Lenovo IdeaPad Y550

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 is a netbook laptop that hails from Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y550 series of middle range notebooks that are built for multimedia purposes. It is suitable for watching movies and comes with a 15.6-inch screen as well as standard outputs for an HDTV. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile processor and incorporates the Intel NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M graphic card with up to 512 MB of dedicated video memory. In terms of design, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 sports a midsize design that has all the other middle-of-the-road characteristics that makes it qualify as an all-purpose portable.
Specifications
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 measures 1.5 in x 10.0 in x 15.2 in (H x D x W) in dimension and weighs approximately 6.06 lbs including its provided 6 cell battery. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo with 2.1 GHz FSB, a cache size of 2 MB and a data bus speed of 800 MHz. It operates on a preloaded genuine Windows 7 Professional operating system. Alternatively, it can also run on a genuine Windows XP Professional operating system. There is also a 15.6 inch LCD display with glossy screen that is also LED Backlit. Besides that, the display also has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a maximum WXGA resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. In terms of graphic features, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 incorporates an integrated IntelNVIDIA GeForce GT 130M graphics card with up to 512 MB of dedicated installed video memory. As for system memory, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 incorporates DDR3 technology with up to 4 GB of installed memory. It can support upgrades of up to 8 GB. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 is powered by a 6 Li-ion battery that has the capacity to provide up to 4.5 hours of battery life. It comes with a 1 year parts and labour warranty. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 also comes with an internal hard disk drive that has a capacity of 320 GB. Besides that, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 also has a DVD +RW DL optical drive. There is also a digital microphone which comes with a microphone mute button. In addition to that, it also has a built-in web cam situated right above the display. Not only that, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 also incorporates a small internal Bluetooth card that automatically detects other Bluetooth equipped devices within 30 feet and sends and receives radio signals over an ad hoc “piconet” or personal wireless network. Input devices consist of a keyboard and a touchpad. In terms of interface connections, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 includes Audio Line In (1/8” mini), audio line out, (1/8” mini), Ethernet RJ45, HDMI, Infrared, Serial ATA 7-pin, USB Universal Serial Bus 2.0 and VGA. There are also various slots including an Express Card 34 slot, and a 5-in-1 memory card slot that is compatible with Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard (MMC), SD Card and xD-Picture Card. In terms of wireless connectivity, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 comes with integrated Mobile Broadband, WLAN 802.11 n draft, WIMax, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet (10/ 100/ 1000) capabilities.
Reviews

“The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 is a nice, mid-range multimedia machine, and Lenovo even includes some nice extras if you want to customize your rig. Multimedia fans will appreciate the good, LED backlit display, which did a fine job with our movies, as well as the standard outputs for an HDTV, and the battery life that was strong enough to get through a long, loud action flick. We loved the deep, responsive keyboard that felt more like typing on full size desktop keys. Some of the extras fell flat with us, though, including the unimpressive “Dolby” speakers and subwoofer, or the time-consuming VeriFace logon. There was also plenty of bloat to slow things down or cause problems, and we wish Lenovo had focused on adding multimedia software instead of the wealth of security options. Overall, though, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 is a nice machine at a competitive starting price, and makes for a reasonable buy even with some serious upgrades for the graphics processor and system memory. We were pleasantly surprised with its performance from casual Web surfing to playing intense first person shooters. It’s not as stylish as some other options, but it packs plenty of punch and makes for a solid device.” (InfoSync, 2009)

“Take the battery life you see advertised for any laptop with a grain of salt. Why? A few vendors still use unrealistic testing parameters in order to report the longest battery life possible. For example, a “tested” laptop simply might be turned on, with the screen brightness lowered to the darkest level, and allowed to run down without anyone touching it. When the laptop undergoes typical, everyday use–say, with the screen brightness turned up to a readable level and with the user working in several applications or playing a CD or DVD movie–its battery life could be much shorter than a vendor’s claims.” (PCWorld, 2009)

“The Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 has a 15.6″ screen and is packed with an array of multimedia features. Some of its most notable features include DDR3 memory for fast processing, advanced graphics, and a high-end Full HD 16:9 widescreen panel. The IdeaPad Y550 is available in six different models ranging from $699.00 to $1,199.00.” (DigitalTrends, 2009)