestures are recognized correctly.

For a purely gaming laptop, the touchpad is a secondary device. However, when developing a universal device, the manufacturer paid enough attention to this issue: the new product received a responsive touch panel with a pleasant surface and optimal area.

The island-type keyboard is slightly recessed into the body. The keys have a short stroke and optimal pressing force; Even during active work, a clear understanding of the responsiveness of the keys is maintained, and erroneous presses are minimal.

The buttons are made in the classic Lenovo style with rounded bottom parts and a slightly concave profile. The spaces between the buttons are optimally selected for comfortable operation. The Caps Lock button has an activity indicator for ease of use.

The key configuration and mechanism design are borrowed from the professional models of the ThinkPad line. This is made for comfortable use not only in games, but also when working with texts or performing other tasks. The manufacturer specifically emphasizes that this is not an optimized gaming keyboard, but a comprehensive solution for all tasks.

The arrow keys are slightly separated from the general block and are large enough to make working with the arrows comfortable. But the Enter button is visually combined with the adjacent key and this may take some getting used to.

The numeric keypad buttons have a more pronounced concave profile and are convenient for working with large amounts of digital data.

The keyboard has a white LED backlight with adjustable brightness. Traditionally, for Lenovo laptops, the backlight brightness is controlled using the Fn+Space key combination or through the proprietary Lenovo Vantage utility.

The round power button is located in the middle above the keyboard and has an LED activity indicator. You won't be able to press it accidentally during operation.

Depending on the selected operating mode of the laptop, the color of the indicator will change. The color for performance mode is red, in the standard version it will be white, and when switching to quiet mode it will turn blue. This way the user will always understand what mode his laptop is in.

Display

The display diagonal is 15.6 inches with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels - the most optimal format for modern laptops. An IPS matrix with wide viewing angles and 100% coverage of the RGB color range is used.

The display refresh rate can be 60 or 144 Hz, depending on the specific modification. We received a version with a refresh rate of 144 Hz for testing.

The side frames of the display are quite thin (about 5 mm), which made it possible to achieve smaller body sizes. Compared to its predecessor, the bottom frame has become thinner.

Viewing angles are wide, and even when viewed from the side, there is no color inversion or change in contrast.

White color is displayed correctly. The color temperature is perceived as true, without noticeable deviations.

With black, everything turned out to be not so smooth. You can see small flares against a dark background. When viewed from an angle, the black becomes reddish. However, during operation this effect is not observed, becoming noticeable only in the case of a predominance of black color.

Using a colorimeter, we measured the backlight brightness in various modes and tested the accuracy of color rendering calibration.

The brightness reserve is decent for comfortable work in bright ambient lighting conditions. And the matte surface will protect against pronounced glare and reflections.

Both graphs showed an exact match of all color indicators with the reference values. This indicates precise and careful adjustment of color rendering.

The color temperature changes over a small range, but these deviations are not noticeable visually, and this will not affect the overall impression of the picture.

Claims of 100% coverage of the RGB color space are fully confirmed - the display accurately reflects the specified range. A barely noticeable deviation can be seen on the graph, but cannot be detected during operation.

The points of the gray wedge are located almost in the center of the delta. You shouldn't expect any false colors.

The quality of the display determines the overall experience of the entire laptop. In an effort to create a universal model, the manufacturer took this factor into account and made sure to use a high-quality matrix, not forgetting to work on its configuration. The display has a good reserve of brightness, a high level of contrast and accurate color reproduction. This last option makes the Lenovo Legion 5 an interesting option for users involved in video and photo editing. The only complaint I can make is that the display of black is not the best, especially when viewed from an angle.

By the way, the same matrix is ​​used here as on the Legion 5P model. And there it will be possible to adjust the color rendering of the display depending on the task being performed. And although the hero of the review is not equipped with the same functionality out of the box, perhaps this can be fixed by installing profiles for the Legion 5P model.

Software and firmware

Traditionally, the laptop runs the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system.

To control operating modes and some individual parameters of the laptop, as well as to monitor its condition, the Lenovo Vantage utility is provided.

Another useful function of this software is the automated configuration of the laptop after installing a “clean” operating system image. By pressing one key, all necessary drivers are automatically detected, downloaded and installed, which allows you to set up your laptop as quickly and comfortably as possible.

