What’s around 75,000 pesos and packs an i7-7700HQ, a GTX 1050 Ti with a 256GB SSD and a terabyte of mechanical storage? This guy right here – the Lenovo Legion Y520.
Most may scoff at the fact that it’s priced at 74,995 according to Complink’s website, but what is it really that makes this a great suggestion for on-the-go gamers and content creators?
Table of Contents
Design
Unlike its bigger brother, the Y720, it has a full plastic construction which already shows a lot of complications. While Lenovo may have cut corners on the material, stability and overall flex is still a league above others’. The display can be a bit flimsy at times, but still workable. And in case you’re wondering where the speakers are, they’re along the hinges.
And while the plastic body does help curb the warming of the matte black palm rest, it’s prone to fingerprints. The red and black gamer aesthetic is present on the keyboard and trims around the power button and touchpad.
Underneath, the pentagonal intake is nothing short of wide while blending in the otherwise gated look. 2 smaller feet are accompanied by a longer one that is located near the base of the display.
The center-mounted hinge suppresses both bouncing and vibration during typing. And to add, it can be easily opened with one hand.
Connectivity
Ports
For what it goes for, connectivity is fairly standard.
Left: (L-R) Kensington Lock port, Charging port, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, 3.5 mm combo audio (headset), Lenovo OneKey Recovery
Right: (L-R) USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1, SD card port, USB 3.0 x 2, HDMI
SD Card Reader
The Y520’s SD card reader has a significantly higher read and write speeds than most.
Write: 73.56 MB/s
Read: 85.43 MB/s
Software
On the pre-installed software side of things, Lenovo has been subtle. First is Lenovo Companion, which can be used for system & driver updates, diagnostic, and Lenovo support. Next is Lenovo Settings, which has options for battery management, audio, webcam, input devices, and display. Lastly, Lenovo Nerve Sense provides Extreme Cooling, network prioritization of gaming programs, palm & Windows Key rejection during gaming, and Dolby sound enhancement for supported games.
Input Devices
Keyboard
As comfortable as it is to type on the Y520’s keyboard, fumbling with the numpad is more of a chore than a feature. Also, since the keyboard has a relatively smooth and shiny finish, it’s not exempted from being a fingerprint magnet. There are three levels of brightness and a screen record key adjacent to the ‘Control’ key on the right.
Touchpad
Despite its solid feel and tracking with Synaptics touchpad, the buttons are underwhelming. Being center-mounted, attempts for inner depressions wouldn’t register.
Display
The 1080p IPS matte panel works well for lots of purposes. Topping out at 260 nits and with 2.5 as its minimum, it doesn’t do well in direct sunlight. Color accuracy is subpar (55% sRGB), with color saturation being its weakest feature.
Performance
| SPECS | Lenovo Legion Y520 |
| Display | 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare LED Backlight with integrated camera |
| Dimensions |
14.96″ x 10.43″ x 1.09″ / 380 x 265 x 25.8 (mm) (GTX1050Ti) Starting at 5.29 lbs (2.4 kg) |
| Design | Textured plastic case |
| Colors |
Black
|
| Chipset | LGA 1151 |
| Processor |
Up to 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ Processor (2.80GHz 6MB) |
| Graphics |
|
| Memory | Up to 16GB DDR4 2400 MHz |
| Storage |
|
| Interface |
|
| Keyboard and Touchpad |
Keyboard Full-size backlit, with Screen Record Key Touchpad Synaptics Driver, center-mounted |
| Audio |
2 x 2W Harman™ Certified Speakers with Dolby Audio™ Premium
|
| OS |
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Wi-Fi + Bluetooth
|
| Battery |
Up to 4 hours of battery life 45Wh 3-cell lithium-polymer battery 65W power adapter |
| Included in the Price |
Lenovo Legion Y520 Power Adapter |
| Official Price | Php 74,995 |
| Availability date | Q1 2017 |
| Where to buy | Lenovo Stores, Complink and other authorized retailers |
The powerful internals is where the Y520’s pricing is heavily leaning on. With our configuration running an i7-7700HQ, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1050Ti, gaming and content creation flows beautifully on 1080p.
Storage is then handled by a 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD and a 1TB Seagate hard drive.
Benchmarks
Cinebench scores were within range of expectation. Superposition and Unigine did not deliver spectacular results at high presets but still delivered nonetheless.
3DMark Fire Strike – 6721
Geekbench 4 – 13012
Cinebench R15 – 673
Games
Moving over to games, the results get fishy. For some reason, even with the CPU under TJMax, it seems to skip or throttle in an undocumented manner that makes games stutter. Even so, average performance at medium-high settings is above 60FPS that makes this a perfect mobile gaming machine.
System Noise
For what it’s worth, noise levels between idle (~39dB) and with Extreme Cooling on (~48dB) is minimal. Still, I’d recommend for you to get a decent headset like the HyperX Cloud Core for maximum possible pwnage.
Battery
As expected of gaming machines, if it’s not the materials used, it’s the battery that gimped. The 45Wh 3-cell battery in the Y520 doesn’t last long even in casual usage, making it impractical for your long, unplugged coffee sessions. At most, it can run for four hours.
Speakers & Webcam
As I’ve mentioned, with the speakers flanking the central-mounted hinge, I expected the soundstage to be good, if not great. Despite the absence of a subwoofer, lows are discernible and the speakers themselves are boomy in a sense.
As for the HD webcam, it is clear enough to handle Skype chats in well-lit environments.
Verdict
Even with its killer specs, the killer price will put off long-time mobile gamers. For 74,995, The Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBN is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
