Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p review

When the IdeaPad Y510p arrived at the PC Pro office, it was clear its focus is high-performance gaming. With a pitch-black chassis and blood-red backlit keyboard, it’s reminiscent of Alienware’s intimidating range of dedicated gaming laptops, yet its price of £1,000 brings it more in line with mid-range desktop replacements such as the A-listed Asus N550JV.

In fact, the similarities don’t end at the price. Like the N550JV, the Y510p has a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 Haswell processor, a 15.6in Full HD screen and discrete Nvidia graphics at its heart. The Lenovo has a slight edge, though, with a more advanced GeForce GT 755M GPU, 16GB of DDR3 RAM – twice the Asus’ capacity – and Condusiv’s ExpressCache system, which utilises a 24GB SSD to accelerate the loading of commonly used applications.

This line-up of components led to a score of 0.9 in our Real World benchmarks, a 5% improvement on the Asus N550JV. The big advantage, however, came in the gaming tests, with the Y510p achieving an average of 39fps at native resolution at High quality settings in our Crysis benchmark. That’s very impressive for a desktop replacement – the N550JV scored 27fps.

Clearly, it’s a quick performer, but Lenovo hasn’t neglected the basics. The Y510p’s keyboard is excellent, sharing the crispness of its ThinkPad cousins and giving a soft but palpable (and audible) snap with every keystroke. The intensity of the backlight can be adjusted easily by holding the function key and tapping the spacebar, although in standard office conditions we found it unobtrusive, even at its brightest setting. The only problem is the smaller-than-average backspace key, but in general the keyboard is ergonomically sound. The wide, buttonless touchpad works well, too, and its matte finish gives it a tactile texture that lends itself well to Windows 8’s gestures.