Hardware platform and performance

We received a modification based on the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H central processor for testing. This is a modern CPU, made using a 7 nm process technology and having eight computing cores. Each core is capable of running two threads simultaneously.

The base frequency is 2.9 GHz with the ability to accelerate to 4.2 GHz if necessary.

We have already tested this CPU using several gaming models and were pleased with its capabilities. Let's see how it performs with Lenovo's new product.

RAM is made up of two DDR4-3200 modules with a capacity of 8 GB. The total volume is 16 GB – the optimal figure for modern realities.

Both modules are removable, hidden under a metal cover, and this is the only cover that can be removed without removing additional screws.

Graphics processing is handled by a discrete video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti with 4 GB of internal memory. This is not the most productive option, but it is enough for a comfortable game.

In other modifications, the following models of graphics adapters can be used: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, GeForce RTX 2060. Moreover, in the case of the two older versions, the use of a more powerful cooling system is provided.

Let's look at the test results in various benchmark tests and evaluate the overall level of performance of the new product.

The tests showed quite expected results, because we are already familiar with the capabilities of this platform.

The built-in benchmark in Forza Horizon 4 allows you to evaluate the stability of gameplay performance. Note that testing was carried out at the highest graphics quality settings.

The performance situation is clear, but how effective is the cooling? This issue is worth considering in more detail.

The cooling system is built on the basis of two fans made of liquid crystal polymer. Such models are equipped with a large number of blades with minimal thickness. The manufacturer claims that the use of these fans has increased air flow by 47 percent.

Each fan is responsible for blowing through two radiators, the heat to which is transferred through three heat pipes. Radiators can be aluminum in the case of the two younger versions of video cards and copper with an increased number of fins for the two older modifications.

Heat is removed not only from the processor and graphics adapter, but also from most of the components. All removable elements are located under special heat-dissipating covers.

The design of the cooling system takes an integrated approach. Let us turn to the results of stress tests and evaluate the effectiveness of such measures.

The first test cycle in the OCCT application involves the maximum load on the central processor.

Next, the Furmark test was added to the OCCT test to create a load on the graphics component.

As you can see, the temperature rises quickly, but this does not force the processor to reduce performance. Its operating frequency is stably maintained at around 4 GHz.

The laptop came to us for testing with not the latest version of BIOS and the initial temperatures were higher, but the latest firmware version has optimized power management and processor operation algorithms. This made it possible to achieve stable nutritional indicators and ensure optimal temperature conditions. All the tests you see were carried out with the new BIOS version.

Even during prolonged operation under load, the CPU temperature does not exceed 95 degrees. Let us remind you that the manufacturer claims a maximum permissible value of 105 degrees. It turns out that Lenovo Legion 5 works stably at optimal temperature conditions. Moreover, these indicators were obtained during stress testing, which creates extreme loads on the components and forces the laptop to show the maximum of its capabilities.

When tested simultaneously with the Furmark test, the video card heated up to approximately 65 degrees and worked stably in this mode. And although the operation of the fans becomes audible, the sound does not create serious discomfort and allows you to continue playing. True, this factor is hardly important, because for such use cases, headphones are usually used.

What resource-intensive tasks can be called typical for such a laptop? Most likely, we will be talking about modern games or the active use of applications for processing multimedia content. In this usage scenario, the laptop works for a long time with a serious load on the processor and video card.

Experimentally, during tests, it was possible to establish that during prolonged operation under load, the temperature of the central processor is successfully maintained within reasonable limits. On average, it fluctuates around the 80-degree bar.

And although 105 degrees was recorded at the peak, this is only a single and short-term moment that did not have an impact on the overall situation. The average value can be considered indicative.

There is no reduction in performance or other limitations. The only thing is that the cooling system is forced to spin up the fans. However, for more productive modifications, a more efficient cooling system is used. In this way, a balance is achieved between maintaining operational stability and optimal weight and size parameters.

The efficiency of the passive CO mode is sufficient to dissipate heat in simple tasks, and if we are not talking about active use of graphics, the fans are turned off. This allows you to save energy and achieve maximum operating comfort. The efficient operation of the central processor with modest heat dissipation also has an impact.

Communication and security

Connection to the Internet can be achieved via a Wi-Fi AX wireless module with a cascade of 2x2 antennas. And if necessary, you can connect to a wired local network; a classic RJ-45 port is provided for this.

Lenovo Vantage's proprietary utility can automatically scan and check the security of the Wi-Fi connection being used, which is useful when using public networks.

