Lenovo Legion Y530 (81FV0002US)
Setup/Testing/Conclusion
The Lenovo Legion Y530 (81FV0002US). Packed with an Intel i7 8750H, 16GB DDR4 2666 memory, 16GB Intel Optane Memory, and an Nvidia 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. Let’s go ahead and dive right in and see how this Gaming Laptop performs.
Right off the bat, the Intel i7 8750H is an excellent CPU. You’re looking at the successor to the widely popular Intel i7 7700HQ which is what was used a lot in previous gaming laptops. With the Intel i7 8750H, you’re going to be getting about a 10% increase in single core performance and about a 15 ~ 25% increase in multi-core performance. The Nvidia 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti isn’t the fastest nor is it considered a “high end” GPU, but it’s definitely considered as one of the best (if not the best) budget GPU. So before I even ran any games, my expectations weren’t going to be through the roof as I know it won’t perform like my desktop which contains an Intel i7-8700 and a GTX 1070. I mean we’re looking at a budget gaming rig here, not a top of the line gaming beast. So now that we got that out the way, let’s go ahead and see what this combo brings to the table.
CS:GO - 140 FPS
Tom Clancy’s The Division - 60 FPS
Battlefield 1 - 60 FPS
GTA V - 55 FPS
Diablo 3 - 95 FPS
As expected, this specific Lenovo Legion Y530 (81FV0002US) performs quite well. As mentioned previously, it’s not going to be the fastest out there; but it’s definitely not the slowest. So if you’re looking to play everything on ultra presets and expect incredible frames per second, I would probably invest in a pretty high end gaming rig. If you’re looking to play games on low/medium ~ high presets (Nvidia Recommended Settings), you’ll be just fine with this specific Lenovo Legion Y530. AAA titles will always demand a high performance machine. But with a gaming laptop, you’ll be able to bring it around with ease compared to a gaming desktop.
With the Legion Y530, I didn’t have a problem taking it around. Because of it’s subtle and sleek design, it doesn’t scream “GAMING”; yet it doesn’t look like an ordinary laptop. I personally enjoy the black design and look of the laptop. Although the Y530 is made majority of plastic, it's still quite durable and still looks good. Lenovo changed the backlit keyboard from red to white which looks a lot better. The bezels around the screen (left, top, and right) are also quite thin compared to the last years model. Because of the thin bezel change, the webcam was moved to below the screen. So if you plan on using the webcam, be prepared to show off your nose and in addition to the other party seeing your knuckles a lot if you're typing. But, I’ll definitely make that trade any day; smaller bezels vs having the camera at the top. If you currently own the last year’s model, you’ll also notice that a lot of the ports have been placed in the back of the laptop. You’ll still have access to a USB 3.1 port on either side of the laptop. The reason for this is so that it offers better cooling. Overall, the thermals on the Y530 is pretty good under normal usage. During my gaming session it does get warm but what gaming laptop doesn’t? I did see temps hit around 95c (MAX) but the fans would ramp up and keep the temps under control. The fans aren’t silent but they aren’t super loud either; I would classify the fan noise as expected/average. When it comes to the picture/screen quality, I wasn’t as impressed. I wished it was a bit brighter and the color reproduction was better. So if you were to use the Y530 in a more lit environment, you may have some difficulty viewing the screen. The 52.5Wh 3-cell lithium ion battery will last about 4 hours with general usage which is typically expected with these type of setups. But if you game on it, the battery will last about 1 ~ 1.5 hours. So be prepared to bring your charger with you!
Here are a couple breakdown of pros and cons that I would like to mention as my own opinion:
Pros:
Very sleek at subtle design
No bloatware
Solid all around good performance
Fan control
Cons:
Display (not as bright as others and color reproduction isn’t as good)
Why GTX 1050 Ti? Would've liked to see at least a 1060 as Lenovo did an excellent job on the chassis. Lenovo also offers a 144Hz screen so it only makes sense to have a more powerful GPU…
Wished battery lasted longer
In conclusion, this Lenovo Legion Y530 has pretty good all around performance. I didn’t experience any frame rate drops during gaming. My settings on average were around low/medium ~ high (Nvidia Presets/Recommended). I would’ve liked to see Lenovo release all Legion Y530 with a GTX 1060 and a SSD by default (as this specific model comes with a traditional mechanical hard drive and Intel Optane Memory). I know they have other models but from what I could find; GTX 1050 Ti is all they have currently. Overall, I would give this specific model a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. Lenovo did do an excellent job by ditching the red and making the Legion Y530 very sleek (excellent redesign Lenovo!). Where it falls short on this specific model is with the GTX 1050 Ti and the picture/screen quality. Although this specific model didn’t come with an SSD, the Intel Optane Memory did in fact help with boot/load times. This specific Lenovo Legion Y530 is definitely worth being stated as an excellent budget gaming laptop. If you’re able to get the one with an SSD, I’m sure it’ll be even faster. Overall, thoroughly impressed with the this Lenovo Legion Y530 (81FV0002US).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Specs
Windows 10
15.6” Full HD Display
Intel Core i7 8750H (2.2GHz / 4.1GHz Turbo)
16GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory
2 in 1 Hybrid Hard Drive (1TB 7200 rpm + 16GB 3D XPoint Optane)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
52.5 Wh 3-Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Built-in Harman/Kardon Speakers
Built-in HD Webcam
Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack
USB 3.0
x2 USB 3.1
USB-C
HDMI Output
Mini Displayport
Wireless + Gigabit Ethernet LAN Port
Kensington Lock Slot
Weighs 5.07 lbs. and Measures 1” Thin
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's in the box?
Lenovo Legion Y530-15ICH 81FV
Lenovo 135W Power Adapter
Various Manuals