Data exchange with external devices and connection of accessories is carried out via the Bluetooth 5.0 interface. There are no additional interfaces such as an NFC module.

Compared to its predecessor, the front camera has moved to its usual place - above the display. And here again you can see a reference to ultrabooks from the professional series - the camera is equipped with a mechanical shutter that covers the lens.

Here you can also see two stereo microphones for high-quality sound recording during video conferencing.

Traditionally for gaming models, the laptop is not equipped with a fingerprint scanner or face unlock system. And if this is logical in the format of gaming models, then universal options intended for professional use seem to be deprived.

File system

An M.2 NVMe solid-state drive with a PCI-e interface is provided for storing files. In addition, it is possible to install a second similar module to expand the volume.

The performance of the standard drive was tested using the CrystalDiskMark utility when processing files of various sizes.

As you can see, the speed indicators remain consistently high and practically do not change when working with files of different sizes.

Battery life

Autonomy is one of the most important factors when choosing a laptop. The use of modern processors and graphics adapters allows you to achieve decent results, but there is still room for improvement.

The hero of the review is equipped with a battery with a capacity of 80 Wh - a solid indicator. The battery is hidden under a common cover and is secured with several screws.

Let's carry out a series of measurements of battery life under different usage scenarios. This will allow you to evaluate the impact of the activity of certain components on the total operating time without recharging.

To begin with, we simulate idle mode by turning off the display and background applications, leaving only the Wi-Fi connection and the operating system itself active with the time-measuring application. The laptop is switched to power saving mode; The cooling system operates in passive mode, stopping the fans completely.

The result was almost 32 hours of continuous operation. This is respectable even by the standards of ultrabooks, not to mention full-fledged gaming models.

Let's complicate the task by testing in reading mode. The power saving mode remains active, but the backlight brightness is minimal. The cooling system successfully copes with its tasks without the use of fans.

This scenario continuously simulates working with a text document. The result was just over 13.5 hours. It turns out that when using this laptop in operating mode, the energy reserve is guaranteed to be enough for a full working day. We are talking about standard office tasks, such as working with office applications, web surfing, and so on.

The manufacturer itself states that the new product is capable of operating in video playback mode for 8 hours at average display backlight brightness. Based on our tests, this statement seems quite realistic.

Finally, the maximum load mode will allow you to determine the battery life when used at full capacity. The maximum performance profile is launched and the display backlight is turned on at maximum brightness.

In this mode, the fans reach maximum speed, and heat generation increases significantly. A full charge will last for 1 hour, and this is a normal result.

It's hard to imagine a gamer playing on a laptop without being connected to a power source. And for short-term multimedia tasks, this energy reserve is sufficient.

The included power supply is compact, its power is 170 W. Small dimensions allow you to take it with you if necessary.

The time it takes to fully charge a laptop in idle mode is just over two hours. The device charges at an equal speed up to 90 percent, after which the charging speed is reduced to extend battery life.

Current technologies have made it possible to make laptops not only productive, but also compact with good battery life. Likewise, the Lenovo model, distinguished by gaming performance and being mobile, has decent battery life. In many cases, you will be able to leave the charger at home, even if you use it all day.

Conclusion

The hero of the review is difficult to perceive as a completely new model; rather, it is a rethought and updated Lenovo Legion Y540. And such a decision is logical, especially taking into account the good sales of its predecessor.

First of all, we updated the hardware platform, focusing on modern AMD processors with good energy efficiency and operating speed and discrete NVIDIA video cards. Depending on the tasks, the user can choose the best option in terms of cost and performance. In the case of this model, this is an important aspect.

It's all about positioning. Lenovo Legion 5 acts as a universal solution, equally suitable for gaming and work, as well as for everyday tasks. And the manufacturer tried to take into account as many factors as possible. In addition to the “fast” components, there is a high-quality display with full compliance with the RGB color space for comfortable work with graphics, and the keyboard borrows a number of technological solutions from the professional ThinkPad line - for comfortable work with text documents.

The capacious battery provides an impressive level of autonomy, guaranteeing the user a full working day without recharging. Moreover, this does not require categorically reducing energy consumption and sacrificing comfort. The cooling system turned out to be developed, with a whole set of radiators and heat pipes, two large fans and heat dissipators on almost all components.

Is everything so perfect? There are also controversial points. For example, black color when viewed from the side appears with a pronounced red tint. There is no fingerprint scanner or face unlock system, but in the modern world such a function for protecting personal data is desirable (if the laptop is intended for work). Moreover, they took care of the mechanical shutter for the camera, but for some reason they forgot about the authentication system.

Is Lenovo Legion 5 worth considering when choosing a new laptop? Yes, it has all the necessary set of characteristics, thanks to which most users will choose the optimal configuration for themselves. At the same time, the company’s pricing policy allows it to successfully compete with representatives of such brands as ROG, Acer and Dell.

Alexey Pashchuk

We express our gratitude to:

• To the official representative office of Lenovo in Moscow for providing the Lenovo Legion 5 laptop for testing.

Data storage

Storage volumes and parameters depend on which version of the laptop (1050 Ti or its younger sister) you choose. The simpler options will get a classic 1 TB laptop HDD. Models with more powerful graphics receive an additional 128 GB Samsung SSD 961: an excellent option for the system and the most important software.

SSD

Samsung PM961 was shown to the public almost a year ago, in March 2020. This is one of the fastest consumer series drives, and it also connects to the PCI-Express bus using the NVMe protocol.
The main bonus of this connection is the elimination of the bottleneck of SATA commands, which were created in the days of single-threaded tasks and magnetic disks. The top model (1024 GB) has impressive performance, although its price is not the most reasonable:

Maximum read speed: 3000 MB/s; Maximum write speed: 1150 MB/s; Random access speed (4KB block): 360K IOPS read; 280K IOPS per write;

The stated specifications come close to the limits of the .m2 form factor itself, which is currently limited by the throughput of PCI Express 3.0 with 4 lanes, and it is still much more (6x faster for linear read/write and 3x faster for arbitrary ) than classic SATA-SSDs.
The productivity reserve is laid down for several years in advance. Laptops have simpler drives (128 or 256 GB), but their characteristics are limited by the SSD structure itself. Drives with more memory work faster: read-write tasks can be parallelized, and the limiting factor here is the controller. For gaming and custom tasks such as Photoshop, their characteristics are sufficient, and the powerful Samsung Polaris controller will not become a bottleneck.

HDD

The coolest version (with i7 and 1050Ti) will most likely get a 2 TB drive, the other options - 1 TB. Conventional laptop SATA III HDDs with a 2.5″ form factor and a spindle speed of 5400 rpm - their operating speed, power consumption and other characteristics have remained virtually unchanged for the last five years.

⇡#Performance of the processor, RAM and disk subsystem

The Legion Y520 has exactly the same central processor as the ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE. And exactly the same memory - DDR4-2400T with latencies of 17-17-17-39. Except that the competitor’s processor frequency remains at 3.4 GHz in CPU benchmarks. This is why in most processor tests the ASUS laptop is faster than the Lenovo laptop. Only in WinRAR did the Legion outperform the ROG Strix GL553VE, largely due to the faster solid-state drive.

SSD performance

The Lenovo Legion Y520 is equipped with a high-performance NVMe SSD SK Hynix HFS512GD9MND, the linear read speed of which reaches 1400-1600 MB/s, and the linear write speed of 600 MB/s. The ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE model, with which we compare the Legion Y520, uses a noticeably slower SK Hynix HFS128G39TND SATA drive.

HDD performance

The Seagate ST1000LM035 hard drive, which is quite expected, does not set performance records - this model, like many other 2.5-inch mechanical drives with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm, demonstrates typical speeds in read and write operations.

Performance

Performance tests were carried out on a pre-release version of the laptop with i7 and GTX1050Ti on board. It differs from the serial one by a different SSD disk (lower read speed, faster write speed) and RAM capacity expanded to 16 GB.

Overwatch

In the beginning there was Quake, then Unreal Tournament, followed by TeamFortress 2, a long-time popular online shooter with a complete lack of realism, and today we can enjoy a cocktail of all three games, rightfully considered legendary. Overwatch from Blizzard tried to absorb the best of its predecessors, elevating well-coordinated teamwork, game dynamics and variety of gameplay to the absolute level, despite its apparent sameness. The main thing that was brought into Overwatch is tons of optimization, as a result of which the game runs quite passably even on built-in video chips like Intel HD, and on decent video cards it easily produces 100+ frames per second. At ultra settings, the Y520 produced 85 FPS, the average value was over a hundred. This inscription couldn’t come at a better time.

DOOM (2016)

The game from ID Software relies on open technologies (OpenGL and Vulkan) and the rich experience of the developers. In terms of optimization, few recent projects with such a visual component can sing praises, but DOOM has the spirit of the old school: graphics, gameplay and performance are at the highest level.

When using the OpenGL graphics library, the laptop produces an impressive 80+ FPS at maximum settings with anti-aliasing disabled. Low-level Vulkan is very demanding on bandwidth and video memory, and real gains begin to show on video cards with 4 GB connected at a speed of 150-200 Gbps, and are most effective at high resolutions. The 1050 and 1050Ti, alas, have less bandwidth, and the results based on Vulkan are the same (by about 10-15%). However, the game already works great, what else is needed?

Battlefield 1

Selling the same thing year after year is the secret skill of the EA clan. Over two decades, these villains have perfected the skill of creating the most secondary clones of their own creativity. The stagnation became so obvious that even the managers of the main sequel maker on the planet noticed it, and returned the company to the light. BF1 pleases with a new setting, stunning pictures and the use of the DirectX 12 library from Microsoft.

Everyone will have to deal with issues of gameplay and the quality of the network code personally - after all, everyone has different tastes. But we can objectively evaluate the performance and compare the results of DX11 and DX12 under the same conditions. Everything is clear with the first one, this is the main graphics API of recent years, the developers know the capabilities of the library, and in the drivers its calls are optimized inside and out. But DX12 is a kind of Microsoft’s response to the emergence of Vulkan. Low-level instructions, “console” capabilities for controlling the operation of the GPU while maintaining some level of abstraction, and so on. Logically, DX12 should be similarly memory-hungry, but show impressive results on powerful hardware in some 4k.

We have FullHD, 1050Ti, 4 GB of memory and an average frame rate of 56 FPS on DX11 (the minimum is 45, which occurs with network lag / packet loss) and 58 FPS on DX12 at maximum settings. The 1050Ti's Ultra-preset settings worked, but it's better to play on simply “high” settings: the frame rate is more stable (and higher!), shots are more accurate, and your nerves are more intact.

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

The complete absence of any kind of copy protection did not prevent the Polish masterpiece from earning a decent amount of money on a world tour in the hearts of fans of the series, and the CD Project Red studio from becoming one of the most expensive companies in its homeland. And no Denuvo was needed. There is a fly in the ointment: The Witcher 3, for all its plot, gameplay and visual advantages, is built on a not very successful game engine.

Partly due to the limited hardware capabilities of the current generation of consoles, partly due to the rush, only the “medium” graphics settings are decently optimized. There are no problems with them, most video cards can easily cope with the 30 FPS mark and reach the coveted 60. But on “maximum” ones, and in high resolution, the game will easily baffle even powerful desktops.

The Witcher's combat system requires attention and quick reaction to enemy actions. To successfully complete it on difficulty above average, you just need to have a stable framerate without jumps. The 1050 Ti can reach as much as 45 frames per second at maximum settings without anti-aliasing, and if you cut down on “expensive” special effects that do not greatly affect the picture quality but heavily load the video card, then the laptop will delight you with a confident 60+, which is worth setting up built-in frame rate limiter. You can safely go cut monsters into pieces and save princesses on maximum difficulty, Legion Y520 will not let you down.

GTA V

Rockstar knows how to make games.
GTA V came out a hundred years ago and is still a top seller on both consoles and PC. All sorts of “Battlefields” and “Count of Duties” come and go, but sunny California in digital form is still with us. The large open world and its visual diversity leads to high consumption of both RAM and video memory by the game. GTA V loves to “stream” textures from the hard drive (it generally uses it aggressively), easily eats up 16 GB of RAM and generally knows how to distribute the load, competently using both SLI and multi-core processors.

With “advanced” settings disabled (such as long shadows and other frills designed for owners of top-end PCs), the game confidently shows an average frame rate of 70 FPS. Drawdowns below the cherished 60 happen at first, but they should pass: the game really loves to access the hard drive and simply did not have time to cache all the resources, compile all the necessary shaders, so to speak, bring itself into divine form. In the second or third hour of active gaming, the microfreezes disappear, and the frame rate drops to 50 only in scenes with water. It’s not fatal, but a number of particularly greedy settings (such as water) can be reduced from maximum to simply “high”: the graphics will still be better than on consoles, and no “Playstation” has ever dreamed of 60 FPS.

Synthetic benchmarks

3D Mark Time Spy uses the latest technologies in the field of graphics, runs on DX12, carefully counts every frame and can load even the coolest hardware to capacity.

The result of 2441 points is not a record, the desktop 1050Ti overclocks well (there is a reserve for both power supply and cooling), but overall the score for a laptop is quite decent, for comparison, last year’s systems in the same price range (Core i5 / Core i7, GTX 950, 8GB RAM) score around 1500 points.

A spoon of tar

Divinity: Original Sin, 144 FPS.
Maximum heating of the video card In all games, the main problem of, perhaps, all gaming laptops came out in full force - heating and noise. In a matter of moments after starting the game, you immediately realize that the video card has become a bit hot - the cooling system, of course, does not roar like a plane taking off, but it makes a noise louder than heavy rain. And if you hold the laptop on your lap, the hot air it emits burns your feet quite noticeably and unpleasantly - it’s better to play at a table and think about a cooling pad.

In specific figures, the temperature of the video card under heavy load exceeded 80 degrees. Of course, not the maximum permissible 95 specified by the manufacturer, but the noise of the cooling system becomes quite uncomfortable - when my wife heard it, she said that my personal laptop would simply be destroyed for such a roar.

It’s quite interesting that the maximum heating was achieved not in the latest AAA shooters, but in the far from new RPG Divinity Original Sin, which I’m just playing now and which I didn’t plan to use for tests at all - at “ultra” settings the game confidently holds 144 frames per second, unlocking the full potential of the screen. It is this frame rate that loads the video chip so much - with an in-game limit of 60 frames per second or connected to a TV with the same maximum refresh rate, the video card was expected to strain much less.

Also, my beloved Divinity became a “testing ground” for another test - on battery life. With a full charge, I was able to play for less than an hour - this is not enough even for a short flight, for example, from Moscow to Sochi or St. Petersburg. Quite an unpleasant “leash”, especially considering the size and weight of the power supply. If you watch a video (in Full HD resolution), the operating time on a full charge is just over two hours. So it’s better to download TV series on the plane.

Hot temper

Even though the laptop successfully masquerades as a “civilian”, its filling is the most combative: which means it will work like Papa Carlo.
In the most sophisticated configuration, the basic thermal packages of the video card and processor give a total of 120 W: owners of desktop processors with this TDP usually install dropsy or something in the spirit of the Noctua NH-D14 to provide the “stone” with comfortable working conditions in the most stressful moments. But the desktop has a lot of space, good airflow, and 120-watt “stones” are rarely 100% loaded in games. If the Y520 were an ultra-thin fashion device, where long-term heavy loads are an atypical use case, then a slight decrease in performance when heated could be considered an annoying nuisance, but not a drawback. Such typewriters are not designed for the hardcore, all you have to do is understand, forgive, grab yourself a low-fat latte and sketch in a Moleskine while the laptop completes the task.

But we have a gaming model, and even in a “compact” 15-inch form factor! Infinitely greedy for available resources, games will immediately occupy the GPU, crowd the CPU, RAM, and torture the disk with read and write operations... In the battle for beautiful graphics and high frame rates, the atmosphere heats up quickly, and something needs to be done about it: throttling and reduction performance is unacceptable, the enemy is not asleep and will instantly take advantage of our weakness.

The engineers found a brutal but beautiful way out of the situation. At the bottom, a good half of the laptop is made up of massive stiffening ribs that cover the ventilation grille. Through the “exhaust” you can see how the copper radiator shines with impressive ribs.

Well, to prevent the system from suffocating on the table, instead of scanty “legs” that have a habit of falling off and getting lost, one large rubberized support was used.

It leaves sufficient clearance between the working surface and the air intake, and the laptop does not suffocate when playing games. The cooling pad can be safely considered an anachronism and sold along with the old laptop - even 3 hours of playing GTA V did not bring the hardware to its knees, the laptop did not lower the frequency until it left the crazy world of virtual Los Santos into gray reality.

Well, if this turns out to be not enough, on the hottest days of summer you can turn on forced cooling at 100% fan power - the proprietary software has provided for this too. Yes, it will be noisy, but in war all means are good.

Sound

Placing a decent-sounding audio system in a compact case is another challenge. Here physics itself comes into conflict with the demands of audiophiles: for low frequencies you need a large speaker diameter and a good volume for the resonator, for high frequencies you need small speakers with a coil that can perform very fast oscillations. Yes, there are laptops with a whole garland of speakers and even subwoofers, but usually these are a premium line or heavy 17-inchers, which, if they travel, are from the table to the sofa, and such voyages do not happen often.

The Y520 cannot boast the sound of a concert hall or compare even with inexpensive external acoustics, but it perfectly satisfies gaming needs: specialists from Harman-Kardon were involved in fine-tuning. The sound emitters themselves are hidden next to the display hinge, produce good stereo with a distinct sense of direction, and convey steps, gunshots, explosions and speech quite well.

Things are not so rosy with music. Guitar riffs do not sound very expressive, and at maximum volume the overload of the audio path becomes noticeable. You can listen to something relaxed at half volume, but it’s better to enjoy Joe Satriani’s work with good headphones.

Note:

The review was of a pre-production version, perhaps the production version has better speakers.

Sum of qualities

The version with the GTX 1050Ti has enough performance in games: everything that came out before this laptop can be run in a quality higher than on consoles, in honest FullHD with 60 FPS.
The results of the junior card on the same graphics presets are 10-15% lower. In e-sports games with competitive gameplay, this will be enough, but the rest can be played at medium-high settings with 60 frames per second without the slightest problem. Beauty! What is important is that they don’t want to get half a kingdom and a princess for a laptop. At the start of sales (somewhere at the beginning of March), for the most modest configuration (i5 + 1050) in stores they will ask around 59-60 thousand rubles. The version with a 1050Ti and an SSD is about 10,000 more expensive. For i7 (hyperthreading and +300 MHz) in both cases you will have to pay an additional ~$150 (Lenovo has practically nothing to do with this; Intel sets such prices for CPUs ), but in games the difference will not be very noticeable.

In pursuit of the gaming audience, engineers could easily save on a keyboard, SSD, use sound and a simpler webcam, but still cram a “gaming” matrix with 75 Hz and G-Sync into the budget. And the device would have turned out to be much more contradictory: there are advantages, but a set of shortcomings would not give rest. It is unlikely that such a collection of incomprehensible compromises would have given the Y520 the opportunity to become a desirable purchase for those who were waiting for relatively budget options with modern graphics. And in the current version, there is an excellent balance between all the characteristics, comfortable operation of the laptop and price. Asian? Yes, but in a Buddhist enlightened and balanced way!

Advantages:

— Budget Pascal provides 60 FPS in many games at high settings; — Competent selection of fillings — you don’t have to overpay for the i7 if you don’t need hyper-threading; — Very fast bundled SSD in the version with GTX 1050 Ti; — Keyboard with full-size keys and excellent mechanism; — Not a bad sound; — Thoughtful cooling.

Flaws:

— Autonomy at the level of one average film; — The case easily collects fingerprints and is reluctant to part with them.

May not suit:

- Weird layout of FN options for F keys; — The trackpad is not ideal; — Weight — 2.4 kg; — No Thunderbolt / DisplayPort connectors.

Real games

Odyssey on very high settings

Odyssey on very high settings

"Odyssey" on "ultra"

“Odyssey” on “ultra”
And now, finally, we have come to the most important thing - how will this laptop perform in real life? Following the latest trends, I started playtesting with Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which at that time had a free weekend on Steam. Odyssey is famous for its high system requirements for playing on ultra settings, so the logic here is simple - if the hardware can handle Odyssey, it will handle everything else.

The world of Ancient Greece looks really great on the laptop; the built-in FPS benchmark dropped a couple of times, but the average value was quite decent, both on high settings and on “ultra”. And if you just play, you don’t feel any problems.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus

Next, I decided to test the computer on Metro: Exodus and Control. There was no built-in benchmark for games, so I used a combination of MSI Afterburner + RIVA Tuner applications, and at the same time measured the temperature of the video card under load.

Control, DirectX 12 mode Control, DirectX 12 mode

Control, DirectX 12 mode Control in DirectX 11 mode. The picture glitch is clearly visible

The results in terms of performance were pleasing - at maximum graphics settings, the FPS value did not drop below 40, which is quite a serious achievement for such games. Out of curiosity, I checked Control in both DX12 and DX11 modes. In the latter there were rather strange image distortions - it seemed to be covered with white “sand” - but the performance was practically the same.